Companies Feeling Heat from Customers over Inflation/Shrinkflation

[bjl584]

Inflation: Walmart, Chipotle criticized over prices (cnbc.com)

[disneysteve]

I hate shrinkflation. Stop making the packages smaller and just raise the price. I want a half gallon of orange juice to be a half gallon, not 59 ounces. I want a can of sauce to be 16 ounces like it always has been, not 13.5 ounces. It's awful when I go to make a recipe that calls for 16 oz of something because that's how the product always came except now it only comes in 13 oz so you need two cans to follow the recipe and you've got a bunch leftover that may get wasted.

[Fishindude77]

Here's little tip regarding shrinkflation.
If you use an LP tank for gas grill the local convenience stores & exchange a tank place swap them for about $26, however they are only 2/3-3/4 filled.
Can take my tank out to the local LP distributor and they fill it 100% for $15.

[bjl584]

Here's little tip regarding shrinkflation.
If you use an LP tank for gas grill the local convenience stores & exchange a tank place swap them for about $26, however they are only 2/3-3/4 filled.
Can take my tank out to the local LP distributor and they fill it 100% for $15.

yep. if you get it filled you will get a full 20 lbs. the exchanges at the big box stores are only filled to 15 lbs because of possible gas expansion and safety reasons for transport.

[kork13]

I hate shrinkflation. Stop making the packages smaller and just raise the price. I want a half gallon of orange juice to be a half gallon, not 59 ounces. I want a can of sauce to be 16 ounces like it always has been, not 13.5 ounces. It's awful when I go to make a recipe that calls for 16 oz of something because that's how the product always came except now it only comes in 13 oz so you need two cans to follow the recipe and you've got a bunch leftover that may get wasted.

Seriously, it's just aggravating! I cook all the time, and a majority of recipes were constructed a decade or two back (or more) when standard sized cans or other packages were in use. Now, companies have gotten all unique with shrinking packages, so nothing is the same, and you either have to do crazy levels of proportional math to fix a recipe, or else trust that the difference of an ounce or three won't throw off the resulting dish. Hint: In baking, the change ALWAYS throws it off.

[ua_guy]

Here's little tip regarding shrinkflation.
If you use an LP tank for gas grill the local convenience stores & exchange a tank place swap them for about $26, however they are only 2/3-3/4 filled.
Can take my tank out to the local LP distributor and they fill it 100% for $15.

Exchanges should be filled to 80% which is the safe level for any propane tank. Not that I advocate exchanging over filling, it's cheaper to have it filled at $2.99/gallon (local price). But it should still only be filled to 80%. The one advantage to an exchange is if your tank is old and rusting or has failed, you can get a nice newly certified tank with full paint from the exchange (and then keep it).

Like today...it hit 100 degrees here and if I had that tank filled to 100% at 65 degrees, it would be venting.

[ua_guy]

Inflation is another reason for companies to arbitrarily jack prices and shrink product by an amount not commensurate with actual inflation / cost of goods. The companies that do this deserve heat from consumers.

[disneysteve]

Inflation is another reason for companies to arbitrarily jack prices and shrink product by an amount not commensurate with actual inflation / cost of goods. The companies that do this deserve heat from consumers.

There are endless examples proving that price inflation has had little to do with cost of doing business actually going up. Companies have raised prices due to “inflation” but seen record profits in the process, so clearly the price increases weren’t actually necessary. They just used inflation as a smoke screen.

[Fishindude77]

There are endless examples proving that price inflation has had little to do with cost of doing business actually going up. Companies have raised prices due to “inflation” but seen record profits in the process, so clearly the price increases weren’t actually necessary. They just used inflation as a smoke screen.

I've heard this a lot with folks blaming the evil corporations and their record profits, particularly the fuel industry.
Don't really care to debate if it's true or not, but most of us are invested in these companies via our mutual funds, etc. in some fashion, so it aint all bad. You're investments can't perform if business isn't profitable.

[disneysteve]

I've heard this a lot with folks blaming the evil corporations and their record profits, particularly the fuel industry.
Don't really care to debate if it's true or not, but most of us are invested in these companies via our mutual funds, etc. in some fashion, so it aint all bad. You're investments can't perform if business isn't profitable.

That’s true. Those record profits benefit shareholders for sure. There’s a reason our portfolio is up over 350K YTD. Yes we’re paying more at the grocery store or Target but we’re way more than making up for it in our brokerage accounts. The problem is the people at the lower end of the economy who are stuck with the higher prices but without the investment benefit to offset it.

[ua_guy]

Yes, and it's a compounding issue for the poor and vulnerable. Oil monopolies raise fuel prices, which raises the price of goods and everything, basically. Lower income folks are extremely sensitive to food and energy prices. It's literally a siphon from the poor/working poor to the wealthy. What are their choices? Stop driving to work because fuel expenses don't leave enough money for food?? Stop eating, so there's more money to spend on fuel? Don't heat the house in the winter? Burn up in the summer, since half the country is on fire right now?

So yes, evil corporations taking record profits during a time people are exceptionally financially stressed and going "yeah, let's bicker with the government and raise prices...now". The last 3.5 years have seen the highest ever domestic production of oil and more land leases granted than in previous administrations, these companies have literally been given everything they demand other than keys to the kingdom - because it's not theirs. And they continue to rake in special tax handling and tax breaks and direct subsidies and other indirect subsidies, all while making record profit. When does it end, and where does the insanity of its defenders end?.

The brokerage accounts are fake money, paper worth. That's what it could be worth if the shares were sold. Let's be clear - it's not the oil companies just giving those profits away.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I'd rather pay more for the same size than the idiocracy of shrinking.