...And yours is such a Hacker News response? I don't know why you're even saying that.
But yes, everybody's heard of shrinkflation, so I don't know what your point is.
When inflation is happening or product-specific input costs are increasing, companies can either raise prices or shrink quantities. They have to do one or the other if they want to stay in business.
Consumers are well aware of what's happening. Everybody knows a Haagen Dazs "pint" isn't a pint anymore.
But shrinkflation isn't bad and it isn't hidden. If someone doesn't want to pay more than $5 for a container of ice cream, then keeping the price $5 but reducing the quantity is better meeting consumer demand, than keeping the size but upping the price to $6. It's the better tradeoff.
In fact, shrinkflation is a perfect example of my argument -- 10 oz bags of potato chips haven't shrunk down to 1 oz. It happens in a narrow band, just like the number of sesame seeds might. Things don't shrink down until they just disappear, unless consumers want them to.
These days I read downvoted comments first on HN. Everything you said is spot on (or to be honest, just common sense), but you're going to enjoy your downvotes.
> The idea that a company can keep removing something consumers want to pay for, but they won't notice, just doesn't exist in the real world.
Have you heard of shrinkflation?