New ripoffs at the grocery store (pop/soda)

[David Weaver]

Coke prices not up?? In 2008 I could get Coke and Pepsi for $3 a 12 pack almost all the time. In 2009 the sale price was often $3.66 for a 12 pack with very rare sales at $3 and below.

This year pop prices have really moderated. During the first few months of 2010 I could get Coke/Pepsi as cheap as $1.99 a 12 pack every other week. Walmart was doing 24 packs for $5 for spring and early summer. Now that the real heat has arrived pop prices have gone way back up. Luckily, Coke is $2.75 this week at Target.

The regular price on 12 packs of pop at Walmart/Target is $4.50 and up. I've noticed that pop prices vary regionally. I'm in the Minneapolis area and our prices tend to be high compared to the Southern parts of the USA.

I run a concession stand once a month so I follow pop prices every week and buy it when on sale. I don't stock up too much especially on diet pop as diet goes bad in a few months.

Not up as in not generally up vs. inflation over a long period.

There didn't used to be sales everywhere all the time when they were 99 cents a bottle standard price. If there was a sale, they were 79 cents or 89 cents. The market has changed some, and if you need to buy when there isn't a sale, you get smacked. That's just the way it is.

But, in general, I don't think I've ever paid less on an inflation adjusted value. For as long as I can remember, coke and pepsi have been effectively $4-$6 for a 24 pack when they're on sale or for sale at the gas station. They weren't $2-$3 for the same thing 20+ years ago.

[David Weaver]

I won't allow KMC in the house unless my granddaughter from Phoenix is visiting. I still won't eat it.

Same here. None in the house, and especially none for the daughter when she's old enough. There are worse things she could eat, I guess, but there are certainly much better, too.

We had it plenty when I was a kid, but mom wouldn't spring for the kraft if there was a generic that was cheaper. A lot of those generic versions were pretty bad in those days!

[David Weaver]

I understand why folks might want smaller pop cans, but it really irks me that they charge the same for 8 smaller cans as for 12 larger cans. I don't necessarily expect them to charge less for the 8 oz cans, but charging more is ridiculous.

Who are they targeting with those? I'm assuming that they're small doses for drink mixing folks. I always thought they were dumb, too, and the first time I saw them, I think they had a sale tag strapped to the wall that said "perfect size for mixed drinks" or something.

Some things are priced as an implicit tax on stupidity - for the individual who couldn't figure out that the mixed drink to can ratio didn't have to be 1 to 1.

[Matt Meiser]

Smaller cans may actually cost more to produce. Like someone said the product in the container is pretty cheap. But a filler line probably doesn't fill 8oz cans much faster than 12oz cans. They may actually pay more for the cans due to buying in smaller quantity. And lower sales volume frequently equates to a higher price--the more you sell the cheaper you can make it.

[Glenn Vaughn]

You might also notice that other methods are being used to squeeze extra money from the consumer. Many time the "Economy" size has a higher price per pound/ounce than the "regular" size.

Remember when beef was aged before sale? Now almost all beef (and pork as well) is CryoPacked - vacuum-sealed and frozen before it is even chilled. This is effectively a 10-15% increased in weight over what it used to be when sold. Then to add insult to injury they add "a solution" to "enhance flavor". Chicken can have as much as 30% added.

In the good old days frying a steak would just put fat into the pan. Now you get quite a bit of water - paid for at the same price as the steak. I pretty much buy beef when it is reduced in price because of approaching expiration dates - it is the same as aging.

The other trend that I see is most obvious at WalMart and deals with shrimp; It is getting increasingly difficult to find raw shrimp at WalMart. The precooked does not have the flavor or texture of shrimp you have cooked yourself.

As for the consumer wanting reduced size instead of higher prices - when is the last time you saw an advertisement that said "New smaller size to save you money". Size reduction is always done quitely - and the pckage usually s\tays the same size for a while.

[Jim Rimmer]

Coke prices not up?? In 2008 I could get Coke and Pepsi for $3 a 12 pack almost all the time. In 2009 the sale price was often $3.66 for a 12 pack with very rare sales at $3 and below.

This year pop prices have really moderated. During the first few months of 2010 I could get Coke/Pepsi as cheap as $1.99 a 12 pack every other week. Walmart was doing 24 packs for $5 for spring and early summer. Now that the real heat has arrived pop prices have gone way back up. Luckily, Coke is $2.75 this week at Target.

The regular price on 12 packs of pop at Walmart/Target is $4.50 and up. I've noticed that pop prices vary regionally. I'm in the Minneapolis area and our prices tend to be high compared to the Southern parts of the USA.

When I was in the Navy (and poor PO3 like Ken F.), I started drinking beer when Coke was $1.50 per 6 pack and Old Milwaukee was $1.00 per 6 pack (Navy Exchange, 1971).

