Attempts to win back consumers through smaller package sizes and promotional deals went nowhere.
They tried to win consumers by shrinkflation? Oh fuck them.
this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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shrinkflation and greedflation. or a combination with Cheapflation, although this is more common with hygiene/cleaning supplies products.
wait what? I was with you til the cheapflation, fill me in, what gross thing don't I know yet?
“We’ve spent the past year listening closely to consumers, and they’ve told us they’re feeling the strain,” said Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of PepsiCo Foods U.S. “Lowering the suggested retail price reflects our commitment to help reduce the pressure where we can. Because people shouldn’t have to choose between great taste and staying within their budget.”
What a fucking liar. They spent the last couple of years trying to find ANY other solution besides lowering prices, and now they are lowering them AFTER losing a billion bucks, and trying to frame it as trying to help their customers. No they aren't, the bleeding has gotten so bad that they are now in a blind panic.
I stopped buying their overpriced crap long ago. At Aldi, you can get a decent sized bag of the best kettle-cooked chips I've ever eaten for less than $2. A tiny bag of Lays, 20% of the size of an Aldi bag, is $3 or more. Pepsico can go fuck themselves with their predatory prices.
As much as I will always have a purple shaped hole in my heart for the sweet chili flavor, I'm totally cool not ever eating them again. Every big company can suck my shriveled excuse for a phallice. I have seen that they will destroy anything and everything around them for a few extra hundredths of a percentage point in share prices.
Side note, homemade tortilla chips with a little sprinkle of a ranch seasoning packet+cayenne>>>Doritos cool ranch.
I'm never buying Lays chips again, I haven't for over a year now. Never going back, they never needed to raise their price that much, greedy greedy greedy. They took the corpo idea of 'never leaving money on the table' and thought they could gouge us. They thought of us as stupid 'cattle' that would cower to their decades old brand. Fuck brand loyalty. Same thing for McDonalds, I haven't been back there in over 4 years and I'm NEVER going back. NEVER.
Yup. Once the routine is broken it’s broken. Living life without some stuff is actually easy and they have lost a customer for life.
I’ve boycotted a few brands in the last 3/4 years, and I expected to miss them more. But in honestly I feel proud at my resolve and now I just think urghhh I don’t need that crap. If I feel an urge I’ll get a no brand. Used to visit maccas fortnightly. Lucky is it’s once a year. I’ve been buying Mexican or European cola…if I have to have it.
Right there with you on McDonald's! I used to get a hot and spicy McChicken at least once every other week as a snack while running around. But after the staged bs with trump (not) serving all of 5 very obvious plants, they will not see another red cent from me!
Side note, homemade tortilla chips with a little sprinkle of a ranch seasoning
I like this idea, and I could think of a lot of interesting spice combos to use. I'm already partial to garlic and rosemary on fries in the air fryer, that would be great on tortilla chips.
Do you fry them, bake them, what? Will they work in the air fryer?
Basic pot with corn oil. The tortillas themselves are incredibly cheap when you buy the packages, I cut them into sixths instead of quarters to feel fancy.
Yeah, I'd do 6ths, too.
So I really hate deep frying. What do you do with the leftover oil?
Dunno who downvotes an honest question, but I got you back on the better side of zero.
Suffice to say most people will call me dirty, but I leave it as is most times. If I'm desperate and/or lazy and didn't want to go to the store for more and it's starting to taste funky, I ghetto clarify it with a 1:3 mix of cornstarch and milk respectively.
Start with one drop off water from your finger in the cold oil and when you hear it start to bubble, kill the heat and add one more drop off water. When you hear it popping once every half second or so add a small amount of the milk cornstarch mix and stir vigorously. Strain through first a course sift then a fine one. The proteins in the milk and cornstarch will bind with all the nastiness and make the particles big enough to be caught by the filters and give you almost brand new oil assuming you don't deep fry at 400+degrees.
Translation: "YOY revenue is down and we fucked the consumer too hard, and this drop of lube in the form of coupons that steal your data didn't seem to make them enjoy it more. Let's try and recover shareholder value by dong the unthinkable....gulp lowering prices by a tiny bit"
Everybody is a commerce genius until things hit three comma losses.
