Democratic lawmakers accuse companies of shrinking product sizes while charging consumers the same price
It’s becoming a common experience for Americans going to the grocery store: your bag of chips seems lighter, your favorite drink comes in a slimmer bottle, and you’re running out of laundry detergent more quickly than usual. And yet things are staying the same price.
On Monday two Democratic lawmakers launched an attempt to get to the bottom of the phenomena, accusing three major companies, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Mills, of shrinking the size of products while charging consumers the same price – a price-gouging practice known as “shrinkflation”.
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“Shrinking the size of a product in order to gouge consumers on the price per ounce is not innovation, it’s exploitation,” Warren and Dean said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this price gouging is a widespread problem, with corporate profits driving over half of inflation.”
They will just have to raise prices. It won’t actually benefit consumers
You’re right about raising prices, but it will benefit consumers. If you’re making a recipe, you won’t have to buy 2 things instead of one and then figure out what you’re gonna do with a weird fraction of some ingredient.
It’ll be less wasteful in terms of packaging too. That’s better for the environment.
It will also make it easier to notice for the average consumer, which could change shopping habits and ultimately lead to a lower stable price.
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Nothing to do with deceptive packaging.
They can just raise the prices more
The rest always goes to shareholders. You imagine inflation going like this:
Price is $4, so it’s sold for $5. When the price goes to $6, it’s sold for $7
Inflation actually goes like this:
When the price is $6, it’s sold for $7.50 because shareholders don’t like lower margins
They are already raising prices too, you pay more for less.
You won’t get it cheaper, that’s not how it works.