# Free market failure, or: Why can't I buy Diet Coke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924 "2009-08-27T17:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/21 "2009-08-27T19:02:03Z")
> [@Clare\_de\_Loone](#): > > Coke Zero is based on everyone’s “favorite” formula, New Coke. Coke Zero is supposed to taste more like actual Coke, and it does. I like Diet Coke too, but they taste pretty different. We have the same problem, except with Coke Zero. No one ever F-ing has it. Target is sold out 90% of the time we go there, and our local Supermarkets sell the 2 liters but only rarely the 12-pack cans. There’s plenty of Diet Coke. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/22 "2009-08-27T19:07:01Z")
Disclaimer: Though I work for a company that provides logistics planning and sales forecasting services to large manufacturers, I’m an IT guy, not an inventory management expert. I also used to work for a major retailer, though again in an IT capacity, not supply chain. However, I’m passingly familiar with both inventory management concepts and grocery operations. The short answer is that the Diet Coke is sitting on a skid at either the retailer’s or the bottler’s distribution center. Somewhere along the line, there was a glitch in communication among the store, the DC, and the supplier, which threw a giant wrench into the supply chain and cocked up the replenishment. It could have been anything: bad product activity data from the store, a bad pick at the DC, or a missed PO at the distributor. Inventory management for consumer packaged good is notoriously difficult thanks to the barely managed chaos that is retail operations. Hell, my company is probably the best at what we do in the world, and until very recently, we didn’t even _attempt_ to sell to CPG manufacturers. It’s _much_ easier to manage the inventory when a manufacturer is delivering containers of a widget to their distributor than it is when the manufacturer is a shipping individual units, or even a skid’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/23 "2009-08-27T19:23:17Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > I noticed a similar thing with clothes. By the time a few are left of a particular item (eg. a shirt) it’s all super-large sizes. I have never found the last few items being Medium or Large. Why can’t they stock things in proportion to how they are purchased? Is it simple incompetence, or are there some other market forces that result in this? I did some minor clothing purchasing for a 10 chain athletic store. Making predictions was difficult. You’d always order the bulk in middle sizes but then were left with either ordering just a few XXL and XS or none at all. If you ordered none at all you’d get rare complaints of “Why don’t you carry XXL or XS?” If you ordered just a couple you’d risk being stuck with them one the rest sold out. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/24 "2009-08-27T19:35:51Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > **Coke Zero does not taste like Diet Coke.** I agree, but I thought it needed emphasizing. I do not like Coke Zero. I rather like Diet Coke. I would be very upset if I could only find Coke Zero (now with Zero Appeal!). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/25 "2009-08-27T19:35:57Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Just about anybody around Warren Wisconsin can get you fresh cranberry juice. You’d probably be a hit at the Warrens Cranberry Festival. It is the center of cranberry production in the USA. Road trip! > [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > I’ve seen the all-cranberry-all-the-time juice at the health food store, or Whole Foods but never been brave enough to buy it. The chain grocery store only seem to carry the sugared stuff. Heh, I actually know where to get real cranberry juice, but like to gripe about it not being as readily available as the knockoffs. > [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Coke Zero is supposed to taste more like actual Coke, and it does. I like Diet Coke too, but they taste pretty different. Yeah? That’s what my friend-type-guy said. So I tasted it, and it had that artificial sweetener taste I don’t like. But I admit my soda palette is unrefined. I rarely drink soda of any kind, and I never drink anything light, diet or zero. ---
**Author:** ![Drygon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Drygon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drygon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/26 "2009-08-27T19:43:45Z")
> [@the\_first\_supraliminal](#): > > The market has failed me as well. I got sold on Cherry Coke (which I coveted as a lad, stirred from syrup and soda water at the local malt shop). > I have to go to the third supermarket away from me just for that, so I stock up more than will fit in my kitchen cupboard, so I usually have some staged in my trunk. > And I can never get it on sale. Regular Coke is sold at half price in cases, but not Cherry Coke. Why not just buy your own cherry syrup and regular Coke? Then you can make it as cherry-rific as you’d like. I’m thinking about doing this now that no one sells Vanilla Coke around here anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/27 "2009-08-27T19:45:10Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I was surprised they still make Tab since I haven’t seen that in a store in at least 10 years. But I guess somebody must drink it if they still make it. I have never had any problem whatsoever finding diet coke here in New England. It is big with females. Diet Dr. Pepper is a little harder to find but not much but regular Dr. Pepper is even harder probably because the difference in taste is probably the smallest of all between the major soft drinks. There are supermarkets around here that sell Tab. It could still be left-over stock from the 1970’s for all I know because I have never seen anyone buy it or have it around. However, they also have Moxie (:shudder) which predates coke and you only want to slip to your friends as a joke. I have no idea whatsoever who buys that. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/28 "2009-08-27T20:35:40Z")
You think that’s bad? Try finding Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry. Elusive but yummy. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/29 "2009-08-27T20:51:58Z")
