With inflation rearing its ugly head, we are seeing not only a wave of direct price increases on groceries, but also sneaky ones when manufacturers inconspicuously reduce the size of their products. This downsizing or shrinkflation as it currently is called is so prevalent at the moment, we have to spend this week and next showing you the dozen examples we’ve collected.
| Charmin |
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Over the past 60 years we’ve seen Charmin toilet paper go from 650 single-ply sheets on a roll to the equivalent of 90% less assuming you could even find single rolls any longer. The latest change shows ultra soft “Mega” rolls going from 264 double-ply sheets per roll to 244. And “Super Mega” rolls went from 396 sheets to 366.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Older, larger sizes of Charmin that we have tracked can be seen here. Thanks to our ace downsizing detector, Richard G., for this submission.
| Snyder’s Pretzels |
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Snyder’s Honey Mustard & Onion pretzels now have a “new look” and “big flavor” but come in a new smaller size. Thanks to Richard G. for spotting this change.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Keebler Cookies |
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Coming to supermarket shelves soon are new smaller packages of Keebler cookies. Chips Deluxe with M&Ms are going from 11.3 oz. to 9.75 and even more dramatic changes are occurring in their “family size” package. And Keebler E.L. Fudge packages lost 1.3 ounces and 20 calories per cookie. Note: In some stores, the new, smaller family size Chips Deluxe with M&Ms is one dollar less.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Gatorade |
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Gatorade has come in 32 ounces bottles forever, it seems. Now the product has gone on a diet and their new bottles have developed a waistline. That indent around the middle of the bottle is a telltale sign that the new bottles hold less — four ounces less, in fact. But, they are the exact same height.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Pantene Conditioner |
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Pantene conditioner recently changed its packaging going from a bottle to a tube. And somehow two full ounces of the product disappeared in the process. Thanks to Richard G. for spotting this change.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Earth’s Best Snack Bars |
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It looks like a good math lesson comes courtesy of this Sesame Street snack bar. Kids, can you say “seven” instead of “eight” bars are now in every box? Thanks to Richard G. again.
*MOUSE PRINT:
If you find a product that has been downsized recently, please send a before and after picture with the net weight or net count showing to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org . Thanks!
Charmin was 308, 284, 264, and now 244…… Soon we will be lucky enough to only have the cardboard tube to wipe with…..
I was thinking in 10 years they will require payment on a promise of delivery at some unstated future date.
Speaking of Keebler Chips Deluxe cookies with M&Ms, the cookies on the package are filled with the M&Ms. But a surprise awaits you when you open up the package — fewer M&Ms on the cookies, of course. I hate that!
I had a look at both the old new Charmin rolls once and I really think Charmin did increase the size of the tube slightly to make up for fewer sheets.
I have no clue how small a Charmin roll of toilet paper can get but if they keep on going at the pace they are going we can easily be at 204 sheets or less for a mega roll by the end of this decade. Toilet paper must a super duper precious commodity for the Charmin company due to all the changes they have made to it over the past 10-12 years.
For the Keebler Cookies I had a real hard time just due to supply issues at grocery stores. For the Family sized Chips deluxe that is almost a 3 ounce cut in the package size that is like 3 servings smaller.
Hershey cleverly made their Whoppers smaller rather than put them in a smaller package. They are nowhere as satisfying as a snack and I won’t be purchasing them again.
Sometimes I wish that the manufacturers would just raise the price. You used to get two good servings from a can of tuna, now you get barely one.
I thought I was going crazy! I was beginning to think I was getting dementia and thinking we got more tuna in a can when we did not.
The prices stay the same?
Matt… I usually don’t track prices, but last week I found both the old and the new “super mega” rolls of Charmin at the same store, and both scanned at $14.49. If both are on the shelf at the same time, like Gatorade was a couple of weeks ago, I’ll check the prices. (They were both $1.09.)
I guess my point is, if the price goes down, who cares what the size is? It always comes back to unit pricing— the best way to shop is not to care about the scan price or quantity of the package, only what the price per oz, lb, oz, etc. is
And let’s not leave out Movie Theater box Raisinetes, which have shrunk as well, to a box so small it’s not worth it anymore.
Downsizing is a sneakier way of giving us less for more. Unless they change the look of the package, it’s difficult to remember the sizes of packages. It’s also harder to calculate the equivalent price increase of the product. For example, if your TP increases from $1 to $1.10, that’s a 10% increase. But if it decreases from 264 sheets to 244 sheets, how much of an equivalent price increase is that? 8,9%? Many are way more than 10%. It’s not just inflation, it’s corporate greed.
