All the ways you pay more for less | About That 

I would like to see more government regulation regarding labeling. Corporations have no conscience when charging Canadians.

I love the way Andrew tells a news story. Very factual and no hype.

I work in administration for a large Canadian grocer. Every time manufacturers change the weight of a product, they have to let us know so we can change the weight in the system that generates labels, and then print new labels for the products, so I see pretty much every time a product is shrunk. These aren't small companies struggling to survive with higher operating costs, they're huge conglomerates that don't want to budge on their bottom line. My advice to consumers would be to buy from smaller, local brands or the store brands. Consider it an investment in the future quality of your food.

Why, as a society are we ok with being lied to all the time?

I would love to see Canada have ingredient labeling like in Europe, where the ingredient list has to indicate the percentage of each ingredient in the product. It should also be required for any product--food or personal care items--to state on the packaging if they've recently made a change to the ingredients. There's nothing quite so annoying as buying something you've grown accustomed to only to find that it doesn't taste or smell the same, or that it now contains an ingredient you can't tolerate.

I know for a FACT that Loblaws increased the price of one of the products I buy when the manufacturer did not increase their price. And they did it TWICE during the pandemic.

We live in a world where lying is then norm. A world where the end justifies the means.

I need to correct that lady: When inflation goes down prices DO NOT go down.

I do the grocery shopping in my house and shrink and skimpflation is an absolute epidemic. Not only that but they’ve raised the prices. I know of countless items that have reduced quality and raised prices. This needs to be spotlighted endlessly until these greedy companies reverse course. They’ve realized they can get away with it and we’ll still buy it.

Don't ever forget Loblaws and its bread price-fixing scandal whenever Loblaws denies greedflation

I remember MANY years ago there was a TV commercial in which the character is musing that if his company that sold jars of olives removed just one olive from each jar, it would save the company a significant amount of money. And all I thought was, "Great, so the goal is to rake in the same revenue by cheating every customer just a tiny bit? This is why we can't trust industries to legislate their own practices."

You buy a bag of chips 60% of the bag is air. But the price increases all the same. We are paying more, getting less, and these companies take in record profits while using the word “inflation” to cover what they’re doing. Inflation is not the issue, corporate control and concentration is the issue.

Häagen-Dazs used to be 500 ml, I'm not sure when it change to 450. I've noticed an increase in layers and extras type flavours, which allows them to fill the tub with cheap mix-ins and less of the expensive cream.

Corporations are not your friends

Remember when government actually looked out for its citizens with proper consumer regulations? ... You know what we pay taxes for!

I bought what I thought was Breyers Cookies and Cream ice cream but it tasted awful. Then I looked at the label closely and it said "frozen dairy dessert." Turns out they changed the recipe to cut costs and could no longer legally call it "ice cream."

The worst ones ive found for this are the frozen chicken products, wings, nuggets, strips etc. The box is generally labeled at 908g but half that weight is from included sauce packets.

We're getting screwed due to the price increases but also the decrease in ml or grams we're getting. When food inflation states 5-8%, it's more like 30-45%. My kraft peanut butter was 3.89 in 2022, now it's 5.29 at superstore. That's a 30-40% increase in just over a year. I have yet to check the ml I'm getting

I now eat a lot less processed food - where it seems the shrinkflation and skimpflation are the worst. I think it gives me more control over how I spend my grocery dollars. Also, when I've found fresh produce that, on opening, is not very fresh, I return it. It's a pain, but I want my voice heard. I live alone and I certainly can't afford to be throwing out food!

I LITERALLY was just at Walmart the other day and was going to buy their chocolate chip cookies, until I saw the label that said "Chocolate-FLAVORED Chip Cookies". I asked a nearby associate if they knew what the difference was. They weren't sure either, and were definitely shocked when I pointed out the label change. Now I know with this video that they've swapped out the ingredients.

Vector has been a scam from the beginning. Its protein comes from the milk. So Frosted Flakes could be considered protein cereal 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

CBC being brave leaving the comments open on this video.

I saw some comments here pointing the finger at the federal government (Trudeau, of course) for not doing enough to curb corporate greed, and I totally get it and would support it. But what I want to know is, are they also the same people who want less government regulations and "more freedom"?

