New Economy Sizing for Coca Cola

Posted on May 26, 2008
Filed Under economy |

I stopped by the local market a few days ago and picked up a bottle of diet coke. They had a huge bright yellow price tag on them that said $.99. I actually grabbed two to take advantage of the $.19 savings. It wasn’t until I got up to the register that I noticed that the bottles seemed small.

When I checked the label, sure enough, these were 16 oz bottles instead of 20oz. Coca Cola has reduced the size of their bottles by making them thinner and a tad bit shorter. At first glance, they still look the same size as the larger bottles and it is very deceptive.

I am sure that Coca Cola is reducing the size to keep the bottles priced right around a dollar a bottle. However it certainly seems as if they designed this bottle to mimic the larger 20 oz bottle. Frankly 16 oz is probably enough but Pepsi has so far maintained the larger bottles. Pepsi has also been running sales locally with their 20oz bottles priced at $.99.

It reminded me of the 70s when the price of gas started rising and some areas or stations started measuring their gas by the liter instead of the gallon. While this may not have been deceptive, it was very confusing but it made gas seem less expensive. It still cost just as much to fill your tank but it just doesn’t sound as bad to say gas prices are $1.05 per liter and it makes it hard to compare prices.

I would expect that we will be seeing more ‘economy’ size products in the near future. It is a way to reduce sticker shock and cut company’s costs. However, you will need to be aware of what you are paying by the unit and not so much by the box or bottle when you are comparing prices.

Have you noticed that sizes are getting slightly smaller? Is this a sign of the times? Do you think that as prices of fuel continue to rise, we will be seeing gas sold by the liter again?

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Comments

7 Responses to “New Economy Sizing for Coca Cola”

Kim on May 26th, 2008 3:52 pm

I’ve noticed that quite a bit lately - where packages are getting smaller. Just yesterday I went into a Dollar General store for kitchen trash bags. I noticed on the shelf that they had Glad kitchen bags in big economy size boxes of 72 for $5.75. But also on the same pile, for the same price were a bunch of boxes - the exact same size, with only 64 bags in them. I asked them if that was a mistake, but the manager just laughed and said “Oh no…it’s not a mistake…look around carefully, a lot of the packages are getting smaller for the same price.” Sometimes it’s very hard to tell unless you have an old package to compare, because they will keep the boxes the same. Very deceptive.
~M on May 26th, 2008 10:17 pm

Tropicana OJ too!
U1st (1 comments.) on May 27th, 2008 4:01 pm

cokes laaaaaaaaaaaayyyyme. its not like it costs them anything to throw in 5 more ounces of sugar water. they just want you to run out sooner so u buy more. bastiges! :S
Komodo Dragon (1 comments.) on May 28th, 2008 7:27 pm

I love coca cola, the other day when I went to walmart I spotted a deal of $11 Dollars. It was for four twelve packs of canned soda. It was great! But other than that, the price of coca cola has increased dramatically due to the high gas prices, it bad
cindys on May 28th, 2008 7:58 pm

Komodo, I love diet coke too but the way that they did this switch to a smaller size really made me angry. I have pretty much been boycotting coke products since then. I’m sure that the two or three bottles that I buy a week won’t hurt them but it’s the principle of the thing.
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Dipster on June 19th, 2009 12:08 pm

I hate when grocery stores scream low prices on deli meat, then put in fine print that it is a half pound price!