Shrinkflation is affecting natural produce like apples too

So now the apples are going through Shrinkflation too. And I thought I had seen it all with Pringles and all the chip bags getting smaller. They are actually shrinking, not just perceived as smaller than what they were before.

You could tell from this man's frustration just how ridiculous the situation has gotten.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Gh02M1zpl-U?si=8YsrHtNiF_eP3H5w

I myself buy a bag of apples weighing two pounds. The bag is weighed at the store and weighs as it should. But when I open the bag at home, I find out that there are tiny apples, not what I was expecting to see in the bag.

There is also a clear change in what gets wasted. A small apple has about the same size core and same skin thickness as a large apple. So what happens now is when we peel the small apple, we spend the same amount of time peeling it as with a large apple but because we are not necessarily getting as much edible fruit, the worth of the small apples is less than the price indicates.

Shrinkflation affected chips and cereal first. But now, these raw natural produce have also been affected. It looks different from the normal Shrinkflation because in this case there's a lot of excuses to make. The retailers blame the weather, the dry weather, unpredictable freezes, all of that since 2024. The produce that would have previously been thrown away now remains on the shelf, because throwing it away costs more than keeping it on the shelf. If you check, you'll also find out that fertilizer costs have risen, even water is more expensive than before, labor costs are definitely more than they were before.

To mask the reduction in quality, retailers are packaging their apples so they appear to have the same quality as they used to do in years past, so you are familiar with the price of the apples and assume they are the same quality as years past.

I have started buying loose produce because it takes longer to scope out what I'm buying, but it would be nice to see exactly what I am buying before paying for it. Frozen vegetables have been surprisingly consistent for me, which I never expected to have to say. At least frozen vegetables are processed at their maximum size. But I only speak for where I live it could be different elsewhere.

The price per pound label is pretty much the only remaining honest indicator of price. Everything else requires memory of normal, what all of the sizes used to be, what they looked like and what they weighed.