Inflation has caused the price of just about everything we buy to go up in recent months.
But there is another tactic that companies have long-utilized as a means to maximize profits – shrinkflation.
“When manufacturers are facing higher costs, they can either raise the price of the goods they sell to us as shoppers, or they can take out a little bit of the product and make it smaller. That is a way of passing on a sneaky price increase,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org, who has been tracking shrinkflation trends for decades.
Dworksy pointed to some recent examples that he has highlighted on his website, including the standard 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade that has been shrunk down to 28-ounces.
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“They’re actually the same height, [but] maybe you can see [the newer one] has kind of a little bit of a waistline. They said they made it easier to grip. Give me a break,” said Dworsky.
Gatorade told NBC News that the change to a 28-ounce bottle was part of a years-long ergonomic plan to phase out 32-ounce bottles.
Another product that Dworsky has highlighted is Cottonelle’s Mega Roll 12 pack, made by Irving-based Kimberly-Clark.
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The Mega Roll was recently reduced from 340 sheets down to 312.
“In a 12-roll package, that’s like getting one less roll,” Dworsky said. “So, you’re getting 11 of what you were getting, but it looks like 12.”
As of Tuesday morning, Kimberly-Clark has yet to respond to an NBC DFW request for comment from Friday, May 13.
Dworsky and other consumer advocates have stressed that companies will often prefer to reduce the size of a product instead of raising the price of that product because shoppers are far more “price-conscious” than they are aware of the price-per-unit that they are paying.
