Lately, I've had a morbid fascination with prices. I blame the "Black Friday" craze and all the supposed discounts.
I made my usual trip to the local Piggly Wiggly to pick up some provisions. Thankfully, I did not encounter the dreaded static electric shopping cart. I did encounter prices that were high enough to make me dizzy.
My good friend and I often reminisce about the good ol' days twenty years ago. He used to work for Coca-Cola, and he was an ardent fan of the company's beverages. In fact, he had daily access to pure fountain Coke straight from the source. Back then, the best deal you could get for Coke was five 12-packs for $10, although that was a rare deal. I would say four for $10 was a more common sale.
Upon walking into the store this afternoon, I observed a sign proclaiming a sale on Coke. The deal was two 10-packs of mini-Cokes for $11. I was knocked over with a feather. That would be an outrageous regular price, and the fact that they call it a sale is laughable. A mini-can is 7.5 oz as opposed to the usual 12 oz cans.
Upon walking into the store this afternoon, I observed a sign proclaiming a sale on Coke. The deal was two 10-packs of mini-Cokes for $11. I was knocked over with a feather. That would be an outrageous regular price, and the fact that they call it a sale is laughable. A mini-can is 7.5 oz as opposed to the usual 12 oz cans.
This is a classic example of shrinkflation plus inflation. A product that used to come in a package of twelve 12-oz cans (144 total ounces) now comes in ten 7.5-oz cans (75 total ounces). The quantity of the product has been reduced by more than half, and let's see what they did with the price. I'll take the four-for-ten deal, never to be seen again. The good ol' days' sale equates to 576 oz for $10, which is about 1.7 cents per oz. The two-for-eleven "sale" for mini-Cokes equates to 150 oz for $11, which is about 7.3 cents per oz. For those following along at home, that's a 329% price increase, albeit over the course of twenty years.
Just for fun, I looked up the price of mini-Coke on Amazon. The first link I found was for three 10-packs of mini-Cokes (30 total) for a whopping $32.
I'm glad I stopped drinking Bloke a long time ago.