Show me another news outlet that does stories like this. Thank you CBC 🙏

Where I'm from they changed a few things that helped. 1. Change of amount must be clearly displayed by law at the front corner of the pack, in large bold letters stating the change in either "contains X percent/liters less" or "X units/grams vs Y units/grams previously." This must be displayed at least 6 months from the change. 2. They reinstated the obligation of price tags on every package, a price tag on the shelf is not enoogh. This is very important as you don't have to count on codes or confusing names to match a product to the tag, atvthe cash the price on themproduct isnthe one they must charge, even if there is a different price "in the system" and you see the price at home on the package so you're more likely to notice a price change. 3. He "Vector" thing is illegal (the factbthat it's legal in Canada doesn't make it right). Unfortunately greedflasion is as worst as in Canada.

more videos like this please :)

Andrew you are a real journalist. Thank you!

I absolutely hate our greedy society.

Not long ago the Wawa convenience stores had a strawberry parfait that I liked but then the size was almost cut in half and it no longer had strawberry chunks in it, just like a jam. Yet the price stayed the same. Very disappointing.

The 'per 100g' price is the most important. The text for these values needs to be increased on the price; perhaps even the same font size as the unit price.

Sould be illegal to change ingredients without changing the name of the product

It really feels like we're reliving the great depression when all our items just shrink or get worse like this

I had a favourite beer battered fish 🐠 and chip meal at a popular city restaurant. The last occasion that I ate there, I was met with my usual large two pieces of fish being less then half their usual size 😮 When I brought it up with the server, her reply was that the manager had told them to tell customers that asked “We have switched to healthy portion meals” 😂

I appreciate every single one of these clips!

Really love the quality of your programme and I’m not even Canadian.

Nah its not staffing bs.......its corp greed no question

I noticed shrinkflation going back years but felt crazy saying so since it wasn't common knowledge but now that it is ill add I'm pretty sure they add rotten fruit into packaging to make the fresh fruit go bad earlier. It sounds silly even suggesting it but after seeing it so many times over the years where a whole pack of something is 99% fresh but with one rotten item. I'm convinced it's not just by chance. I've never seen two or three rotten items, always just the one buried inside the rest.

For decades north american grocery stores have used "loss leaders" , store staples that they sell at cost or even less to draw customers in to buy all of their groceries. Now Galen Weston is complaining that Loblaws doesn't make enough money on these items.

Was really disappointed in Costco the other day, when I noticed that their pack of Kirkland toilet paper now shows rolls of 380 sheets, compare to the 425 before. And that is after pushing the price from 15,99$ back in 2019 to 18,99$, to 21,99$.... so 6$ more for almost 15% less product....

Imagine buying a envelope with a picture of a Walmart gift card and a text above that says $100. After you've paid $100 and went home you realize it's only a cardboard cutout, and when you read the fine print it explains that in order for it to be worth $100, you need to buy the actual gift card separately, and place it inside. That's what the first story with the cereal sounds like

Greedflation does not just happen at the grocery stores. I have seen the same thing in housing. The price of a half duplex has gone up 200,000 in just a few years in Calgary. So much for affordable housing.

The law should require all grocery items clearly label price by volume/weight for liquids/solids respectively.

NO NAME just straight up gives you less. 180 g chips only contain about 100 g. Galen Weston is evil. The bread case - he just gave out 6 million in gift, $25 each, cards as an apology for ripping off Canadians for years.

Isn't it all just 'Greed'? All these silly terms making something simple seem complicated. Sad really. Also the onus should never be on the consumer to 'know better' - what then is the need for regulators / governments?

Our cat food was part of shrinkflation definitely during the pandemic. It was very frustrating. Probably still is, I just haven’t paid as close attention recently. Thank you for doing this segment!

Time to tax the crap out of all these companies. They're going to raise prices anyway.

The one I really hate is toilet paper. 6=12, 6=18, everything except the actual weight of the product!

5:32 I saw this one at the Dollar Tree, both were the same price. They stocked the larger tube out of sight at the very bottom rear of the shelf. Also noticed some products that used to be labeled "Ice Cream" are now "Frozen Dairy Desert".

I find stuff like peanut butter and Gatorade have the bottom of the bottles hollowed out more every year but still claimed same weight, which I find odd.

if they are honest why don't they write those asterisk notes on packages in bigger fontsize, that we can read without a microscope?

There is a mostly simple way to avoid shrinkflation: Avoid products that come in packages, as most other items are sold either by the pound, or in another clearly countable way. In my neighborhood, that means mostly shopping around the perimeter of the store (fruit/veggie section, some of the seafood section, nearly all of the meat section, eggs which nearly always come by the dozen, and block cheeses which are priced by the ounce or pound, and some butters (most butter here comes in 4 bars, each bar consisting of 8 tablespoons. If that amount shrinks, it will be relatively easy to notice). I only really need to be on full alert for things like most liquids (where I live, water and gasoline can be purchased by volume, with our own container, and most dairy drinks come in standard sizes, like gallons and quarts, but other liquids, from oils to juices, come in varying sizes that can easily be changed without us noticing), any grains, seeds, or legumes that can't be purchased by the pound in my own container, pre shredded or sliced cheeses, any dairy that comes in a tub, anything in a can, dried veggies and spices, anything in the freezer isle, and of course, all breads, alcohols, and other junkfoods. Mostly, the shrinkflation happens on items in the center of the store, and in the freezer section.

