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Bryan Eacret
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 11:16am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

The only soda I drink now is Diet 7-UP. My wife likes Diet Cherry 7-UP and Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper. Finding these sodas (and similar diet versions from other brands) in the SF Bay Area has been challenging, especially in the can version. 

I've done a little research on line and see various possible reasons for the shortage (sweetener shortage, aluminum shortage, etc.), but no real definitive answer. 

I'm wondering if others from other parts of the country, and elsewhere, have experienced the same problem finding sodas.
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Peter Hicks
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Joined: 30 April 2004
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 11:26am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Totally true. Here in Ontario, Canada, there is no Diet Mountain Dew. I contacted their social media person on FB, and was told due to a shortage of aluminum cans, they are only making their best selling products.

Apparently, prior to COVID, half the soda pop business was making syrup in pressurized canisters for venues like restaurants, movie theatres, sports stadiums, etc. Those business lines are virtually non existent now. Meanwhile, sales of pop in cans sky rocketed, and they can't get enough cans to satisfy the more "peripheral" brands.   

Back in March when COVID lockdowns started, I think that explanation was reasonable. Today, 7 months later, I think there is just a lack of imagination or willingness somewhere in the supply chain.
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 11:34am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

It's an aluminum can shortage because people are drinking the same amount of soda as before the pandemic, but at home. Manufacturers are prioritizing their more popular flavors over the more niche ones.

I've run into the stores being out of Coke Zero, although never for long. Coca-Cola just needs to admit that Diet Coke is ass and drop it completely so they can up production of Zero.
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 11:36am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I also blame White Claw, because I want to blame White Claw for something. Although it is true that the hard seltzer fad has added more aluminum cans to the shelves.
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Jonathan A. Dowdell
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 11:50am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I've been looking for Vanilla Coke for months. Cases/12 Packs are not in any super markets in the Philadelphia suburbs. 
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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 11:57am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Where are you in the Bay Area, Bryan?  I can keep an eye out if you want, I go to a handful of grocery stores in the East Bay regularly.  
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Michael Casselman
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 12:06pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I typically buy soda in the 16.9 oz plastic bottles. No Coke, Pepsi or whatever shortages here in Northern New York (although I have noticed a shortage in the glass bottle Mike's Hard Lemonade... they have the seasonal variety flavor packs up the wazoo but none of the original, which my wife drinks).
I have heard anecdotes that the shortages in aluminum are connected to the restrictions placed on recycling centers during COVID, at least in those states that offer 5/10 cent returns.

Edited by Michael Casselman on 16 October 2020 at 12:06pm
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Matt Hawes
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

I don't know about all sodas,  but I have had the same experience trying to find Diet 7-Up in my city. I don't drink it myself,  but since my mom is elderly,  I go shopping for her so she doesn't have to risk herself during the pandemic. She prefers Diet 7-Up and it's almost never stocked. I don't see this problem with other sodas,  though.


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Wilson Mui
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Joined: 27 June 2004
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I read an article in the WSJ today that Coca Cola plans
to retire half of its 500 brands. TAB is going to be one
of them.
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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 12:31pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

I don't drink soda any more - too much bump in my blood sugar - but I used to love Tab, Diet 7-Up, and Diet Fresca as well. In the county where I live, I could NEVER find Fresca. I found it in surrounding counties - but never around me.

Good like to you, gang. Me, I'm struggling along until I get used to it. (Getting used to lower blood sugar, recovering from diabetes, and keeping both fee are also things I can adapt to pretty well!)
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Bryan Eacret
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 12:32pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

@ Brian Maxwell
It's a nice offer, but don't worry about it. We all just need to deal with the oddities of the pandemic. 
I live in Milpitas. Grew up in Fremont. If I remember some of your posts correctly, you and I used to frequent some of the same places. 
---
I found something called 7-UP No Sugar recently and tried it. It's not quite as sweet as the regular diet version.  At least that is how it tasted to me when I was trying hard to figure out the difference. There may be no difference actually.  Who knows? The next time I went to the store it wasn't there.

I don't like buying out the shelf when I come across the sodas I want, but I've come close. Usually, there is barely enough there to make the sale deal offered, though. 

From what I have heard a lot of micro breweries have switched from bottles to aluminum and this is, also, contributing to the shortage. 
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Doug Jones
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Posted: 16 October 2020 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

My wife enjoys a Barq's root beer a couple of times a week and they've been very tough to find during the pandemic.
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