Welcome to Soda Wars Episode XXVI for the week of June 29th through July 5th.
Soda Wars is a weekly blog presented by the Peanut Butter List.
Every Wednesday we illustrate which store has the best price on your favorite brands of soda.
We price compare Pepsi, Coke and 7up in the 2 liter, 12 pack and 20/24 pack packages at King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons. With this blog you'll 'know before you go' who has the best deal on your favorite brands of soda each week before you head off to the stores.
Happy Independence Day everyone and a big happy birthday to the
United States of America!
Aside from all of that, I want to give a big shout out to Thomas Jefferson! Thank for taking the time to write the Declaration of Independence some 235 years ago, you rock!
Today is June 29th, just 2 days until the big weekend and only 5 days until the explosive night of the 4th. With all of the activities this weekend also comes a lot of great deals at the grocery stores and, like most major holidays, soda is at some of its best prices of the year.
- 12 packs are priced to sell this week...
12 pack winner: Pepsi, Coke and 7up at Kings and Safeway. ($2.40 WYB5)
King Soopers and Safeway are running the same ads this week with Pepsi, Coke and 7up priced at 5/$12. This price tag makes each 12 pack a mere $2.40 each which is just about as low as it gets for a 12 pack these days.
When you're out in the stores...
- Look for the signs and check the ads!
- The shelf tags at Kings say 4/$12 and nothing about a FREE 5th 12 pack, but there are signs hanging that display the $2.40 price WYB5.
- I stopped 7 people today at the store who only had four 12 packs in their carts and told them about the 5th free one. Then I stopped a couple from buying a 20 packs at $5.99 and helped them to five 12 packs.
- At Safeway the shelf tag reads Buy 2 Get 3 FREE. So you pay the full shelf price of $5.99 on 2 and then get the other 3 for free, which is 5/$12 or $2.40 each.
The 12 pack winners' circle this week is jam packed with Kings and Safeway both offering the same price of $2.40 on Pepsi, Coke and 7up. Check each stores print ads this week and see which store has some of your other items at their lowest prices to decide which store you want to shop this week.
As for 20 packs...
20 pack winner: Don't buy 20 packs this week.
2 liters at their best!
2 liter winner this week: Coke at Kings (.89¢ WYB10)
Coke drinkers can get their 2 liters at Kings for just .89 cents WYB10.
In my opinion, the 2 liter winner for the week would have to be Coke for .89 cents at King Soopers. Well, unless you happened to catch the deal for Pepsi or 7up at Safeway today. The Coke 2 liters went up on what's called a 'share builder' end cap. This usually means that it's going to be this price for 3 to 4 weeks, so you should have some time to pick those up in the coming weeks as well.
Episode XVI Summary:
Soda goes on sale the week before every major holiday, the next holiday is Labor Day in September which is a little over 2 months away. If you can afford it and have the room to store some extra soda, stocking up this week with at least enough soda to last until Labor Day would save you quite a bit of money.
Think about it, if you buy two 12 packs each week until September that's eighteen 12 packs. Buying all 18 packs this week would cost $43.20. On an average 3/$12 sale it would cost $72 to get the exact same amount of soda. So, you would be saving yourself $28.80 by buying ahead of time. Now imagine doing that all year long.
Eighteen 12 packs of soda doesn't even take up a whole lot of space to store it and even the diet brands have about 3 months until the expiration date. Fill the bottom of a closet or a small space in the garage, or even under the couch. Anywhere you store them, just remind yourself that these 12 packs are paying you $28.80 to rent the space they occupy.
I also want to remind you that both Pepsi and Coke have announced that they are going to raise their prices by 3% - 5% by the end of July 2011. Here's a link to marketwatch.com and adage.com as a few of the many sources for this information.
With that in mind this may be the last time we see a 5/$12 ad in a long time, or ever again. Just a few years ago, the holiday ads were 5/$10. That's about .50¢ rise in cost at its best sale price per year.
If you have the extra space in your garage or house and drink a lot of soda, you may want to stockpile this week and cash in on the $2.40 price points. If you own a vending machine route or a store front that sells cans, buying your soda in any brand would be a wise and safe investment to make this week.
Just check the dates as you buy, diets should have a good 3 months left and sugar brands should have at least twice that and up to about 9 months shelf life left.
In conclusion, if Thomas Jefferson were alive today, he would be buying a crap load of soda this week and burying it all over his property like treasure.
Thanks again for checking out Soda Wars, see you next Wednesday evening!
Happy July 4th!!
