No, you are not simply imagining it—that bag of Doritos has fewer chips than it used to.

A bag that used to weigh 9.75 ounces is now 9.25 ounces, containing about 5 fewer chips, in accordance with a spokesperson from Frito-Lay—the dad or mum firm of Doritos—who confirmed the change to Quartz.

It is simply one of many newest examples of "shrinkflation," a cost-cutting technique through which corporations cut back the scale of merchandise whereas protecting costs the identical. Producers are seeing their backside line squeezed by inflation, pandemic-related provide chain bottlenecks and labor shortages, however prospects have a tendency to note when value tags go up in shops. Inconspicuously downsizing merchandise is a sneakier manner for corporations to go on their elevated prices.

The annual inflation price in the USA reached 7.9 p.c in February, its highest price since January 1982, in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Whereas vitality was the most important contributor to elevated client costs, the meals index elevated 1 p.c in February, bringing the annual price of inflation to 7.9 p.c for meals alone—the most important leap for that class since July 1981.

Doritos aren't the one snack to maintain your eye on on the grocery retailer. Mondelez, which makes Wheat Thins, additionally confirmed to Quartz that a family-size field had shrunk from 16 ounces to 14 ounces, with roughly 28 fewer crackers. Gatorade additionally lately changed its 32-ounce bottle with a 28-ounce bottle for a similar value, a redesign that an organization consultant instructed Quartz made the bottle "extra aerodynamic" and "simpler to seize."

In the meantime, Crest 3D White decreased its 4.1 ounce tube to three.8 ounces, in accordance with its producer Proctor & Gamble. The corporate additionally confirmed that a package deal of Bounty Triples paper towels that used to come back with 165 sheets now has 147 sheets, the equal of three fewer sheets per roll.

Doritos Bag Has 5 Fewer Chips
A bag of Doritos that used to weigh 9.75 ounces is now 9.25 ounces, containing about 5 fewer chips. Above, two luggage of Doritos. Geri Lavrov / Contributor/Second Cellular ED

A subreddit devoted to shrinkflation is filled with complaints from customers. One particular person shared a photograph of a Styrofoam cup, claiming it was so skinny that "the drink seeps by means of it." One other person confirmed a side-by-side comparability of two $10 luggage of rooster strips of the identical model, declaring that the packages had "misplaced 0.31kg because the final time I purchased them." In one other publish, a person shared two cans of Solar-Maid raisins that had been seemingly an identical, however for his or her weight labels: one was 22.58 ounces and one was simply 20 ounces. "Identical package deal dimension, similar value, 13% fewer raisins," the person wrote.

Newsweek reached out to Frito-Lay for touch upon the downsizing of Doritos.