Weight check reveals some shoppers paying more money for less food

Mass. — The real weight on the scale doesn’t always match the weight you’re paying for on the package.

A TikTok influencer has been exposing the problem at grocery stores, and it caught the attention of Boston 25 News.

Along with our sister stations, we wanted to check out if you’re paying more money for less food.

“This is downright scale fraud,” said Jimmy Wrigg on TikTok.

He has millions of views on social media.

“It’s ticking people off,” said Wrigg.

The Georgia man, armed with a phone and a scale, checks prices at stores.

He has checked ham.

“1.83, it says 4.93,” said Wrigg.

He has weighed everything from shrimp.

“That’s almost six ounces short on shrimp,” said Wrigg.

He’s also checked sweet potatoes and sugar.

“You’re getting ripped off. You’re not getting what you’re paying for,” said Wrigg.

“It’s real money,” said Wrigg. “It is, it’s big money and profits.”

We tagged along with him on one day of testing.

“That right here feels light, that feels really light. Is that two pounds?” said Wrigg.

The label says it’s two pounds.

“That’s a whole ounce under that one,” said Wrigg after weighing it.

But each Domino powdered sugar bag we pulled off the shelf at one store was about an ounce under.

“It’s happening everywhere. I’m just one guy,” said Wrigg.

The vast majority of what he tested from prepackaged foods weighed exactly what it should.

How and why is it happening?

“It’s a lack of vigilance,” said Emory University Goizueta Business School Associate Professor Dr. Saloni Firasta-Vastani, an expert on pricing.

“So both from an ethical standpoint as well as from a legal standpoint, they’re misrepresenting what they’re selling,” said Firasta-Vastani

She said research has shown that shoppers won’t notice differences under 15% in price or size.

After Wrigg’s TikTok videos went viral, Kentucky Legend ham pulled some hams from Walmart.

Some of this can be unintentional – equipment or human error.

For example, remember the Domino sugar Wrigg saw? At every other store we tested, it was the correct weight.

The regulatory requirement is that products produced in a batch or lot have to average the declared weight, small variances are allowed.

Wrigg got into all this because money was tight when he was shopping. Now he’s hoping to push big companies to do the right thing.

“They should be responsible for what they’re selling in their stores,” said Wrigg.

We reached out to all the companies whose products were underweight.

Domino told us their industrial scales are calibrated on an ongoing basis, and they run spot checks on their lines daily.

We asked Walmart about their underweight shrimp. A spokesperson said they did audits on several lots and did not find any problems.

You can always test weights for yourself using the store scale, and let the management know if you think you found an issue and aren’t getting what you paid for.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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