The dirty trick supermarkets use to sneakily jack up prices – and it’s getting out of hand
You may have noticed the size of the items in your grocery basket getting smaller – whether it is a box of cereal shrinking or a packet of potato chips getting lighter.
But a new report has laid bare the true extent of ‘shrinkflation’ in the US, and just how much Americans are being shortchanged.
Shrinkflation is when products shrink in size or quantity while the price remains the same or even increases. Of almost 100 everyday products analyzed by LendingTree, it found a third had shrunk in the last five years.
‘People are already frustrated that things cost more,’ said Matt Schulz, LendingTree chief credit analyst. ‘Shrinkflation just adds insult to injury. It all adds up to a lot of Americans feeling squeezed every month to afford the basic things they can’t do without.’
Household paper products, which includes toilet paper and paper towels, saw the biggest change in size over the time period.
Some 60 percent of household paper products have reduced their sheet count, the study found.
12 mega rolls of Angel Soft toilet paper decreased from 429 to 320 sheets a roll.
This is the equivalent of a 25.4 percent reduction in size – the most of any product.
While the cost of 12 Angel Soft mega rolls has dipped from $9.97 to $8.44, its price per 100 count increased from 19 cents to 22 cents, meaning consumers are paying 13.5 percent more per 100 sheets.
www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-13933505/products-shrunk-groceries-shrinkflation.html
The following is directly from the BLS on how they measure and attempt to adjust for product downsizing when reporting CPI. www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-12/measuring-shrinkflation-and-its-impact-on-inflation.htm
h/t Fun_Balance_1809