The Great Supermarket Rip Off

The Twittersphere was reeling last week with the news that Terry's Chocolate Orange was being sold with ten percent less chocolate but for the same price. 

That's probably being overly-melodramatic but there was definitely an outpouring of grief, with some using the hashtag #christmasisruined !

 Manufacturers have been shrinking products, and retailers selling them for the same (if not higher) price is nothing new but it's becoming more blatant. None more so than in our house last Saturday when I was laying Serrano ham on top of home made pizza, only to discover to my dismay that there was five slices instead of the usual six, and for the same price of £1.70! 

 Maybe one slice less of Serrano ham in my tummy is not a bad thing (actually my wife's, because I had three slices and she has two!) but it got me wondering what other products have been affected in this way, and the answer is, A Lot. Here is my pick: 

 Andrex Toilet Rolls from 240 sheets to 200 
Bulmers Cider 12 per cent smaller 
Quality Street 1kg tubs down to 820g 
Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers 2 fingers less 
Hovis Best of Both 1 slice less 
Cadbury's Creme Eggs produced with an inferior chocolate shell, instead of Diary Milk 

 When food products are reduced in size it doesn't really bother me that much, in fact with junk food it's a good thing. But when it's something like bread, toilet rolls and cleaning products then the difference over a year can be quite dramatic. 

 I'm sure there's hundreds of other products and with the inflation expected to hit 4 per cent in 2017, I would expect to see hundreds more. 

 Have you noticed any of your favourite products getting smaller, while you're being charged the same money? Do let us know.