• @eek2121
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    509 months ago

    Both Come and Pepsi doubled - tripled their prices in the time between 2020 and 2023.

    In 2019 (in my area) you could get a 2 liter of soda for $0.79-$1.00. Non-sale price was $1.49. A 12 pack of cans was $2-$2.50 on sale with a none-sale price of $4.

    2 liters now are “on sale” for $2-$3 each and non-sale price is $3-$3.50.

    Cans sale price is $4 at minimum and non-sale price is $7.99–8.99 depending on the store.

    I have significantly cut back on my diet soda intake as a result, so i guess there is that?

    To put another way, in the best of times in 2019 I could buy a 5x12 pack of cans for $10. Today I would have to pay $20-$45 for the exact same product depending on if it was on sale or not.

    When our economy finally falters, these companies will be the first to scream for bailouts and other nonsense.

    Like dude, just go back to pre-pandemic pricing.

    • @LufyCZ
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      249 months ago

      They raised prices and left them there because enough people are paying these prices.

      Them asking for bailouts because of their prices hikes makes exactly 0 sense btw, if they need to sell more, they’ll just lower them again. The nice thing about margin is that it’s margin - as long as you’re making money, you’re making money, it just depends how much.

      • nicetriangle
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        119 months ago

        Yeah they jacked up prices and realized that while they may be losing customers, they’re still making more money. They’d need to take a tangible financial hit to stop this shit.

        This same basic math is going right now at every other company that decided to opportunistically price gouge us.

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          It’s prima facie evidence of price fixing. Not that I expect it to ever be prosecuted, or even seriously investigated.

          • nicetriangle
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            9 months ago

            I think maybe they make an example of a few companies but that the fines are considerably less than the windfall of cash the price gouging got them and the rest of the offenders out there (many of which I bet are even worse) will get off scot-free

          • @[email protected]
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            09 months ago

            Price fixing is when multiple companies collude to raise the price, companies charging more on their own is not price fixing.

    • @Makeitstop
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      169 months ago

      The really frustrating part is that cheap generic stuff skyrocketed too. Walmart embraced inflation enthusiastically, and their knockoff mountain dew went from $0.62 to $1.70. Supply chain issues I’m sure…

      I used to get that stuff 10 bottles at a time, and it was one of the few things that made it worth going there. Now I just get whatever is on sale at the local employee owned grocery chain. The price difference is negligible, almost everything else is cheaper, and I get to support some place that isn’t evil.

      • @[email protected]
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        49 months ago

        Yea it’s always good to support local businesses, i gave up my soda/pop since it got expensive and checked my locally-owned store instead, lo and behold they had more drink variety and usually for cheaper. Plus it means your money isn’t going to some already-rich company

    • Talaraine
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      79 months ago

      Yeah I too have their prices to thank for finally quitting their health damaging products.

    • @mx_smith
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      29 months ago

      Come on down to Philly, we’ll show you how tax sodas.

  • @Gruntyfish
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    299 months ago

    Soda price increases have done wonders for my health.

    • @CADmonkey
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      39 months ago

      Yours too? I swear I lost ten pounds just by drinking water and tea instead of soda.

      • @Gruntyfish
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        29 months ago

        Yeah, I think the main reason is cutting out all of the sugar that’s in sodas. I also started drinking a lot of tea. Mostly chai, but it’s much cheaper and without most of the sugar.

        • @CADmonkey
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          29 months ago

          I’m a dirty slut for iced tea, but not the cloyingly sweet stuff that you’ll find in restaraunts. And you’re right it’s much cheaper. A box of 22 gallon-sized tea bags is like $5.

          There is a great XKCD that shows comparisons for the amount of sugar in a soda, and it’s wild. A 20 oz coca-cola has as much sugar as three cadbury creme eggs.

    • @MotoAsh
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      79 months ago

      Good ol’ capitalism. Everyone thinks it’s having an open market, but nope! These are the innovations of capitalists: Attaining and retaining more capital than last quarter. That’s it. That’s all capitalism is good for: ripping off workers.

    • @MurrayL
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      129 months ago

      PepsiCo owns far more than just Pepsi (Ocean Spray, Tropicana, Aquafina, Lipton, Quaker, Lay’s, Cheetos, and many other brands)

  • @Rade0nfighter
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    89 months ago

    Another example of inherently predatory “what the market will bear” pricing.

    Thankfully in this instance it’s not an essential…