15 Shady Tactics Companies Used To Trick Their Customers

Everyone likes to save money – and that’s perfectly normal. However, what’s not normal is when you start saving money at the expense of others – and it becomes infinitely worse once is done by a global company. And if you think companies aren’t trying to dupe you just because they’re making millions in profits, you’d be dead wrong.

Turns out that many global companies use pretty shady tactics to trick their costumers, such as lowering the quality or the size of products while still charging the same amount of money. There’s even a term for it – shrinkflation. And the sooner you learn about it, the sooner you can stop buying the products made by these greedy companies.

Check out some examples of companies caught ‘shrinkflating’ their products in the gallery below!

#1

Image source: CalamitytheKid

Fans of this snack brand noticed that not only have the chips become smaller, the tube itself was shrunk too, making it harder to stick your hand in. Unsurprisingly, the price of the snacks remained the same. On Twitter, Pringles tried to explain that this was because the manufacturing was shifted from USA to Malaysia where the equipment is a little different. However, that still doesn’t explain why the price wasn’t reduced.

#2

Image source: AApickleAA

Reddit user u/AApickleAA noticed that the new Doritos “Bigger Bag, More To Share” pack contains the same amount of chips as the regular pack, only costs more.

#3

Image source: Flying_Dutchmen

Last year, a British man found a Mars bar from 1996 and compared it to a new one – turns out the older one was significantly bigger, despite the new one costing nearly as double as the old one.

#4

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

In 2016, Toblerone redesigned their triangle-shaped bars to have bigger gaps between the pieces, meaning people are now getting 10 percent less chocolate while still paying the same. Two years later, the company returned to the original bar design – and raised the price.

#5

Image source: Instacart

The weight of the Double Stuf Oreo pack has quietly changed from 16.6 oz to 15.35 oz over the years while the price has stayed the same.

#6

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Pyrex is well known for their fireproof glassware, however, a few years ago some of their pans started exploding in high heat. Turns out this was because the company changed one of the ingredients, making their dishes more resistant to being dropped but weaker to thermal shock.

#7

Image source: Target

The “Family Size” packs of Lay’s Classic and Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion differ in size, despite costing the same.

#8

Image source: Scouse Smurf

The size of the Twix bar has been reduced in size by about 14 percent over the years. That’s because back in 2012, Mars, Inc. announced that all of their single-serve chocolate bars will have no more than 250 calories.

#9

Image source: WCPO 9

The length of toilet paper rolls have also been shrinking over time. The standard size of a roll used to be 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches but nowadays it’s about half an inch shorter while still costing the same.

#10

Image source: Bernt Rostad

Some bars in the US use a practice called “short pouring” where instead of a standard 16 oz. US pint glasses they use 14 oz. glasses (sometimes called ‘cheater pints’) that visually look the same.

#11

Image source: ms.akr

Another shady tactic used by some cereal brands is making the boxes thinner, allowing them to pack less product while still making it look like the packaging hasn’t changed.