‘Should be ashamed of themselves’: Shopper spots something wrong with every On the Border chip bag at Walmart

A TikTok video showing severely underfilled bags of On the Border tortilla chips at Walmart has racked up over 253,000 views and reignited frustration over shrinkflation in the snack aisle. The story gained traction when reported by BroBible, which highlighted footage from TikTok user Jack Schumacher panning across a shelf and picking up bag after bag, each appearing to contain chips filling less than a quarter of the total package space. In his caption, Schumacher wrote that the brand should be ashamed, pointing to the $3.44 price tag for what looked like a mostly empty bag.

The video is a textbook example of shrinkflation, the practice of reducing the amount of product inside a package without lowering the price. It is a strategy that has generated sustained consumer frustration across grocery categories, from chips and pasta to candy and household goods. On the Border chips have faced similar complaints before, with Reddit users sharing photos of underfilled bags as far back as three years ago, and other TikTok videos showing packages less than halfway full.

It is worth noting that not every bag of the brand appears to have this issue, as some footage shows bags with a more reasonable fill level. Still, when a package claims to contain 24 servings of roughly seven chips each, seeing the actual volume fall well short of that 168-chip count is a jarring discrepancy.

The air in your chip bag actually has a name, and there are rules about how much of it is legally acceptable

The technical term for that empty space is slack fill, and it is not always purely deceptive. Manufacturers commonly use a nitrogen mixture inside bags to preserve freshness and extend shelf life. That same cushion of air also protects chips from being crushed during shipping and handling. However, a study of 108 snack chip bags found that only 44 actually contained this modified atmosphere packaging, raising questions about how much of the empty space in other bags serves any real protective function.

The Food and Drug Administration defines nonfunctional slack fill as empty space that exists for reasons other than protecting the product, accommodating machinery, or compensating for settling. Packaging that prevents consumers from seeing inside can be considered misleading if it contains that kind of slack fill.

Despite those regulations, dozens of class-action lawsuits have been filed over the years against brands across multiple product categories. The issue of consumers fighting companies through legal action over value has played out across industries, with courts producing mixed results for plaintiffs.

Some of those lawsuits have been dismissed outright. A federal judge tossed a case involving Mini Oreo and Mini Chips Ahoy! Go-Paks, ruling that no reasonable consumer expects a package’s exterior size to reflect the exact quantity inside, and that clearly labeled net weight and serving information is sufficient to prevent deception.

In the comments on Schumacher’s video, viewers were less philosophical, with one suggesting shoppers start weighing bags in-store to verify they match the advertised weight. A similar wave of grocery complaints went viral this week after a shopper discovered an issue with fish at a Publix seafood counter, reflecting a broader pattern of consumers documenting what they see as poor value at major retailers.

For now, the most practical advice from consumer advocates is to focus on the net weight and serving information on the label rather than using the size of the bag as a guide to what is actually inside.