French supermarket Carrefour has put stickers on its shelves this week warning shoppers of “shrinkflation” - where packet contents are getting smaller while prices are not.

  • F04118F@feddit.nl
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    But it is unlikely that UK supermarkets would follow in Carrefour’s footsteps, according to retail expert Ged Futter, because the strategy risks “poisoning” relationships between retailers and food firms. “This is a very blunt way of of trying to compete,” he said. “To do that with your manufacturers, it won’t help.”

    One of the many reasons why consumer and worker’s rights are doomed in the Anglo-Saxon world: standing up for them is “rude”

    • sab@kbin.social
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      The second capitalists gather together they are bound to conspire to fuck over ordinary folks.

      That’s not Marx - that’s literally Adam Smith, the guy who hypothesized the invisible hand of the market that has since been turned into a complete strawman leading people to believe capitalism will somehow fix itself.

      Spoiler: It won’t.

      • Match!!@pawb.social
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        Which Adam Smith then follows by saying the craftspeople need to form guilds (unions) in response, which is the only scenario where the invisible hand approach could work

        • sab@kbin.social
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          The invisible hand was really just mentioned once in relation to the dynamics of trade between states, the whole concept is just taken out of context.

      • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Funny that he thought that the capitalists need to conspire. It turns out the ordinary folks will try to fuck over each other no matter what. The only workaround is for the ordinary folks to reach a “gentleman’s agreement” to not try and fuck over each other (i.e. form a union), but that proves difficult as it means having to not fuck over each other while establishing the union – a cross too difficult for most ordinary people to bear.

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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      Yep. Way nicer to fuck over your customer instead. Everyone in the supply chain is happy until the end of it.

  • Infynis@midwest.social
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    Carrefour has identified 26 products that have shrunk, without a price reduction to match, made by food giants including Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever.

    It’s always the ones you most expect

    • XTornado@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Well… those include like most of stuff specially because it includes Unilever.

  • pedroapero@lemmy.ml
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    Carrefour has a track record of replacing famous brands products by his owns. This could be designed to increase his own market share by shaming others.

    • alekwithak@lemmy.world
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      If their advertising is just telling the truth about what other companies are doing I don’t see the problem. As Agent J says in Men In Black ‘Don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing.’

  • Khotetsu@lib.lgbt
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    Dollar General in the US based their entire business model on tricking people like this. They sell stuff at 75% the price of places like Wal-Mart, while hoping people won’t notice that the item is half the size of the one at Wal-Mart so you end up actually paying 150% of what you would if you went somewhere else. They also run all the local stores out of business so that people don’t have any other nearby choices. Very scummy business.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    French supermarket Carrefour has put stickers on its shelves this week warning shoppers of “shrinkflation” - where packet contents are getting smaller while prices are not.

    “Obviously, the aim in stigmatising these products is to be able to tell manufacturers to rethink their pricing policy,” said Stefen Bompais, director of client communications at Carrefour.

    Carrefour has identified 26 products that have shrunk, without a price reduction to match, made by food giants including Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever.

    In June French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire summoned 75 retailers and consumer groups to a meeting about prices, and has accused manufacturers of not toeing the line on inflation.

    British consumer groups have also warned of “shrinkflation” affecting the value of common items from cat food to chocolate biscuits.

    Supermarkets use the same “shrinkflation” tactic with their own-label products, he added, aiming to keep to a certain price point, for example £1, by introducing cheaper ingredients, or making portions smaller to manage rising costs.


    The original article contains 404 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • ben@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    This is honestly a win win for the store and consumers - in my experience store brands rarely change their sizes. So this just keeps the customers informed and potentially funnels some sales into the store brand.

    The issue is when the store brand gets smaller a year or two down the line.