Did Costco Change Its Peppermint Bark This Year?

Shrinkflation may have found another victim before 2024 is done and people online suspect it's Costco's peppermint bark. Customers who recently purchased the festive treat from the warehouse chain have noticed some changes they do not like since the product hit shelves for the holiday season.

Costco's peppermint bark has been called out online by TikTok user @infinitely.balanced after she posted a video showing what she considers to be thinner pieces of bark than previous years. The video tags Costco with complaints that its peppermint bark is much more expensive than it should be at $15 for a 595 gram container. In the video, she can be seen holding up the pieces to show how paper thin they are. Videos on TikTok from years past show the peppermint bark being sold for just $9.99 in a 624 gram container.

If you're not sure where shrinkflation comes into play here (or even what it is), just think about how you might've noticed less cereal in your family-sized boxes at the grocery store. It basically means that manufacturers make products smaller rather than raise prices on consumers to try to balance out rising production costs. This phenomenon has been killing grocery budgets for years now, but has it reached Costco's peppermint bark?

While there is some debate over whether the pieces are truly thinner than they used to be, plenty of other TikTok users and internet sleuths alike have confirmed a change in packaging and price over the years. A mother daughter duo on TikTok that reviews food together posted a video recently noting that when they reviewed the bark in 2020 it came in a completely different container than it does now. The old container was deeper and taller, essentially what Costco sells its mini-cookies in, according to the duo. 

Another video from the account, @Costcoholic on TikTok (posted in November of 2021) shows these older containers in a Costco store being sold for $9.99. However, a Reddit thread posted just last year shows the new container, meaning Costco must have transitioned the peppermint bark's packaging at some point in 2022 or 2023. That same Reddit thread also calls out the quality of the new bark and specifically says it used to be thicker.

While shrinkflation can't be proved here, there might be a better argument made for just plain old inflation. Charging more for sweet flavors like chocolate and peppermint which dominate the holiday season doesn't feel like a very merry thing to do.