Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags
March 30th, 2011Via: New York Times:
Chips are disappearing from bags, candy from boxes and vegetables from cans.
Nabisco’s Fresh Stacks package of saltines, top, contains about 15 percent fewer crackers than the old package.
As an expected increase in the cost of raw materials looms for late summer, consumers are beginning to encounter shrinking food packages.
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.
Today, I was putting USPS “forever” stamps on some envelopes, and even those are smaller — just slightly narrower. But I’ve noticed things shrinking for several years now, not just recently: toilet paper, ice cream, canned chicken/tuna (small cans down from 6.25 ounces to 5 or even 4.5). Here are some thoughts from John Rubino at DollarCollapse.com:
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