See my above comment please.
The answer is always unit pricing. If you shop using unit pricing, you don’t need to worry about the size of the package, or the scan price. The price per oz, lb etc will let you know the true cost
Unit pricing isn’t practical for things like boxed cake mix or canned tuna, where one package doesn’t work, so you have to buy two to get a reasonable amount to use. To me, the true cost is apparent when I have to buy doubles of things to get the same amount. That’s more waste in packaging,too.
I agree. But the provision and quality of unit pricing for prepackaged grocery products is often inadequate. It is a great pity and a great loss to consumers that this is the situation in the USA where the benefits of unit pricing were first recognised in the 1960s, and in the 1970s a few states made provision compulsory by some retailers. Also that advocating for the provision of more and better unit pricing, even in the few states/territories where provision is compulsory for some grocery retailers, is not a higher priority for consumers and their organisations. In many countries the provision of unit pricing is much better than in the USA.
Edgar replies: NOTE TO READERS: Ian is the world’s expert on unit pricing and the leading advocate for it. He has traveled to many countries to observe their implementation of this consumer important tool and to encourage its use. He led the charge to get his home country of Australia to pass a law requiring unit pricing there.
I don’t understand Ian when he says “…provision and quality of unit pricing for prepackaged grocery products is often inadequate” — isn’t it just math?
Matt… He means the implementation of it varies from place to place. Some countries and states don’t require large type, so it is not conspicuous on the shelf, for example. We in Mass. require it to be on an orange background and be pretty big.
Thank you Edgar.
Far too many consumers do not even know of the existence of unit pricing (to the delight of many retailers, I’m sure). I wish I saw more emphasis on getting this word out about unit pricing, and educating people how to use it.
When someone says “a tank of gas was $30!” – it’s non-informative. When they say “gas cost me $4.05 a gallon!”– now that’s useful info. Unit pricing all the way.
I imagine it’s difficult to extol its virtues when there are so many (i.e. retailers, packagers, etc.) continually trying to hide it.
Notice how all of them change the design of the package to. That’s to throw you off about the change in size. I remember Doritos did something similar a long time go when they changed the recipe to a cheaper. one. They changed the package and then a few months later changed the recipe.
This is pretty deceptive no matter how you look at it. I’ve found that Kirkland brands are very resilient to downsizing because Costco doesn’t seem to mind raising the prices gradually.
Well Joel Costco may be better dealing with shrinkflation but even they can not stop it.
Even at the Costco the Charmin toilet paper went to the new look packaging with 9 less sheets a roll. Saw that at the official Costco website before they removed the old style package.
Richard, Costco doesn’t control the sizing or packaging for the packages it gets from other companies, that’s why I called out the Kirkland brand specifically is owned and operated by Costco.
Joel…
But Costco does have huge negotiating power. That’s probably how they got tuna makers to go back to 7 ounce cans in their warehouse stores!
I have been buying Charmin Ultra Strong super mega rolls for quite some time & haven’t seen a change in size. They were 396 2 ply sheets per roll last year & the latest package I bought hasn’t changed! I like the super mega-size, they last almost 4 days per roll & cost-wise they are $1.56 per roll.
Ultra Strong Charmin and Ultra Soft Charmin are two different products. While the Ultra Soft Charmin last had a package and size change in and around March of 2020 Ultra Strong Charmin waited more until the end of 2020 to do it. Just search for this article.
Here We Downsize Again – Year-End 2020
December 21, 2020 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)
Based on what we have seen in 2022 with the Charmin brand we are most likely to see Ultra Strong Charmin get the package and size change of the roll at the end of 2022.
There are no surprises here. This will certainly be continued.
re the Gatorade comment: my local Giant Food (MD) got the new bottles (12.5% decrease), put a “New Product” label on the shelves, and raised the price from $1.19 to $1.49 (25% increase). A total increase of 37% plus – real piracy.
Local Walmart is selling new bottles for $1.18!
Does the government take this downsizing into consideration when calculating rate of inflation? Bet they don’t.
No they do not.
It has come to the point in time where we will all be paying more. However, if we simply stop buying these products for a few weeks see what will happen. The same with the prices of new cars and trucks being 20% above MSRP. If we collectively stop buying new cars for 4 weeks watch the prices drop.
shrinkflation
frito lay has been doing it for decades as well as candy makers. FLay probably the worst. less content in bags AND raising prices