Shrinkflation continues.

Is it turkey for Thanksgiving?

We’re coming up on a year of “day one” lower cost promises and things have only gotten worse for average Americans, while the rich are making out like bandits!

LESS IS MORE

Boomer here.

I can remember the days when you could buy a pound of coffee at the grocery store. That was in the 1980s.[1] Then came shrinkflation.[2] Can’t do that now. The one-pound bag has shrunk to around 12 ounces now. It was done to keep the price stabilized but people got less product for the same amount of money. Shrinkflation. It happened everywhere.

It’s going on again today as corporate America responds to increased costs caused directly by Trump, our mad as a hatter President. I just got back from the store. Had to pick up some stuff for our upcoming Thanksgiving dinner. A 5 lb bag of potatoes is now 4 pounds. When I walked by the cat food aisle, I noticed what used to be a 16 lb pound bag of dry cat food had a big yellow patch that said it was now 15.5 lbs.

People noticed.

People that have used recipes for years, especially old hand me down recipes, are aware of what’s taking place and has been for decades. A recipe will call for an ingredient size that isn’t available anymore and is in a smaller quantity or weight meaning that more of the item will have to be bought to make what is called for or the recipe will have to be altered. Often the package will be the same size, but the amount inside will be less. Hence shrinkflation.

An obvious recent example that would fall under the category of shrinkflation/downsizing is the Walmart Thanksgiving Turkey dinner package touted by Trump as being 25% cheaper than their 2024 package of products.[3] It is, but there are some major differences. The 2024 package had 29 items and the 2025 package has 15 items and includes fewer name brands. The costs per head are indeed down. (2024 was less than $7 per head while the 2025 comes in at $4 per head.) But if people actually wanted the same amount of food, the cost would be higher this year. Groceries are 2.7% higher this year due to CONTINUING inflation.

SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF SHRINKFLATION:

General Mills shrank family-sized boxes of cereal. 19.3 ounces to 18.1 ounces. Price stayed the same. (2021)[4]

Procter & Gamble reduced the number of double-ply sheets per roll of toilet paper from 264 to 244 sheets in the 18-count mega package. It’s the same number of rolls but amounts to a roll and a half less of product. (2022)[5]

Lorna Doone snack packs. 1.5 ounces to 1 ounce. Each ounce now costs 50% more.[6]

Chex Mix family-size bags. 15 ounces to 13.5 ounces. 11% added to per-ounce cost.[7]

DECEPTICONS.

Companies use other tricks as well on consumers where something that used to be included in a price is removed and then a charge is added to get it back. Air travel has seen a LOT of this regarding luggage and seating! It’s called sneakflation. We’ve seen a lot of this in cable charges too as different packages of channels were created.

Another way that companies cheat us is through skimpflation. It’s where they remove ingredients like butter or milk and substitute cornstarch. Or they’ll change from calling something ice cream to a frozen diary product so they can skip or lessen the amount of cream. An ingredient will move from a high position on the list of ingredients to a lower spot since less is used. All of this can affect the quality and/or taste of a product.

All of this has resulted in a deflation of our purchasing power. We’re spending more and buying less. Ultimately shrinkflation is not good for the economy.[8]

Lieflation. Sadflation.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation

[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/shrinkflation-words-were-watching

[3] https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-trump-thanksgiving-meal-cost-discounts-0005c70022b7701e0ec0531220673942

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mills

[5] Ibid.

[6] https://www.aol.com/finance/article/shrinkflation-was-the-start-its-sneaky-twins-cost-you-even-more-172349930.html

[7] Ibid.

[8] https://www.britannica.com/money/what-is-shrinkflation

Copyright © 2025 Keith Thomas. All Rights Reserved.