Well yesterday was a real eye opener. I was in a local hardware store looking for some lightbulbs I was having difficulty locating and I just happened to pass by the display of cedar shingles. They were seconds like I have been using on the house and I saw the price was over $18. Now I had bought the ones I am currently using on sale a couple years ago, I think they were $16 a bundle or something like that. But when I looked closer, these shingles were in bundles about 1/3 the size of the ones I purchased back when the world was more normal.
So I looked into this a bit deeper and found that there is a term for selling smaller amounts of product in troubling times. It is called “SHRINKFLATION”.
This report came out even before fuel prices went through the roof and supply chains became stretched even farther, so I can only imagine the current numbers. The big thing is the price might look the same or similar, but is it?
But what can we do? I doubt many of us will start grinding up wood fibre to make our own toilet paper. We need to eat and though you might grow a garden, you are probably not making your own flour.
Well there are a few things we can do to keep the effects of shrinkflation to a minimum.
Don’t pay the same for less: how to stay on top of shrinkflation
And now we know there is something else to think about as we roam the aisles looking for the best bang for our buck. It’s not just finding the lowest prices, size does matter, so beware of “shrinkflation”.
