Don't know how widespread this is, but recently the local Coke bottler has eliminated ALL 2.0 liter containers in favor of an alternate container that more resembles the "classic" look of the old glass Coke bottles of days of yore. Some of the smaller sizes of Coke already comes in a bottle this shape, but generally this only applied to Coke and Diet Coke and a few other varieties.

But this is an across-the-board bottling change: All products are now sold in 1.5 liter bottles instead! This means all Coke products, Fanta, Minute Maid, diet and regular, caffeine and caffeine-free, etc. [An aside: Why must Minute Maid Pink Lemonade flavor non-carbonated drink be sold in a container that resembles a Coke bottle shape?]

This represents a horrible price increase. Smaller sizes are bought for convenience, not savings. But the 2.0 [and some used to be 3.0!] liter bottles were for the "industrial strength" users of the product who don't want to pay for packaging. Here's a few pricing examples:

Pepsi brand diet Pepsi caffeine-free 2.0 liter typical shelf price $1.29-$1.69 depending on just how good a store is. Chain supermarkets rarely exceed $1.29 and instead often run sales lowering it to $1.19, $1.09, $.99, $.89, $.88, $.79, $.77, $.69, or even occasionally $.66 [the last when they are blowing out "old" inventory when the label artwork changes]. [Most likely sale prices $.79-$.89.] [In any given month, expect a one-week Pepsi sale and a one-week Coke sale, and the other two weeks both are around $1.19-$1.29 typically.]

Coke brand Diet Coke caffeine-free 1.5 liter $1.29 each as a "typical" price comparable to the $1.29 price that was for the 2.0 liter prior bottle. But this is for 3/4 the product!!

I've even seen a "sale" where if you buy three, you get it for "only" $1.00 each. Again, this is for 3/4 the product, so this "sale" price is $1.33 which is higher than the REGULAR price for the former product!

Simultaneously in the same store I could get the Pepsi for $.79 for 2.0 liter or pay "only" $1.00 each for the Coke, but the Pepsi was minimum quantity just one bottle while the Coke "sale" required a three-bottle purchase to achieve the "savings" over the REGULAR price of $1.29!

Thus, when Pepsi is on sale and Coke is not, Pepsi costs $.79 for 2.0 liter, and Coke costs over $1.50 per 2.0 equivalent!

I hope Pepsi doesn't play this game themselves; Fortunately, they don't have a bottle-shape "heritage" to hang an excuse for this gouge.

cjl (message in a bottle?)