ATTN: Pepsi distributor - you're out of Mountain Dew again!

The BBQ Pit
1

Apparently, my local Pepsi distributor has not yet figured out that Mountain Dew is really fucking popular around here. And yes, I blame the distributor, not the stores. It’s the distributor who goes into the stores and decides how much of each kind of soda to stock, and it’s the distributor that actually puts it in the cooler.

I’m complaining primarily about the 1-liter bottles. At home, I use 2-liter bottles, but there are situations outside of the home where I prefer a 1-liter bottle, because it’s convenient. For example, when I’m bicycling, a 2-liter bottle is heavy and awkward to drink from, and I’m not paying $1.29+tax for multiple 20 oz. bottles. Also, two 1-liter bottles sit in my backpack more comfortably than a single 2-liter bottle. So I head to the nearest store where I want to purchase a 1-liter bottle … and there are no 1-liter bottles of Mountain Dew to be found. There are six completely full slots of Pepsi 1-liter bottles, and three more full Diet Pepsi slots, but the single Mountain Dew slot is completely empty, and according to the clerk there is no more in the back.

One day, last summer, I desperately wanted to purchase two 1-liter bottles of Mountain Dew. On that day, I was determined to buy two 1-liter bottles of Mountain Dew. Not a 2-liter bottle, but two 1-liter bottles. I had my reasons, though I don’t remember what there were at this point. I bicycled to five different stores - two supermarkets and three convenience stores - and didn’t find a single 1-liter bottle of Mountain Dew!

But wait, there’s more! I work at the city convention center. For the big conventions, we load up on canned soda. Employees also get to drink this soda. Which we purchase from the Pepsi distributor. The Pepsi distributor consistently delivers one case of Mountain Dew for every dozen or so cases of Pepsi. And within a couple of days, we will be completely out of Mountain Dew while we still have Pepsi stacked to the ceiling.

How the hell is the Pepsi distributor failing to notice that the stores are completely out of 1-liter bottles of Mountain Dew every damn time their rep shows up to restock? If they are noticing, then how the hell does it not occur to them that Mountain Dew is really fucking popular and that it might be a good idea to start stocking more Mountain Dew and less Pepsi?

One convenience store clerk offered a theory on why the Pepsi was always full in the cooler: The store has a self-serve soda fountain, from which customers can pour themselves a gigantic paper cup full of Pepsi for 79 cents, and so most of the Pepsi fans purchase their Pepsi from the fountain, instead of buying bottled Pepsi. And yet, despite the presence of the Pepsi fountain (which the distributor also fills), the distributor continues to load up six fucking rows of Pepsi bottles and one lonely row of Mountain Dew bottles.

What? Just buy something else? I don’t think so. I drink Mountain Dew because I don’t like Pepsi/Coke. I don’t like 7-Up/Sprite. I don’t care for Dr. Pepper or orange soda or Squirt. I like root beer, but root beer doesn’t have the same thirst-quenching properties as Mountain Dew. I drink root beer with my pizza. My point is this: I love Mountain Dew, and so I want to buy Mountain Dew! And judging by the fact that the stores are so frequently out of Mountain Dew, I’m not alone. If you put the damn stuff on the shelf, I’m going to buy it, and you can have my money. If it’s not on the shelf, I’m not just going to shrug my shoulders and give you money for one of your other products. I don’t like your other products. I’m probably going to spend it on PowerAde (a Coca-Cola product) instead.

Dumbasses.
I should probably write a letter to the distributor instead of complaining here.

2

Well, i sympathize with the problems of Mountain Dew availability in your area, but…

You drink Mountain Dew while biking???

Yeccch.

I’ve never understood how anyone can stomach a disgusting sugary soda while engaging in strenuous exercise.

3

I hear ya…I am a Diet Coke junkie and when I lived in West Hollywood, surrounded by Gay Gym Bunnies all on diets of sorts…the local supermarkets were almost always sold out of Diet Coke, but they had 183 rows of regular Coke gathering dust on the shelves. When I complained, the supermarket manager said, “I have told the Coke distributors over and over again that we sell almost only Diet Coke, but they refuse to stock more.”

The dairies were far cleverer…they quickly picked up on the fact that in West Hollywood, 1% milk was the best seller over the 2% and full, so 1% is what they stocked up on.

And now, even here in chubbyland Las Vegas, the local Walmart is almost always sold out of Diet Coke first…but they have tons of regular Coke on the shelves. And Coke wonders why they are losing sales…who does Coke’s marketing research, Halliburton?

4

True 'nuff. Most of the time I’ll drink a sports drink - especially during the hottest parts of summer. But until recently a bicycle was my primary form of transportation; the MD was for those times when I was biking to get somewhere as opposed to biking for exercise/recreation. For example, I’ll bike to the park where I’ll sit and read in the sunshine. Or I’ll bike to work. The Mountain Dew is mainly for drinking at my destination, but I’ll sometimes stop while riding and take a slug.

5

Interesting. I work at a restaurant in L.A. that offers Pepsi products, including Mountain Dew. In nearly a year there, I have sold maybe half a dozen glasses of Mountain Dew.

6

Huh. Maybe both companies are desperate to keep their flagship products in everybody’s face and find it beneficial to present a solid wall of the product on the shelf. While the cola is marketed to “everybody”, I notice Pepsi tends to market their other products to certain demographics. Mountain Dew is targeted at the 18-30, “XTreme sports” crowd, which they don’t see as being all that big compared to the “everybody” demographic.

