Picture this, you are on your way to class, and you’re alittle thirsty. You stop and grab a soda from a vendingmachine.

Chances are if you are anywhere on campus, that soda is a Coke,and you paid a dollar for it.

Now, the other place to get a soda on campus is The Market inthe student center, and odds are you’ll probably pay justover a dollar for it there.

The question is not “Why do we only offer Coke productshere on campus?” nor is it “Why does bottled water costas much as a soda chock-full of artificial colorings andflavorings?” (Those we will save for another day.) Thequestion is, why is it almost the same price to get a soda from avending machine, as it is to get it at a store?

Coke, as well as the majority of the beverage companies, runsall of its own distribution services, so if you buy a soda from avending machine all the profit is returned directly to themanufacturer.

However, if you get your soda in a store such as The Market,then a portion of the profit is returned to the store, and the sodacompany gets the rest.

This is ludicrous.

Every time that you buy a soda from a vending machine, themanufacturer gets a significantly higher profit than if you boughtthe same soda from a retailer.

In any other business, cutting out the middleman drasticallylowers the cost of the product for the consumer. For proof, justlook at computer sales in the last few years.

So why do soda companies continue to reap these exaggeratedprofits?

For the most part, it is a matter of convenience, because it iseasier to get a soda from a vending machine right outside of yourclassroom than to walk across campus to get it. However, theconsumer should not have to put up with this misuse of power.

Of course it’s more convenient to get a soda from avending machine, but it’s not so convenient as to justify theextra profit that manufacturers make from distributing the productthemselves.

So stand up for your rights as a consumer. Try boycottingvending machines until manufacturers see that they are no longerable to take advantage of people in need of a quick thirstquencher.