CBS News
Shrinkflation has affected one-third of grocery items, analysis finds. Here are the worst offenders.
Americans continue to face higher prices after inflation shot up during the pandemic, in particular for essentials like food. But there’s another, less noticeable, trend that’s just as painful to your pocketbook eve when a product’s cost looks stable: shrinkflation.
About one-third of roughly 100 common consumer products tracked by LendingTree have shrunk in size or servings since the pandemic. The worst offenders — household paper products, like toilet paper and paper towels, personal finance firm’s analysis found.
More specifically, shrinkflation refers to scaling back the size of a product but charging the same amount as for the prior, larger portion. The upshot: People end up shelling out more money because they’re getting less of a given product.
To be sure, shrinkflation is by no means a new consumer phenomenon. The term is credited to British economist Pippa Malmgren in 2009, but the trend picked up in the post-pandemic years as corporations wrestled with higher manufacturing costs. Instead of hiking prices and potentially losing shoppers, some opted to make their products smaller while continuing to charge the same amount.
Inflation in August hit a three-year low. That doesn’t necessarily mean prices are falling; rather, the pace of price increases has slowed sharply compared to the outsized spikes experienced during pandemic, when inflation hit a 40-year high. But with shrinkflation remaining an issue with many products, about 7 in 10 consumers said they’ve noticed at least one incident of the trend within the last year, according to LendingTree.
“The fact we were able to find one-third of these products having shrunk, and in some categories an even bigger percentage, it’s a troubling thing,” LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz told CBS MoneyWatch. “Nobody loves high prices, but people would prefer to pay a little bit more if the alternative is paying the same and getting less, and not really being told about it.”
Shrinkflation can often be tough to document or even pick up on, given that many people don’t keep older packages of, say, toilet paper or cereal on hand with which to compare newer purchases, Schulz noted. LendingTree tracked the issue by comparing Walmart’s prices in 2024 with those in 2019-2020 via the Wayback Machine, a site that archives webpages from prior months and years.
Still, many consumers aren’t fooled, and the trend has drawn condemnation from everyone from Cookie Monster, who declared on X in August that “me hate shrinkflation!” because it was making his cookies smaller, to President Joe Biden, who called on snack companies in February to stop the shrinkage.
A similar trend is “skimpflation,” where the quality of a product or service is reduced to save money, such as switching to a cheaper ingredient or cutting back on services at a hotel or restaurant.
Products with the most shrinkflation
Household paper products have the highest rate of shrinkflation, the LendingTree analysis found. Out of 20 products it tracked from prior to the pandemic until today, about 60% had reduced their sheet count, the study found.
Breakfast foods had the second-highest rate of shrinkflation, with LendingTree finding that about 44% of the items they tracked were now sold in smaller portions. Family-sized Frosted Flakes, made by Kellogg’s, has slimmed from 24 ounces to 21.7 ounces, resulting in a 40% increase in per-ounce pricing, the analysis found.
About 38% of candy items are now sold in smaller amounts, including party-size Reese’s miniatures (35.6 ounces now versus 40 ounces in 2019-2020) and party-size milk chocolate M&M’s (38 ounces now versus 42 ounces previously.)
About 27% of snacks had gone through portion reductions, LendingTree said. That includes party-size Cheetos, made by Frito-Lay, which shrank to 15 ounces from 17.5 ounces while its per-ounce price rose to 40 cents from 17 cents.
Other snacks that have gotten smaller but pricier include party-size sour cream and onion Lay’s, family-size original Wheat Thins and party-size original Tostitos, LendingTree said.
Shrinkflation’s impact on your finances
Shrinkflation can make household budgeting even tougher for consumers because it’s harder to prepare for, Schulz noted.
“In general the average American’s financial margin for error is super tiny, and this is just another thing that makes that situation a little bit harder,” he said.
Items that are rising in price due to inflation may be easier to budget simply because shoppers can clearly see the higher prices and account for it in their spending, Schulz added.
“But if the thing you’re buying stays the same price, but has less, it’s not as readily noticeable and it may create a distortion in your budget,” he said.
CBS News
Teamsters going on strike against Amazon at several locations nationwide
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
CBS News
Teamsters set to strike against Amazon at New York City warehouse
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
CBS News
12/18: CBS Evening News – CBS News
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