I'll buy them by the bottle, then.

I think I might understand the insane justification for this, because that single is something you're expected to drink in the store and the crate is something you impulse-grab coming down the soft drink aisle. Nobody wants to buy a bunch of single bottles - I'd pay a buck just to have them in a carrying crate.

I'd just buy a boat-load as single bottles, then load them up in plastic shopping bags and tote them home for the cheaper price.

If I liked that nasty drink.

Which I don't.

@Unsolicited Advice: You're supposed to drink single bottles in the store? Wha?

Used to work at my local Shoprite and I just got off the phone with a manager there. This price isn't their doing. It's because Coke set the price and are giving them a promotion on the single bottles. Store managers are perplex, but this isn't a store issue. It's more of a product company issue. In this case, I don't think they will see many 12 packs go unless it's for convenience.

Why is this on Consumerist?

My vitamins come in pill form. Absoultely nothing I eat or drink has any nutritional value whatsoever. That's how I roll.

@Smashville: And yes...that was entirely tongue-in-cheek.

@larrymac: It's the same idea as 20oz bottles sometimes costing nearly as much (if not more) than a 2-Liter.

We pay for "convenience."

Clearly you are paying 1 dollar for the convenience of one universal bar code.

@Coelacanth: Kinda like a convenience store? I pay for the convenience of fewer parking spaces and only one judgmental cashier...

@TacoDave: If the designer of the flier put these on different pages, very few would have noticed

Do they have to pay CRV or its equivalent on those bottles? I would guess that buying them individually would cost more.

I bought this water, and it was clearly processed on the machines they had just done Kool-Aid on, cause it tastes vaguely of ... fruit?

THIRST QUENCHING SAVINGS!

@dohtem: Depends on the state, I'd assume, but don't states that let you buy a 12-pack charge you 12 times the CRV anyways? Should be a moot point.

@Smashville: I'd pay a dollar so that the bloke in front of me doesn't make the cashier scan 12 times more than just one UPC. Also, I'd pay another dollar so that they don't pay in pennies, and a third dollar that they don't strike up a conversation about how much the cashier looks like their grandchild.

Yes, I'd very much pay to keep old people out of line.

@Con Seannery:
Wow.

@JGKojak: It's pretty much watered down Kool Aid with extra vitamins.

I've always been disappointed that any time you get one of those 12 packs you can't buy a "variety" pack of any sort.

@wjmorris3: If I buy a 12 pack of anything that has the bottle deposit, then NY State charges 12 x $.05 (our current bottle deposit) = $.60. And when I return them to the store to get my deposit back, I get the $.60. And I agree that the CRV should work the same way.

Wow...what's sad is that I was wondering why it was on Consumerist until I took another look at it and realized..."oh....Okay"

God, I'm slow some days.

@Smashville: Slow comment day?

@Smashville: There you're paying cause they're (ussually) closer to your home than the supermarket and are (generally) open 24Hrs a day.

Around my parts, Stop&Shop sells gallons of their brand water for $.89. You can also buy a 3 pack, which is three of the gallons in a cardboard box. That price? 2 for $6.00. Now you may say, well, you're paying for the extra packaging. But here's the kicker. ALL of the gallons ship in the same 3 gallon box. When they get to the store, the stocker cracks open the box, and puts the 3 jugs on the shelf. He then has to stack the cardboard, bring it to the back, and bale it. So you get charged LESS for the water that costs them more to put on the shelf. It's a pain for me, as 4 boxes is easier than 12 jugs to load in my car.

@youaredumb: Well, damn. That idea didn't work so well...I had hoped to draw a sarcastic, snarky, or witty comment out of someone, and I know there are a few of you guys who would have delivered...but I guess I'll have to go back to providing my own material...

@Smashville: People still buy this?

@TacoDave: That's your choice. And others will make a different choice.

Consumer choice is a good thing.

Retail is not as simple as "Cost + Mark up = Price"
There's all kinds of manufacturer promotions, $ profit vs. % profit considerations that also factor in.

@HiPwr: I don't even take the vitamins.

@Smashville: We're judgmental for a reason.

@HiPwr: "... nothing I eat or drink has any nutritional value whatsoever."

Neither does Vitamin Water. Lol.

@CameraShoe_GitEmSteveDave: I've seen you post this story before.

