Supermarket Shrinkflation — Same Price, Less Product Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

Shoppers Face Shrinkflation at the Supermarket

It s not your imagination Rolls of toilet paper are getting smaller

AFP / Getty Images Rising prices for everything from gas to food are costing consumers money. But that’s not the only way they are getting hit. To combat higher manufacturing costs – known as input costs in the industry – manufacturers are shrinking their packaging sizes, giving consumers less for the same price. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Known as shrinkflation, it's been around since the 1960s and typically occurs during periods of high inflation, allowing manufacturers a way to pass on cost increases for ingredients and labor while keeping consumers largely in the dark. “It's a tactic firms have employed for a long, long time whenever input costs have gone up,” says Akshay Rao, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. “It first started when vending machines would only take certain coins. It was difficult to change the price on vending machines, so manufacturers reduced the quantity provided for the price.” With in February, shrinkflation is becoming common again. From toilet paper to yogurt, consumers and advocates are spotting a lot of downsizing of popular products. “We are in the middle of a wave of shrinkflation,” says Edgar Dworsky, founder of Consumer World, and a consumer advocate who has tracked shrinkflation for over 30 years. “Some manufacturers are doing both, raising prices as well as shrinking products.” Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > Spotting shrinkflation can be difficult. It requires you to calculate how much weight of a product you’re getting for the price. Most grocery stores are required to list that, known as the unit price, but it’s often buried in the fine print and may be difficult for some older adults to see. “It's part of the strategy. The store and manufacturers do not want you to focus on unit price,” says Rao. “They want you to focus on the retail price. That’s how they communicate the cost and quality to you.” But Rao says consumers should absolutely focus on the unit price and monitor it from week to week to gauge if they are paying more for less. If an item is reduced from 40 chips to 36, it amounts to a 10 percent price hike. “It's a classic case of caveat emptor (buyer beware). If you are not a you will get taken advantage of,” says Rao. AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. . Snyder’s Pretzels recently got a branding upgrade, but the packaging has been downsized. An old bag of honey mustard and onion pretzel pieces was 12 ounces, now it’s 11.5 ounces. Keebler’s Chips Deluxe with M&Ms is being downsized to 9.75 ounces from 11.3 ounces. The family size is taking a bigger hit going to 14.6 ounces from 17.2 ounces. Meanwhile, Dworsky says Keebler E.L. Fudge packages lost 1.3 ounces and 20 calories per cookie. ​ Earth’s Best Organic Sunny Day snack bars now have seven bars per package, down from eight, and Chobani flip yogurt is 4.5 ounces, down from 5.3 ounces. Not to be left out of the shrinkflation craze, Gatorade has rolled out a new, smaller design for its popular sports drink. After years of keeping it at 32 fluid ounces, the company reduced it to 28 fluid ounces. AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. More on money AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS