(Wrote this for a Parliament petition but, for some reason, they don’t let you write anything substantial. Here is what I originally typed. If you care about this, sign my petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214467/sponsors/new?token=gj6xg5w23VmZYO4nOCs2)

“Inflation is an obvious menace when prices are rising, but a more insidious form is finding its way into our trolleys — the prices are staying the same, but the items we buy are shrinking. That’s shrinkflation.”(Thisismoney, 2013)

“Over the past five years, as many as 2,529 products have shrunk in size but the price has remained the same. Journalists have found examples of loo roll, coffee, fruit juice, sausages, beer and chips getting smaller without getting any cheaper.” (ONS, 2017)

This practice is underhand and arguably unethical — particularly as it is not just restricted to junk food, but can be found across the contents of a household shopping basket. With Brexit approaching, and warnings by many institutions and economists of resulting economic downturn, it is not unreasonable to expect that shrinkflation will become more prevalent.

There is some legislation in this area, the Price Marking Order 2004 mandates that selling prices need to be accompanied by price per unit or measurement of weight. However, consumers would likely appreciate and benefit from a more obvious indication, than unit price, that they are seeing less value for money. By mandating that products visibly indicate their new reduced size, UK households will likely save money as they turn to products that present better value.

Many businesses have justified the practice by citing increased costs in production or materials. However, even if true, this is a slippery slope. There is no guarantee that these businesses will reverse the shrinking of their products in a more positive economic climate. Shareholders are unlikely to react positively to the purposeful reduction of new-found profit margins and, therefore, businesses are unlikely to reverse or abandon this practice.

Something should be done to deter businesses from doing this and mandatory, visible product warnings could be a good way to achieve this.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2319424/Products-getting-smaller-price-pay-stays-same.html

https://visual.ons.gov.uk/shrinkflation-and-the-changing-cost-of-chocolate/