Current：Home > reviewsWhy the price of Coke didn't change for 70 years (classic) -WealthEngine
Why the price of Coke didn't change for 70 years (classic)
View
Date：2025-04-14 14:40:22
This episode originally ran in 2012.
Prices go up. Occasionally, prices go down. But for 70 years, the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola didn't change. From 1886 until the late 1950s, a bottle of coke cost just a nickel.
On today's show, we find out why. The answer includes a half a million vending machines, a 7.5 cent coin, and a company president who just wanted to get a couple of lawyers out of his office.
This episode was hosted by David Kestenbaum. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR One or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Music: "I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke" by New Seekers and "Always Coca-Cola" by Joey Diggs
veryGood！ (524)
Related
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Third man gets prison time for trying to smuggle people from Canada into North Dakota
- Are the Kardashians America's family?
- Immerse yourself in this colossal desert 'City' — but leave the selfie stick at home
- Trump's 'stop
- DeSantis cuts a third of his presidential campaign staff as he mounts urgent reset
- Report: Kentucky crime statistics undercounted 2022 homicides in the state’s most populous county
- America's gender pay gap has shrunk to an all-time low, data shows
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Elly De La Cruz hits 456-foot homer after being trolled by Brewers' scoreboard
Ranking
- A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
- Man who killed three people in small South Dakota town sentenced to life in prison
- Here are nine NYC shows we can't wait to see this spring
- Israeli parliament approves key part of judicial overhaul amid protests
- Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
- 2 women hikers die in heat in Nevada state park
- Biden administration sues Texas over floating border barriers used to repel migrants
- Carlee Russell apologizes to Alabama community, says there was no kidnapping
Recommendation
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
Five-time Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham reunites with Saints in NFL comeback attempt
TikTok adds new text post feature to app. Here's where to find it.
23-year-old Clemson student dead after Rolling Loud concert near Miami
Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
Banned Books: Maia Kobabe explores gender identity in 'Gender Queer'
Author Maia Kobabe: Struggling kids told me my book helped them talk to parents
Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam commit to 'northeastern Ohio', but not lakefront