7

You’d sell six glasses in one go if my group of friends came into your restaurant :stuck_out_tongue: Now, around here (North Central Washington), it’s only been in the last couple years that restaurants have started carrying Mountain Dew on the fountain. For years, the restaurants with Pepsi products have had Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, 7-UP, Dr. Pepper, and maybe a root beer. That was the basic lineup for years and years. So I suspect that the Mountain-Dew-In-A-Restaurant concept just hasn’t penetrated the mainstream consciousness yet. When you ask “Do you have Mountain Dew?” and hear, “I’m sorry, we don’t” enough times, you just stop asking, and it doesn’t occur to you to wait a few years and try again. You just go ahead and say “Pepsi” or “root beer” when the server asks what you’d like to drink.

And if the restaurant has a bar, you’re not likely to get Mountain Dew. Who would think of ordering a Jack & Dew? (heh I did discover many years ago that mixing Dew and rum gets you an approximation of chocolate flavor. It may have just been the particular brand of rum I used, a brand I don’t remember because I never liked rum.)

8

Well, cola products are easy to get “right” from a fountain, IMO, than Mountain Dew. MD tastes much better poured out of a plastic bottle, a glass bottle, or drunk straight from a 12 oz aluminum can, in increasing taste order. As far as sodas go, I drink almost exclusively MD (as in less than a can / yr of something else,) but even I would hesitate to order MD from a fountain. At restaurants, 95%+ of the time I order water, the rest of the time hot tea if it’s available.

Of course, this comment void if you sell cans or have Mountain Dew on tap for some reason.

9

That’s a bit of an odd observation. I’d think that root beer should be better at quenching your thirst since it doesn’t have any caffeine. I don’t drink Mountain Dew, but I’m a Coke-aholic, and root beer is definitely the better choice when I’m very thirsty.

10

I never saw the attraction to Mountain Dew myself, but my brother drank so much of it that his dentist had to order him to stop… seems he was drinking so much that it was really affecting his teeth.

11

Some root beer is caffeine free, some has caffeine. I can never remember which brands are which, though.

12

Well, BARQ’S HAS BITE :slight_smile:

13

Most that I’ve found except for Barq’s are caffeine free.

14

Let me put in a word for Mountain Dew’s poor cousin, Diet Mountain Dew.

Now, I love this stuff. Yet even in places that have Pepsi-product fountains, it’s almost unheard of to find Diet MD. (Only exception I know of: Quiznos.)

And it’s not unusual to find it understocked on deli/convenience store shelves. I told the owner of the deli in my office building that if he stocked a small quantity of Diet Mountain Dew, I’d guarantee him steady sales. He tried three distributors before finding one that would sell him a case. That case was gone in two days; evidently I was not the only Diet MD fan in the building. He came back with five cases, which lasted about three weeks… and now his distributor is “out” again.

It always amazes me when I’m essentially waving money at someone, TRYING to get them to take it, and they won’t.

15

Saudi Arabia is the one place on earth Pepsi (or Bebsi in the local dialect) is more popular than Coke. Great. So why can’t we get Diet Mountain Dew here?

16

Diet Mountain Dew is not available anywhere when you need it. Although, I admit Quiznos has started to get my (very very occasional) chain lunch order because not only do they make quasi-edible sandwiches, but also they have diet Dew on the fountain there. (And how did I totally miss Bricker mentioning Quiznos?)

At least all the paralegals/litigation support people know my cravings these days so when they are stocking up the war room there is always a case of the green life giver sat there.

17

A repeat post, originally from the recent Products which are surprisingly hard to find thread:

I can’t seem to figure out how local Pepsi distributors are failing to grasp simple supply-and-demand. If you go to your local supermarket, you will see dozens of 12-packs of regular Pepsi, and no 12-packs of Pepsi One. That’s because they’ve sold out of their supply of Pepsi One. Because, and here’s where I suppose they get tripped up, people like Pepsi One and buy it. So, instead of dedicating more shelf space to Pepsi One and less to regular Pepsi, they just give the supermarket their one pallet of Pepsi One per month and say “screw you” to consumers.

It’s a constant race around here. We have three supermarkets in a two-mile radius, and on any given week, one of them will have 12-packs of Pepsi products on sale. However, they only put out about fifteen 12-packs of Pepsi One, so only five people will be able to take advantage of the sale (given the limit of three per customer). At any given time, I have two or three rainchecks in my wallet, just in case I come across a few 12-packs stashed on the back of a shelf at one of the stores.

18

As I mentioned in that thread I’m fed up with the Pepsi One thing too. They never have it in any of the stores around here.

19

Well, this is another thing Mountain Dew has going for it: it’s as drinkable at room temperature as it is ice cold. Root beer, and pretty much every other soda I’ve ever tried, is completely unpalatable at any temperature other than ice cold. If I’m bicycling in the local July 100+ degree weather, no drink is going to stay cold in my backpack. While a sports drink would be best overall, Mountain Dew is the best soda if I have to drink it warm.

I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that MD is not as heavily carbonated as other sodas. Drinking a warm root beer or cola feels like I’m guzzling foam, and I swallow more air than liquid. Also, when you’re sweating heavily enough, the diuretic effects of caffeine become moot. I can bicycle and drink MD for hours and never need to urinate because I’m sweating so much (unless I’m displaying my ignorance and diuretics work through perspiration as well as urination).

And again, I think this is because bottled/canned MD has less carbonation than other sodas, and that’s an important factor in its taste. MD from a fountain is almost always too carbonated.

20

Stupid double post