2008 Woodie Awards
Rising pop prices pinch pennies from students
Alison Heim
Issue date: 1/26/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
When students are attending college, everything seems to cost more than they'd like to spend. Gas prices have increased, heating bills have increased and now the price of a 20 ounce bottle of pop has done the same.
All pop machines on the Kirkwood campus show the increase of pop from $1 to $1.25.
This may not seem like much of a price jump but to students that one extra quarter could be the difference between getting an ice-cold drink and going thirsty.
It's not like college students do not have any money at all. Most students have a job that gives a paycheck every two weeks or so. But attending Kirkwood is very different from a four-year university. Students here cannot pay for everything beforehand in a lump sum. From the money earned by working, students pay monthly bills for apartment rent, heat, water and electricity. Put in the amount for groceries every week or two plus gas used to get to work and school and a college student is usually broke.
Now when students walk up to a pop machine they may have to choose between spending an extra quarter to get that Pepsi and doing laundry for the week.
Kirkwood is not the only place where the prices of pop have increased. Pop machines all over Cedar Rapids now have $1.25 on the price screen. Why is something as small as a 20 ounce bottle of pop increasing along with everything else? With gas prices spiking, costs of driving delivery trucks have also increased. To take care of the increase in delivery price, vendors may have increased the price of the pop as well.
Also, in populated areas, like the Kirkwood campus, companies know students will pay the extra price for pop because there is no competition. On Kirkwood's main campus, the only two companies selling products are Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Each of these companies can therefore raise the price of pop and know that students will still keep buying.
If you are like me and are irritated with this price increase, I have news for you. Pop prices are going to keep increasing. Maybe not all at once, but over periods of time they will continue to go up because of inflation. If students really don't like the price of pop on campus or in other vending machines, they can find other means of getting their daily dose of caffeine, without starting to drink coffee.
The next time you are at Wal-Mart buying groceries, grab 20 ounce bottles in a pack - it's cheaper than buying each separately from a machine. Then, every morning before going to class, just throw one of the bottles into your backpack where it will be when you just have to have it.
No matter what way you look at it, pop is not going to go back down to $1. Those days are gone and now you can either pay the extra 25 cents, go thirsty or just do some bargain grocery shopping that will leave you enough money to do your laundry.
All pop machines on the Kirkwood campus show the increase of pop from $1 to $1.25.
This may not seem like much of a price jump but to students that one extra quarter could be the difference between getting an ice-cold drink and going thirsty.
It's not like college students do not have any money at all. Most students have a job that gives a paycheck every two weeks or so. But attending Kirkwood is very different from a four-year university. Students here cannot pay for everything beforehand in a lump sum. From the money earned by working, students pay monthly bills for apartment rent, heat, water and electricity. Put in the amount for groceries every week or two plus gas used to get to work and school and a college student is usually broke.
Now when students walk up to a pop machine they may have to choose between spending an extra quarter to get that Pepsi and doing laundry for the week.
Kirkwood is not the only place where the prices of pop have increased. Pop machines all over Cedar Rapids now have $1.25 on the price screen. Why is something as small as a 20 ounce bottle of pop increasing along with everything else? With gas prices spiking, costs of driving delivery trucks have also increased. To take care of the increase in delivery price, vendors may have increased the price of the pop as well.
Also, in populated areas, like the Kirkwood campus, companies know students will pay the extra price for pop because there is no competition. On Kirkwood's main campus, the only two companies selling products are Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Each of these companies can therefore raise the price of pop and know that students will still keep buying.
If you are like me and are irritated with this price increase, I have news for you. Pop prices are going to keep increasing. Maybe not all at once, but over periods of time they will continue to go up because of inflation. If students really don't like the price of pop on campus or in other vending machines, they can find other means of getting their daily dose of caffeine, without starting to drink coffee.
The next time you are at Wal-Mart buying groceries, grab 20 ounce bottles in a pack - it's cheaper than buying each separately from a machine. Then, every morning before going to class, just throw one of the bottles into your backpack where it will be when you just have to have it.
No matter what way you look at it, pop is not going to go back down to $1. Those days are gone and now you can either pay the extra 25 cents, go thirsty or just do some bargain grocery shopping that will leave you enough money to do your laundry.