Prices of food and sundries are affected by costs of FUEL, both in their manufacture and, obviously, in shipping them to market. Retailers have long-used "shrinkflation" as a way to mask price increases, as in a lot of cases, there's a pricing point at which the item becomes much less attractive. I recall this from when I was a "yoot", and would spend my hard-earning monies mowing lawns for neighbors to buy comic books and candy at the local convenience store. All you had to do was to look at the size of the Hershey Bar, but it was always a quarter (this was 1974!), but soon, along with Jerry Ford's "WIN" buttons (Whip Inflation Now), the normal 2 oz. bar got down to about 1.3 ounces!