![]() The new box, however, was taller and skinnier. But on the shelf were two different versions of the product. A couple of weeks ago, he went to a local grocery store in Tampa, Fla., to re-up. Jonathan Fitzer is a big fan of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, another cereal made by General Mills. Not all consumers are oblivious to shrinkflation. "And maybe it's going to be a double-whammy: We're going to see some products going up in price at the same time that you're actually getting less in the package." A taller cereal box does not always mean more cereal "As we're seeing inflation picking up now, that's why I think you're going to see more items being downsized," Dworksy says. We're now seeing a wave of shrinkflation, from Tillamook ice cream to Royal Canin cat food. That is why, when the government began reporting surges in inflation several months ago, Dworsky was on the lookout for its devious, shrinkifying cousin. For example, if the price of gasoline or grain goes up. "The downsizing tends to happen when manufacturers face some type of pricing pressure," he says. Over the years, Dworsky has documented the downsizing of everything from Doritos to baby shampoo to ranch dressing. Shrinkflation, or downsizing, is probably as old as mass consumerism. To add insult to injury, Charmin recently shrank the size of their toilet sheets. Now you have to pay extra for "Mega Rolls" and "Super Mega Rolls" - and even those have many fewer sheets than the original. The original Charmin roll of toilet paper, he says, had 650 sheets. The case of the shrinking toilet paper rollīack in the day, Dworsky says, he remembers buying bigger candy bars and bigger rolls of toilet paper. Companies, of course, have known this for years. They are more sensitive to changes in price than to changes in quantity. Koehler analyzed data from the market for cereal and other sectors and found that consumers are much more gullible than classic theory predicts. They would keep their eyes on the price per Cocoa Puff and not fall for gimmicks in how companies package those Cocoa Puffs. If consumers were the rational creatures depicted in classic economic theory, they would notice shrinkflation. But if the orange juice container goes from 64 ounces to 59 ounces, they're probably not going to notice." They can tell instantly if they're used to paying $2.99 for a carton of orange juice and that goes up to $3.19. "Downsizing is really a sneaky price increase," Dworsky says. Downsizing and shrinkflation both refer to the same thing: companies reducing the size or quantity of their products while charging the same price or even more. He refers to it by its original name, downsizing, but economist Pippa Malmgren rechristened it "shrinkflation" about a decade ago, and the term stuck. He has spent decades tracking instances of companies shrinking products on his website Mouseprint. It was an open-and-shut case: General Mills is yet another perpetrator of "shrinkflation."ĭownsizing and shrinkflation mean the same thingĭworsky is a former Massachusetts assistant attorney general and longtime consumer advocate. General Mills had downsized the contents of its "family size" boxes from 19.3 ounces to 18.1 ounces.ĭworsky went to the checkout aisle, and both boxes - gasp! - were the same price. Aha! The tip he had received was right on the money. He grabbed an old box of Cocoa Puffs and put it side by side with the new one. Sure enough, old boxes of Cocoa Puffs and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios were stacked at the end of one of the aisles. ![]() ![]() Then Dworsky headed toward the back of the store. It was as though the suspect's fingerprints had been wiped clean. The store had already replaced old General Mills cereal boxes - such as Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs - with newer ones. ![]() He stepped into the cereal aisle, where he hoped to find the smoking gun. A couple of weeks ago, Edgar Dworsky walked into a Stop & Shop grocery store in Somerville, Mass., like a detective entering a murder scene. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |