Some big brands are continuing to downsize their products despite some easing of the inflation rate… so shrinkflation continues.
| Betty Crocker Cake Mixes |
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Remember when Betty Crocker cake mixes always used to be 18.25 ounces years ago?
Some time ago, the mix was downsized to 15.25 oz. and recently shrunk again to just 13.25 oz. — a full five ounces less than the original. The boxes are identical in size. You still add the same ingredients. You still use the same size pans. But, you now get nine servings instead of 10.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Thanks to Richard G. for spotting the latest change.
| Arm & Hammer Plus Oxi Clean |
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We all know (or should know) that the number of washes you get from a bottle of liquid detergent is a load of **** because it is usually based on a small or medium-size load. And the lines inside the cap are so hard to see, it really comes down to guess work if you are trying to use the right amount of detergent.
Now we have Arm & Hammer doing something a little unusual — shrinking their product but at the same time increasing the number of theoretic loads you are supposed to get in each bottle. We don’t know if they actually concentrated the product, so you can use less, or they just tinkered with the positioning of the fill lines.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Here you have an older bottle that was 122.5 oz., then it went down to 118.1 oz., and just recently it shrunk again to 100 oz. … but look how the number of loads increased. Thanks to Andrea for catching the latest change.
| Farm Rich Mozzarella Bites |
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Frank C. told us about a significant reduction in the size of the package for Farm Rich Mozzarella Bites, going from close to 20 ounces to just 15. But he said the bites were now bigger but with fewer calories per serving. What’s going on here? A closer look at front panel reveals they changed the serving size from four bites to just two now.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Quilted Northern Toilet Tissue |
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In the never-ending reduction of the number of sheets of toilet paper on each roll, the Quilted Northern Ultra Plush variety has gone from 284 sheets down to 255. And their soft and strong version went from 328 to 295 sheets per roll. (Thanks to Barry K. for that tip.)
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Hill’s Science Diet Dog Food |
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Even dog food is not immune from downsizing. Here one pet food retailer even tells customers about the “new look” and “improved recipe” of Hill’s Science Diet “Perfect Weight” dog food. They forget to mention in the graphic that the new one is two-and-a-half pounds lighter than the old one. (Bags are not to scale.)
If you spot a product that has recently downsized, please send clear before and after pictures to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org . Thanks!
My main problem with Betty Crocker cutting the size down 2 ounces a package is how long before all the other companies including the store brands do the same thing.
The last time this website reported on the major cake mixes which include Betty Crocker cutting the size was all the way back in 2012. At least cake mix does not go through as much shrinkflation as toilet paper does.
Plus you’re going to have….smaller cakes. In the same size pan. So great, now the cakes will be thinner/flatter – and if one is using the same number of eggs, amount of oil, etc., with less mix, the cakes will taste different too.
Some things don’t lend themselves well to shrinking, and I’d think cake mixes would be one of them. Gee, apparently not.
Maybe they’ve altered the formula of the mix to accommodate the smaller amount without any significant change to the taste, consistency and volume of the cake. Although I haven’t done any side-by-side comparison to test that theory either.
The Quilted Northern Ultra Plush’s 18 “mega” rolls are equivalent to 18 regular rolls. So, each mega roll is 4 regular rolls. Are we really to believe a regular roll of toilet paper is just 64 sheets? (255 / 4 = 63.75)
If not for all the shrinkflation going on for last few years , people would be in better positions to deal with inflation, which would be lower in food prices. Greed is so evident with shrinkflation. Too bad as a country we cannot expose to their faces this terrible practice like France has now done in their grocery stores. Posting how prices verse actual product size has changed. Prices used to be set from supply/ demand scenarios. Now it is just plain thievery on all food/ grocery items.
The consumer always suffers. There’s less product in many of our items these days, but the price stays the same, or is higher.
The CEO of Walmart just made a statement yesterday that prices will remain mostly the same when this inflationary period is over. The cheaper prices of 2 years ago will never return.
Did anyone really think these new outrageously high prices would go away? Major retailers like Kroger’s, Walmart, Target, Von’s (almost merged with Kroger/Ralph’s) love these new higher prices. They’ve complained that their margins were too low for many years.
We, the consumers, are being held captive by the companies that peddle their goods to us and they’re cheating us.
My adult son pointed out the other day that WalMart has changed the price on it’s own brand of cat litter. While he was saying that, he noticed that they also lowered the amount from 25 pounds to 20 pounds. Sounds like a one, two punch to me!
I’ll tell you who else likes the new prices…any state government that charges sales tax. Indiana has 7% on non foods and some edibles. If paper towels cost $1.00 2 years ago that’s 7¢. If it costs $2.00 now…that’s 14¢. So far, no one here is talking about lowering the sales tax. And at no time has any so-called financial reporter ever mentioned the shrinkage.
I’d feel a little better about this if I knew that employee wages have increased. Have they?
I don’t understand the constant toilet paper shrinkage. Are people replacing the roll every 3 days or something now? Imagine in a family where a few people share a bathroom! And no one is getting angry about this? I use a combination of Scott 1000 sheet rolls and Cottonelle Flushable wipes and still have to replace the roll once a week or so. If I switched to some of these brands with less than 300 sheets per roll I’m sure I’d be replacing them a lot more often and feeling not only shortchanged, but very inconvenienced too!
This last bag of Science Lite I bought did not fill the dispenser, it usually almost runs over. I checked the bag and it clearly said 15lbs. Now I’m wondering if they re-set the scales while using up old bags…
I don’t have a before bottle to compare but I just noticed on my “gallon” of Chlorox bleach that it is actually 3.78 quarts! It is more expensive than ever.
Just when I think that raw materials are more expensive, I hear on the news that Kroger, or an airline or food manufacturers are making RECORD PROFITS! It is really deceitful.