"Shrinkflation" in USA

 

Message:

http://money.msn.com/personal-finance/shrinkflation-consumer-goods-that-got-downsized

Thought you might be interested in this. You predicted this would

happen after seeing it in Argentina. Interesting that mainstream media

in USA is now admitting it.

Before Collapse (or maybe After?)

Hello!

Indeed, this is nothing more than poorly hidden inflation. This link has a short video that explains whats going on very well and it has an interesting comment about holes that I never noticed before (you have to watch it to understand)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26859113

At the end of the day, you’re getting less stuff, but paying the same or more. That’s inflation. Sure, banks and gov. have ways of cooking the books and finding ways around the real figures. They will do anything they can to hide inflation as much as possible.

 

What’s going on

*Units are getting smaller. The bottles that used to be 1L are 750 or 800 ml instead. Things just keep shrinking. Sometimes the bottles dont look that different but a curve is there where there was none before, or the bottle seems more thin, with a new curved more organic looking design that is actually smaller than the previous one.

*A common trick is to leave the can or pouch the same, and just reduce the amount of product inside. Unless you keep an eye on the net weight, chances are you wont even notice it. Back in Argentina it got to a point where you would open a can of tuna and half the thing was empty!

*Increasing the amount of water or oil in different products. Tuna now is full of cheaper oil, the net weight being reduced. Meat is filled up with water. Each ounce of water hidden inside the meat saves the company money. Of course, once you cook it you see it shrink more and more each passing year.

*Reducing the quality. Food items and house cleaning products in general are made with cheaper ingredients so as to cut costs. More filler is used in microwave meals, soup cans and sauces. Chocolate has less actual chocolate in it.

What You can do

*Be informed. Read the labels and keep track of the actual amount of content so as to know if you are being ripped off.

*Don’t be afraid to try other brands. As quality becomes worse, you may want to change brands rather than keep paying premium for brands that are no longer delivering the goods.

*Stock up. When you find quality and you come across it during offers, buy extra and stock up. This both saves you money and ensures you get the better quality product.

FerFAL