Money

NPR - Companies have figured out how to squeeze more money out of consumers through shrinkflation. It is a form of inflation where, instead of just raising prices, companies shrink the amount of stuff in the packages. The price per unit goes up, and you get less product for your money. Don't worry: You can fight back. These tips will help you see through the fog of packaging gimmicks and spot the best deal:

💸 Look for the unit price. It’s a standardized measurement that makes shopping for the best value easier by telling you the cost per pound, quart, or other unit of weight or volume for a product.
💸 Grab a calculator. Some stores might not display prices per unit. Only nine states require stores to do so by law. In that case, you can do a little math. Divide the total price of the product by the amount of product in the package to get the unit price. 
💸 Hate doing math? Talk to your elected representative about enacting policies that require stores to post unit prices.

CNN - US consumer prices did something in June that they haven’t done since the early part of the pandemic: They fell. Consumer prices dropped 0.1% on a monthly basis, helping to bring the annual rate of inflation to 3% from 3.3% in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Consumer Price Index report.