The last thing manufacturers or retailers want to do is to raise their prices. Most of us would notice – especially if it’s frequently purchased products.

But there’s another way to get you to pay huge price increases, and it’s likely you’ll never really notice: It’s shrinking the size and weight of products: The art of deception.

I was at the Dollar store last week looking to buy more 12 packs of felt markers. The price is still $2 (ironic for a Dollar store that doesn’t have much for a buck anymore…) The product still exists and still has the same SKU number, but it’s now a 10 pack. That’s a 17 percent price increase without increasing the price.

In the last two years that’s been the same for vitamins, chocolate bars, crackers, cereal, chips, cookies, coffee (multiple times with a lot of shrinkage in weight) peanut butter, mayonnaise, apple sauce, and a ton of other products. Lots of times, they’ll change the packaging, or take the same glass containers and just trim them a bit in width and length where you likely didn’t even notice it. Look at almost any toilet paper rolls now. You can clearly see they don’t fill the holder like they used to. For toilet paper, it’s an average of 23% less product just in the last two years.

Keep an eye on the weight and cost per ounce or gram. It’s the only way to see the BIG price increases they’re sneaking by you!