‘Shrinkflation’ is ticking off a lot of Americans: not only has the cost of items gone up significantly since 2021, but in many instances, folks are not only paying more money for the same goods but they’re getting smaller quantities of them to boot.
As a result, consumers are looking at more ways to keep their refrigerators and pantries stocked without breaking the bank. Some have turned to applications like Too Good to Go, which sells food that is going to just get tossed at steep discounts, while others have shown ways to bag themselves a week’s worth of groceries by shopping at discount retailers like the Dollar Tree.
Then there are shoppers like the one featured in TikToker Davey Bad’s (@daveybad) video, who come up with other ways to ensure they’re getting as much as they can out of their purchases.
Davey’s pal didn’t seem happy that Tide was selling bottles of detergent that weren’t filled to the brim, and his reaction to rectifying this issue for himself has gone viral.
In a clip that’s accrued over 2.3 million views as of Sunday, Davey laughs as he records his friend standing in front of a store shelf display filled with bottled Tide detergent.
“We all got that one friend,” Davey chuckles as his co-shopper justifies his actions stating, “I don’t care,” and that he’s going to get all of his money’s worth from the Tide he’s about to buy.
His “hack” for doing so? Cracking open another bottle of Tide on the shelf and pouring some of its contents into the bottle he intended to buy, ensuring that it contained as much liquid as possible.
“Pinching the f*ck out of them pennies,” Davey says off-camera, which results in even more laughter between the two men. There’s a quick jump cut in the video indicating that a bit of time has passed since Davey’s friend began pouring the Tide into the container he wants to buy—and he’s still pouring it in.
@daveybad We all got that one friend😂 #fyp ♬ original sound – Davey Bad
“Still going,” Davey says, guffawing again. His friend asks him, “What’s so funny?” before the video ultimately cuts out.
Viewers had a variety of different reactions to Davey’s friend’s Tide-pouring hack. One user on the app pointed out that Tide, like tons of other products, is sold by weight. “You pay for how many ozs it has in it says right on it,” they wrote.
Another person said, “What people don’t understand is you’re getting what you pay for the packages are just too big.”
Someone else said that Davey’s friend, and other Tide detergent shoppers, aren’t getting hosed because there’s some extra space in the bottle, but that this is a distinct packaging choice made by the company that’s ultimately for the benefit of the consumer.
“You get the weight that’s on the container,” someone commented. “The container is bigger so it doesn’t pour out when you use it the way it’s designed”
As per regulations implemented by the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s website, any violation of these standards should be reported. This means that in a scenario where Davey’s friend, or anyone else for that matter, was, let’s say, buying this bottle of 146-ounce Tide Detergent, and they weighed it and it came out to a quantity that was less than advertised, then they could reach out to the FTC and report their findings to have their rights protected as a consumer.
While this method is the legal way to go about rectifying what might be a quantity discrepancy, other viewers seemed to appreciate Davey’s friend’s method of filling his Tide detergent bottle to the brim.
Like this one user who penned, “I just did this I need all my money.”
Another thought there was something fishy going on on Tide’s part because of so much negative space in the bottle. “The fact that he pour that long is insane on Tide part,” they wrote.
But someone speculated as to why this was the case: there must have been another shopper who was in the aisle before Davey who had the same exact idea as he did. “Someone must’ve used his bottle to pour in another botttle the way he pouring for that long,” the user wrote.
Another TikToker said they could relate to Davey’s friend, writing, “That’s crazy cause I was thinking I was being cheap for doing the sammmeee thing.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Tide and Davey via email.
