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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Price of soda
Message-ID: <11495@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 12:16:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.11495
Posted: Thu Jul 11 12:16:29 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 10:59:38 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: USAMC ALMSA
Lines: 17

We all know that name-brand sodas are vastly ovrpriced; after all, it is
nothing but flavored & treated water, with the cost of the canning or
bottling being rather low per-item. The recent "cola wars" have seen a
lot of price-based advertising for these colas, with 2-ltr bottles for
78 cents with no limit (Coke), cans at two 6-packs for the price of one
($2.89), etc. For those who want this stuff, these price breaks have
been a welcome relief from the usual idiotically-high prices.

Unfortunately, I expect that the prices will soar back up as soon as all
this fuss dies down. My question is: can anyone suggest methods that the
ordinary single consumer can use to force the bottlers to keep the
prices at the current lower levels indefinitely? Just "refusing to pay"
the higher prices will NOT work; enough other people will just go ahead
and buy the stuff anyway. Maybe holding the children of all bottlers as
hostages...? Naah, that doesn't work too well...

Any suggestions?