Less is more: 'Shrinkflation' hits grocery stores as companies reduce product sizes amid rising costs
Big brands are giving you less bang for your buck
'Shrinkflation' nation: Companies reducing product sizes amid rising costs
Less is more. FOX Business' Grady Trimble reports from Chicago's Happy Foods supermarket with a closer look at what you're getting less of.
Americans are getting less for what they pay for at the grocery store as companies are shrinking their packaging to save money amid rising costs.
Cereal, orange juice, ice cream and candy have all gotten ounces smaller yet still cost the same while home goods like paper towels and trash bags are seeing less product per box.
"There is nothing I can do about it," Barbara Eastman, owner of Chicago's Happy Foods, told FOX Business correspondent Grady Trimble on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday. "We get invoiced in and we still have to make a percentage in order to run a business, so it's passed on to the consumer."
Rising manufacturing, labor and transportation costs have left consumer packaged goods companies with a conundrum: raise prices or sell less product for the same cost, a term coined as "shrinkflation."
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'Shrinkflation' hits grocery stores as companies reduce product sizes amid rising costs
FOX Business' Grady Trimble reports from Chicago's Happy Foods supermarket with a closer look at what you're getting less of.
"It's been going on for about, I'd say, two and a half years, but now we can really see it," Eastman explained. "The packaging actually looks the same… it's unusual. Like a pint of ice cream is 14 ounces."
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GIS | GENERAL MILLS INC. | 63.81 | +1.03 | +1.64% |
A family-size box of General Mills cereal is down from 19 ounces to 18 ounces, Trimble reported.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSY | THE HERSHEY CO. | 174.03 | +3.79 | +2.23% |
A 1.6-ounce two-pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, made by Hershey's, is now 1.5 ounces.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COST | COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP. | 928.08 | -2.07 | -0.22% |
Costco paper towels are seeing 20 sheets fewer per roll.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| REYN | REYNOLDS CONSUMER PRODUCTS INC. | 27.64 | +0.07 | +0.25% |
Hefty trash bags, a Reynolds product, are down from 90 bags a box to 80.
And Orange juice is about five ounces smaller than it used to be, while Tillamook ice cream is down eight ounces.
"It's downright cruel," Payne Capital Management President Ryan Payne remarked in response to Trimble's report.
"Companies are really struggling to keep up with the cost," Fox News contributor Liz Peek added. "This is sort of a sneaky way of raising prices, basically."