Beware Of "Shrinkflation," Inflation''s Devious Cousin A couple weeks ago, Edgar Dworsky walked into a Stop Shop grocery store in Somerville, Massachusetts, like a detective entering a murder scene. He stepped into the cereal aisle, where he hoped to find the smoking gun. He scanned the shelves. Oh no, he thought. He was too late. The store had already replaced old General Mills cereal boxes like Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs with newer ones. It was like the suspect''s fingerprints had been wiped clean. But then Dworsky headed toward the back of the store. Sure enough, old boxes of Cocoa Puffs and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios were stacked at the end of one of the aisles. He grabbed an old box of Cocoa Puffs and put it side by side with the new one. Aha! The tip he had received was right on the money. General Mills had downsized the contents of their "family size" boxes, from 19.3 ounces to 18.1 ounces. Dworsky went to the checkout aisle, and both boxes gasp! were on sale for exactly the same price. It was an open-and-shut case: General Mills is yet another perpetrator of "shrinkflation." Dworsky is a former Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General and longtime consumer advocate.