WHBU 1240 AM

Anderson is going through tough economic times. This isn’t a news flash. Everyone uses important scientific measures for the economy. I use “soda pop.” The “S-P-O-T” or “Soda Pop Operation Theory” theory, by Ball State graduate Leland Franklin.

Our economy was stronger when pop was in glass bottles, which you’d return for money. How many of us, myself included, went scrounging through vacant lots in the summer looking for pop bottles to return? The economy of childhood was driven by the treasures we’d find. Now, kids just pester parents for the same thing…draining the economy.

Who “splits a pop” these days? It was college before I could drink a whole Coke bottle by myself without “splitting it with your sister.” We would “share the wealth” of the pop with friends. There was simply too much to drink and it was cheap. No longer.

The cost of a “Ricker Pop” has increased to 85-cents with tax. This is 11-cents higher than a couple of years ago when the “69-cent Ricker Pop” phrase was all over town. With tax, the soda was 74-cents. Many times I’d plunk down my 3 quarters for a Pepsi on a hot summer day.

The soda pop price increase isn’t limited to convience stores. Cokes in the machines have been increasing in price, too. Our trusty old machine at Backyard Broadcasting has been replaced with a newer model, dispensing huge plastic bottles of soda, for twice the price. It’s not a volume discount, just a bigger bottle. A 12-ounce can was 60-cents, but now a 20 ounce bottle is $1.25. Shouldn’t it be a 24-ounce bottle for $1.20?

Restaurant soda pop pricing has gone crazy. When I was a kid we visited Frankenmuth, Michigan. The story of paying $1.00 for a glass of milk was one told for years. “Can you believe a dollar for milk,” dad would say. Soda pop has long passed such a mark in restaurants.

The cost of computers is coming down, despite the research and development which goes into new models. Why would the cost of cola continue to rise? Certainly they are not still paying for the research into drinks which have been around for 100+ years. How many “new” soft drinks do the big companies release every year? I think it’s time to go back to what worked…

Let’s put cola back in glass bottles, stimulating the glass industry. Replace the “high-fructose syrup” with good old sugar, putting sugar cane farmers back in business. And encourage small bottlers, the ones with old signs in “Cracker Barrel,” to return and hire local people.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a “pause that refreshes.” Yea, what happened to slogans, too….