How to Identify and Deal With Grocery Store Shrinkage
Although there are some signs that inflation in this country will start to improve , the situation remains rather bleak. In some areas, the cost of a wide range of products and services has risen by almost 10%, while revenues have stagnated or increased much more modestly. The grocery store is where inflation really hits hard in both the obvious and the more subtle ways: companies know you hate paying more for their products, you know. This is where ” compression ” comes in.
Downsizing is a simple and dubious concept: to hide the fact that their items are more expensive than before, they reduce the number of items in a package and keep the price the same. You still get less for your money, but it’s not as obvious. As a general rule, when shrinking, the package size remains the same – you need to literally check the weight and quantity indicated on the labels to know that you are getting a little less than before. If you’re not careful, you may come home with a bag full of groceries that won’t go as far as you think.
Check product labels for shrinkage
The first step in fighting shrink inflation is to check these labels. If you can ( and haven’t done so yet ), take an inventory of the foods you currently have in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer and record the volume and weight of each. For example, look at the cereal boxes in the closet and note their weight. When you go to the grocery store to buy a new box, compare the amount of cereal you get. Keep in mind that most grocery stores also offer “price per unit” information on shelf labels, which can help you see at a glance what the actual cost per unit, pound, or ounce is. Pretty soon, you’ll have a list of things you bought that went down in price, some things that just went up in price, and a few things that stayed the same.
A quick hint that the company has recently adjusted the size of its product? Buzzwords on the label, such as “new” and “improved”, or advertising a new look. This is often used to distract you from the fact that there are fewer things inside. Another thing to be careful with is the “family” or “party” versions of products. They are usually larger, yes, but they can also be made smaller with shrinkage, so you still need to compare notes on how much you get for the price.
Store sales and trademarks
If you’re not already cutting out coupons and using the store app to get discounts and offers, now is the time to start. Yes, the grocery store company will happily collect your shopping habits and sell that data (and use it to try and manipulate your shopping habits), but if you haven’t taken advantage of those savings, this step may not be a success. a long way to mitigate the financial hit that is the cut because you can start doubling your purchases without spending the full price.
Another thing to do is to research store brands. Store brands have a reputation for second-tier items, but in most cases this is no longer the case. The quality of the brand in the store is often not inferior to the famous brands, but almost always cheaper. If you can find, for example, branded cereal in the store that still comes in 16 ounce packages when your usual choice is now just 14 ounces, you can quickly eliminate that shrinkage in your shopping cart.
Buy in bulk
Some families are already buying in bulk to save money. If not, or if you only do this for certain items, now is the time to consider buying as many in bulk as possible. A discount on bulk items may not completely eliminate shrinkage losses, but it will at least mitigate them. You should still check the unit price or volume to make sure you’re really getting as much as you think, and you should be careful not to overbuy or you could lose even more money when your products go bad and expire. But if you’re mindful about buying in bulk, you can compensate for more shrinkage.
One final note: Once companies scale down their products, they usually don’t go back to their original size, and eventually the scaled down version just becomes the norm. This means that even if inflation comes down to more manageable levels in the coming months, you may still need to apply your new strategies in the long run or find new brands to stick with.