00:00 Well, shoppers paying close attention
00:01 to what they're buying and bringing
00:03 home from the store as is evident
00:05 in our next story, one person
00:07 turning to consumer reporter John
00:09 Matteries about a possible case of
00:11 shrink flation involving tide so
00:13 you don't waste your money.
00:15 We've heard more and more cases
00:17 of shrink flation at the grocery
00:19 store in recent years where you
00:21 pay more but get less.
00:22 But after one viewer contacted us
00:24 about a possible case of shrink flation,
00:26 we found that sometimes getting
00:28 less is not a bad thing. Jerry
00:31 Bluss says half the things in her
00:33 fridge have shrunk in recent years.
00:35 That's gotten smaller now while
00:37 doing a load of laundry recently,
00:39 she thought she found another
00:40 case of suspected shrink flation.
00:42 I've started a new box and I thought,
00:45 whoa, wait a minute.
00:46 Jerry's new box of tide was 22 ounces
00:49 smaller, 232 ounces versus 254 ounces.
00:51 The old box was giving me 180 loads.
00:53 The new box is supposed to give me 183
00:56 loads. She was stumped. How is PNG
00:59 doing that? Because how can I get more
01:02 loads out of a box that weighs less?
01:05 So we contacted PNG,
01:06 the maker of tide,
01:07 which claims it's not shrink flation at all.
01:10 The company tells us tide recently
01:12 improved and concentrated the powder formula.
01:14 That means there's more cleaning
01:16 ingredients per ounce.
01:17 That's why you get virtually the
01:19 same amount of loads in a smaller
01:22 size and the same clean you've
01:24 come to trust with tide.
01:25 We turn to shrink flation guru
01:27 Edgar Dvorsky of Consumer World.
01:29 He says cases like these are rare
01:31 and that this type of information
01:34 should be on packages loud and
01:36 clear so people understand that
01:37 you can now use less because it's
01:40 now a stronger formula as to where
01:42 things stand on shrink flation.
01:44 It seems to have tapered off just a drop,
01:47 but as we keep seeing these
01:50 announcements from major companies
01:51 that they're raising prices,
01:53 that's really a euphemism for
01:55 giving you less. Jerry says it's
01:57 nice to see when one shrinking
01:59 product is actually a good thing,
02:01 and that way you don't waste your money.
