(NewsNation) — It isn’t anything new. Of all the ways companies cut costs and maximize profits, “shrinkflation” is one of the most common.

A combination of the words “shrink” and “inflation,” shrinkflation allows companies to save some money by keeping the price for products the same, but by slightly reducing the amount or weight of those products.

“Shrinkflation is a new term for a very old notion,” professor Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota told “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday.

One of the latest examples of shrinkflation: An average of five fewer chips in a Doritos bag than what consumers used to enjoy

“We took just a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can keep enjoying your chips,” a representative from Frito-Lay told Quartz.

Gatorade pulled a similar move, reducing it’s 32-ounce bottle to 28 ounces without changing the price. The company said they redesigned the packaging to be “more aerodynamic” and “easier to grab,” according to a statement from PepsiCo, quoted by Quartz. “The redesign generates a new cost and the bottles are a little bit more expensive … this is only a matter of design.”

These companies have plenty of company in the shrinkflation business. Calling himself “Mr. Consumer” on Twitter, consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky published a two-part list of other products that have seen a reduction of size and no reduction of cost.

“With inflation rearing its ugly head, we are seeing not only a wave of direct price increases on groceries, but also sneaky ones when manufacturers inconspicuously reduce the size of their products,” Dworsky said in the first part of his two-part list.

To avoid paying more for less, customers are advised to keep track of the weights and amounts of the products they regularly buy and see if they correspond with any changes in cost.

“The smart consumer will not look at the retail price … but will look at the unit price associated with a bag of chips, or a bag of candy, or whatever the product might be,” Rao said.