Edited by: TJVNews.com
As inflation continues to hit its highest level in 40 years, Americans are feeling the pinch and it sure stings. Prices of just about everything have significantly increased while our wallets are shrinking faster than the speed of sound.
Among the essentials that we all need to survive such as rent and mortgage payments, home energy, gas for our vehicles, and clothing, what has really raised eyebrows for the average American consumer is the sticker shock that we have experienced at the local supermarket. To say that food prices have gone through the roof is truly an understatement and Americans are struggling with it, day after day.
To add insult to injury, many of us have taken note of the fact that the size of the food items we are buying are getting smaller while the prices are catapulting. According to a 2021 report by Scripps News, what is unfolding before our very eyes is a trend that economists refer to as “shrinkflation.”
The New York Times has described shrinkflation as a situation occurs when products or packaging are subtly manipulated so that a person pays the same price, or even slightly more, for something but gets less of it.
So if prices remain the same, this means you are getting less for your money and will ultimately end up spending more money. Consumer product companies have been using this strategy for decades
The New York Times recently profiled someone who has dedicated much of his life to exposing what is one of the sneakier tricks in the modern consumer economy.
The Times describes Edgar Dworsky, 71, as a semiretired lawyer whose career began as a market researcher before briefly becoming an on-air consumer reporter for local television alongside a young Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News personality .
At the height of his career, Dworsky worked with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, on his way to becoming a self-employed consumer advocate and possibly the world’s foremost expert on shrinkflation, the NYT reported.
He has been diligently following the strategy of consumer product companies for decades and according to the NYT, Dworsky writes about shrinkflation in everything — tuna, mayonnaise, ice cream, deodorant, dish soap — alongside other consumer advocacy work on topics like misleading advertising, class-action lawsuits and exaggerated sale claims.
He presents his discoveries on his website, mouseprint.org, a reference to the fine print often found on product packaging. Print so tiny “only a mouse could read,” he says, as was reported by the NYT.
One recent Mouse Print report explored toilet paper shrinkflation. “Virtually every brand of toilet paper has been downsized over the years,” Dworsky wrote, according to the NYT report. He documented more than a decade of toilet paper shrinkage.
Readers not only appreciate the significant contributions that Dworksy makes but they send him tips and leads for investigative purposes. He receives e-mails with information about such products as diluted cough syrup that shows a photo of two packages of essentially the same item. The only difference is that the new one appeared to be half the strength of the old one, the NYT reported. He finds the cough syrup message intriguing and he has plans to investigate it, the report indicated.
Another such example of messages that Dworsky receives alert him to things like a bag of dog food that discreetly shrank from 50 pounds to 44 pounds, the NYT reported. Another would be a cereal box that switched from “giant” to “family” size and grew about an inch taller, but was a few ounces lighter. Bottles of detergent that look the same, but the newer ones come with less detergent, the report said.
The NYT reported that Dworsky’s efforts to expose frauds being perpetrated on consumers received acknowledgement in academic circles as well. Joseph Balagtas, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University who has studied shrinkflation, said Dworsky was the only person he was aware of who is documenting the phenomenon, according to the NYT report. Hitendra Chaturvedi, a supply chain management professor at Arizona State University, said he had turned to Dworsky’s examples to build the data sets for his own research.
For the average consumer, paying particular attention to the weight of the product is exceptionally important, the Scripps report indicated.
“Make sure that you’re taking these things into the calculation. It’s good to plan ahead, you know, be conscious of the sales that are going on, what size these items are, and go from there,” said Tanya Christian with Consumer Reports.
There are also certain things you can buy in bulk to try and offset “shrinkflation” and rising costs. For example, meat products, which Consumer Reports says are seeing some of the biggest price hikes right now, according to the Scripps report.
“For instance, if you want to buy a bag of chicken and bring that home, freeze some parts, keep some of them in the refrigerator, so you can always get to it at a later time, that’s fine. Are you going to buy mayonnaise in bulk? You know, only if you can use it before it expires. So, as long as you’re buying in bulk, just make sure it makes sense for you and your family’s needs,” said Christian.
She also recommends going into the grocery store with a list. That way, you can avoid buying things you don’t need. The report also indicated that most grocery stores also have an app where you can digitally clip coupons, and some credit cards offer rewards or cashback for groceries.
“You know, you might want to check out other stores like Dollar General or the dollar store, where, I mean, it’s a set price right, especially the dollar store. It’s never going up. It’s always going to be a dollar,” said Christian.
