Hi there, dear friends 
When my children were still young, I often hear the other women shoppers at the “pasar” (wet markets) complaining that RM50 didn’t buy as many meats and vegetables compared to many years ago. We would lament together how little RM50 could buy us. I was fine with the gradual price increases then, as I understood it was because of inflation.
But I really hate it these days, when companies sneakily reduced the size of their products and sugar-coating that as a price reduction, or as promotional sales items. Heck, some even dared to retail sell the smaller products at the same prices as before!
My favourite dish detergent, which costs more than the usual ones in the supermarkets, but is less harsh on my hands, has a nett weight of 930ml, compared to 1 litre before.
My favourite canned tuna is getting smaller and smaller, but is costing more and more. I found my tube of favourite toothpaste is feeling lighter and thinner in my hand.
In those day, when they call a product “jumbo sized,” it was really jumbo sized.
Many brands of eggs for sale now are touting their medium sized eggs as large sized, but selling them at large-size-eggs prices. So, when I need large eggs for my baking needs, I have to buy Jumbo Eggs or Extra Large Eggs.
Even my favourite loaf of wholemeal bread sold now feels somewhat smaller and lighter, although the price remains the same.
So, effectively, we are actually paying more for our consumables….sigh…
Sneaky! Sneaky! Sneaky!
We, the consumers, are being taken advantage of and being squeezed by the companies who are trying to increase or maintain their profit margins, at our expense.
But it is all a chain reaction. Increasing the nett prices of our consumables and foodstuff will result in us, the consumers, cutting back on the other non-essential spending, e.g. less caramel macchiatos at my favourite cafe, less going to the movies, less shopping for clothes, handbags, etc….because most people’s take home pay have not increased much over the years.
The shopping malls may appear to be crowded, but most of them are merely window shoppers.
A friend who is a regional manager for some brands of mobile phones told me that sales have dropped a lot in the past year.
The contractor, who did some minor renovations for my house recently, said that the general business sentiment is quiet.
To me, food and consumables make up a big chunk of my family’s monthly spending. If I have to spend more for the same amount that I buy for them, or get a lesser amount for the same price I pay for them, then I will just make do by buying less of those items, and/or by cutting back on the spending of the other non-essentials stuff.
By doing that, I believe I have started the first domino dropping in the chain reaction that will affect the rest in the economy – i.e. companies in general will experience lower demand, lower sales, lower profits – just because we, as the consumers, were squeezed in the first place for our consumables! Lol!
Take care and be well!
With best wishes,
choesf
