There was an article written in Bloomberg on 31 May 2022 by Katie Linsell (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-31/why-is-my-ice-cream-shrinking-inflation-by-stealth-quicktake) which talked about shrinkflation. This word is an amalgamation of the words ‘shrink’ and ‘inflation’. Inflation is the effect of things getting more expensive over time. Shrinking is things getting smaller. By putting the two words together, we are talking about the effect of things getting more expensive by having things come in smaller packages but being sold for the same price, effectively increasing the per unit cost of something.
Inflation through shrinkflation is a lot less obvious than straight up inflation. When we buy something regularly, we make a mental note of the price and we can see quite clearly with our eyes when there is a price increase. But we are much less sensitive to seeing a packaging come in a slightly smaller size. We are even less sensitive to feeling a change in weight with our hands, so we might not even notice when companies start putting less of their product into a packaging of the same size.
There are some who defend, or even support, such a move. Their reasons are that people are consuming too much, so having less chocolate or chips or whatever kind of food in a packaging might encourage people to eat less. Another reason is that they don’t mind having less in a package so long as it is still affordable to buy, that is, they would rather be able to buy less than not be able to buy any at all. While those can all be valid reasons, we are focused on the financial aspect of things here, so we can’t deny that shrinkflation in the end results in things being more expensive overall.
There are several ways to combat shrinkflation, assuming that we don’t want to change to using a cheaper brand. One way is to make bulk purchases as these usually result in savings, but we have to be mindful that we don’t buy so much that the products spoil before we can finish using them. Along the same lines, you can team up with your friends to make bulk purchases together and enjoy the savings, reminiscent of collective bargaining.
Another way, and one of my favorites, is to shop around using the internet. Most large stores have an online presence nowadays, so it’s easy enough to see if there are lower prices around. However, remember to be Pound Wise and Penny Foolish. If you’re going to have to drive an hour just to enjoy the lower prices, it might not be worth it for the savings. Sometimes, it makes more sense to suffer the higher prices instead of wasting time and transportation costs.