I vaguely remember the same machinations during the 70’s. Consumers are more tolerant of shrinking packages than growing prices. But they can only shrink things so far, and then the mask falls off.
This has been going on for a long time. Go buy a whole bag of potato chips, see how full the bag is.... was 3/4’s full or more when I was a kid.
A “Family-Sized” bag of Utz potato chips wouldn’t satisfy but one or two midgets.
Maybe, they will shrink the can soda and candy bars back down.
Back to the grand old Obama years.
Let’s think like the rational consumer. He (yes, I said he) buys a box of Cocoa Puffs for, say, a week’s breakfast cereal comsumption. If the box he purchases has 6% fewer cocoa puffs in it, that is not a major concern, because he still gets six reasonably-full bowls of cereal for the same price he paid previously—and at 6% fewer calories, all other things being equal he is going to lose some weight. That’s how consumers *really* think, that breakfast cereal is a practical utility.
Walking into the lowes foods this morning and it said Tribe Humus was on sale. Only problem is they are 1/2 the size of normal Humas containers such as Sabra.
The half gallon of ice cream is easy to spot. It went to 1.75 qts, and then to 1.5 qts. Soon, 1.25 qts.
To be fair, the issue discussed in the article should be placing the blame more on the food producers, than the grocery stores.
But I did notice that our local HyVee had 10% price increases, pretty much across the board on the several store brand products we frequently buy there.
Standard tactic.
Soon a pack of coffee will be 10 ozs, instead of 12. It used to be 16.
A bit later, it won’t be available at all.
Outside of gasoline I don’t recall prices every really dropping and/or fluctuating after an increase.
I’ve seen this ‘shrinkflation’ over the past 20 years in everything from coffee cans to soup to microwave dinners
They think we’re stupid and won’t notice
I was in Kroger yesterday. 1lb of Dunkin Donuts coffee went up to $7.49, a $1 overnight. So I bought Community Coffee, $5.49 and just as good.
Compare the size of a Big Mac of today to one from 20 years ago. I bet it’s only 2/3 the size or smaller.
Uhhhhh, this may come as a surprise to many, including disappointingly, many FReepers, but grocery stores don’t actually make and package the items you buy. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but somebody has to be the bad guy.
Bkmk
Our local grocery stores have kept the cheap cuts of meat cheap by raising the price on the better cuts. Still gained $1/lb on the cheap cuts but ribeye went from $12/lb to $19/lb. This is a recreational area from April to Oct and the city people still buy the ribeyes. They have $30,000 UTVs they ride around on too so I guess they can afford the ribeye.
Fewer slices of pepperoni on your pizza.
Ya think? Toilet paper rolls now look like a roll of duct tape. But, no one notices (wink, wink).
All major vendors have individual specific deals with all the different chains that carry their goods.
Walmart gets a certain size box of stuff at a certain price. Dollar General gets slightly different size box of stuff with confusing prices. 7-11 and Quiky~Mart get the smallest containers with modified graphics to make it look the biggest of all 3 at psycho prices. Local grocery stores will get you more bang for your buck every time across the entire grocery counter.
I am biased. I own a grocery store
...and the NPR gang should be the 1st ones led to the gallows in a proper “reset”.