Pastry pandemonium: Fury erupts over high priced sausage roll

Shrinkflation has reared its ugly head once more this time in Cairns where an unsuspecting pastry purchaser has taken to Reddit expressing dismay over the high $9 cost of an undersized sausage roll.

The person posted an image of the tiny meaty treat on a napkin, claiming that they are “really feeling the shrinkflation with this one”.

Sausage rolls hold a special place in the hearts of Australians, cherished for their knack to swiftly, conveniently, and affordably satisfy hunger. However, it seems that none of these qualities would be met in this particular instance.

Fellow Reddit users were quick to sympathise with the disappointingly sized staple.

“$8+$1 for sauce. As un-Aussie as it gets,” said one alluding to the cost of sauce as well.

Another added, “Seriously though, nine bucks is ridiculous. Where did you get it, sport stadium or somewhere else where there were zero other food outlets?”

“Hell no!” exclaimed another.

But one Reddit user was quick to call out the buyer for paying for the sub-standard sausage roll in the first place.

“Well don’t buy it next time,” they said.

Another felt for small business owners who also have to deal with the current high cost of living.

“Small businesses have bills to pay for too you know,” they wrote.

“With everything going up in price, to make any money out of the day these businesses have to put up their prices too.”

Shrinkflation is the reduction in size or quantity of product while the price of product remains the same or increases slightly.

Think fewer chips in the bag, less volume of coke in the bottle, and probably the most obvious of all, the shockingly tiny size of the Oreo cookie.

The phenomenon is quite common in the food and beverage industries and some of Australia’s most loved products have not escaped this stealthy tactic.

One recent case in mind was the outrage stirred when one unhappy biscuit buff discovered the shrinking of the raspberry jam-coated layer of cream inside one of Australia’s most beloved tea time treats – Arnott’s Monte Carlo.

Taking to Instagram the aggrieved shopper said, “What has happened to the Arnott’s Monte Carlos?”

“Monte Carlos have always been a favourite but as you can imagine with the steep rise in the cost of living a packet has sadly become a luxury spend,” they wrote.

“So you can imagine our horror when we opened the packet this evening to a long awaited treat to this …”

 

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More outraged shoppers responded with frustration complaining about the biscuit’s smaller size.

“I know this is just a biscuit but I am so sick and tired of being ripped off,” one person wrote.

“Teddy bear biscuits are now a monstrosity as well. Pale, thin and don’t soften in tea!”

“Shocking!! Consumers are getting ripped off,” another commented.

Other products affected by shrinkflation this year include Masterfoods’ garlic granules, Ritz original crackers, Lindt maxi carrots, Glad Wrap, Pringles and Snickers. Even beloved Tim Tams have not escaped the chop with some of the newer products reportedly featuring two less biscuits.

The latest report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 4.4 per cent in August this year.

Finder’s latest cost of living report also shows that stress around the grocery bill rose from 29 per cent in March 2022 to 43 per cent.

As food prices send the cost of living soaring, getting bang for your buck is critical to stretching those monthly budgets.