Downsizing / Shrinkflation

Here are products that have shrunken in size as a sneaky way for manufacturers to pass on a hidden price increase.

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How Skimpflation Works in Restaurants

In October last year, Red Robin announced an upgrade — that it had a “new and improved lineup of gourmet burgers” that were “juicier and more flavorful.”

This August, Red Robin further announced a limited time promotion for a gourmet cheeseburger and unlimited fries for $10. No doubt, this is a pretty good deal given fast food prices and portion sizes today.

Red Robin $10 promotion

One Red Robin regular, WiseSofa1748, commented on their burgers in the following post, saying they are not as good as they used to be because the reason they are juicier is that they are fattier.

The new burgers they use suck. The old ones they had for years and years were so good. I asked the store manager when I last went and she told me it was really to cut costs, they went to a less lean, cheaper cut of beef that allowed it to be “juicier” aka more fat and slightly bigger bc its a crappier cut. It doesn’t taste near as good. Same for the bun and cheese she said, both were swapped out and Red Robin claimed it was for taste but as always it was to save a buck.

Are the consumer and the manager right? We did a little detective work to compare the current nutritional disclosures for their gournet cheeseburger with the previous listing from a year earlier, excerpted below.

*MOUSE PRINT:
Red Robin Nutritional comparison

Indeed, the amount of fat content went up, while the amount of protein went down. Since the company announced that it was making its burgers bigger and juicier last year, that could account for the increase in fat. However, the amount of protein should have gone up too if the company maintained the same lean to fat ratio.

We made multiple requests of the company to find out if they made the alleged changes to their burgers, but they did not respond.

While the media focuses on shrinkflation a lot these days, skimpflation is even more insidious. With shrinkflation, at least you can objectively discover when a product shrinks. But with skimpflation, product tweaks or reformulations are not generally announced or easy to discern.

We don’t know the recipes used by restaurants, the exact portion size you normally get, the grades of meat they buy, the quality or quantity of all the ingredients used in a dish, etc. So it is even easier to tinker with these things and most consumers would be none the wiser.

If you spot an example of skimpflation, please send the details and any proof you can unearth to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org. Thanks.

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Here We Shrink Again – Summer 2024 – Part 2

We conclude our two-part series this week about products that have recently been downsized (shrinkflation).

Brawny Paper Towels

Paper towel manufacturers seem to always be reducing the number of paper towels on each roll and sometimes even the dimensions of each sheet. This time, the tear-a-square variety went from 120 sheets on a roll to just 100, but each sheet on the new one is 4/10th of an inch longer.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Brawny paper towels

Maxwell House 100% Columbian Coffee

Remember when cans of ground coffee were a full pound? Over the decades, the contents have been continually whittled down to the point where you don’t even have 10 ounces of coffee in them, like this variety that was just downsized. And the big canisters lost almost an ounce and a half.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Maxwell House 100% Columbian

Maxwell House Columbian

Gillette Custom Plus 3

Nick B. buys his razor blades at Costco and he sent us this picture showing that their 36 packs of Gillette Custom Plus 3 razors now only have 30 of them — a 17-percent reduction. And the price stayed the same at $31.99.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Gillette blades

Kellogg’s Special K Red Berries Cereal

Kellogg’s has been busy this year reducing the contents of various of its cereal varieties. This one is particularly surprising because the new box is actually taller than the old box! How is that possible? They made the new box more narrow.

The contents went from 16.9 ounces down to 15.6 — the equivalent of losing one bowl of cereal in every package.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Special K Red Berry

Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste

Like so many brands, Tom’s of Maine is shrinking their tubes of toothpaste. This time, the already small 4.7-ounce size went down to just four ounces.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tom's of Maine

DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza

Consumers lost almost three ounces of pepperoni pizza in these boxes. At least the new one no longer says “33% more.” Thanks to our ace shrinkflation spotter, Richard G., for finding this.

