That’s the way the cookie crumbles for Costco shoppers.
The retailer has been accused of shrinkflation after eagle-eyed customers noticed that their new cookie flavor has fewer in the package than usual.
Food blogger @costcobuys shared a video on Instagram of Costco’s new brown butter sugar cookies, which includes 21 cookies for $7.99 — but fans quickly pointed out that cookies used to be sold in packs of 24.
“Where did the other 3 go?” one person asked on Reddit.
“21 count? Man first they came for the muffins and then they came for the two dozen,” another disappointed shopper wrote.
People around the country are starting to feel their wallets hurting with a rise in prices, especially with groceries, as well as the effects of shrinkflation, when a product’s size or value is decreased yet still offered at the same retail price.
A 2024 report from LendingTree found that of nearly 100 products bought by Americans on a regular basis, a third have shrunk in the past five years.
“People are already frustrated that things cost more,” Matt Schulz, LendingTree chief consumer finance analyst, said. “Shrinkflation just adds insult to injury. It all adds up to a lot of Americans feeling squeezed every month to afford the basic things they can’t do without.”
“Businesses know that customers don’t like when prices go up,” he added. “Shrinkflation is a sneaky little way around that.”
“Rather than bumping up the price of something, businesses make the product smaller while keeping the price the same. If done smartly, customers may not even notice. However, the problem is that when they do, it leaves the customer with a bad taste in their mouth because it feels so deceptive.”
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