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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!mcnc!bch
From: bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron Howes)
Newsgroups: net.misc.coke,net.consumers
Subject: Re: Those 3-liter bottles
Message-ID: <787@mcnc.mcnc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 8-Sep-85 00:02:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: mcnc.787
Posted: Sun Sep  8 00:02:33 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 9-Sep-85 04:02:29 EDT
References: <1226@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Reply-To: bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron Howes)
Distribution: net
Organization: North Carolina Educational Computing Service
Lines: 29
Xref: watmath net.misc.coke:320 net.consumers:2926
Summary: 

In article <1226@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes:
>Does anyone know what the motivation is behind the marketing of the
>three-liter bottles? Around here, they are available on the store
>shelves, but the marketing is actively discouraging people from buying
>them. For example, every week some or another brand of soda is on sale
>for 78 cents or 98 cents in the 2-liter bottles. The three-liter bottles
>of the same stuff always cost at least *twice* that sale price for the
>2-liter size! And I have *never* seen a sale locally (St. Louis) for
>the three-liter size, except maybe for Coke the first week the new size
>came out.
>
>So why bother tooling up and tying up shelf space for this size?
>
>Insights into the motivation of the marketing types would be
>appreciated...

Fascinating.  I thought this was only some kind of bizarreness at our
very southern supermarket.  I have no idea why this is the case, but I
have also noticed it with respect to large cans of tuna packed in water.
The larger cans are considerably more expensive than the smaller cans
(but not the smallest cans which are, as one would expect, the most
expensive.)  I'm glad I shop at a store with unit pricing on the shelves.

(I am co-posting this to net.consumers because of general consumer interest
in pricing structures.)
-- 

						Byron C. Howes
				      ...!{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch