Recently, as prices continue to rise, products and services that were normally provided free of charge are being discontinued or converted to paid services.



In Seoul and the metropolitan area, more and more restaurants are asking for refills of side dishes and paying an additional fee of 500 won to 1,000 won, increasing the number of people who feel the burden of refilling. 



Companies and the self-employed, who are under pressure to increase costs, have taken the initiative to cut costs despite the resentment that they are 'reckless'. 

'Stop free services'

The place where you can feel the 'free service suspension' most easily is at restaurants. 



Recently, there have been a lot of posts on the internet community saying that they were told that they had to pay an additional fee after asking for side dish refills. 



In the case of vegetables, many of the meat restaurants in Seoul and the metropolitan area, where rent is expensive, have already introduced a fee for refilling. 



An office worker said, "The Korean restaurant I frequented recently started limiting the unlimited refills of 'soy sauce crab' side dishes to once." 



In addition, the supply and demand of lettuce has become unstable due to the impact of the 11th typhoon 'Hinnamno', which recently landed.



McDonald's Korea, in some stores, put less or no lettuce in some menu items such as burgers, and Subway and Mom's Touch are also known to have difficulties in supplying lettuce.



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Companies are also making moves to abolish the benefits and services they have provided at the cost of taking a loss in order to secure customers. 



Food delivery platforms that did not receive brokerage fees from store owners when ordering take-out orders decided to start accepting these fees from October, but faced a backlash and postponed the fee payment to next year. 



Major hotels in Seoul have also taken measures such as eliminating discounts on food and beverages and restaurants included in memberships or abolishing free night vouchers.



In addition, the credit card industry, which is facing difficulties due to a decrease in the amount of overseas direct purchase and regulation of fees, is fighting to reduce credit card benefits. 


Price hikes for 'national confectionery'

The abolition of 'free services' and conversion to paid services is a type of 'shrinkflation' that is popular these days. 



Shrinkflation is a word created by combining the words 'shrink', which means 'to decrease' and 'inflation', which means 'inflation'.

Simply put, reducing capacity while keeping product prices the same is considered the most representative example of companies' indirect price increase techniques. 


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According to the food industry, starting today (15th), the price of 'national confectionery' such as Choco Pie, Pocca Chip, and Shrimp Cracker has been increased.



An industry insider explained the reason for the increase, saying, "The cost burden has intensified as raw material prices have risen and the exchange rate has risen due to the Ukraine crisis."



As the news spreads, there are also voices of concern among consumers about 'nitrogen sweets'.