For the longest time, the vending machine at my office sold cans of soda for 50 cents. This was the perfect price. If I had a dollar, I could buy one can, then put my remaining two quarters in my desk and buy another can the next day. Since I like to buy a Diet Mountain Dew every afternoon, this means that I spent $2.50 per week in the machine. Life was good. I was happy because I could quickly and conveniently get my afternoon caffeine fix, and they got to sell me cans of Diet Mountain Dew at a 100% profit. Everyone was happy.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, one of the geniuses at the vending machine company made a decision to raise the price on cans of soda to 55 cents. On the surface, this seems like a good application of price point economics. If someone is willing to spend 50 cents for a can of soda, they'd most likely be willing to spend 55 cents, especially when there is no substitute available. This would equal an extra 25 cents in their pocket per week, which would be pure profit. Seems like a no-brainer, right?
Wrong. Here is the problem: At 50 cents, I always had 50 cents leftover to buy another can the next day. Now, I only have 45 cents left. 45 cents sucks. I can't do shit with 45 cents. Fuck 45 cents. This hit me the other day while I was feeling underneath the seat of my car to try and find a nickel. I found an empty water bottle, an unidentified CD, some pebbles, a receipt from 2004 and a petrified french fry, but no nickel.
So you know what? Fuck those bastards. I am not going to buy anything from now on. We had a good thing going, vending machine company, and you corporate fat cats had to get greedy. I think I'll save my $2.50 per week and invest it in the stock market. These days, that can buy me like 60 shares of GE.
