Shrinkflation

What is shrinkflation?

Charging the same price for less product

Shrinkflation is the practice of reducing a product's size without reducing its price, thereby passing a stealth price increase on to consumers. This slang term is a portmanteau of shrink (what's happening to the product's size) and inflation (what's happening to the product's price). Businesses often engage in shrinkflation when they need to increase their profit margin, possibly due to rising production costs, but don't want to explicitly raise prices.

For example, in 2022, Charmin reduced the size of its Mega toilet paper rolls from 264 sheets to 244 sheets, while keeping the Mega package the same price. That's shrinkflation. Many consumers likely did not notice this change, allowing Charmin to make more money per package without much outcry about higher prices.

Example

Can you believe this shrinkflation out here? I'm paying the same price for 10 oz of pretzels as I used to for 12!
Some additional shrinkflation examples from Twitter
Some additional shrinkflation examples from Twitter

Related Slang

Categories

Updated March 21, 2022

Shrinkflation definition by Slang.net

This page explains what the slang term "Shrinkflation" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.

We are constantly updating our database with new slang terms, acronyms, and abbreviations. If you would like to suggest a term or an update to an existing one, please let us know!