If the price of eggs hypothetically went from around $1.99 a dozen to, oh, let’s say $10.99 a dozen, you’d surely notice right away. But if every egg in a carton got just a little bit smaller, or if the same-sized carton held only 10 eggs instead of 12, and the price stayed the same, you might not notice until the next time you went to make an omelet.
It’s a phenomenon known as “shrinkflation.” When companies face higher costs and don’t want to scare off customers by raising prices, items get smaller while the price tag stays the same. Historically, we tend to see more shrinkflation when inflation is high and other costs are rising.
To help you spot shrinkflation in the wild, here are 19 real-life examples people shared online:
1.
Changing up packaging is one common way that companies camouflage shrinking products. Of these two bottles of orange juice, which one looks bigger to you?
It’s the one on the left. In late 2024, Tropicana was accused of shrinkflation when it switched from the carafe-style bottle on the left that held 52 ounces of juice to the taller, skinnier bottle on the right that holds 46 ounces.
2.
Sometimes products stay the same size but the ingredients or formulations change, like this drink that went from 70% juice to 60% juice.
3.
Or this mint chip ice cream that’s lost a lot of chips over the years. The picture on the top is from a few months ago, and the picture on the bottom is from a couple of years ago, according to the original poster.
4.
Another sign of shrinkage: you might notice a callout on the packaging that looks like it’s announcing an increase in value or quantity when the box now actually holds less.
5.
Like these Dino Nuggets that rebranded as Megadino Nuggets but went from a 64-ounce bag to a 45-ounce bag.
6.
Sometimes the packaging looks almost exactly the same, but the product has shrunk.
7.
And some packages have been redesigned to hide empty spaces in ways that you wouldn’t expect, like this packet of crackers, where the empty spot in the middle would be covered by a label on store shelves.
8.
If you didn’t have the older string cheese to compare it to, would you have noticed that this snack got both shorter and skinnier?
9.
And if you didn’t look really closely at this lotion, you’d probably think that nothing had changed.
10.
So, which one of these cereal boxes do you think holds the most product?
It’s the one on the left. The one on the right is taller, but it’s also thinner.
11.
Once again, the “taller” container here actually holds less.
12.
One of these packages was purchased a year ago, and the other a few months ago. Can you tell which is which?
13.
Even items like toilet paper and paper towels can fall victim to shrinkflation, like this roll on the right that clearly has fewer sheets than the one on the left.
14.
Or this toilet paper that now has smaller squares.
15.
Here’s another interesting example. The Reddit user who posted it wrote, “I always buy the $20 Tide detergent. I had my last three still in the laundry room and noticed each time I bought one, the quantity went down.”
From left to right, the bottles went from 154 ounces to 146 ounces to 132 ounces.
16.
If you use any store apps while you shop that save your past receipts, it can really help you spot shrinkflation.
17.
Your recipe book might also tip you off to product size changes. For example, one of my mom’s old recipes calls for a 16-ounce can of tomatoes, but I can only ever find 14.5-ounce cans nowadays.
18.
If you buy products on a subscription basis, you’ll also get tipped off to any changes in product size.
19.
And finally, sometimes you just see it, like when this person’s can was too small to fit just right inside their coozie:
Have you noticed any recent examples of shrinkflation? Tell us all about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