Tres comas babyyh (don’t mention the negative sign doe)
Like I'd ever willingly buy an American product.
Good?
Eat more cheaper fresh whole foods!
Or Great Value potato chips!
Why are adults still eating this crap? It’s going to cost you $6 now (including price drop) and thousands+ more because of health issues it’ll create in the future.
Best thing inflation did was force me to learn how to bulk cook. I do take out and eat junk food a handful of times per year. My wallet is happy, and my bloodwork is looking good too.
Why are adults still eating this crap?
Because it's a mix of sweet and salty, which scratches our instinctual desires.
Best thing inflation did was force me to learn how to bulk cook.
It has been a hobby and a passion for hundreds of millions of people going on 10,000 years.
Retvrn 2 Tradition
Because it’s a mix of sweet and salty, which scratches our instinctual desires.
And fat. Sweet, salty, carbs, fat. Ding, ding, ding!
Truth. Really. Don't eat garbage.
I'm trying to lower my blood pressure, and cutting back on sodium isn't really a problem for me — cause I'm probably already under 2G a day (I rarely eat processed/junk food, and I only use the bare minimum of salt)
Now smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, and (unhealthy levels of) stress... that's what's killing me, literally. But at least my salt game is chill
So they just blatantly admitted their price are batshit crazy and they could just lower them at any point of time, right?
Yes, I know we all knew, but usually they're all about "increase costs" and other BS. So glad that for once they just said they could just lower the price. I guess they still have a comfortable margin there…
Hopefully now you'll get what you pay for: air.
“We’ve spent the past year listening closely to consumers, and they’ve told us they’re feeling the strain,” said Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of PepsiCo Foods U.S. “Lowering the suggested retail price reflects our commitment to help reduce the pressure where we can. Because people shouldn’t have to choose between great taste and staying within their budget.”
Um, you forced them to do that, you tone-deaf son of a bitch.
Because people shouldn’t have to choose between great taste and staying within their budget.
Thankfully that doesn't apply to PepsiCo, because 90% of their snacks are the most mid shit on that shelf coasting off brand recognition and shelf space. If I want cheap, I get generic; if I want great taste, I get some other brand. If I want somewhere in the middle, I get Utz. If I want medium–high cost for medium–low-quality flavor and texture, I buy a PepsiCo product. And if I want to make the right choice, I don't get any of those.
The only thing keeping them afloat is pure market penetration- it's hard to not maintain volume when you're the only one on the shelf of every mini mart.
Heh penetration
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oh, no! looks like all that greedy shrinkflation blew up in your greedy faces! boohoo!
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Attempts to win back consumers through smaller package sizes and promotional deals went nowhere.
What kind of consumer would be won over by smaller sizes? Savvy consumers know the best deals usually come from the larger sizes, which tend to have a lower price by weight. Or are they seriously trying to frame shrinkflation as somehow being for a customer's benefit?
Yeah they are attempting to frame it that way. Here'd the logic in their muddled heads.
"We've increased the price of a 250g pack to £2 and people have stopped buying, so we'll reduce the price to £1.50"
"Yeah but you reduced the size to 100g"
"But the price !!!" Waves hands confusedly.
are they seriously trying to frame shrinkflation as somehow being for a customer’s benefit?
In the age of MBAs, I would bet on that 9 times out of 10.
Like if I'm going to pay $9 Canadian for my chips anyway, I might as well buy the locally made brand or other premium chip.
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I used to only buy name brand snacks. I like the consistency, and I can afford it, so I'd spend the extra few cents. And honestly I just didn't even pay attention to the price.
But $6 for a bag of Cheetos? I can still afford that, but I won't because fuck them. I'm buying store brand for life now. If they put the price lower than it was before and fire someone for being so disrespectful to their customers, I'll give them another shot, but that's not going to happen.
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When I initially readthe headline I was very confused because I hadn't been aware Pepisco had become a semiconductor manufacturer.
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Oh no poor people are our biggest market. How else will people in food deserts get their calories.
I love a good news day.
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