shrinkflation is making price comparison even harder than it used to be

Anyone else noticing that comparing prices has gotten more annoying because package sizes keep shrinking while the costs stay the same or go up?

I used to know roughly what a good deal was on stuff I buy regularly but now the same brand I've purchased for years comes in a smaller package for the same price. The toilet paper that used to be 1000 sheets is now 900 sheets. The ice cream that was 1.5 quarts is now 1.28 quarts. Even the cereal boxes got smaller.

It makes couponing more complicated because a fifty cent off coupon isn't the same value anymore when the product itself has ten percent less in it. And the per unit prices on shelf labels update slowly so sometimes they're showing the old math.

How do you all stay on top of this? Do you track actual unit sizes over time or just accept that everything is getting more expensive in sneaky ways?

Posted Feb 19, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

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