I wrote about Shapeflation earlier this summer: #1012289. Shapeflation occurs when the price stays the same, but the shape of a product's container is altered so as to hide the fact that the product itself has shrunk in size. In this way, the packaging is designed to hide the fact that the product has sneakily gotten smaller. Shapeflation is deceptively hidden shrinkflation.

Recently, I was hit by another instance of shapeflation. My wife and I got a sandwich on-the-go. The Turkey and Swiss sandwich was in a plastic container that looked fairly substantial. That is, it seemed to be a thick sandwich. Presumably, it had a good amount of turkey and cheese in there. But...

Shapeflation!

Notice how, from the top, there is a false bottom that elevates the sandwich? Or, viewed from the bottom side, the container bottom is convex upward to create that false bottom. When the sandwich is in there, you simply cannot see that. The shape of the container deceives you into thinking, "That's a thick sandwich." With the price staying the same, this is shrinkflation by way of shapeflation.

Sneaky. Stinky.