This happens all the time. The only time I will even consider buying Vitamin Water is if it's on sale and the lowest it goes is $1/bottle (which happens on a regular basis). I've never seen the 12-pack go on sale. I once saw the individual bottles selling for $1 and the 12-pack selling for 15.99.

@Robert Jason Cervantes: Walmart had a similar special with pepsi products, except instead of single cans they had a pack of 4 cans for $1.00

I bought myself 3 x 4 packs and saved over the $4.69 they charge for the 12 pack carry case.

@Scuba Steve: I did the same thing and I can't stand Pepsi.

@Coelacanth: first, one 20 oz. bottle does not cost more than a 12 pack of cans (or, a half dozen half liter bottles). Second, you're also paying for the refrigeration of the 20 ounce bottle.

@Smashville: *I* make my own vitamin water at home. Cheaper and tastes better!

Playing devil's advocate here, but anyone ever consider that maybe the cost-savings ratio per-bottle for SALE ITEMS aren't always constant?

Perhaps the managers want to liquidate the single-bottle inventory faster than the bulk items? (Needing shelf/cooler space for the new summer beverages?)

I mean come on, these are temporary sale prices. Who's REALLY being cheated?
Seems to me that subby's gripe here is that he's getting a BETTER deal on single serving bottle's sale than bulk. Woe is me.

@Megalomania: Your analogies provided in your first point are not made clear to me. A 12-pack of cans is roughly 4L of soda, and a half-dozen half-liter bottles is 3L of soda. I would *hope* 4L and 3L of soda would cost more than 20oz (and I would also hope that the cost per unit of soda is less as you scale in larger quantities.)

(Nor do I see how your first point applies to this article.)

I would also think it's logical that breaking the same volume of soda into more portions would increase the cost per unit (convenience, cost of packaging.)

However, to have one bottle with less soda cost more than another bottle with more product, made out of the similar (but even more) materials, is my point... and strikes me as strange.

However, refrigeration does make a valid point - even if most of the time, I grab the 20oz bottle and drink it after enough time's elapsed for the beverage to reach room temperature... but that's my perogative.

SR's stupidity never ceases to amaze. i wish there was a wegmans in my town instead.

@MooseOfReason: Yes, and I think it applies here as well. Buying in bulk should lower the price, not raise it.

@Coop: Rarely are fliers made for individual stores. The sales are usually chain wide. And things like this are Vendor controlled, meaning they rotate old stock out on their own.

@Con Seannery: oik then, i'll bite...
"they all come in bottles"

I can't read the fine print. Perhaps there's a "Limit X per customer" clause?

Call me crazy, but wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the 12 pack compared to 12 individual because when you add up tax doesn't the 12 singles come out to more?

@runswithscissors: Well I grow my own vitamins using the latest organic techniques :-P

@Applekid: Don't forget another dollar to keep them from asking for paper in the middle of the transaction.

@The Marionette: You are crazy.

Lets keep it simple and assume theres 10% tax.
10% tax on a $1 bottle is 10c
10% tax on $12.99 case is $1.29 (or maybe $1.30, depending on rounding)
Now, if you buy 12 single bottles, your tax will be 12x 10c, or $1.20, 9 or 10c less.

Of course, with lower tax levels, it's the same. Rounding can make or break the difference in singles V bulk. If the singles are rounded up, you lose some of the savings, if rounded down you gain more.

Maths is a wonderful, useful, and simple subject. Why do so many people have problems with it?

Shoprite is just ridiculous and overpriced... I thought everyone (who lives in a town with a Shoprite) knew that. We used to have a Stop & Shop, and it was fantastic. Guess who bought the building from them and completely ruined it? Shoprite! And this was after they had already built yet another completely new building that they abandoned, which now houses Planet Fitness and Raymour & Flanagan furniture. Even our local Redner's just closed. Now we're stuck with TWO Shoprites, Hannaford, Aldi, & Wal-Mart. Oh, and we're getting a new Associated soon. Too far north for Publix, Winn-Dixie, or Food Lion; and not in the correct area for Waldbaum's (though we used to have one), Wegman's, Von's, or Safeway (again, we used to have one, back in the 1960s, when they had a Pennsylvania-area market). There's your grocery store history (of my town) for today. :)