Did any SDoper stock the soda (pop) aisle in the 1970s? I distinctly remember how glass bottles of soda came in a cardboard, sectioned 6-pack with a handle. But, on the edge of the shelf (where the prices are displayed today) there was a like a curled-up plastic sheet with the soda name and logo on it. I can recall each and every soda had one of these! But, did it serve any purpose? As a little kid, I made a silly assumption it was to help you lift the 6-pack and slide it over this thing like a roller (that did not roll). If you recall what I am talking about, was this just for name/logo recognition and/or free advertising in the grocery aisle? I WAG now it may have been an eye-catcher so one could readily find their desired drink? I dunno…seems like a waste.
Bonus Question: Did liquor stores do this too, at least in the beer aisle?
I think you’re talking about the pop-in era of shelf tags and prices, where every product had a label and/or numbers for price on plastic strips that flexed to pop into a groove at top and bottom. Kind of like big plastic marquee letters, only for one row at a time along the front of the shelf.
I don’t specifically recall soda brand identifiers, but there were many different things that popped into that space to note sales, special pricing, manufacturer (I clearly remember a KRAFT section, labeled in between every product with a KRAFT pop-in), etc.
Actually you are right in a manner of speaking. Stores back then (I had family who operated a Clover Farm Store) could/would get a price discount or advantage on sales if they allocated x% of shelf space to a certain brand. That and stock boys were not known for being recruited by NASA so the tags doubled as a way to let said employee know where to place StraightDopers Cola. Because if you moved it to another place on the shelf shoppers would FREAK OUT!!! Trust me; I experienced it more than once.
I’ve heard that supermarket “territorialism” is extremely cut-throat, and we’re talking jockeying for one foot of shelf space in a prime visual area. It’s rumored “payola” abounds.
What used to bug me was when the soda pop people would put a couple dozen of the tags with the “tongue” on them on all the shelves in a section. Then competing soft drink guy would put his up when first guys’ tags expired, OR both of them at once–5 or 6 dozen little arrows all waving and clicking in the breeze; “Hey, consumer, I’m up here! See me waving? Buy me!” AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I always assumed that they aided in the stacking process and keeping the rows straight and stable. The bottles standing loose in cartons were quite unlike other things stacked up in supermarkets, and a stack three or four high had a lot of play in it. If the corner of one six-pack began to wedge into the space of the six-pack just below it, lots could go wrong with the whole stack.
It did abound and it was perfectly legal; heck it may still work like that. My personal knowledge ends around 1980 so after that I would have to guess a bit. I know the pay-offs for amusement parks to go either Coke or Pepsi can huge. One chain (memory fails me but I want to say Six Flags or Paramount) went from one to the other; besides getting their sodas for pretty much nothing, they got special fronts on a regular basis for all the coin-operated machines in their park basically advertising how great their chain was along with how great the soda was. Over the course of a summer it made a difference of over $300k compared to the “other cola brand”. Maybe not a huge sum but that is increase and every bit helps.
PS – Other products did the same kind of thing in grocery stores. Soups and canned veggies stick out in my mind but I’m betting kids cereal was up there too.
Didn’t most glass pop bottles comes in packs of eight back then, not six? I’m sure some came in six … but Coke, Pepsi, the major brands, the pack was eight bottles.
I remember 8 as well. Our local Kroger has this cool little window at the back of the store where you could sit an 8-pack carton on a wheeled conveyor to deposit them for refill.
I remember (mid-late 1970s) six packs of returnable bottles with a deposit. And consequently, not thin glass at all- they were stout bottles that would be returned to the bottler, washed out, sterilized and refilled.
This was primarily for Coke, but I’m pretty sure Pepsi did the same thing.
I think it was to keep loose cans and bottles from falling off the shelf.
I remember those, but don’t remember if they were used for the sixpacks as well as loose items.
Basically, there are three or four food conglomerates that could each fill a grocery store corner to corner, every shelf and category, with very few gaps. Each of them sees that real estate as theirs, with the others as interlopers. Coke in particular has always taken this to insane levels and their retail-front marketing department operates on what they even call a “war footing.”
This grim territorial/market share war is one of the main reasons we have far less real choice than superficially appears; no, America does not really need ten brands of potato chip on the shelf. Or soup. Or coffee. Or paper towels. We’ve come to regard this endless duplication of essentially identical products as “choice,” when it’s really the furthest thing from it: it’s what the big producers think will edge out the others, based on trivial aspects like packaging and hyped ingredients.
I remember them! I thought they were there so we kids would have something to do while mom shopped - unroll the plastic, let go, watch it roll back up and whack the product. Motion and noise, what’s not to like?
Who are you to say that though? Each of those has some different flavor or texture or other attribute that sets it apart from the others, so why shouldn’t consumers be able to choose between them?
I don’t personally have a problem with having 15 different varieties of ketchup on the shelves. Better that than the opposite situation where we have very limited choice. I mean, what’s it matter if Lay’s has regular potato chips, Ruffles, and kettle-cooked ones, all in plain salted flavor? Each of those is pretty distinct.
What I do have an issue with is when the larger manufacturers/distributors use their muscle to stifle competition by essentially claiming huge swaths of shelf spaces as their own, leaving smaller producers with a tiny out of the way area. You see this in the beer aisles pretty commonly- you may have a single type of a local brewery’s offerings, and only one six-pack width of shelf space, while Budweiser alone may have like 4 six-packs wide… for bottles, and another 3 for can six-packs, and then 12 packs, and 18 packs and 24 packs, and tall boys, etc… Which one is displayed more prominently and more likely to be bought by someone without a particular preference?
Okay. If you think it’s an asset for there to be ten different brands of plain potato chip on every grocery shelf (and I mean just the plain, salted, thin, flat ones) - I guess it’s every American’s right to have the choice.
Bet you $50 you can’t tell the brands apart in a blind test, though. So maybe the waste and the shameless manipulation and the false competition does cost us all something, even those who don’t eat potato chips.
The Coke and Pepsi I remember from the 1970s were in eight packs of returnable bottles that were thick glass, sterilized and refilled, and then sold in a cardboard sleeve. And even though they were thick, they sometimes did break with (apparently) little contact, like setting the pack on the counter – because occasionally a bottle with a tiny crack would get past the quality control or whatever.
Oh, we have the internet, what a remarkable thing. This is the kind of pack I remember from back then.
One of my first jobs in the early 80s was at a grocery store. When you’re 15 they don’t let you do much. Collect carts, bag groceries, etc.
One of the jobs I remember though was sorting the bottle returns. People just brought in their 8-packs of empties for refunds but didn’t care if the bottles matched. We had to sort them by hand into the 3 main vendors: Pepsi, Coke, RC/7up.
Thinking back about it now that was a disgusting job grabbing empty bottles that had been in lots of peoples mouths. Gross.
