THE “UN”REAL THING

May 21, 2004 at 10:22:08a.m.

The only thing more confusing than airfares, is the cost of Coca Cola. Here in the Metro NYC area, prices for a two liter bottle range from 79 cents (usually with the store’s club card or shopper’s card) to a high of $1.59 in delis, convenience stores, and gas stations. Most of the time, however, you can find Coke on sale for 99 cents somewhere around town. Sometimes it seems as if Coke has the stores on a rotation basis, shifting prices from store to store weekly.

Lately, around here, all that has changed. Suddenly there are no 2 liter bottles- only one and a half liter bottles. And the price? $1.29 in almost every store.

That is a huge increase; it is way out of line. We were pleased, therefore, to see in one store that we visited twice this week, the supply of coke remained untouched. In fact, the store manager told me that sales of Coke were way below normal.

This morning, we saw a lady holding a bottle in her hand. She had a really pensive look on her face. As I passed her, I said, “Look carefully, it is a one and half liter bottle, not a two liter.” The woman looked at me and said, “Oh my, thank you. I knew something was wrong.” Then, when we commented on the price, she put the bottle back on the shelf and walked away.

Could this be another famous Coke blunder? A few years ago, Coke put out KP soda in the same size bottles. The company ended up publically apologizing to the community via the Anglo Jewish media after people complained bitterly and bought other brands.

Let’s hope people send Coke a strong message once again.

(RJR)