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> It's when, instead of simply raising prices, companies skimp on the goods and services they provide. This is old news. For food and beverages it’s a well kno
by G3rn0ti 5y ago
> It's when, instead of simply raising prices, companies skimp on the goods and services they provide.
This is old news. For food and beverages it’s a well known phenomenon: The average package sizes have been decreasing over time for some standard products to keep the nominal price constant. In Europe, for example, Coca Cola started to sell 250ml (8.5oz) cans a couple of years ago instead of the regular 330ml (11.2oz) ones.
- quickthrower2 5y agoThat's shrinking. Skimping would be Coca Cola diluting their product with water, or using some kind of cheaper to produce cans/bottles that are more likely to burst open.
- TheJoeMan 5y agoI would argue that changing the product itself is shrinkflation. This new skimpflation would be say removing the perforated handles on Coke cardboard cases to save money on stamping machines.
- dataexporter 5y agoYes, it is generally considered shrinkflation[1] and the author does mention that. It can be overcome by measuring unit prices for items. However, in cases like the lack of services and delays - it doesn't really capture it. I've often noticed extremely long wait times for customer service calls due to reduced staffing. These are numbers that are missed in the official CPI calculations. 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation
- h2odragon 5y ago> instead of the regular 330ml (11.2oz) ones. Soda cans used to be 12oz. and dinosaurs roamed the earth...