Arnott’s have not had the best time of late. From the colossal stuff up with the flavour of Shapes, to being called out on selling less specialty Tim Tams than the regular kind for the same price, to – just yesterday – decreasing the size of Tiny Teddy packets by 20%, it’s been rough.
And it isn’t just Arnott’s; other brands including Kit Kat, Toblerone and Pringles have been caught doing the dodgy with product sizes recently.
But one economist thinks this is less about companies being stingy, and rather an omen of a greater problem with the Australian economy.
Speaking with Lateline, economist Dr Pippa Malmgren, who has worked with both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said that the trend points towards a type of hidden inflation she calls “shrinkflation”. And it’s a kind of canary-in-the-coalmine, she suggests, for our entire economy.
Speaking on Arnott’s recent troubles, Malmgren said:
“Tim Tams was just starting to announce they were going to make the cookies and the biscuits smaller. But you’re going to be paying the same price as you used to pay. So your price per unit, or per weight is going up. That’s an early sign inflation is making its way through the system”
Malmgren says that while the Reserve Bank may say that inflation is low, the rising cost of living is still driving inflation. In simpler terms, just because the authorities say everything is okay, it doesn’t mean that it is.
It also isn’t an isolated problem: Britain and the USA is experiencing similar types of “hidden” inflation across their products.
At least we’re all slowly going down together, hey?
Source: Lateline.
Photo: Instagram / whatben8.
*The above article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any financial decisions.
