Consumer analysts warn of ‘sneakflation’ as more companies hide price increases

Airlines have ended the policy of allowing one free checked bag. Restaurants are imposing service fees that are visible only when the check arrives. Streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video have started running ads without a price drop.

It’s called “sneakflation,” and consumer analysts warn that it’s on the rise as more companies pass along inflation costs to consumers by adding hidden fees to goods and services.

“Sneakflation is an everyday erosion of value,” said Alexander Ketter, a U.S. consumer expert at the discount website Coupons.com. “It’s largely a business choice driven by difficult economic conditions.”

Sneakflation has been around for decades, but analysts say it has intensified in hotels, airlines, restaurants, grocery stores and video streaming services over the past five years, as more companies offset rising labor costs, shipping fees, raw material expenses and Trump administration tariffs on imported goods.

Other common examples include airline fees for seat selections that once cost nothing, hotels’ hidden “resort fees” for Wi-Fi and swimming pool access, and food brands’ extra charges for “organic” products containing real ingredients that people once took for granted.

“Rising inflation and new tariffs have pushed companies to hide price increases in creative ways, and consumers are finally noticing,” said Matthew A. Gilbert, a marketing instructor at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. “Social media has also made it easier to spot and share examples, turning a quiet trend into a visible problem.”

Economist Pippa Malmgren, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, coined the term “sneakflation” in an August 2015 social media post about a restaurant check’s 15% “suggested gratuity” actually being 27% of the bill.

In her tweet, Ms. Malmgren defined sneakflation as “a clever way to raise prices hoping nobody notices.”

More for less

Rising operating costs during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns led to surges in “skimpflation” and “shrinkflation” under the Biden administration.

Consumer advocates define “shrinkflation” as companies downsizing products and selling them at the same price. Examples include jumbo rolls of paper towels getting thinner and narrower or a “family size” box of cereal shrinking by a few ounces.

“Skimpflation” refers to the practice of reducing ingredient quality to prevent prices from rising.

Recent examples include cocoa shortages driving the makers of Rolo, Almond Joy and Mr. Goodbar to substitute “chocolate candy” for “milk chocolate” on their packaging after replacing cocoa butter with cheaper fats in recent years.

At the same time, more companies have imposed hidden fees for services that had long been free, triggering a surge in sneakflation.

For example, a Senate report found that airlines earned $12.4 billion from their seat selection fees from 2018 through 2023.

Last year, the streaming giant Netflix discontinued its most affordable ad-free subscription plan. It then raised the monthly rate for ad-free viewing by $6 to $17.99.

Financial adviser Bill Dendy, president of Alicorn Investment Management in Texas, said consumer research has long shown that customers react more negatively to transparent price increases than hidden fees.

“A lot of companies can’t raise their prices openly without hurting their market share, so they have to lower costs by quietly cheapening products or adding hidden fees,” Mr. Dendy said. “What we’re seeing now is a delayed response to the higher inflation rates of 2023 and 2024. I don’t think it’s a direct response to Trump.”

Others blamed recent sneakflation on the first Trump administration’s higher tariffs in 2018, the Biden administration’s addition of clean energy tariffs, and the second Trump administration’s increase in import duties again this year.

Some estimates suggest that tariffs have increased U.S. import costs by about 5% and domestic goods by 3%, adding roughly $2,400 in extra expenses for the average household over two years.

“Sneakflation isn’t a new phenomenon, but tariffs have added extra costs for retailers, some of which have been passed on to consumers,” said Marty Bauer, a South Carolina-based e-commerce director at the online commerce platform Omnisend. “For sneakflation to fade, input costs — ingredients, labor, shipping, as well as trade policy — need to stop fluctuating as wildly as they are now.”

In an emailed statement, White House spokesman Kush Desai blamed the Biden administration for the increase in hidden fees.

“Inflation, sneakflation or shrinkflation are many terms for the same grim fact that, thanks to Joe Biden’s incompetence, Americans are getting less for their money,” Mr. Desai said. “The Trump administration is committed to our aggressive supply-side economic agenda that has already cooled inflation to an annualized 2.5% rate, raised real wages and lowered the prices of household essentials like eggs.”

Will Hild, executive director of the right-leaning advocacy group Consumers’ Research, said consumers should also blame “the last 10 years of corporate America’s focus on wokeness” for hidden fees.

“Businesses wasted money on DEI and net zero instead of the necessary investments to keep costs low and quality high,” said Mr. Hild, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion policies. “Now it’s consumers who suffer, spending more for less. Thankfully, President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies have lowered inflation, reducing the economic stress on American businesses and consumers.”

Fighting back

Consumer advocates suggest that the best way to resist sneakflation is for consumers to identify companies that charge them more than expected and then shift their business to more transparent companies.

“Recognize what old policies and product sizes were so you can spot changes,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of the website Consumer World, which has tracked inflation in food prices since 1995. “Complain to the company directly if you think they are being unfair. Who knows? You may get some type of savings offer in return as a goodwill gesture.”

Other strategies for keeping sellers honest include sharing deceptive advertising, subscription changes and junk fees in online customer reviews or social media posts.

Chris Motola, financial analyst at National Business Capital, a New York-based business loan company, said angry consumers could even sue companies.

“The background inflationary pressures are largely the result of government policy involving both [the Biden and Trump] administrations, but sneakflation as a tactic can really be laid at the feet of the businesses themselves,” Mr. Motola said.

An official for the group representing grocery stores and food suppliers highlighted the challenges facing the industry.

“America’s grocery stores and food suppliers are committed to ensuring access to safe, nutritious and affordable food, despite various economic headwinds, including supply chain issues, extreme weather events and animal disease outbreaks, and global trade conflicts,” said Heather Garlich, a senior vice president at FMI — The Food Industry Association. “Grocery stores are still able to provide a safe and reliable food supply despite low profit margins of an average of 1.7% and significant economic challenges.”

An Amazon spokesperson noted that the company’s addition of ads to Prime Video has kept prices from increasing “in several years.”

The video streaming service’s basic plan, which includes ads, is free for Amazon Prime members and costs $8.99 per month for nonmembers.

“Customers also have the option to go ad-free with an additional $2.99 per month,” the spokesperson said.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the American Hotel and Lodging Association touted the group’s contribution to establishing “fee transparency” in a Federal Trade Commission rule issued last year.

“This rule established an upfront-pricing standard, so all consumers will know the price of a hotel room, inclusive of any mandatory fees, at the start of the booking process when they are weighing their lodging options,” the hotel industry spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the industry group Airlines for America pointed to “historically high” air travel demand and customer satisfaction in surveys.

“U.S. airlines are providing more options and better services while ticket prices, including ancillary revenues, are at historic lows,” Airlines for America said in a statement. “In real terms, average domestic round-trip fares, including ancillaries, were 17% lower in 2024 than in 2010.”

The Washington Times also reached out to Netflix for comment.