In a viral video, a Harris Teeter customer shows a $6 bag of Doritos and called out chip companies and grocery stores for selling overpriced bags of chips.
In the TikTok, Michelle (@mabma.realtor) is seen filming up and down the chip aisle of her local Harris Teeter grocery store, showing viewers the various prices. She said that while most people are complaining about home prices being “through the roof,” it seems no one is talking about the price of a bag of chips. “Prices for a bag of chips are out of control!” Michelle says.
She pulls up in front of a regular-sized bag of BBQ Doritos, which are usually $5.99 but are marked down to $4.99. “Are you freaking kidding me?” Michelle says. “Come on.”
Not willing to pay that much for a bag of chips, Michelle ended up leaving the salty snack behind and shared in a comment that nowadays, the only chips she regularly buys are tortilla chips. “This is going to be my new market reference. Home prices are not going to start dropping until the price of potato chips goes down.”
@mabma.realtor For real this needs to be addressed! #chipsgonewild #expensive #realestate #homeprices #funny #fitrealtor #newbern #northcarolina #realtor #cherrypointrealestate ♬ original sound – Michelle
The video has over 200,000 views and a whopping 3,200 comments.
“Not only did chip prices go up, but the size shrunk in the last 18 months,” a top comment read.
“And the bags keep shrinking!!” a commenter pointed out.
This phenomenon is known as “shrinkflation,” a combination of the words shrink and inflation. When combined, it refers to how some products shrink in size or quantity while maintaining the same price, so you end up paying more for less. This is usually done to offset rising production costs and/or maintain profit margins when faced with competition.
The Daily Dot has previously reported on other instances of shrinkflation like Starbucks’ sandwiches getting smaller, reduced Betty Crocker mixes, and Oreos allegedly cutting down on their cream-to-cookie ratio.
“everyone needs to just stop buying things, at least for the most part and the companies will have to lower prices. we just have to work together,” a person wrote.
“You mean $5.99 for a HALF of bag of chips … it’s insane now a days!” another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Michelle for comment via TikTok direct message.
