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In the era of glass bottles and real-sugar soda, we drank a hell of a lot less soda. The era of free refills on sodas not just existing but being expected, and
by intergalplan 5y ago
In the era of glass bottles and real-sugar soda, we drank a hell of a lot less soda. The era of free refills on sodas not just existing but being expected, and 32-ounce "medium" size soft drinks is quite recent.
Also, I'm unconvinced a small difference in the balance between glucose and fructose is worth treating HFCS as different from beet or cane sugar. Its effect on the price of sugar is a different matter, however.
[EDIT] see the 1989 skate film Gleaming the Cube for an example from a few years before free refills started being advertised fairly frequently, and a solid decade before they became the overwhelming norm: there's a Pizza Hut in it with an advertisement posted on the side of the building for a special on pitchers... of soda, not of beer.
- ssully 5y agoThis is what I was thinking. Rate of consumption between then and now has to heavily skew towards now. I've worked with multiple people who would come to work with a 64oz of soda (diet, if that matters) in the morning, finish it by lunch time, and come back from lunch with it refilled. I assume these people are extreme cases, but even average soda consumption has to be on the high end.
- intergalplan 5y agoIt's really easy, even if you're not that big a soda fiend and wouldn't think of downing 128 ounces of soda at work (these people are less rare than one might hope, I think, though), to accidentally down 40+ ounces with a long meal, with a waiter coming by refilling your drink every few minutes. Things were different when you had to ask for a refill, and understood you'd be paying for two drinks to get it. Then you get specials that make the unlimited soda effectively $0.30 or whatever. Ugh.