rant – the shrinkflation epidemic

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You know what’s been grinding my gears (or should I say my beans) lately? The fact that large takeaway coffee cups no longer seem to exist. A ‘large’ coffee now comes in what used to be a medium cup. And a medium coffee comes in what used to be the small cup. As I’m writing this, I’m sipping a supposedly ‘large’ chai from a cup the size of a shot glass.

It’s called shrinkflation and coffee cups are just the tip of the iceberg. Have you had a packet of chips recently? They cost about $9 and when you open them, you’re greeted with a blast of air.

The cost of pretty much everything in Australia is at an all-time high. Brands are finding sneaky ways to pass these costs on to their customers. One of these tactics is shrinkflation, i.e. giving you less of a product but keeping the price the same (or worse still, increasing it). The sneaky part is that brands don’t disclose when they do this. They just hope you won’t notice.

I’m not the only one pissed off about it. According to News24, comparison site finder.com.au found 74 per cent of Australians have noticed shrinkflation, and 40 per cent have switched brands because of it. I work part-time in aged care, and I can wager that 100 per cent of my clients are aware of it – they’re constantly telling me how much bigger and better groceries were back in their day.

Chips and takeaway cups aren’t the only culprits. Cadbury chocolate blocks used to be 250g; now they’re 180. Regular Vegemite jars used to be 400g; now they’re 380. Weet-Bix boxes used to be 1.5kg; now they’re 1.2. Jars of Rose’s jam used to be 500g; now they’re 375. You can also see shrinkage in non-edible products like deodorants, cleaning sprays, toothpastes, soaps and toilet rolls. Give us 10 years and we’ll need a microscope to do our shopping.

Unless you’re keeping tabs on unit prices, shrinkflation is often hard to spot. It’s gotten so bad that the government has introduced stronger unit pricing rules and penalties for brands that mislead customers, and improved price transparency.

But wait – there’s more. Shrinkflation isn’t as sneaky as it gets. There’s an even subtler form of trickery called ‘skimpflation’. It’s when brands start using a cheaper recipe for their products, often by adding oils or thickeners, or by switching high-quality ingredients to cheaper ones. They might swap cream to skim milk, or oats to puffed rice, or real fruit to extra sugar.

Skimpflation is common in products like yoghurts, dips, cereals, pasta sauces, sausages and muesli bars. Like shrinkflation, skimpflation is easy to miss, unless you’re regularly checking ingredient lists. But if you’ve taken a bite of something you used to enjoy and noticed an unpleasant change in taste or texture, you’re probably not imagining it.

Sometimes, brands reduce product quality so much that they’re forced to rename their products. For example, Coles budget beef sausages are now called ‘BBQ sausages’ because they’re made with cheaper meat alternatives, like chicken. Nestle Smarties changed their description from ‘yummy milk chocolate’ to ‘yummy milk choc’, because they don’t contain enough cocoa or milk solids to be classified as chocolate. And my favourite example, Coles ‘Vanilla Ice Cream’ is now called Coles ‘Vanilla Flavoured Frozen Dessert’ because it contains less than 10 per cent milk fat, and can’t legally be referred to as ice-cream. Unrelated, but this reminds me of when my dad had a mind blank and asked for a “frozen cola beverage” instead of a Coke slushie at the cinema. I’ve never let him live it down. In fact, if anyone hears of any vacancies for the position of renaming these watered-down products, I know the perfect man for the job!

Since all this under-the-radar shrinking and skimping isn’t illegal, the onus is on us to notice it, call it out and stop buying from brands that try to trick us.

I understand that companies are facing rising production costs. But surely there are in-house ways they can save money, like optimising packaging or improving efficiency? If they do shrink or skimp, I’d respect it so much more if they declared it on their packaging. Personally, I’d rather pay a little bit more and get the same size and quality product I’m used to.

But enough about that. I’m heading out for some dairy-flavoured frozen dessert with a friend.

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