This thought came to me while I was in the shower this morning. I am old enough to remember when purchasing a bar of soap meant it was a rectangular full-size bar of soap. The middle was not scooped out on the top and bottom of the bar so the company selling the bar could get more money for less product. When did that become a thing? Selling less product for more money? It seems like a sneaky practice and is everywhere we turn. Less cereal in a box, less chips in a bag, and smaller Twinkies to place in the bottom of my bowl of strawberries. I am not saying it is a bad thing to eat less. But, that is not why these companies are cutting down on the size of product they are selling. It is not about saving us from eating too many calories at one sitting. Nope. It is about the bottom line. THEIR bottom line. The money. Selling less for more seems to have become our country’s motto.
If you google less product for more money, there are several results that talk about this. One of the articles I just read termed this “shrinkflation” and claims this has been around since the 1950’s and is always worse when inflation is higher. I never knew there was a term for selling less for the same or more money until just now reading this article:
So, how do we fight “shrinkflation?” Can we? Should we? The last paragraph of the article I shared above mentions a few ways, one being to contact the participating companies to let them know of our dissatisfaction. Do I have any misconceptions that my one email to a company will make a difference? No. But, maybe my letter will simply be the first. Maybe others will follow my example to express their feelings of “enough is enough.” One only needs to mention Bud Light to know that many voices and choices to buy elsewhere can make a difference. Thoughts?
ChatterLei 