Have you noticed how grocery and snack items have gotten much smaller over the last few years?
Not only are they smaller, but you get less and less in what you buy.
There is actually a name that someone came up with for the reduction in sizes of various products.
“Shrinkflation” is indeed on the rise and a real thing. Shrinkflation is the business practice of reducing the quantity of the product for sale while keeping the price the same or increasing it.
We like our snacks at our house. Chocolate and chips just to name a few things. We have noticed how the small packages of candy bars have gotten even smaller.
For example, not to pick on them, but Reese’s cups. Just a few years ago you could get a package of 12 for a dollar. The candy itself was a decent size. But now they have packages reduced to just five together and the candy is much smaller. Maybe just one bite, two if you want to make it last like I do.
They have larger packages, but they cost much more than a buck.
Potato chips are also affected by those companies that are trying to make more profits. If you open up a new bag of chips, you get half a bag; the rest is air! This goes for about any kind or variety of chips you prefer.
Many other products have reduced the amount of ounces or size of the container. You are getting less of the item but are paying more because of inflation.
Purchase a package of your favorite cookies. You will see fewer cookies in the foil or plastic package than a few years ago. I bet there are fewer chocolate chips in that cookie too!
Buy a box of cereal and compare it to a few years ago. There is less in many brands. The same goes for things like flour, corn meal and sugar.
One example is maybe a plastic bottle of one of your favorite beverages. This could be pop, juice, sports drinks or other liquids. They may have been 32 ounces, but now they are just 28 ounces.
Maybe it is a package of lunch meat. You may be getting a couple fewer slices than in the past and of course it will cost more.
It is not just food items. It can be toilet paper, paper towels and tissues with less on the rolls or in the box. In my internet research, I read that in the U.S., a small box of tissues now has 60 tissues, but a few months ago it had 65. There are fewer sheets on the roll of paper towels or toilet paper these days too.
It may not just be grocery items either.
My late father pointed this out to me many years ago. In the past, a 2 x 4 joint of lumber was actually 2 inches by 4 inches. But if you take out a tape measure you will see that today they are more like 1 ½ inches by 3 ½ inches and they certainly cost much more than in the past. The same goes for other boards and lumber that carpenters and builders use.
If you do not think this will affect the price of housing or building a new business, you better take a step back and take a second look. It certainly does cost more if the materials are more and even smaller.
If there is a way for a company to reduce the size and increase the price to make their profit margins better – they will.
If you Google items about this, you can see many more examples.
Let us face it: big companies are going to make big profits. The consumer will be the one who suffers. The lower and middle classes are the ones that suffer the most. Those on fixed incomes, especially the senior citizens who have retired, have a tough time making it. It is a real shame.
I would love to see things change and with President Donald Trump returning to office, I think inflation will get better and gas prices will go down under $2 a gallon. Unfortunately, I do not believe he or his staff can do much about “shrinkflation” and the size of the products. That ship has sailed and those smaller sizes will stay the way they are now available.
Let’s hope and pray that things will get better in 2025.
Until next time.
(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)
Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the newspaper’s management, staff or ownership.