The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Canada's biggest grocers are facing consumer ire over surging food costs. The Globe's guest columnist David Jones writes that one result of the pandemic and inflation is shrinkflation. The term describes the reduction of a product's size without a corresponding reduction in its price. In some cases, grocery products shrink in size while also increasing in price -- a double whammy to the pocketbook. When basic living essentials take a bigger chunk out of the household budget while families struggle with other costs of living, it is no surprise that consumers are riled. Shrinkflation is not a new corporate strategy. Ultimately, when firms' input costs rise -- as they have done in recent years -- this cost pressure needs to be passed on somewhere. Mr. Jones says barring cuts to dividends or executive remuneration packages, this leaves a company two options: shrinkflation or higher prices. He notes that some research shows that we react less negatively to shrinkflation than to higher prices. As much as we feel frustrated by shrinkflation, the real source of our outrage is "sneakflation," whereby companies appear to sneakily downsize their products.