Welch’s Suddenly Undertook a Secret Price Increase on Its Fruit Snacks (Consumer News)

By N.S.

I try to avoid buying junk food—except when I do.

Several years ago, my sweet tooth took a hankering to Welch’s Fruit Snacks, which are supposedly made with real fruits. For years, I would very rarely buy them in the little packs in stores, which probably now go for at least a dollar each, and which I believe Welch’s “shrinkflated” a few years ago, from one ounce to 0.9 ounces.

However, that evil guy whom many people insist I must boycott, sells them in big, 40-pack boxes for $7.48. And so, I have been buying a few boxes per year.

Well, they just reduced the number of candies in each pack from 12 to 11, which is a price increase of just over 9%. Look for a secondary increase in label price 6-12 months down the line.

That’s how food manufacturers have been doing things since the permanent depression economy set in, in 2008--first shrinkflation, then price inflation.