Tostitos and Ruffles Finally Increase Amount of Chips in Bags — After Losing Customers

Over the last few years, you’ve noticed that your kid’s sports drinks have fewer ounces than they used to have, your pill bottles don’t last a full year anymore, and your grocery bags are much lighter even with the same order. 

That’s all thanks to shrinkflation, the term used when companies sneakily shrink the amount of product you’re getting while keeping prices the same — or raising them. It’s a frustrating fact of life, but one company just announced that it’s reversing the shrinkflation it has subjected us to when we buy bags of chips and snacks. Here’s what PepsiCo is doing to atone for its shrinkflation sins.

PepsiCo told CNN that bags of chips labeled “bonus” will contain 20% more chips for the same price as regular bags. The company is also adding two small additional chip bags to its 18-bag variety pack, the kind you normally buy for school lunches. The spokesperson added the caveat of “select locations” on these changes, so it remains to be seen just how widespread this reverse shrinkflation is. (We’re skeptical.)

PepsiCo is the parent company of huge nationwide brands like Cheetos, Doritos, Lay’s, Quaker, and Gatorade, to name a few. The 20% more “bonus” bags will be for Tostitos and Ruffles in particular. Time will tell whether the company decides to add more chips to the bags of any of its other numerous brands.

Because the price of salty snacks has increased 36% compared to 2020, people are buying fewer chips, and doing things like switching from name-brand to store-brand varieties to save money. PepsiCo’s snack sales declined 1% last quarter, according to CNN, so it was high time they tried to win some customers back. Snack companies might be getting desperate to sway public opinion, and an announcement like this is just the way to do it, even though it only affects two chip brands.

Plus, earlier this month, two members of Congress, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Madeleine Dean, called out PepsiCo and two other food manufacturers for shrinkflation and price gouging. Even if Americans can’t agree on politics, we can all agree that corporate greed sucks.

Other companies have hopped on the reverse shrinkflation bandwagon lately, too. Domino’s, for example, recently offered a deal called “Moreflation” that allowed customers to upgrade a medium pizza to a large for free. But we’re hoping that other giant snack and chip makers will get nervous and follow PepsiCo’s lead by giving customers a better deal as well.

For more smart consumer news, please sign up for our free newsletters.