A Costco shopper’s “hack” to beat shrinkflation divided her viewers.
In a viral video with over 173,400 views, TikToker Nikki Mits (@nikimits) showed off how she fights back against the retailer for reducing the amount of apples in a box but charging the same amount for it.
“Trickflation can’t catch me this time at Costco,” text overlaid on her video read.
In the clip, a woman talks directly to the camera as she takes apples from another box and fills the one she plans to purchase.
“I didn’t know Costco had a build-your-own apple box,” her boyfriend said off-camera.
“When it’s f*cking 9.99, and two weeks ago it came with eight f*cking apples, and now they think they’re slick by only putting six,” Nikki responded, “I’m still gonna get my f*cking eight.”
As the woman speaks, she inspects apples from another box and packs them into hers.
“Get rid of the evidence,” her boyfriend said, referencing the box that had been reduced to only having four apples.
In the comments section, some viewers were very critical of the woman’s behavior.
“Sam’s club activities at Costco,” user Big Poppa wrote. “Shame on you.”
“This is why people should stay in school 4lbs for the price listed (it doesn’t say 8 apples),” user AJ Ruiz said. “If you can’t afford Costco apples you made the wrong choices in life.”
“And that kids is how you loose your Costco membership,” Taylor Nicole added.
@nikkimitss trickflation / shrinkflation… whatever you wanna call it ain’t catching me rn. Stay woke 😂
♬ original sound – nikki mits
However, some defended the woman’s actions.
“Not all these people defending a big corp like Costco over two apples,” user Ace commented. “Watch then they find out how much produce goes to trash.”
“THATS WHAT IM SAYING,” Nikki responded.
TikTok has become a popular platform for shoppers to voice concerns about shrinkflation.
“Shrinkflation is the practice of reducing the size of a product while maintaining its sticker price,” writes Daniel Liberto for Investopedia. “Raising the price per given amount is a strategy employed by companies, mainly in the food and beverage industries, to stealthily boost profit margins or maintain them in the face of rising input costs.”
One woman went viral after she allegedly caught Purina falsely advertising the amount of cat food in its cans. Another customer criticized the reduced size of McDonald’s burger patties in recent years and made a list of the most egregious examples of shrinkflation he discovered while shopping.
The Daily Dot reached out to Nikki Mits and Costco by contact form for more information.
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