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A comment on How shrinkflation is playing havoc with economists’ models. Parent comment

Re:How shrinkflation is playing havoc with economists’ models by blihp on Sunday August 11, 2019 @12:10AM (#20666184)
Don't be too impressed. We only have the price per unit listings, ingredient lists etc. as the result of bad business practices (and sometimes deaths) in the previous century. So it's not retailers or manufacturers responding to consumer demand... they're responding to government laws and regulation.
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Re:How shrinkflation is playing havoc with economists’ models by refurb on Sunday August 11, 2019 @01:54AM (#20666509)
As most regulations are around the world - a response to some problem. It’s not unique to the US.

Do you have a source for the $/Oz being due to bad behavior? From what I’ve heard it was done purely to address consumer demand.

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Re:How shrinkflation is playing havoc with economists’ models by blihp on Sunday August 11, 2019 @04:52AM (#20667156)
True enough re: them usually being a response to a problem.

See the 'Background' section on page 11 of https://www.nist.gov/document/sp1181-unit-pricing-guidepdf and more generally https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/laws-and-regul.... So yes, it was done purely to address consumer demand... by way of laws and regulations with producers and retailers under threat of even more onerous laws and regulations.

A contemporary example to hopefully convey the situation back then: if 'right to repair' becomes law at some point, this would also be due to consumer demand. Notice the level of interest companies have in addressing this consumer demand prior to legislation being passed...

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Re:How shrinkflation is playing havoc with economists’ models by hirsin on Sunday August 11, 2019 @02:20AM (#20666642)
It's rarely purely price/oz. Often it's mixed units - eg for granola bars or similar you'll see four different items listed at -

Price/oz

Price/lb

Price/bar

Price/unit (which might be bar or package of two bars)

So you get tk calculate the difference in your head.

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