I still try to find Tab. Occassionally I can get it. Although when “all Coke products” are on sale, Tab is not. Tab is the bomb. Better than Diet Coke. Better than Coke Zero. Probably because it still uses saccharin. Diet drinks went into the shitter with the 100% Nutra-Sweet craze. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/30 "2009-08-27T20:54:38Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > And while we’re at it, who do I have to fuck around here to get some cranberry juice? Just cranberry, not crangrape, crantastic, or cranberry cocktail. I want cranberry juice, pure and tart. Wasn’t it fucking that got you into this trouble? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/31 "2009-08-27T21:04:04Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > I still try to find Tab. Occassionally I can get it. 😕 Tab still exists??? Wow, I had no idea. My mom used to drink it all the time. I don’t think I’ve seen it since the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/32 "2009-08-27T21:09:24Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Wasn’t it fucking that got you into this trouble? 😉 Ha ha! Awesome. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/33 "2009-08-27T22:53:45Z")
Back to the missing Diet Coke story - I posted a similar thread years ago. Yes, it is the Coke distributers who put the product in the stores and I think they are idiots. Back in my old thread, the stores I was refering to were all in West Hollywood, CA - the Gay mecca where everybody is counting calories…they would have rows and rows of regular Coke, and always be sold out of Diet Coke. I went the manager of the store, I even called the local Coke distributer but nothing ever changed. You would think somebody, somewhere in corporate, would take a look at sales figures and notice, “Hmm…100,000 bottles of Diet Coke sold in this territory last month, and 5,000 bottles of regular Coke. Maybe we should stock more Diet Coke?” And then I read that Coke sales are slipping - do you think it could have something to do with (duh) poor management? ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/34 "2009-08-27T23:58:57Z")
> [@Clare\_de\_Loone](#): > > Coke Zero is based on everyone’s “favorite” formula, New Coke. You’ve got this backwards. I thought Diet Coke was based on New Coke, while Coke Zero was based on Coke Classic. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/35 "2009-08-28T00:18:05Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > And then I read that Coke sales are slipping - do you think it could have something to do with (duh) poor management? The price… jeez looeez 12 packs are pushing 6 bucks in this area(Northern Utah) with the occasional sale dropping to 3.50. I’ve waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cut back on my consumption. Now around here there is plenty of regular Diet Coke but its Diet Coke with Splenda I have trouble finding… and I guess Coke stopped bottling that mix all together. ---
**Author:** ![Sebastienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Sebastienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sebastienne)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/36 "2009-08-28T00:46:07Z")
I’ll come clean. My best friend and I have been keeping Tab and (diet!) Moxie alive singlehandedly. We buy out the entire stock of both whenever we find 'em, since their appearance is so unreliable. Mmm. Moxie. So medicinal! From what little I’ve seen, soda distribution is handled very oddly, with individual sales reps trying to push certain products over others. So what’s being experienced may be some kind of nefarious Coke 0 push. OP, I don’t know what the minimum order might be, but some grocery stores are willing to order things for customers if they buy an entire order-unit of a product. This may require you to purchase a pallet of Diet Coke, but I’ve heard of it working for some families who were all hooked on a certain flavor of yogurt or the like. Also, while I don’t know where you live, if you have a local “package store” that sells alcoholic beverages by the case, they almost always also carry cases of canned soda, and are very used to special orders. Maybe extreme measures are what’s needed until your Diet Coke drought rights itself. And I was under the impression that Coke 0 is essentially Coca-Cola with Splenda in place of sugar, whereas Diet Coke has its own, somewhat Pepsi-resembling formula. Thus, a Diet Coke fan is hooked on a flavor that can’t be had in a sugar version. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/37 "2009-08-28T01:04:37Z")
> [@hobscrk777](#): > > You’ve got this backwards. I thought Diet Coke was based on New Coke, while Coke Zero was based on Coke Classic. Neither is true. Diet Coke was based on nothing, except a cola formula that went well with a diet sweetener. Coke Zero was made to take like Classic Coke, or the Coke we all drink now. New Coke was loosely based on the already existing Diet Coke, but only kinda-sorta. If anyone wants some Tab, I can get it any time. Every grocery store here has it on the shelves. I’m still blown away that someone is having trouble finding Diet Coke. I’ve never been to a grocery store in my life that didn’t have at least 2 or 3 hundred 12-packs stocked, even before I lived in Atlanta. That isn’t really an exaggeration. ETA: There is no Splenda in US Coke Zero, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/38 "2009-08-28T01:06:44Z")
> [@Sebastienne](#): > > I’ll come clean. My best friend and I have been keeping Tab and (diet!) Moxie alive singlehandedly. We buy out the entire stock of both whenever we find 'em, since their appearance is so unreliable. > > Mmm. Moxie. So medicinal So you are the one that is doing it. What do you like about Moxie? I literally threw up the first time that I tasted it. Nyquil is an afternoon iced tea compared to it. I gave some to my little brother once as a joke. He managed not to hurl but still resents me to this day for it. I guess 19th century medicinal tonics just aren’t our thing. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/39 "2009-08-28T04:03:11Z")
This is weird. I almost never have a problem finding it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924/40 "2009-08-28T04:31:19Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. PS-Pepsi Max _RULES!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-failure-or-why-cant-i-buy-diet-coke/507924.md?page=3)