Americans continue to face higher prices after inflation shot up during the pandemic, in particular for essentials like food. But there’s another, less noticeable, trend that’s just as painful to your pocketbook even when a product’s cost looks stable: shrinkflation.
About one-third of roughly 100 common consumer products tracked by LendingTree have shrunk in size or servings since the pandemic. The worst offenders — household paper products, like toilet paper and paper towels, the personal finance firm’s analysis found.
More specifically, shrinkflation refers to scaling back the size of a product but charging the same amount as for the prior, larger portion. The upshot: People end up shelling out more money because they’re getting less of a given product.
To be sure, shrinkflation is by no means a new consumer phenomenon. The term is creditedto British economist Pippa Malmgren in 2009, but the trend picked up in the post-pandemic years as corporations …