People are determined to fight back against “shrinkflation” one way or another. But they should probably stop short of outright theft.
In one TikTok, a Dollar General customer—whose face is not shown—filled a smaller-sized bottle of Gain laundry detergent to the brim using a larger, economy-sized jug. A response video by AJ Thee Ninja (@ajtheeblacksheep) raked in over 920,700 views as of Monday evening.
@ajtheeblacksheep Just wasting it all over the floor.
♬ original sound – AJ Thee Ninja ✨
“I knew something funny was going on,” AJ told viewers after running the original footage. “So that’s why them jugs be feeling like they be half empty when I walk up in the Dollar General and I do the little ‘shake shake’ thing?”
“What is the world coming to?” he asked incredulously.
One of AJ’s many viewers wondered the same thing. “Idk why they don’t just have them sealed,” they said. “I know it’s a little extra waste but this plus what if someone pees in it or something.”
Another user, however, commented that their local Dollar General stores have already taken precautions against the “hack.”
“And now store[s] have them locked,” they wrote.
And a third viewer pointed out that questionable “hacks” like these—combined with a current swell in shoplifting—may lead to changes in certain store’s business models.
“Stores are going to go to pick up or delivery only soon,” they said.
Indeed, a number of customers said that these “hacks” have negatively impacted their shopping experience. One viewer said that she bought an economy-sized container of laundry detergent and later realized it was half-full.
“Omg this happened to me recently,” she wrote. “Bought 2 detergents one was full the other was light. Thought it has spilled or something.”
“I work at [Dollar General] and I find empty bottles on the shelf all the time now I know why,” another viewer added.
Many viewers wrote that they didn’t trust liquid detergents now. Instead, they said that they purchase powdered detergent or laundry pods.
“That’s why I buy the pods,” one wrote.
“They’re all like a quarter full and mostly water,” another added. “That’s why I get the powder.”
“At target the other day I saw a half-empty bottle of soap and my first thought was ‘who’s drinking the soap?’” a third person shared.
The Daily Dot has reached out to AJ via TikTok comment.
