Pennsylvanians Are Getting 23.9 Ounces of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Where There Used to Be 29, for the Same $19.99
Halloween’s behind you, but if you’re stocking up on chocolate for the holidays, check the ounces on the bag.
A shrinkflation report found one Hershey’s bag got smaller while its price stayed put.
Here’s what that smaller bag means for Pennsylvanians, and how much less candy you’re getting for the same price.
What Mouse Print Found
Mouse Print’s June 1, 2026 post lists Hershey’s dark chocolate party-size bag at 23.9 ounces, down from 29.
Consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky runs the site.
It collects shrinkflation sightings from readers, meaning packages that shrink while the price doesn’t.
The post also includes entries on Quilted Northern toilet paper, Iams dog food, Thomas’ bagels, Oscar Mayer beef franks and Great Value ground coffee.
Hershey’s has company, and we figure no brand gets every package right.
The reader works in a retail store, and the sighting is filed under the heading Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Assortment, with a photo of the bags.
Both bags are $19.99, so the same money buys 5.1 fewer ounces.
For you, that works out to a little under a third of a pound less candy, and we think that’s worth a second look.
The entry names no store or state, says nothing about when the bag was seen, lists no varieties and includes no comment from Hershey’s.
Hershey’s is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, but the $19.99 is one reader’s price, and the bag on your local shelf may not match it.
What $19.99 Buys in the Report
Take the reader’s numbers at face value, and the party-size bag has 17.6% less candy than it did at 29 ounces.
In pounds, you’re looking at about 1.5 now instead of about 1.8.
If you buy the smaller bag at the same price, each ounce costs you about 21% more than before.
At the smaller bag’s rate, 29 ounces of Hershey’s dark chocolate would cost $24.26, or $4.27 more than the reported $19.99.
Buy two bags at $19.99 each and your $39.98 gets you 47.8 ounces, where two used to total 58, leaving you 10.2 ounces short.
Those percentages are ours, since the post prints only the two weights and the $19.99.
The Math on Hershey’s Dark Chocolate
At the reported $19.99 for 29 ounces, Hershey’s dark chocolate comes to 68.9 cents an ounce, found by dividing the price by the ounces.
At $19.99 for 23.9 ounces, the cost rises to 83.6 cents, or 14.7 cents more per ounce.
Put the other way, a 23.9-ounce bag at the old rate would cost about $16.47.
The 5.1 missing ounces would have cost you $3.52 at the old 68.9 cents.
Per pound, the old bag came to about $11.03 and the new one comes to about $13.38.
What Retail Listings Show
In Mouse Print’s report, the shrink showed up in the ounces, not the price.
A January 26, 2026 post lists Hershey’s snack-size chocolate going from 19.8 ounces to 18, a 9.1% drop, or about half the share the party-size bag lost.
To compare, we looked for a pack of the same weight.
On October 10, 2026, a mid-Atlantic grocer’s site, Giant Food’s, listed a Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Lovers party pack at 23.9 ounces, with no price shown, so you’d need your store’s tag to know what it costs there.
That pack lists Special Dark, Mounds, Kit Kat dark and York Peppermint Patties in snack size.
Staples’ site listed a 23.9-ounce Dark Chocolate Lovers party pack at $34.49 that day, or $32.77 with AutoRestock.
At $34.49, each ounce comes to about $1.44 ($1.37 with AutoRestock), compared with 83.6 cents at the reported $19.99.
Hershey’s Price and Volume
Hershey’s North America confectionery net sales grew 4.2% in the second quarter of 2026, with about 14 points of net price realization, according to its July 30 earnings release.
Volume in that business fell about 10 points, reflecting price elasticity and normal shipment variability, partly offset by retailer restocking.
Price elasticity means buyers respond to higher prices by buying less.
The segment’s income rose 40.1% to $705.8 million, driven by net price realization, lower net commodity costs and supply chain savings.
Hershey’s U.S. candy, mint and gum retail takeaway rose 3.7% in the 12 weeks ended July 19, 2026, while its share declined due to increased competitive innovation.
Those figures cover Hershey’s whole North America confectionery business, not the price of the bag in your cart.
They can’t tell you what happened to the party-size bags on your store’s shelf.
Psst! How much do you know about Hershey’s history? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Hershey Town Trivia
Answer these questions on Hershey’s history and the rules for what counts as chocolate. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
A 1906 contest picked a name for the town that grew around Milton Hershey’s factory, and the post office shortened the winner. What was the winning entry?
Nickel Bar Years
According to the Hershey Community Archives, the company sold its standard chocolate bar for a nickel from 1900 until 1969.
That price was a standard for the U.S. confectionery industry.
In the 1950s, Hershey's was committed to keeping the five-cent price even as raw cocoa bean prices swung widely.
To do that, the company cut the bar's weight when bean prices soared, so your nickel bought less chocolate while the price stayed put.
When bean prices fell, the weight went back up, and your nickel bought more chocolate again.
The five-cent bar was discontinued in November 1969, when a ten-cent bar weighing more than twice as much became the standard.
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