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by andor 36 days ago
The RAM/SSD price spikes are not shrinkflation, but the article gives examples of shrinkflation happening due to it:

* Google's upcoming folding phone is going to have less RAM than the current model.

* Motorola has both increased the price on their Razr flip phone and downsized the minimum storage

* Sony reduced storage on the PS5 Slim

...

1 comments

All of those could also be classified as "they learned consumers didn't need that much."
I see.

So when the tub of ice cream decreases in size from 64 ounces to 60, 56, 52, and finally 48 ounces while the price stays the same (or even goes up), then:

That's not necessarily shrinkflation; that might instead be a result of having learned that consumers didn't need so much ice cream.

There's nothing "finally" about 48 oz. Some brands are edging smaller. What I've noticed is 32oz. cartons gaining prominence in grocery stores, while the 48's seem to be slowly getting phased out.
We used to have quarts of ice cream available. It worked.

I just want to buy it in half-gallon sizes again. I don't care if it costs more :)

> I just want to buy ...

Find a locally owned ice cream parlor, and asked for a hand-packed half gallon.

It is true that their packages don't shrink. There's one in a nearby city that I'm very familiar with.

But at those kinds of quantities, their prices are 50% more than the higher-end store brand at the store that's near my house. The hand-packed treatment then literally doubles that price. We're now at 300% cost and we haven't factored travel expense yet.

Besides, if I kept their ice cream at home, then I think that would tend to lessen my enjoyment of sitting down and enjoying a proper sundae at their shop -- and that's not something I wish to ever diminish in any way. :)

> Find a locally owned ice cream parlor, and asked for a hand-packed half gallon.

I could be wrong, but I'd bet that my local ice cream parlours would decline that request - unless you can show that you're e.g. a restaurant and can commit to a certain order frequency, they're just going to tell you to buy as many 19oz "pints" as you need for $40/4. (A discount over $12/each.)

If this were true, they could have learned it at any time before now.

When the changes are done precisely during a time of huge increases in the prices of all kinds of memory devices, it is hard to believe that this is a random coincidence.

Or (for some of them) they could have previously been chasing the stupid spec numbers for advertising and realized they can save money if they just stop doing that.

See Apple as an example, who really doesn't care about telling you the newest phone has 12GB of ram. It's literally not even mentioned on the tech specs page.

I'm really appreciative of how much spin I learn on this site, should I ever want a career in PR or marketing