# Trying to research Price of Coke (vending machine) throughout the last 80 years. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330 "2013-08-04T16:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/21 "2013-08-04T21:48:26Z")
Isn’t the vending machine Coke price set somewhat by the vending company? I mean, I see a range of prices for 12 oz Cokes in various machines. Anyway, when I was a little kid (early-mid 1970s), I think the bottles of coke were still somewhere around a quarter, and came in the old-style machines where putting the quarter in allowed you to open up the door and grab a coke (or several, I suppose). As I got older, they sort of settled out around 50 cents for a very long time- like 20-25 years it seems- I think the idea of a Coke for 2 quarters was a pretty powerful one. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/22 "2013-08-04T22:00:43Z")
My family owned a store with a couple of Coke machines when I was young. The price was 25 cents from when I could remember starting about 1977 until the early 1980’s. It was 50 cents everywhere that wasn’t a tourist trap from the early to mid 80’s then it started to climb steeply. That was also around the time when the bigger bottles became more common. It is an interesting economic topic. You don’t see many things suddenly jump in price at such large percentages. It could double literally overnight but I don’t think the demand ever suffered much because of it except maybe at the very beginning at each price increase. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/23 "2013-08-04T22:50:35Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Anyway, when I was a little kid (early-mid 1970s), I think the bottles of coke were still somewhere around a quarter, and came in the old-style machines where putting the quarter in allowed you to open up the door and grab a coke (or several, I suppose). Pulling the bottle out of one rack was supposed to lock all the other racks so you could only get one bottle. However, sometimes the mechanism would get worn or stuck, so you actually could grab bottles on different racks at the same time. This was considered a great bonus in company cafeterias. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/24 "2013-08-05T00:07:47Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Isn’t the vending machine Coke price set somewhat by the vending company? I mean, I see a range of prices for 12 oz Cokes in various machines. Yeah, it’s gotta be. I was at a hotel in Pittsburg 2 weeks ago and Pepsi from the machine was $2. The next weekend I was in a less-nice hotel 30 minutes away, also in PA, and it was $1.50. I’m sure at the Cinemark movie theaters near my house the Coke vending machine is outrageously more expensive than the Wal Mart across the street. When I worked at [a discount store](http://www.marcs.com/) in 1995, Coke was 35 cents a can from the machine. Surely well below anywhere else in town. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/25 "2013-08-05T00:14:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Coke started out as a nickle a 6-oz bottle, in vending machines and over the counter. I bought six ounce cokes from a vending machine circa 1961 at a local electrical contractor’s supply room. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/26 "2013-08-05T01:28:38Z")
When I arrived at MIT in 1967, there was one Coke machine left that sold 6 1/2 oz bottles for 10 cents. All of the rest of the machines that I knew of sold 12 oz cans for a quarter. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/27 "2013-08-05T03:48:14Z")
Still 5 cents in Louisiana vending machines into the 1960s, but I think prices were rising elsewhere by then. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/28 "2013-08-05T04:16:17Z")
It was 25 cents in most of the Midwestern vending machines I used back in the early Eighties. People freaked when it jumped to 50 cents a few years later, but they paid it. ---
**Author:** ![nion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nion)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/29 "2013-08-05T05:03:37Z")
I remember the point when the 20 Oz bottles started getting popular. I’d seen the cans go from 50 cents to 65 cents to 75 cents. The new bottle machines gave you eight more ounces for only a dollar. I’ve always pondered what sense there was behind that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/30 "2013-08-05T07:13:43Z")
My family had a coke bottle machine in front of our store in the early 1960’s. The price was a dime or 15¢, as I recall. Plus we got credit for each case of empty bottles we returned. But I don’t see that the OP can get any reliable answer to his question. Because I don’t think there was any standard price set by Coke. You bought the bottles from Coke for a wholesale price, but each location that operated a machine set their own retail price. My parents kept our machine price cheap, because it was a service to customers in the store (so they stayed longer, and maybe bought more). Other locations, like the machines downtown near the high schools (no vending machines inside the schools back then) were priced higher, and those in hotels were much higher. I think the price will vary all over at different locations. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/31 "2013-08-05T09:11:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Isn’t the vending machine Coke price set somewhat by the vending company? I mean, I see a range of prices for 12 oz Cokes in various machines. Over here in the UK, the price of anything in a vending machine will depend on its location. Where I worked a can of coke was 50p, but a machine in a shopping mall might want £1.00 or more. As I understand it, the owner of the site gets a percentage of the takings as rent. So a workplace would take little or nothing, while a commercial site would want a good profit - it all gets charged to the customer in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/32 "2013-08-05T09:14:59Z")
[Coke only 5 cents](https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1745&bih=891&q=coke+only+5&oq=coke+only+5&gs_l=img.3...1551.3089.0.4688.11.8.0.3.3.0.71.478.8.8.0....0...1ac.1.23.img..3.8.476.1KsBkI5ODIk) (images) > [@](#): > > I’m trying to find a chart of Coke (vending machine) prices beginning back in the 30’s to present. Bottles at first and then it switched to cans in the 70’s. [Try this for historic prices.](http://voices.yahoo.com/coca-cola-cost-then-now-7162898.html?cat=37) > [@](#): > > 1887-1959-Coca Cola was still five cents per bottle. When your mother tells you she remembers paying five cents for a bottle of Coca Cola, she was not lying. In 1928, Coca Cola goes to the Olympic Games and introduces the six pack. If you bought a six pack of Coca Cola in 1945, you saved yourself a few pennies. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/33 "2013-08-05T16:37:59Z")
Thanks Musicat. ---
**Author:** ![glennwith2ns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@glennwith2ns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glennwith2ns)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/34 "2013-08-06T01:49:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > [Coke only 5 cents](https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1745&bih=891&q=coke+only+5&oq=coke+only+5&gs_l=img.3...1551.3089.0.4688.11.8.0.3.3.0.71.478.8.8.0....0...1ac.1.23.img..3.8.476.1KsBkI5ODIk) (images) > [Try this for historic prices.](http://voices.yahoo.com/coca-cola-cost-then-now-7162898.html?cat=37) Why does Lindsay Lohan’s picture show up when you google " coke only 5 cents" ?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/35 "2013-08-06T02:02:54Z")
> [@glennwith2ns](#): > > Why does Lindsay Lohan’s picture show up when you google " coke only 5 cents" ?😕 Click on the picture. “I did coke only 4 or 5 times says Lindsey Lohan…” Google doesn’t know the difference between LL’s coke and the 5 cent bottle. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330/36 "2013-08-06T03:27:14Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Over here in the UK, the price of anything in a vending machine will depend on its location. Where I worked a can of coke was 50p, but a machine in a shopping mall might want £1.00 or more. > > As I understand it, the owner of the site gets a percentage of the takings as rent. So a workplace would take little or nothing, while a commercial site would want a good profit - it all gets charged to the customer in the end. Is it still 50p? I remember back in 1999 that was the price in vending machines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-research-price-of-coke-vending-machine-throughout-the-last-80-years/665330.md?page=1)