Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Economically Efficient Ways of Buying Soda

While I cannot claim that soda is at all a green or healthy lifestyle choice, I'll be the first to admit my addiction to it and I won't quitting anytime soon. Now that we're being realistic, I've been thinking about the most efficient way to purchase soda. As you know, soda can be bought in many forms, from 12 ounce cans to 2 liter bottles, to a 24 pack of cans. But which way gives you the most bang for your buck?

Obviously, going generic would be an easy way to make buying soda more efficient, which usually is half the price of name-brand soda. In this case, I will examine what happens when we look at name-brand soda since it will be the most expensive and generally carry the same price across the board. Generic sodas can range in price, so be sure to check out what your grocery store offers.

If we look at the name-brand, 24 pack of soda, with no sale price, this usually goes for about $7.99, not including tax. When we break that down, that comes down to about 33 cents per 12 ounces of soda (which is the general form of measurement I will be using here as a standard). A 12 pack of can soda will typically come about the same price or even more, since it usually is priced at $4.50. At $4.50 its about 37 cents a can. If we look at the 2 liter bottle of soda, at the name-brand price, its usually $1.29, again with no sale price. Translated into ounces, 2 liters is equal to approximately 67.6 ounces. This is equal to about 5 and a half cans of soda, which then levels out to about 23 cents per 12 ounces of soda! We save approximately 10 cents per 12 ounces of soda when we buy 2 liter bottles of soda.

(I am not aware of the price of the 6 pack bottles of soda, just because I usually can't drink that much at a time, but I have left my equation for calculating these numbers at the bottom for you. Next time I go I will check out the price and add it here as well.) After checking at my local grocery store, for a 6 pack of 20 ounce bottles goes for about $4.29. At this rate, you are paying 42 cents per 12 ounces of soda. Again, this assuming there is not a sale, and this is a price of a name-brand soda.

Our other ways of buying soda, like 20 ounce bottles up by the check out counter, are clearly over-priced and used as a type of impulse buy for you. These are also priced at about $1.29 a bottle. At that rate, you are spending 77 cents per 12 ounces of soda! Thats a huge difference, so next time you are waiting in line at the store, look away from those displays, because their purpose is to rip you off and satisfy your need for whatever you like to drink.

Pepsi and Coke have also been selling these "half-cans" of soda, which I hope you can already predict these are a rip off as well. Aluminum is an expensive material right now, so you will be paying for it. If you cannot drink a whole can of soda at once, again, consider the wallet-friendly 2 liter bottles of soda. You only have to pour as much as you can drink.

In addition to saving on buying 2 liter bottles, watch for sales! This week my grocery store had a sale for 88 cents on name brand soda. That brings me down to 16 cents per can of soda, or basically half the price of canned soda! Again, with generic soda, you're likely to see similar savings, so if you can bear with it, give generic soda a chance, and consider just buying name-brand soda when its on sale.

Now, if you are drinking SO much soda, it might be possible to profit back from such, by turning your aluminum cans in for some pocket change. In our area, a large 20 gallon garbage bag of non-crushed cans gave us about $1.50 back, so its up to you whether this is something to pursue. However, I would encourage you to recycle these containers, plastic or aluminum, to keep our Earth clean. You can also make a lot of cool things out of 2 liter bottles, and there is a list of awesome ideas here. I remember when I was in 3rd grade we made miniature green houses out of them, and watched a plant grow a little bit everyday in our bottle. I use one now to work with my dog's water dish (like a water cooler works) so I dont have to fill his dish as often. In addition, since using 2 liter bottles requires you to use your own glasses, this can also be a more eco-friendly way to serving (assuming you are not using disposable cups). Since you wash and reuse these glasses, you are not filling our landfills further.

To use this equation in figuring out what you are paying per can of soda at your grocery store, I used to following:
(With 12 or 24 packs of soda:) Price divided by number of cans.
(With 2 liters of soda:) Number of total ounces divided by 12, then the price divided by the number you got from the first part of the equation.

Damn those math teachers in school, I really am using math in real life!

19 comments:

Lisa said...

Have you looked at Soda Club soda makers? They are awesome! We have one and it's a cheaper way to have soda and better for the environment. :)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Price per 12 oz, cans vs bottles, recycling, making things out of 2 liter bottles, you hit it all. Great blog!

Chad Fennern said...

I buy my 6 pack of 20 ounce plastic bottles of pop when they are on sale 5 for $10 or 6 for $10. They sometimes are 4 for $10. But I stock up enough by buying 10 of them for $20 or if there are a limit I have the cashier do 2 transactions or I use self check out & do 2 myself. I think this is the saving me the most over taking 2 bottles to work a day instead of paying $1.75 to $2.25 each This way my cost is only $2 a 6 pack of 20 ounce bottles. Which ends up being $.30 per 20 ounce bottle.put the cost per ounce at 1.5 cents per ounce. Which is a pretty good deal.. I think? Wouldn't you agree? Just saying!!!

