Ah yes, Mars and Twix & co. “It’s for your health”
While I think this is a step in the right direction, I don’t think it’s fair to put this on the grocers that didn’t do anything wrong. This should be a labeling requirement for the manufacturer that’s doing it. So instead of the one doing the harm having to take the brunt of the cost for doing it in the first place, instead the grocer has to take the time and money to do it and also keep up with any new changes. Again, step in the right direction. Never let perfect be the enemy of good.
So, does this apply to products that have already applied shrinkflation, or just those after July 1st?
Only after. You cannot ignore legal grandfathering or the world would turn upside down.
Don’t think that would exactly apply, as this seems to be just a notice that the size has changed without the price changing. Not really turning the world upside down, more just showing which companies/products have been screwing you lately.
Get yourself a Unit Price Comparison app for your next shopping trip. It will let you know how much you’re paying per oz/lb/kg/ml and tell you which is the better buy. A good app will let you save those prices for future comparison.
No need. It is mandatory for almost everything here (France) to have this displayed plainly in store.
Here in the US, that info is already on the price tag, at least in supermarkets.
Sometimes they do bullshit like using different units for different products, like oz for one and lb for another.
It’s the same all over Europe. I do wonder where they’re from where that isn’t some sort of legal requirement.
Same in germany, thats always how I compare prices.
You shouldn’t need an app to defend yourself against being ripped off.
App recommendations please!
Calculator?
Haters gonna hate, it’s easy to do the math, sheesh.
I do believe they were asking for a specific app to do it all for them, plus the cooking and eating parts
/s for the last couple bits
Even easier when it’s written plainly on the price tags :D
Except that for some products they show the unit prices differently for some maddening reason. Like $.04/ounce right next to a competing product that has the label $.40/biscuit or something similar. Like they are trying to make it more difficult for the shopper to compare so they throw up their hands and buy whatever they are used to. I see this frequently.
Thankfully, in France that’s not a thing I ever came across. It’s almost always SI units when applicable or occasionally, it’s missing, especially when there’s a sale (supposedly) with a custom tag to attract attention.
I wish we had consumer protection in the US, but that’s unlikely to happen when corporations own most of our politicians.
I could see this happening in more progressive states like California, Oregon, or Washington state.
California already has a bunch of consumer protection laws:
- Store gift cards can never expire and must be redeemable for cash if they have a balance of less than $10.
- A warranty can’t require you to register the product to be eligible for warranty coverage.
- The CCPA, which is like a mini version of the GDPR. Companies must provide all data they’ve collected about you upon request, must delete all the data upon request, and must let you opt out from them selling your data (they literally have to have a link labeled “do not sell my personal information” on their site)
- Anti price gouging laws.
- As of July 1, drip pricing (hidden fees on top of advertised prices, such as service charges) will be illegal.
And probably a bunch of other ones I can’t think of off the top of my head :)
NOW WITH 10% LESS PRODUCT!!
Gotta think more like a corporation: “Now 10% easier to carry!”
I’ve been thinking of a solution for this. What if products were required to be sold in standard increments. No 11.2 floz, either 6 floz or 12 floz. No 960 grams, only increments of 250 grams up to 1 kg, then increments of 1 kg. It would make product comparison much easier and make it obvious when shrinkflation is happening.
It’s mandatory to display the price per kg or L in France, which makes comparing the value much easier.
It actually is here in the US, too. At least in my state. It would still be helpful for monitoring for inflation as a consumer if sizes were fixed so that the actual price changes when the price per unit changes. For me it’s a lot easier to recognize that something went from
$4.99/kgto$5.99/kgwhen the item is fixed at1 kgthan it is to recognize when the item went from830 gto691 gbut remained$4.14.
This type of mandate exists in specific industries. I’m really not sure why it doesn’t exist in other.
I wish you were the one writing the laws, this would be awesome.
So once everyone has done it at least once and every item has a warning that the item changed in size without the price, what do we do?
Maybe they should have to list the exact amount it decreases and the date that manufacturing started the units with the decrease. That well the consumer has all the information they need too know whether they still want to support the company or not.
Shrinked. Shrank.Shrunk.
Honey I shrinked the kids
What we need is nationally mandated unit price labeling. We’ve had it in NY for as long as I can remember.
You’d be shocked at how often the middle size is the best deal. It’s almost always the case with cereal. The large box ends up more expensive than the medium per ounce, but people assume it’s the better deal because it’s a bigger package.
Unit price labeling is mandatory in France too. This is the only price I’m looking at when shopping.
I’m sorry. The article is clearly about France, but my comment was America-centric. I edited my comment to for clarity.
They’re still jerks about it in stores. To keep you from easily comparing products they’ll offer the unit price per oz for one box, then give you the unit price per lb for the other. So they make you do the math, and I’m sure plenty of people just skip that and buy the larger size.
Costco do this too, at least in my area in California. They price some canned drinks per fluid ounce, and others per can. Really annoying.
I used to see Walmart do it too, but I think they’ve gotten better.
That’s against the law if you live in a unit price mandated state. You can report misuse of unit price labeling to your State Director.
According to NIST SP 1181, under Consistency of Units and Measure:
The declaration of the unit price of a particular category of product in all package sizes offered for sale in a retail establishment shall be uniformly and consistently expressed in the same unit of measure. The same unit of measure should be used whether a product category is sold in a fixed weight pre-pack, loose from bulk, or in a random weight pack.
whoa i just looked it up and my state has mandatory unit pricing laws that my kroger breaks in every aisle!
Looks like I’ve got some reporting to do.
They do this here in the UK too but because we use the metric system now you just add or take away a zero. It registers in your awareness but you don’t need to go away and install an app on your phone in order to convert it.
Ever since I saw it in CA it became the go-to way I decide which brands to buy - but I suspect that corporations know that which is why some of them fuck around with it by listing their price in a different unit than everyone else.
I wish the US would just start displaying the actual price of the item including tax. Not all that deceptive crap.
Bigger cornflake per feedom-eagle.
We’ll do anything before using metric.
We have unit price labeling here in Oregon, but they use different measurements for the same type of is products.
I always look at the price/kg. Makes no difference what size the packaging is, that price will always tell which one is the cheapest.
You don’t necessarily always check for something you’re used to buying, so the shrinking may go unnoticed for a while.
Package price can still matter depending on how much you need of a product. Buying 10kg of rice when you need 500g is going to be more expensive than buying a smaller bag. Even if the price/kg is higher.
Me too, but there is one UK retailer (Co-operative) that makes it hard for you. They will have, say, a punnet of strawberries with 200g strawberries in it for £3.50 and another one with 300g for £4.50. The labels will say “unit price: £3.50/unit” or “£4.50/unit”. (No, really?) So you have to do your own maths. Luckily other markets are sensible enough to actually provide price per weight. And in Tesco, when a given product is cheaper for clubcard holders, it will even give price per weight twice, for both normal price and clubcard price.
Btw. I don’t work for Tesco. I just needed to vent about Co-op being dicks; Tesco just serves as a good counter example of how this should be done, in case any Co-op executive is reading this.
Doesn’t Mexico also do this?
“This product used to be bigger for the same price.”
Dunce hat of the supermarket. Good.
Great time to be label manufacturer
