Was coming here to say just this: they had a density akin to Cheerios and a far, far better texture and flavor- the current Boo Berry is just a pale shade (pun intended) of what it was in the 70's and 80's. This is true for many, many cereals (see also Trix, Apple Jacks, and Froot Loops) but I find the monster cereals…

The marshmallows used to actually be small squares:

The Monster Cereals don’t taste the same as they used to. The pieces used to be smaller and have denser texture and more flavor, and I swear the marshmallows used to be flavored also. Count Chocula is still pretty close flavor-wise, but Boo Berry (which used to be my fave) and Franken Berry are hollow shells of what…

We can also talk about cereal, toilet paper, pet food, Toothpaste, spices, candy, Ice cream, Orange Juice, hair care, potato chips, condiments, tortilla chips, etc.... I have seen it all get the so called shrinkflation treatment at the grocery store.

That is a problem for sure.

One problem with this not mentioned is excess waste due to making the package contents smaller. Smaller contents = need to buy it more often.

“Why the media only wants to focus on so called shrinkflation when the inflation numbers are out of whack is beyond me.”

Who cares about cereal:

You mean downsizing.

it reminds me of the cadbury creme egg fiasco a few years back where people noticed they were smaller and cadbury said “oh no it’s the same size it was before, you’re just misremembering” and then one of the actors from The Office replied with a picture showing the previous years egg was indeed much larger.

It has nothing to do with the current ‘inflation problem’, it’s been going on for decades. If it’s not cutting back on the amount in a package it’s cutting back on something like the amount of cheese on Ellio’s pizza. Girl Scout Cookies come to mind right away because the old guy I used to help out loved them and…

Ditch the cutesy jargon name, call it what it is. Old fashioned price gouging. Pay more, get less. Calling it “shrinkflation” makes it sound too reasonable and acceptable.