[/QUOTE] When I graduated from college and bought my first new car my dad was outraged at what it cost (and he worked for the company that made it!) I asked what he paid for his first new car and what he made at his first job. The car price/salary ratio was within 1%. [/QUOTE]

One of us needs to check our math. At 1% ratio, a person making $100K would be paying $1000 for a car. . Even in 1969, my first new car was more like 50% of annual salary and still is today except now we have two cars. Actually LOML's car was closer to 25% and my loaded F150 was closer to 38%.

[David Weaver]

I think what he means is if it was a 3k car and a 6k salary, it's very close to being a 30k car for a 60k salary now.

With the comparison of those ratios being within 1%.

I'd agree with that.

My mom's first car in '66 was a galaxie 500 fastback with a 390 - a huge "turnpike cruiser". It was $3100. Her salary when she got out of college was about $6000.

i don't know what her salary was when she quit, but her last car was around $30k sticker, it was maybe a little lower ratio, but she was on a union pay scale, so there are a lot of merit increases in her pay. It was probably in the $70k range (she's been retired for a bit).

Built into that new car, though, is a whole lot more than was ever in the galaxie 500 she had. Much safer, more reliable and expected to last a lot longer.

We certainly (those who still have jobs) have more disposable income if we use the same spending discretion that our parents did.

Trouble with a lot of people these days is they spend money on a house that is a much larger multipler of their income, is larger than their parents ever had, and has much nicer stuff in it, have two car payments, and then they claim they are poorer than their parents were because they don't have extra cash.

[Mitchell Andrus]

How soon we forget that the 8oz size goes back to the 70's or so. It disappeared.

The 12oz will remain the standard as the 8oz is phased out - again.
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[Pat Germain]

Remember when beef was aged before sale? Now almost all beef (and pork as well) is CryoPacked - vacuum-sealed and frozen before it is even chilled. This is effectively a 10-15% increased in weight over what it used to be when sold. Then to add insult to injury they add "a solution" to "enhance flavor". Chicken can have as much as 30% added.

I depends on where you buy the meat. WalMart and Target, for example, do not have butchers on site. All their meat is processed and packaged at a central facility. Then it's shipped to the stores already under celophane. In order to do this, the must add a preservative. But I don't think it's frozen. The "solution" is actually a preservative. I refuse to buy meat with the "solution" added. I think it's lousy.

Ironically, although WalMart doesn't have butchers, Sam's Club does. The meat at Sam's Club and Costco is pretty good and very reasonably priced. But I typically can't use it in large amounts. And I don't like to freeze meat. It makes it spongey. Most grocery stores like Safeway, Ralph's and Kroger have their own butchers so most the meat doesn't have preservatives added.

As for soda pop, again, Sam's Club and Costco are good places to buy it in bulk. I just fill the fridge in my garage. Although, I've cut back on my soda pop intake lately. So a case of soda from Costco now lasts a looooong time.

[Chris Damm]

Coke has come out with new 8 packs of pop/soda in various flavors. They are 8 oz cans instead of 12 oz cans.

The kicker is the regular 12 packs of Coke products are the same price as the new 8 packs! It would be far less expensive to pour out 1/3 of a 12 oz can than to buy the "new" 8 oz cans.

Does Coke think that consumers don't pay attention to unit pricing especially in today's economic times?

The 12 packs are loss leaders. It's to get you into the store. It's been done for a long time. It's just like happy hour at the bar, it gets you there so you can spend more money!

[Matt Meiser]

I think what he means is if it was a 3k car and a 6k salary, it's very close to being a 30k car for a 60k salary now.

Yes, that's what I meant.

[David Weaver]

Back then, it was in returnable bottles wasn't it?

They used to have them in our school for functions. You could get them for a quarter, but if you were thirsty, you needed two of them.

I think what coke has gotten a lot more aggressive on is making profit off of stuff that has nothing to do with selling cans and bottles at the grocery store. Charging large amounts for a fridge with bottles in it at a restaurant, or nailing vending machine owners to restock them - things that the end consumer won't see. We see a machine with $1.50 bottles in it, and we criticize the establishment with the machine, and they know that - but my understanding is you have a contract to have that machine and you pay the price that coke wants when they bring you stock for it, and that price is higher than the grocery store price (at least for a restaurant near me that we frequent - they pay a lot more for their bottles than I pay at the grocery store).

[Pat Germain]

Even at the inflated price in the smaller container, soda pop is still very cheap. That's why many lower income families drink a lot of it. And that's why many lower income areas have so many overweight people.

[Dave Wagner]

Even Girl Scout cookie boxes are smaller for the same price.......geesh.

[Dan Hintz]

Even at the inflated price in the smaller container, soda pop is still very cheap. That's why many lower income families drink a lot of it. And that's why many lower income areas have so many overweight people.

Water is even cheaper, so I don't buy that argument 100%... more like 50%. I think it has to do with ignorance on the problems heavy soda intake can have (such as your last point, obesity). That, combined with a lackadaisical attitude towards pushing kids to eat healthy...