A Canadian shopper put Loblaw on blast after finding a bag of tortilla chips that she says has been hit with “shrinkflation.”
TikTok user @rockinabs, or Abby, recently shared a video of a bag of President’s Choice White Corn Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips at a Loblaw-owned Real Canadian Superstore in Calgary.
“Shrinkflation,” she says while holding up the 320-gram package of tortilla chips. “Look at this — I can see through it!”
The clear chip bag looks to be filled less than half of the way. In direct messages to Daily Hive, Abby said all of the bags at the store had a similar lack of filling.
@rockinabs @Lowblawscanada explain yourselves! #inflation #groceryprices #shrinkflation ♬ original sound – Abby 🏳️🌈 & Larry 🐶
On Superstore’s site, the bag of tortilla chips sells for $2.50. Abby told Daily Hive that it was on sale in-store for $3.49.
On Loblaws’ site, the same bag of chips is on sale for $3.50, with a regular price of $3.99.
The TikTok has garnered over 194,000 views and hundreds of comments.
Many pointed out the clear packaging really emphasizes just how little you get.
“In a clear bag is BOLD,” one person replied.
“Them doing it in a clear bag is just a slap in the face… like ‘what are you going to do about it?!’ 😭” adds another.
TikTok
While others wondered how Loblaw keeps “getting away with this??”
“You’re basically paying for air,” one person commented.
“They could probably save money by using less material on the bags and not ripping us off with less product,” added another.
In an email response to Daily Hive, the grocer said that it’s “committed to ensuring all product weights and labelling requirements meet regulatory standards.”
It added that in these instances, if the product details, including the UPC, best-before date, and lot code were available to them, they could investigate the matter with the vendor.
Daily Hive does not have that information, as the customer did not buy the chips.
This isn’t the first instance of alleged shrinkflation spotted at a Loblaw store.
Last year, a customer weighed a No Name bag of chips and found that they were getting less than advertised.
Chip bags aren’t the only grocery items that have been hit with shrinkflation.
Recently, Leclerc Celebration cookies sparked discussion around the practice of reducing the size of a product while keeping the same or an even higher sticker price.