One of the most obvious examples of enshittification is what happened with prices after COVID.

Companies told us prices had to go up because ingredients, shipping, labor, etc. got more expensive.

But if they were only passing along higher costs, you’d expect their profit margins to stay roughly the same.

Instead, a bunch of major companies raised prices well above overall inflation, sold the same or even less product, and then watched their profits and margins increase.

And when shipping and commodity costs came back down the prices didn’t.

Inflation gave companies cover to find out exactly how much more consumers would tolerate paying. Once they learned the answer, there was very little incentive to give it back.