The candy bowl on the counter looks the same as ever, with silver-foil Kisses piled high, but the bag beside it may hold less than it used to. Consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky says that is exactly what happened to Hershey’s Kisses, and the candy is not alone on his fall list.
Dworsky’s Mouse Print column, a service of Consumer World, reported that the Hershey’s Kisses sharing bag went from 10 ounces to 8.7 ounces. That is 1.3 ounces gone, or roughly 13 percent, by the column’s own before-and-after sizes. The column ran on Oct. 17, 2026 as the first part of its Fall 2026 shrinkflation series, and a second installment followed on Oct. 26.
Kisses Shrink From 10 Ounces to 8.7
Mouse Print’s first installment says snack foods like candy keep getting smaller, and it lists the Kisses share size as down from 10 ounces to just 8.7. The column’s tone is wry, noting that everyone will just have to share less, and it files the candy under the broad heading of snack foods that keep shrinking from one season to the next.
The Hershey Company’s candy has been around since 1907, according to Wikipedia’s entry on Hershey’s Kisses. A candy that old is easy to buy on autopilot, which is part of why a smaller bag can slip past a shopper standing in the holiday baking aisle.
Neither installment gave a shelf price for the bag. If the price held steady, simple arithmetic shows each ounce of candy costs roughly 15 percent more than it did at 10 ounces, since the same money now buys 8.7.
Oatmeal, Coffee and Jam Lose Contents Too
The breakfast shelf took hits in the Consumer World list. Stop & Shop’s store-brand instant oatmeal boxes used to hold 10 packets and now hold eight, Mouse Print reported, a reminder that store brands downsize too. The same arithmetic applies: at an unchanged box price, each packet costs 25 percent more, because eight packets now stand in for 10.
Eight O’Clock Coffee took two ounces out of its 40-ounce bags, the column said, and tied the cut to high coffee prices. The column recalled when cans of coffee used to weigh a pound, a standard that the largest bags have long since left behind.
In Part 2, posted in the Mouse Print downsizing archive, Welch’s grape jam went from 32 ounces to 30, which the column said means fewer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches per jar. Part 2 also lists Lucky Charms among the cereals that keep the same “family size” name while the box shrinks, though the column’s text does not state the box sizes.
The pattern fits a wider squeeze on household budgets. Frenz Hub has covered 14 outrageously expensive products Americans are overpaying for unknowingly, and it also tracked 12 things that are actually getting cheaper as a counterweight. For everyday stretching of a grocery budget, Frenz Hub also collected 15 wallet-friendly life hacks. A written list helps keep track of what goes in the cart, and a partner site looked at five traits of people who never shop without a written list. Another piece covers seven things smart shoppers never buy at a dollar store.
Cheese Wedges, Bagels and Fudgicles Join the List
Laughing Cow cheese lost 10 percent of its contents, according to Mouse Print. Sara Lee bagels, which the column had already reported going from six to five in a bag, are now down to 15 ounces a bag.
Fudgicles, the frozen kids’ favorite, now come 18 to a box instead of 20, the column reported in Part 2. Each item is a small cut by itself, but a cart holding all of them adds up to a lighter haul at roughly the same price.
The same two columns also include non-food items such as laundry detergent, deodorant, freezer bags and paper plates, which shows the trend reaches well beyond the aisles that sell food.
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What Shrinkflation Means for the Weekly Cart
Wikipedia describes shrinkflation as a rise in the price per unit of weight or volume brought about by a smaller item, while the price for one package stays the same. That is why a shopper can leave the receipt total unchanged and still go home with fewer packets, ounces or frozen bars.
Checking the Label Before the Cart Fills
Wikipedia’s page on unit price explains that the shelf tag shows both the item price and the price per pound, quart or other unit. That second number is what lets a shopper compare a 10-ounce bag with an 8.7-ounce one, or one brand’s oatmeal with another’s.
Checking net weight on the label is the other habit worth building, because the box itself often looks unchanged.
Mouse Print updates every Monday and invites readers to send photos of old and new packages side by side, which keeps the list growing from one week to the next. Readers who spot a smaller box on a store shelf can compare it with the numbers above, then check the unit price tag to see what the change costs per ounce.
For now, the Kisses are the clearest example on the fall list: the same silver foil and 1.3 ounces less candy inside. Consumer World keeps its other shopping coverage at consumerworld.org, with the Mouse Print column as one of its regular features.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Rlevse – Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
