ALDI frozen fish mishap leaves shoppers puzzled – but what's really going on?
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We all know that these days, the 'value' of a dollar is far less than it was in the past. Prices for goods and services continue to rise while the amount of what we can buy with our money has decreased.
This is what’s bothering one ALDI shopper who shared her recent find in the frozen fish section of her favourite supermarket online.
A shopper was left scratching her head over a ‘frustrating’ find in a frozen fish buy. Based on her report, shrinkflation, a phenomenon in which a product is downsized (either in quantity or actual size) but the price stays the same, seems to be the cause of the bizarre discovery.
The woman uploaded photos on a popular Facebook group, ALDI Mums, and relayed her experience to other shoppers.
‘Thought you’d like to see this – shrinkflation,’ she wrote and tagged the supermarket giant in the post.
The woman showed an opened box of Ocean Royal Frozen Fish Fillets in the photos. However, the fillets only filled half the size of the box. In a separate image, she also folded the top of the box to show that half was empty.
Fellow shoppers who saw the post took to the comments and shared that they were also annoyed at the fillets' size.
‘They’re more like nuggets than fillets,’ said one person.
‘Just an absolute rip-off,’ another replied.
‘It’s happening with everything now!’ One more wrote.
Just recently, Maxibon ice creams have also become the latest item to fall victim to shrinkflation. However, Maxibon’s parent company has warned customers of the size reduction in a post to their official social media channels.
‘Tough times mean tough changes,’ they said. You can read more about this story here.
Other shoppers defended ALDI and reminded fellow customers to check the weight of products before purchasing them.
‘The product is sold on weight, so just because the box isn’t full, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re missing out on anything,’ one pointed out.
Another said that the item was ‘still the same weight’.
‘They’re 425g; that seems about right. Box is too big,’ one more commented.
It is understood that the 425g box of Ocean Royal Golden Crisp Crumbed Fish Fillets has remained the same size since it was launched.
Breaking Down Shrinkflation: What’s Causing It?
Shrinkflation is also a form of inflation, but instead of increasing the price of a product (which would be obvious to consumers), sellers or producers end up reducing the size of the product while maintaining the same price. This slight reduction in quantity is typically unnoticed by consumers.
This tactic is widely used by manufacturers and producers in the food and beverage industry. However, it cannot be viewed as a fraud or misinterpretation of products. This is because producers or sellers only need to indicate their products' weight, volume, or quantity on packaging labels. Technically not illegal – but it is sneaky!
Two factors usually cause shrinkflation:
Producers need help to sell goods at the same price as before due to higher commodity prices and market saturation. In a report by Chris Kohler from 9News, he stated that it was ‘hard to get angry at the companies themselves for this because the price of raw commodities that go into food has been going up with everything else as inflation does’.
‘Wheat, dairy, cocoa, it's all been going up, and the companies have a choice: do we jack up the price or do we make the items smaller? Some have both been getting smaller and been going up in price,’ he added. You can read more about this report and how to fight back against shrinkflation here.
Ultimately, checking the weight or size of the product before you buy it is a must. This stresses the importance of reading labels, checking nutritional information, and comparing to similar brands to make sure they're getting value for money – in terms of both size and cost.
Have you seen cases of shrinkflation at your local supermarket, members? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
This is what’s bothering one ALDI shopper who shared her recent find in the frozen fish section of her favourite supermarket online.
A shopper was left scratching her head over a ‘frustrating’ find in a frozen fish buy. Based on her report, shrinkflation, a phenomenon in which a product is downsized (either in quantity or actual size) but the price stays the same, seems to be the cause of the bizarre discovery.
The woman uploaded photos on a popular Facebook group, ALDI Mums, and relayed her experience to other shoppers.
‘Thought you’d like to see this – shrinkflation,’ she wrote and tagged the supermarket giant in the post.
The woman showed an opened box of Ocean Royal Frozen Fish Fillets in the photos. However, the fillets only filled half the size of the box. In a separate image, she also folded the top of the box to show that half was empty.
Fellow shoppers who saw the post took to the comments and shared that they were also annoyed at the fillets' size.
‘They’re more like nuggets than fillets,’ said one person.
‘Just an absolute rip-off,’ another replied.
‘It’s happening with everything now!’ One more wrote.
Just recently, Maxibon ice creams have also become the latest item to fall victim to shrinkflation. However, Maxibon’s parent company has warned customers of the size reduction in a post to their official social media channels.
‘Tough times mean tough changes,’ they said. You can read more about this story here.
Other shoppers defended ALDI and reminded fellow customers to check the weight of products before purchasing them.
‘The product is sold on weight, so just because the box isn’t full, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re missing out on anything,’ one pointed out.
Another said that the item was ‘still the same weight’.
‘They’re 425g; that seems about right. Box is too big,’ one more commented.
It is understood that the 425g box of Ocean Royal Golden Crisp Crumbed Fish Fillets has remained the same size since it was launched.
Breaking Down Shrinkflation: What’s Causing It?
Shrinkflation is also a form of inflation, but instead of increasing the price of a product (which would be obvious to consumers), sellers or producers end up reducing the size of the product while maintaining the same price. This slight reduction in quantity is typically unnoticed by consumers.
This tactic is widely used by manufacturers and producers in the food and beverage industry. However, it cannot be viewed as a fraud or misinterpretation of products. This is because producers or sellers only need to indicate their products' weight, volume, or quantity on packaging labels. Technically not illegal – but it is sneaky!
Two factors usually cause shrinkflation:
1. Higher production costs
2. Intense market competition
Producers need help to sell goods at the same price as before due to higher commodity prices and market saturation. In a report by Chris Kohler from 9News, he stated that it was ‘hard to get angry at the companies themselves for this because the price of raw commodities that go into food has been going up with everything else as inflation does’.
‘Wheat, dairy, cocoa, it's all been going up, and the companies have a choice: do we jack up the price or do we make the items smaller? Some have both been getting smaller and been going up in price,’ he added. You can read more about this report and how to fight back against shrinkflation here.
Ultimately, checking the weight or size of the product before you buy it is a must. This stresses the importance of reading labels, checking nutritional information, and comparing to similar brands to make sure they're getting value for money – in terms of both size and cost.
Key Takeaways
- An ALDI shopper shared photographs of a bizarre discovery inside a box of Ocean Royale frozen fish fillets, showing the fillets to be only half the size of the box.
- The post sparked a discussion on the popular Facebook group ALDI Mums, with some users expressing frustration at the size of the fillets.
- Other members defended ALDI, pointing out that the product is sold by weight, and the box size does not necessarily indicate a decrease in product quantity.
- ALDI's Ocean Royale Golden Crisp Crumbed Fish Fillets (425g) has remained the same size since the product was first launched.
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