Unknown said...

Just happened across this post and thought I'd toys in my 2 cents. Two things one might consider. First is the taste of soda. Many believe the soda is much fresher tasting from a metal can rather than than plastic bottle. It does seem that this may be true and I have noticed this as well. Second, most metals will corrode and be reabsorbed into the ground much more easily than plastic. This is true of aluminum as well.

In my opinion, if you are addicted to soda then one would be the best tasting version to them selves and not worry about the price so much especially when you don't drink much to begin with. This based on when you said you don't drink that much at a time in regards to 6 pack plastic bottles. I literally can drink virtually endlessly any drink in one sitting including 2 liters and gallon jugs.👍

Rob A said...

I'm in the store right now trying to decide if it would be cheaper to buy a 12 pack of 12 oz cans or a 20 oz bottle of name brand soda or maybe a 2 liter bottle of the name brand stuff and my head is gonna explode.

Anonymous said...

Unless you're serving soda at a party or gathering where the entire two-liter will be consumed almost instantly, go with the six-pack, as it has six cans which will open fresh whenever you drink them, rather than a "cheaper" bottle, half of which will go flat and/or wind up tossed.

It's not even close.

Aisha said...

Thanks for the article! Discover wide selection of thirst-quenching soft drinks online.

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Unknown said...

living by yourself a liter bottle is something to consider I do like can still

Anonymous said...

I suspected 2 liter bottles might be cheaper, thank you for confirming.
I drink a lot of soda and notice no taste difference between can and 2-liter.
We have no problem finishing a 2-liter in a couple days so freshness not an issue and besides, if it gets a little flat, I'll still drink it.
And we recycle everything we can so the plastic is not an issue.

THEREFORE...henceforth I shall be addressed as "Mister Two Liter" thankyouverymuch

Anonymous said...

I buy name brand at the 99 cent store. No need to buy 5 to get good price.

AJS said...

Whether you like the bottle, can, or cup should not take away the fact this is a quantity versus quality issue. It is simply your choice.

This current sale I have is three 12 pk for $8, originally priced at $10 -- excluding sales tax (food), but including deposit ($3.60).

Michigan offers 10 cents on bottle returns.

In this structure, I could get
thirty six 12 oz. cans @ $0.22 cents/can

I'm leaving the deposit out here because of the guaranteed return. This is the deal: add it up.

If you get six 2 liters @ $6, do it, but think: $0.60 return. I've been there before with brands. Sometimes you're out and just wanna go to the gas station and grab a beer, pop, soda, or what have you, but it is ridiculously overpriced if it is not a local brand, or say from a specific store.

For example Faygo, Towne Club, etc. are Michigan brands. They will never increase on their pricing here. However, if you are in need, and still want to consume, you want to find something to compensate your taste on the cheap. This is just how I see it.

Let's say you get nine 12 pk cans @ $23.20 of different varieties. 72 cans. That's a $7.20 return to you. Again, two 2 liter bottles equal about 12 cans, but only a $0.20 return. Bogus! This is a storage and return issue. If you drink 2 to 3 cans per day, every day of the month, that's what you get for being mindful and cutting back on your spending costs (vending machine, gas station, restaurants).

By how you buy it, you can forget there is an corporate advantage (or disadvantage), especially if you are on assistance. Overall, that could be an extra $11 per month (nine 12 pk or 108 cans) for being economically and environmentally aware.

Use your discounts and promotions carefully, people!

AJS said...

*post-edit note*

My apologies, the example I wrote:
"nine 12 pk cans @ 23.20"
was supposed to be "six 12 pk cans @ $31.20".

AJS said...

OK, last time <3

nine 12 pk cans @ $24
($8 @ 12 cans + deposit)

108 cans = $10.80 return @ nine 12 pk

So, if you bought nine 12 pk cans for $35, $11 of that would be returned to you.

josh mishell said...

You can also use CanOrBottle.com and get on-the-fly pricing while you're shopping!

Anonymous said...

For those advocating not getting 2 liters because the soda will go flat, there are devices you can put in place of the cap on the bottle that will allow you to pump air into the bottle which keeps the soda from going flat. You can get them on Amazon for around 5 bucks. Money well spent.

Anonymous said...

There's a solution to that problem. First buy a six pack of the 16-oz bottled sodas. Drink them and save the bottles. Now you can buy the 2- litter bottles. Slowly poor the soda into the smaller bottles and immediately cap them. They stay fresh for a long time. Do this over and over again and save a lot of money