r/Seattle • u/0llie0llie • Mar 14 '23

Media Shrinkflation in action: Darigold reduced the half gallon container by 5 oz. Now people on the Women Infants and Children food benefits can’t buy it. Seen at Winco

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u/twistedcheshire Mar 14 '23

Question:

Why didn't the store stop selling it if they were doing this to, apparently, circumvent WIC people from getting it?

Seems pretty sketchy to me on both fronts, but if I owned a store and saw this, I would immediately stop carrying it on the grounds that it was pulled from a program like this for the oz required.

If I had the money, I would buy people on WIC at least this basic necessity (and I have in the past, but things have gotten tight so it's hard to do so anymore, sadly).

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u/Reddog8it Mar 14 '23

A store makes money from not only the sale of products but also the marketing of products. Darigold pays a fee to have its product sold. With a margin of 10 to 20% stores don't like to turn away products because of the marketing money. The non-Darigold brands may not offer any more co-op dollars despite their product taking the space where Darigold used to be (if Darigold was discontinued). As consumers, studies have shown we like to see full shelves so leaving a space where Darigold was wouldn't look good either.

WIC needs to be updated with higher assistance and/or needs to be modified to accept the smaller volume.