They took chips out of the bag and kept the price

Same chips, same four dollars as last week. This week it's mostly bag. — Dad of three, 2024

In 2016 Toblerone shrank its British bar by spreading the triangles farther apart. Same box. In the U.S., the government counts a smaller package at the same price as a price increase, which every shopper already knew. France went further. Since July 2024, big French supermarkets have to post a sign for two months when a package shrinks, with the old amount, the new amount and the higher price per unit. That's a confession, and they hang it on the shelf.

For now: check the shelf tag's unit price; a shrunken package costs more per ounce.

The full file

Not every store waited for the law. In September 2023, ten months before it, the French chain Carrefour stuck its own warning labels on shrunken products: Lipton Iced Tea, Pepsi, Lindt chocolate, baby formula. The label said the product's volume or weight had dropped and the real price from the supplier had gone up. A store pointing at its suppliers, right there on the shelf.

Toblerone backed down. In July 2018 the company said it would drop the gappy bar and go back to the old design with the smaller gaps.

It got as far as the White House. On Super Bowl Sunday, February 11, 2024, President Biden posted a video calling shrinkflation "a rip-off," naming smaller sports-drink bottles and ice cream cartons. He said companies were "hoping you won't notice." You noticed. That's why you're here.