The Great Chip Shrinkflation Crisis: A Mathematical Tragedy in Three Acts
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The Great Chip Shrinkflation Crisis: A Mathematical Tragedy in Three Acts
Act I: The Evidence
Your eyes aren't deceiving you. That family-size bag contains exactly what a regular bag held in 2019. We've done the math. 13 ounces became 11 ounces became 9.75 ounces. The price remained $4.99. This is not inflation. This is something more insidious.
Act II: The Deception
They think we won't notice. The bags grow taller, wider. The typography screams "PARTY SIZE!" while the net weight whispers its shameful truth in 6-point font. Air-to-chip ratios have reached aerospace engineering levels. NASA called. They want their technology back.
We counted. One "sharing size" bag of a leading tortilla chip brand contained 27 whole chips. Twenty-seven. That's not sharing. That's rationing.
The Metrics Don't Lie
Our laboratory analysis (my kitchen scale) reveals:
- Average chip bag weight decreased 23% since 2020
- Price per ounce increased 41%
- Bag size illusion increased 18% through strategic air injection
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcus Crunchwell
Marcus Crunchwell is Chipter's lead chip critic with over a decade of professional snack evaluation experience. Known for his unflinching honesty and deadpan delivery, Marcus has sampled over 3,000 varieties of chips from 47 countries. He holds a Ph.D. in Food Science and approaches each chip with the seriousness of a sommelier evaluating a vintage Bordeaux, but with considerably more salt and considerably less pretense.