Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags
Written by: Katie Wood
There is the famous saying that “all good things come in small packages.” In many cases that may be true, but when it comes to consumers and food that is not always be the case. Over time, food companies have been decreasing the packaging sizes of their products while maintaining the same price for the product. Each year the size of packages continues to decrease ounce by ounce and many consumers are failing to notice this change. The certain people that do notice this change are not very pleased about it. An article from Student News Daily talks about how companies manage to do this. The article states, “More companies are downsizing their packages – but many consumers don’t realize it is happening because price and size changes are carefully camouflaged.” Not everyone notices such a change because they don’t pay attention to size. They assume that if the product is the same price, then they’re getting what they’ve always paid for. Another article from the New York Times states something very similar. It says, “With unemployment still high, companies in recent months have tried to camouflage price increases by selling their products in tiny and tinier packages. So far, the changes are most visible at the grocery store, where shoppers are paying the same amount, but getting less.”
The cause of these increasing prices is food inflation. The price of food items continues to increase over time so to make up for this companies are decreasing the amount of food they put in the packaging. An article from Newsweek.com states “There's increasing manufacturing prices across the board, with oil, which goes into all the plastic packaging, as well as transportation prices skyrocketing, as well as the increasing prices of milk and grain, which go into the production of other foodstuff. It's an economic reality that I don't think anyone is naïve about. Times are tough. The problem is that this is tantamount to a secret inflation. It's a hidden price increase.” The same article also states, “whether or not shoppers realize or care that they're getting less, examples of shrinking products are scattered throughout the grocery store, proving that it's harder than ever to shop on a budget.” Sure people may be getting upset about getting less for their money, but they just have to deal with it. The pricing of food and packaging is increasing and it will continue to increase. There is nothing the consumer or the company can technically do about it. So, if someone is looking to get more food, they have to be willing to pay the extra price. With the pricing of goods increasing, the consumer just has to deal with the fact that they need to pay more for what they want. If a person is looking more for the amount of food they are going to get rather than just the price, the same article from Newsweek.com gave some good advice saying, “Look at unit costs, instead of just the price tag.” Sure this may be annoying, but people are just going to have to deal with it.
"Food Packaging Shrinks, Prices Stay the Same." Newsweek. IBT MEDIA INC, 10 July 2001. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. <http://www.newsweek.com/food-packaging-shrinks-prices-stay-same-88345>.
Clifford , Stephanie , and Catherine Rampell . "Food Inflation Hidden in Tinier Bags." The New York Times . The New York Times , 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 5 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/business/29shrink.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1391457609-hsjTsa81bZjMzTAsS0h8Bg>.
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