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As we wrap up 2024, it is time to take a last look at some products that suffered the effects of shrinkflation. Here are some more products that have been recently downsized.
| Chex Mix |
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Snack foods are one of the common categories of groceries to shrink. And Chex is no exception. Their family size bags which used to be 15 ounces have gone down to 13.5 ounces.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Secret Deodorant |
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Solid deodorant packages tend to be deceptive. The dispenser appears to be pretty tall, but if you look carefully at the one on the right below, you will see that the fairly thick platform that raises the stick deodorant starts halfway up the package. There is no content in the bottom half.
*MOUSE PRINT:
And to add insult to injury, the new tubes went from 2.6 ounces to 2.37 ounces. Thanks to Nora F. for this submission.
| Q-Tips |
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Warehouse club packs of Q-Tips have been shrinking. The old packs combined contained 1875 Q-Tips, but the new ones have 125 fewer Q-Tips — just 1750. Either way, this seems like a lifetime supply for many people.
*MOUSE PRINT:
People have also been complaining online about the amount of cotton on the ends of Q-Tips. They say it has been reduced. Thanks to Glen B. for finding this product.
| Charmin Strong |
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Our ace downsizing spotter, Richard G., discovered that Charmin in the red package finally downsized again (the soft version in the blue package did that last year). Now each roll has 330 sheets instead of the old 363.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Along with the reduction in sheets came a name change. P&G retired the name “Super Mega” and renamed the product Charmin Mega XL. They did this apparently so they could introduce an even larger roll called Mega XXL. (It would have been odd to have had to call it “Super Super Mega.”)
| Tyson Chicken Nuggets |
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Don’t look now, but you probably lost 10% of the nuggets from each of Tyson’s two-pound bags. You now only get 29 ounces.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Richard G. spotted this one too, along with their chicken patties going from 10 in a package to just eight.
| Bar Soap |
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The ever-shrinking soap bar continues to shrink. Now 3.17-ounce Dove bars are only 2.6 ounces. And Lever 2000 went from four ounces to 3.75.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes |
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What has Betty Crocker been cooking up lately? Smaller boxes of her au gratin potatoes, that’s what. They went down from 4.7 ounces to just four ounces. Thanks to both Nick B. and Richard G. for spotting this change.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Jif Peanut Butter To Go Cups |
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Richard G. discovered that little cups of Jif peanut butter that kids might eat as a snack went down from 1.5 ounces per cup to just 1.1 ounces.
*MOUSE PRINT:
| Lorna Doone Snack Pack |
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Lastly, a childhood cookie favorite, Lorna Doone, lost two of its six cookies in each snack pack, according to Susan L. So they’ve gone from an ounce-and-a-half down to just one ounce.
*MOUSE PRINT:
If you find a product that has been downsized very recently, please take a picture of the old version and the new version, side-by-side, if possible, clearly displaying the net content statements on both. You can email that to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org . Thanks.
Not only have the package size of the Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes shrunk, so has the serving size shown the the packages, down from 2/3 cup to 1/2 cup. But the number of calories and sodium per serving stays the same! Food magic or bad editing?
Devil’s advocate: It could be that they’re just better dehydrating the potatoes and other products.
I think the most likely answer is a recipe change coupled with a size reduction.
Using “percentage” of the package shrinkage, whatever the product, is by far more attention-grabbing that “ounce” or “count” decreases. LornaDoone shortbread cookies is an example.
1.5 content ounces down to 1 ounce is a 33% reduction. Paired against the rate of inflation… 33% is huge! And far more eye-opening
That Secret deodorant is looking like it has too much slackfill for what they have in it.
The least offensive of these changes is the Q-tips change. At least it states clearly on the box that you’re getting 2x of the bigger pack and 1x of the smaller pack. A more deceptive change would have been to continue to give you 3 of the big packs, but remove a few Q-Tips from each one.
Please sir, do not try to defend this manufacturer’s deceptive business practice. They may have changed the packaging but the price is the same! The consumer is getting the shaft and doesn’t realize it.
Costco has the best deal for Dove bar soaps. I just bought a 16 bar package of Dove original and each bar is 3.75 ounces.
It’s getting to the point where I’m buying everything I can in bulk at Costco because not only is the price is lower than anywhere else but with less and less product in each individual package all the time it’s more work to keep having to replace the smaller packages more often. And it’s getting harder and harder to find products that aren’t shrinking all the time.
My nominee for shrinkflation scam of the week is Bumble Bee tuna. I hadn’t bought any in a while, but when I picked up a can recently at the supermarket I could tell something was different. It looked smaller, and felt a little lighter. Back in the “good old days,” a medium sized can held six ounces of tuna, which was a good size for a pretty decent tuna fish sandwich. Sure enough, the new shrinkflated can holds 5 oz. Needless to say, the price hasn’t dropped. Unfortunately, you can’t do better with a different brand because it looks like they’ve all gotten on the shrinkflation bandwagon.
David… it must be at least 10 years since you bought tuna because cans have been five ounces for at least a decade now!