*MOUSE PRINT:

DiGiorno pizza

Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas

If you didn’t check the number of Mission tortillas you were getting in the package, you might not have realized the old eight-count pack now only has six tortillas — a 25-percent reduction. Thanks to Devin B. for this submission.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Mission tortillas

Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch

In another downsizing where Kellogg’s has made the new package taller but narrower, almost two ounces was removed from Raisin Bran Crunch boxes, and the price stayed the same. Thanks, Richard G., for spotting this.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch

Lesser Evil Popcorn

Andie S. told us about Lesser Evil popcorn which has been reduced in size by almost 10 percent. The five-ounce bag is now 4.6 ounces. Popcorn kernels are so cheap, it is hard to imagine why any company has to skimp on them.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Lesser Evil Popcorn

Green Mount K-Cups

Steven C. alerted us to a change in the number of k-cup pods that are in Green Mountain boxes. Their smallest box just went from 12 cups to 10… and the price stayed the same.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Green Mountain K-Cups

If you spot a product that has been recently downsized, please take a picture of the old version and the new version, showing the net weight or net count, and email it to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org . Thanks.

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Here We Shrink Again – Summer 2024 – Part 1

Some big brands are continuing to downsize their products despite some easing of the inflation rate… so shrinkflation continues. Here is the latest batch of products that have gotten smaller, and next week we’ll feature more.

Tropicana Orange Juice

This is a big one in a category that has seen so many downsizings over the years. Remember when you could always buy half a gallon of orange juice? Those days are long gone (except for a few store brands). Tropicana has gone from 64 ounces to 59 ounces to 52 ounces and now to 46 ounces, depending on which size the retailer wants to stock.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tropicana 52 ounces to 46

Here, they don’t even pretend to keep the carafe looking roughly the same. In their current product line, they have eliminated the 52-ounce carafe and substituted a 46-ounce unimaginative bottle. These are all the container sizes they are now offering:

Tropicana sizes

Thanks to Edward E. who was the first to spot the Tropicana change, and to Barry R. for the photograph.

And it is not just their orange juice that has downsized… other beverages lost six ounces also, like this limeade.

Tropicana limeade

Kashi Go Cereal

People may think of Kashi as a new-age type of company but with old-fashioned values. They are actually owned by Kellogg’s, which has been playing cereal shrinkflation games full time in the past several months. This example comes from Sean M. (Boston Globe readers may be able to figure out who he is) who was distressed to find that his favorite morning cereal went from 13 ounces down to just 9.7 ounces. While you used to get six bowls of cereal out of every box, now there are only four.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kashi Go

At the same time the company shrank the product, they also reformulated it. And consumers are not very happy — posting nearly four dozen one-star reviews on their website.

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets

Bruce B. forwarded an email to us from Chewy announcing that Purina was downsizing its kidney function dry dog food in the next couple of months:

Purina warning via Chewy

That’s a 26-percent reduction with no decrease in price. Yikes.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Purina Kidney

Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats

Leif S. and Phil K. discovered that Kellogg’s removed two ounces from Frosted Mini Wheats between the middle of June and the beginning of July. Thanks for this picture that we annotated.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats

Walmart Whole Almonds

Our ace shrinkflation spotter, Richard G., found a major size reduction on Walmart’s Great Value Whole Almonds. They went from a 30-ounce bag to one that was only 25 ounces. And the price stayed the same at $7.98. The one-pound bag also lost two ounces.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Walmart whole almonds

Downy Fabric Softener

Brendan B. found a big change in Downy fabric softener at Sam’s Club. The old one was 170 ounces and provided 251 loads. The new version was the same price, with 20 fewer ounces. but supposedly provided 257 loads. The new equation must be less = more.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Downy

And who knows what “5x softening power” and “7x softening power” really mean. Further, to add to the confusion, in conventional stores like Target, there is a 140-ounce size of Downy and it only gets 190 loads. That’s 67 fewer loads with only a 10-oz. loss of liquid?

Kellogg’s Fruit and Yogurt

Shoppers lost about a bowl of cereal in each box of Kellogg’s Fruit and Yogurt. And note how the new box is actually taller than the old box. How did they do that? They made the new box more narrow.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kellogg's Fruit & Yogurt

Clif Bars

Clif Bar has reduced the number of bars in each box. In the case of the old 12 packs, there are now only 10 bars. And the six bar pack is down to only five. Thanks to Richard G. for spotting this.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Clif bars

Signature Oatmeal Packets

Following Quaker’s lead, Albertson Companies’ store brand, Signature, found at their various chains around the country including Star Market and Shaw’s in the Boston area, has reduced the number of packets in their oatmeal packages from 10 to a box to just eight. And the price stayed the same.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Signature Oatmeal

If you spot a product that has recently downsized, please try to take a picture of the old one and the new one showing the net weight or net count statements. Then email your find to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org . Thanks!