I’m a Diamond Cart, 4.9 rated Instacart personal shopper here in Victoria, and I can vouch for all of the points listed here. I can’t tell you how many times I have to message a customer and tell them the produce doesn’t look that great, or I don’t feel comfortable picking certain things. Plus, I definitely see the skimming and such. I’m also a health coach and mom of a kindergartener, so I’m label-aware and do notice things… though, I try to stick to 5 ingredients or less in whatever I buy or make to eat. I don’t like wasting food, so I have a lot of things we do, like I will chop up my green onions and then freeze them to last longer… or if my son doesn’t finish a smoothie, we turn them into smoothie pops. I’m also meticulous about checking for mold and juiced fruit when buying for myself and my customers, so at least we have a somewhat good foundation when it comes to spoilage. The one thing I haven’t figured out how to win is the greedflation part. Who do I need to talk to and tell them to stop lining their pockets for no reason other than greed? Lol I’m great with using the Flipp app to price check before going to stores , but still …😊

Two things I noticed in this piece. First, the reporting seemed to be indicating that the government asking questions of the supermarkets was some sort of action to help people when it was nothing more than grandstanding. There was no follow up on that to show that it did absolutely nothing to help consumers. Secondly, the cute nicknames for all the ways in which corporations are cheating consumers minimizes their corruption and the seriousness of the issue. Call it what is is, deception.

Feels like this guy is the only one putting is real work in journalism instead of focusing on celebrity nonsense.

It doesn’t only hurt consumers but the planet also more plastic more waste! Etc.

What needs to happen is a regulation to require reusable, standard sized packaging. That would solve both the packaging waste problem AND the shrinkflation problem at the same time by prohibiting the manufacturers from changing the packaging sizes.

We had noticed that fruits and vegetables have been going bad so much quicker, and we were wondering what was going on. It's ridiculous that the Canadian government continues to allow corporate monopolies in grocery, telecom, and oil when there should be competition. This is on the Canadian government and decades of catering to the wealthy and corporations.

Chips always go in a cycle. They decrease the package size over time for the same price, then a few years later they release a new pack that is called party size (or similar) which is the original but for a higher price.

All tinned products are being replaced with more water and the price increased.

Hands down my favourite series the CBC News channels runs, keep it up Andrew!

How is this not regulated

Just try to buy groceries with a food allergy. Then you notice every time the formulation changes.

It's downright hilarious how they justify the less is more ideology. "You WILL pay MORE for LESS and you WILL ACCEPT IT as a GOOD THING!" Your Lizard Lord has spoken.

the discipline of deception= marketing

Not even past the Vector part and had to chime in. I used to buy Vector cereal about 19 years ago until I realized this exact same thing. At that time I changed to "Tony's turbos" a childrens "sports" cerceal that had far far more nutrition.

Here we go again…have less while spending more 😢

Another example of shrinkflation are hot dogs and bacon, they used to be 1 lb 454 g they are both now 375 grams. We used to get 12 wieners now you get 10.

I knew things were get smaller but I never stopped to think they were using lower quality ingredients too. Every day its becoming more apparent that if you want to really know what your eating. You got to buy local, if possible. Though with how high the cost of living is now its not exactly easy. Thank you for this video

I remember back in the late 70's General Mills advertised a cereal than no longer exists at least under it's original name Crispy Wheat and Raisins. When it was released it was touted to have 100% RDA of 10 key nutrients. Less than a few years later, it only had 25%. Either they were stretching the truth when it came out or they quietly cut back due to ingredient costs.

About putting "meal replacements" in the serial isle, yes, a lot of the "bread" on that side of the pond (at least US, and I know this is Canada, but the difference is not that big in this case) would be in the cake&cookies section in a European shop, based on sugar content alone.

Great reporting, why'd it take so long? Also, why are we at their mercy, instead of implementing a windfall tax? Disaster profiteering is also illegal, where's enforcement? And we don't need to "know better" we need to close loopholes.

Love these types of videos! Andrew is very entertaining and knowledgeable...keep up the good work. Noticed shrinkflation in candy bars...Mars for example, much thinner than they used to be. Wish I had an old package to compare the weight!

This is maybe the best, most unbiased thing that i have ever seen CBC produce!

