Incredible shrinking toilet paper: The six products you’re getting less of, but are not getting cheaper
When you're spending a penny, you're being short changed, it turns out.
One brands' toilet rolls have been quietly shortened, but you're still paying the same price, and it's just one of several products where you're now getting less bang for your buck – and may even pay more for less – according to research from consumer group Which?.
1. Chocolate biscuits
You now get 30g less of McVitie's dark chocolate digestives, but pay ten pence more at Tesco.
2. Juice
At club Tropicana drinks are 15 per cent less full if you're buying its Pure Premiums orange and raspberry juice, which shrank from one litre to 850ml, but remained the same price in Asda.
3. Wipes
Those handy Dettol cleaning wipes come with four fewer per pack if you're buying the Power and Pure Bathroom ones. At Tesco you'll still pay the same, and at Ocado, three pence more though.
4. Toothpaste
The amount of Sensodyne's Total Care Extra Fresh you get in the tube shrank by a quarter. The pre-cut price was "£2.40 was £3.60", Which? said, but was then £3.49, increasing the price per 100ml.
5. Coffee
Fans of Percol's fairtrade Guatemalan coffee get 27g less, and while the price went down in Sainsbury's and Waitrose, it was not enough to reflect the cut and per 100g, it's now more expensive.
6. TP
And finally, don't be distracted by that cute puppy. A standard four pack now has 19 fewer sheets, but has remained at around the £2 mark, Which? said. Meanwhile, if you like your toilet paper to have picture of puppies printed right on there, Andrex's "Puppies and Roll" has lost 31 sheets in the last decade.
Incredible shrinking products
“Shrinking products can be a sneaky way of increasing prices. We want manufacturers and supermarkets to be upfront about shrinking products so consumers aren’t misled," said Which? editor Richard Headland.
The group contacted the brands, which said it was down to the supermarkets to set prices, but they did not disclose if there were a change to wholesale prices.
It's not the first time we've found out we're getting less for our money. Mondelez shrank the size of Britain's favourite treats – Roses and Heroes tins lost 11 sweets last year, but remained the same price.
Read more: Cadbury hits back at recipe change claims
Meanwhile, Cadbury lost an entire Creme Egg from its multipacks and two of its chocolate fingers disappeared from packs.
The chocolate cuts are largely down to increasing demand but dwindling cocoa production, meaning prices go up, or size is reduced to remain the same.
As for the TP, we're not sure there's a shortage there. But, if there is, we're certainly in trouble.