It's fucking annoying.
Example: polo shirts. For years (and this was before Target went down the toilet so admittedly it would be irrelevant now) I got the "Merona" brand. They were like 10 bucks for a long time, then maybe 12 then 14. Still absolutely just fine, just as good quality/thickness/longevity (if not better, for instance I tried J. Crew once and those actually didn't last - and this was way back when I still shopped there so long before THEY went to shit - it was a real oddity in fact but I digress, as name brands, alligators etc)(Greekish there probably should be a comma there at least but there isn't so I hope it hurts)(edit: this was before the last part of the sentence, I mean more in the middle bit of the whole thing but I'll gladly keep adding on to the pile I can tell you that). Sooo, first they got thinner - and I think this was when they hit 14 bucks - uh oh. But still pretty good. I still have 2 like this.
THEN they rebranded totally (at least they did this, they quit trying to pass off this as the same thing - kind of a shock there) and suddenly it was like they were made of lint. OK fine done with them, where else to get. Well, turns out EVERY place did the same damn thing. Kept at the price point which meant not even worth buying anymore. JC Penney, Kohl's, etc, all of them just absolutely forget it. Fortunately I work from home now and only wear one of these occasionally so the old Target ones are still going...maybe by the time I need more there'll be an ok alternative again.... (Edit: I haven't checked as I won't pay 60 let alone 80 or whatever they are now for Izod etc but I would not bet they are any better quality.)
Bottom line and one thing's for sure, if companies would just quit with shrinkflation (both in terms of quantity and quality) perhaps people would have noticed the inflation issue a lot sooner. (And, ironically, they tried to disguise this stuff for some time - and were getting away with it with just sort of griping etc as it was gradual enough - but eventually the chickens had to come home to roost so we're getting the inevitable higher prices now, but annoyingly enough on the lower-quality/smaller products.)
It's fucking annoying.
Example: polo shirts. For years (and this was before Target went down the toilet so admittedly it would be irrelevant now) I got the "Merona" brand. They were like 10 bucks for a long time, then maybe 12 then 14. Still absolutely just fine, just as good quality/thickness/longevity (if not better, for instance I tried J. Crew once and those actually didn't last - and this was way back when I still shopped there so long before THEY went to shit - it was a real oddity in fact but I digress, as name brands, alligators etc)(Greekish there probably should be a comma there at least but there isn't so I hope it hurts)(edit: this was before the last part of the sentence, I mean more in the middle bit of the whole thing but I'll gladly keep adding on to the pile I can tell you that). Sooo, first they got thinner - and I think this was when they hit 14 bucks - uh oh. But still pretty good. I still have 2 like this.
THEN they rebranded totally (at least they did this, they quit trying to pass off this as the same thing - kind of a shock there) and suddenly it was like they were made of lint. OK fine done with them, where else to get. Well, turns out EVERY place did the same damn thing. Kept at the price point which meant not even worth buying anymore. JC Penney, Kohl's, etc, all of them just absolutely forget it. Fortunately I work from home now and only wear one of these occasionally so the old Target ones are still going...maybe by the time I need more there'll be an ok alternative again....
Bottom line and one thing's for sure, if companies would just quit with shrinkflation (both in terms of quantity and quality) perhaps people would have noticed the inflation issue a lot sooner. (And, ironically, they tried to disguise this stuff for some time - and were getting away with it with just sort of griping etc as it was gradual enough - but eventually the chickens had to come home to roost so we're getting the inevitable higher prices now, but annoyingly enough on the lower-quality/smaller products.)
It's fucking annoying.
Example: polo shirts. For years (and this was before Target went down the toilet so admittedly it would be irrelevant now) I got the "Merona" brand. They were like 10 bucks for a long time, then maybe 12 then 14. Still absolutely just fine, just as good quality/thickness/longevity (if not better, for instance I tried J. Crew once and those actually didn't last - and this was way back when I still shopped there so long before THEY went to shit - it was a real oddity in fact but I digress, as name brands, alligators etc)(Greekish there probably should be a comma there at least but there isn't so I hope it hurts). Sooo, first they got thinner - and I think this was when they hit 14 bucks - uh oh. But still pretty good. I still have 2 like this.
THEN they rebranded totally (at least they did this, they quit trying to pass off this as the same thing - kind of a shock there) and suddenly it was like they were made of lint. OK fine done with them, where else to get. Well, turns out EVERY place did the same damn thing. Kept at the price point which meant not even worth buying anymore. JC Penney, Kohl's, etc, all of them just absolutely forget it. Fortunately I work from home now and only wear one of these occasionally so the old Target ones are still going...maybe by the time I need more there'll be an ok alternative again....
Bottom line and one thing's for sure, if companies would just quit with shrinkflation (both in terms of quantity and quality) perhaps people would have noticed the inflation issue a lot sooner. (And, ironically, they tried to disguise this stuff for some time - and were getting away with it with just sort of griping etc as it was gradual enough - but eventually the chickens had to come home to roost so we're getting the inevitable higher prices now, but annoyingly enough on the lower-quality/smaller products.)