When inflation hits and companies want to raise prices, whether to stay afloat or please their shareholders, but wish to keep their consumers buying all the same, many choose a deceitful tactic: sell a slightly worse or smaller product at the same price.
This tactic, called shrinkflation, has been especially popular with food companies, since unlike electronics or other supposedly "durable" goods, there are many ways to sneakily cut costs, from simply decreasing the package size to substituting quality ingredients for cheaper ones.
There's lots of evidence of how widespread shrinkflation has gotten in the past decade. Here are some glaring examples of companies getting the most they can out of this anti-consumer approach.
This McDonald's No Longer Offers Free Refills
(Source: Reddit)
173 Doesn't Equal 227 Last Time We Checked
(Source: Reddit)
Enough Air To Share With Everyone
(Source: Reddit)
Even Girl Scouts Are Shrinkflating
(Source: Reddit)
Made "Cheesier" By Replacing Milk And Butter With Corn Starch And Lactic Acid
(Source: Reddit)
No Worries, They Only Forgot 40% Of The Roast
(Source: Reddit)
Small Fries At Five Guys
(Source: Reddit)
Same Size, Same Price, But More Water
(Source: Reddit)
Same Package Bought One Month Apart
(Source: Reddit)
Pint Size Has Been Updated
(Source: Reddit)
It's Not Delivery, It's… This
(Source: Reddit)
30 Percent Of Dinosaurs Seem To Have Gone Extinct
(Source: Reddit)
Same Bottle, One Ounce Less
(Source: Reddit)
Garlic Salt, Now With More Salt And Less Garlic
(Source: Reddit)
Six More! (It's Two Less)
(Source: Reddit)
Even YouTube Has Shrinkflation
(Source: Reddit)
A Sneaky Move
(Source: Reddit)
Now More Aerodynamic
(Source: Reddit)
Snickers Ice Cream Pack Is Down To Five
(Source: Reddit)
Family Pack – If You Live Alone And Are Not Too Hungry
(Source: Reddit)
They're Not Getting Away With That
(Source: Reddit)
Even Waste Bags Are Getting Smaller
(Source: Reddit)
That's $2.50 For One Strip Of Bacon
(Source: Reddit)
