We recently had a local candy brand advertise that the packaging has gotten smaller, but still contained the same amount. So I guess that they over time had removed enough pieces, that the box started to look suspiciously empty, and they then shrank the box to make it look fuller
Brazil did this years ago. We see in the package “new weight, from X to Y, reduction of N%”. And nothing actually came out of it. Everyone does, we have to buy it, shit stays the same.
You don’t have to buy it though! None of the packaged products in a grocery store are necessities. You could live a very healthy lifestyle eating only the fresh stuff from the store!
The US needs nationally mandated unit price labeling. We’ve had it in NY for as long as I can remember.
You’d be shocked at how often the middle size is the best deal. It’s almost always the case with cereal. The large box ends up more expensive than the medium per ounce, but people assume it’s the better deal because it’s a bigger package.
I’m sorry. The article is clearly about France, but my comment was America-centric. I edited my comment for clarity.
I’m glad to hear you have unit pricing available in France. I can’t imagine the time people must spend doing the math for comparison shopping in regions without it.
Do you think the shrinkflation stickers will make a difference in educating the average consumer, or be more effective as a shaming tool for manufacturers?
They’re still jerks about it in stores. To keep you from easily comparing products they’ll offer the unit price per oz for one box, then give you the unit price per lb for the other. So they make you do the math, and I’m sure plenty of people just skip that and buy the larger size.
That’s against regulations if you live in a unit price mandated state. You can report misuse of unit price labeling to your State Director.
According to NIST SP 1181, under Consistency of Units and Measure:
The declaration of the unit price of a particular category of product in all package sizes offered for sale in a retail establishment shall be uniformly and consistently expressed in the same unit of measure. The same unit of measure should be used whether a product category is sold in a fixed weight pre-pack, loose from bulk, or in a random weight pack.
They do this here in the UK too but because we use the metric system now you just add or take away a zero. It registers in your awareness but you don't need to go away and install an app on your phone in order to convert it.
While I think this is a step in the right direction, I don't think it's fair to put this on the grocers that didn't do anything wrong. This should be a labeling requirement for the manufacturer that's doing it. So instead of the one doing the harm having to take the brunt of the cost for doing it in the first place, instead the grocer has to take the time and money to do it and also keep up with any new changes. Again, step in the right direction. Never let perfect be the enemy of good.
Package price can still matter depending on how much you need of a product. Buying 10kg of rice when you need 500g is going to be more expensive than buying a smaller bag. Even if the price/kg is higher.
Me too, but there is one UK retailer (Co-operative) that makes it hard for you. They will have, say, a punnet of strawberries with 200g strawberries in it for £3.50 and another one with 300g for £4.50. The labels will say "unit price: £3.50/unit" or "£4.50/unit". (No, really?) So you have to do your own maths. Luckily other markets are sensible enough to actually provide price per weight. And in Tesco, when a given product is cheaper for clubcard holders, it will even give price per weight twice, for both normal price and clubcard price.
Btw. I don't work for Tesco. I just needed to vent about Co-op being dicks; Tesco just serves as a good counter example of how this should be done, in case any Co-op executive is reading this.
I do that all the time too, is especially good when I'm shopping for snacks like biscuits, of course I have to factor in calories but that part isn't going well
I've been thinking of a solution for this. What if products were required to be sold in standard increments. No 11.2 floz, either 6 floz or 12 floz. No 960 grams, only increments of 250 grams up to 1 kg, then increments of 1 kg. It would make product comparison much easier and make it obvious when shrinkflation is happening.
It actually is here in the US, too. At least in my state. It would still be helpful for monitoring for inflation as a consumer if sizes were fixed so that the actual price changes when the price per unit changes. For me it's a lot easier to recognize that something went from $4.99/kg to $5.99/kg when the item is fixed at 1 kg than it is to recognize when the item went from 830 g to 691 g but remained $4.14.
This is a solved problem, in other areas of the world.
I would avoid 250g, that just means you have to multiply and divide by 4, which is more of a pain than multiples of 10.
In Australia, all food and grocery products (other than fresh produce by unit, like 1 avocado), must be labelled by weight, volume, or other suitable metric (number of toilet paper sheets, for example) by a suitable multiple of 10.
Spices, x$/10g, vegetables x$/kg, other stuff per 100/g. Whatever results in a reasonable $ number.
Even if it's different it's hilariously easy to compare.
This can of tomatoes $0.70/100g, is cheaper than $8/kg fresh tomatoes, easy peasy because you just move the decimal.
It really is nice, sorry to rub salt in the wound 😅
I could see this happening in more progressive states like California, Oregon, or Washington state.
California already has a bunch of consumer protection laws:
Store gift cards can never expire and must be redeemable for cash if they have a balance of less than $10.
A warranty can't require you to register the product to be eligible for warranty coverage.
The CCPA, which is like a mini version of the GDPR. Companies must provide all data they've collected about you upon request, must delete all the data upon request, and must let you opt out from them selling your data (they literally have to have a link labeled "do not sell my personal information" on their site)
Anti price gouging laws.
As of July 1, drip pricing (hidden fees on top of advertised prices, such as service charges) will be illegal.
And probably a bunch of other ones I can't think of off the top of my head :)
Don't think that would exactly apply, as this seems to be just a notice that the size has changed without the price changing. Not really turning the world upside down, more just showing which companies/products have been screwing you lately.
Maybe they should have to list the exact amount it decreases and the date that manufacturing started the units with the decrease. That well the consumer has all the information they need too know whether they still want to support the company or not.
Get yourself a Unit Price Comparison app for your next shopping trip. It will let you know how much you're paying per oz/lb/kg/ml and tell you which is the better buy. A good app will let you save those prices for future comparison.