He surprisingly did not mention the "thinning" of boxes of Vector and other serials. The face size of the boxes has stayed the same but depth (thickness) of the boxes has steadily reduced to the point they are unstable in the shelves. Also, reduced content amount increases the packaging ratio meaning more packaging waste is a byproduct of shrinkflation.

I'm not in the great country of Canada. I live 20 miles from the border. However, this is an awesome report and makes me jealous that I don't live in your country! Great job!

The Italian dressing with less oil also has 380mg of sodium compared with 290mg in the higher oil original. 🤔

If you’re Canadian and you live in Canada you just have to accept you’re getting ripped off. On everything.

why not just include 0 protein in the box, but write 100g of protein *when you include juicy steak with your cereal*? Who doesn't eat a steak with their bowl of cereal?🤣

Excellent reporting.

Thank you for this.

Another thing they didn't talk about is consolidation. Loblaws might own some of the shipping & logistics companies and food manufacturers, so they can dictate the prices that they cost. It all comes back into their pocket in the end but they get to blame the rising costs on someone else.

Loblaws makes you pay a listing fee that gets higher and higher because they have a monopaly on the market. This causes companies to shink their products to maintain/increase their profits. A simple solution is to make companies list the packaging version on their package similar to software versions. When the package changes for whatever reason their package version should change.

This downsizing strategy should be regulated asap!

I think people notice when your products get smaller, there’s just nothing you can do about it. I’ve been buying the same pasta for years and when they switched to plastic-free boxes, they came with about half the weight. I noticed right away that I could only get about 2 meals from what used to give me 3 or 4 for the same price. This video talks about detecting shrinkflation and about avoiding it, but what am I gonna do, not buy food? It’s not just that some products are inelastic, but that at big grocery stores like walmart, there’s often just one brand or one cheap brand and a bunch of expensive alternatives.

Years ago that same box of Dipps had 6 bars in it, now it has 5. As for the Vector issue, thank god we have laws in place for the nutritional label that they can't find a way to dodge yet.

so prices have gone way up plus we're getting cheaper quality products. awesome.

Great summary. Times are tough for consumers.

Everything is getting smaller, thinner, cheaper and more expensive, even dish soap is thinner than it was and our government is allowing them all to rip us off. Even stores are sticking it to us by making us buy multiples of an item just to get something close to a normal price. The only thing we can do about it is to stop buying products and shop at different stores, sometimes that's not possible but do what you can. I use to shop at one store for 24 years now I use the flyers and go where the deals are, that store has lost 90% of my business.

No wonder Farmboy seems more and more affordable in comparison and the produce seems to last way longer…

I really like these videos please keep making them.

My dog food recently went from 25lb bags to 23.5lbs, same price. Also Lindt hazelnut candy bars now have three sections instead of the old four an it's in the same package. There's a lot more. The produce thing is kinda terrible. Really tired of buying old half rotten potatoes for full price.

Next do comparison of supposedly same product but in two different form such as regular bottle and upside down squeeze bottle. Not only you get less, pay more but also different formulation

I bought box of Cereal that had empty paperboard box inside and a small bag of cereal bag. Also bought a small bottle of hand cream with a punt bottom containing only half the amount of cream advertised. What is the government doing about this highway robbery ? They some once in 4 years asking for votes but are getting "donations: from the corporation every six months.

MANDATE stores to add a price/gam tag to all sales items, that will at least give you a quick indicator of "why did the cost per weight go up suddenly?

I wish there was more news organizations that could communicate this effectively and factually.

It should be required by law for companies to put on packaging if they put less or changed ingredients. Remember when boxes used to be like oh you get 5x more than old version but when they put less they obviously try to make it as hidden as possible. Imagine seeing bags of chips that say how much air they have in the bag

Loblaws is absolutely horrible, years ago there was an accident in my hometown with a loblaws truck hitting a school van on the highway killing everyone in the van. Loblaws then tried to sue the school/driver who survived for damages to the food product in the truck. Our city boycotted the Superstore and stopped going, then they decided to drop the case.

Meal replacement… maybe they should not be sold with cereals but in the pharmacy with Boost and Ensure!

Nowadays you see a combination of 2 or 3 of these at once. Campbell's Chunky Soup, for example, has not only shrunk in size, but has also increased in price, combining Shrinkflation and Greedflation. I didn't look at the ingredient list before/after the change, but I wouldn't be surprised if they threw in Skimpflation as well. I've always hated the fact that a company isn't considered successful unless they are making record profits year over year.

1L OASIS Orange juice from concentrate is now more diluted. Not only that, now they don't produce the orange juice version as much anymore to force you to buy the 1.6L that cost double.