‘Shrinkflation’: Manufacturers put less in packages but keep prices the same
(WTVD) — As prices for consumer goods continue to rise, experts are ringing alarm bells over so-called shrinkflation.
“‘Shrinkflation’ is a term used to describe implicitly increasing the price of an item by slightly decreasing the amount or quantity in a package,” Steve Reed, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, told ABC News.
Reed said the BLS doesn’t have any evidence on why this occurs and cannot speak to the motivation or strategies of the sellers, but “the conventional wisdom is that the reason this is done is that it is less noticeable to consumer than sort of an explicit price increase.”
The latest data from the Consumer Price Index indicates that prices on everyday goods have jumped 5% over the last 12 months — the largest one-year increase since August 2008. The CPI has been trending upwards every month this year, stoking inflation fears among economists and “shrinkflation” worries among shoppers.
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