The “sneaky practice” of shrinkflation has been driving up your grocery bills for years
The “sneaky practice” of shrinkflation has been driving up your grocery bills for years
If inflation was the economic story of 2022, then shrinkflation might be the unsung economic story of the last few decades.
You may have noticed it before with things like laundry detergent that suddenly has less volume but the same price tag, cups of yogurt that lose an ounce at a time but never get less expensive, or rolls of toilet paper that have just a few less squares on them in each new iteration.
Edgar Dworsky, a consumer educator, has been meticulously cataloging examples of shrinkflation for decades. He joined Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal to talk about how to spot sneaky price increases and what it means for buyers. A transcript of their conversation is below and has been edited for clarity.
Kai Ryssdal: You have been profiled in the New York Times, where we found you. John Oliver did a whole segment on you. You have been called the foremost expert, I think, on shrinkflation in this economy. And I want to know how one becomes that expert. How did this happen?
Edgar Dworsky: I think you start out as a kid who pays attention to the candy bars that he buys and the toilet paper that he uses. And you see the candy bar was getting smaller, and the Charmin toilet paper was having fewer sheets. And that’s kind of how I got into it.
Ryssdal: One might call this a calling then, since you’ve been doing it since you were a kid.
Dworsky: Yeah, some people are called to check on shrinking products. And I guess I fit the bill.
Ryssdal: You’re it. Do me a favor though, and help me understand. And we should preface this by saying you spent your life in consumer protection. Give me the impetus behind the calling, right? Because there’s a real reason you do this.
Dworsky: Well, I think shrinkinflation is a nasty way to pass on a price increase. It’s just a sneaky practice of manufacturers. And I consider myself a consumer educator, and I want people to know some of the tricks of the trade. So if a manufacturer is reducing the number of ounces in their detergent, and it went from 100 ounces to 90, it’s done so inconspicuously that most people won’t notice. That’s where I come in.
Ryssdal: There’s also this thing called “skimpflation,” which — even though this is my line of work — was news to me when I first started doing research for this subject. And I want you to tell me about — oh, man, and I can’t remember the name, but it’s the fake butter that changed the ingredient. And there was a consumer outcry and then they had to go back. And I ask about it because my wife uses it and she was really annoyed.
Dworsky: Basically skimpflation is when a manufacturer reformulates a product using cheaper ingredients or less of the good ingredients. And in the case of Smart Balance, it’s a premium spread. It costs about five bucks for a 15-ounce container. The original version had 64% oil. They inconspicuously changed that little 64% number that appears in the bottom lef hand corner of the front panel of their product and made it 39% oil. Well, consumers noticed. And actually, as of this week, there were over 2,200 one-star reviews for Smart Balance on the website. And they say, “We apologize. We were changing the formula to try to make it spread more easily.” Give me a break, ‘Spread more easily.’ They were trying to fatten their bottom line by using less oil, which is very expensive now. But they heard the outcry. And now on store shelves we’re starting to see the old 64% come back just as inconspicuously as they changed to the smaller one. So you’ve got to look very carefully to see are you getting the old junky one? Or are you getting the new, much better one?
Ryssdal: You’re not philosophically opposed to price increases, right? If companies did increase prices, they’ve got to increase prices — just don’t do it sneakily, right? Is that the gist?
Dworsky: Yes, I agree. I mean, we all kind of hate what’s going on in the supermarket these days. Every time you go, there’s a new higher price on the items you buy all the time. It’s a fact of life. But if you don’t know a price increase is being passed on to you because they do it in this sneaky way, that’s where I see the issue.
Ryssdal: No product is safe, right? I mean, it goes everywhere.
Dworsky: Well, there’s one product I always say will have gone too far: It’s if I open that carton of eggs and there’s only 11.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
