"Shrinkflation" has been going on for years. I recall my mother griping about it in the 60s.
I had thought that "one pound" cans of coffee had shrunk recently but then I found an old can (ca. 1980) in my garage that shows the same weight as a current can.
I have noticed that packages of kielbassa have gone from 16 oz to 14 oz, to 13 oz over the past decade. That's nearly a 20% reduction.
For most brands, a "gallon" or "half gallon" of ice cream has gotten smaller.
I recall that 40 years ago, the big bag of Doritos was enough for four young guys to chow on whilst drinking beer. Now the "party size" can easily be consumed by one old guy.
I sell large appliances: washers, dryer, fridges, etc. Every day I listen to people carp about how expensive appliances are. I've gotten tired of listening to them so now I tell them what things used to cost. That 18 cu foot fridge that we're selling for $600 was $500 in the 80s. That big side by side that goes for $1500 now was $1400 in the 80s. "But they don't last today." Duh! If you hold the price constant for forty years what had to give? Durability. If you want a washer that will last like you $400 1980 vintage washer, you have shell out $1300 for a Speed Queen. By a strange coincidence, if you adjust that $400 for inflation, you come pretty close to $1300.
People want bigger paychecks. Bigger paychecks should be accompanied by either more responsibility or more productivity. Is that $15 an hour McD's employee producing any more burgers than when he was getting $7.25 an hour?
In a similar vein, people say, "Teachers deserve more pay" but no one wants to see their school taxes go up. Of course the schools waste tons of money on football fields and smart boards but kids still can't read. My daughter's high school spent about $250,000 to change the team name but didn't have money to buy the math books for the new curriculum. Oddly, they had the money to xerox big chunks of the book for all the students.
/Endofrant
but still worth it nonetheless!
