Tonight Ashley called when I was at Safeway to let me know we were out of Coke and that I should pick up a 24-pack to get us through the Sabbath. The 24-pack came to $10 with tax, or $0.42 per can.
As I put the receipt in my pocket I started to wonder about our projected lifetime contribution to the Coca-Cola Corporation. So on the way home I ran some numbers and came up with the following.
On average we probably consume 6 DCs per day. I drink one; Ashley, Charlie and Max drink the other 5. At 42 cents per can, that's $2.50 per day, $912 per year or $45,625 over 50 years. (This calculation assumes that 'the Ash' will average 5 cans per day until she's 79. I know, it's a VERY conservative model.)
What else could we do with $45,625?
You could pay for 190 of these,
one of these,
2001 Honda Odyssey, Desert Sand
8 comments:
It was all fun and games til you posted those pics of the little girl.
Now I think I have to quit.
***Usually I get a 12 pack for about $2.50 . . . so you may need to adjust your calculations. Of course, tonight you had to keep the ox out of the mire, so don't worry, I'm not mad.***
Good point. Christian just said that I can't give him a hard time for drinking soda anymore, saying "compared to Ashley I don't drink soda". :)
Ashley--quitting would really only make an impact if you put that money into a special savings account and actually used it for a good cause, right? Otherwise the money would just get overlooked and used up for some other small monthly purchase.
Cheap at any rate. But I'm with AShley, posting the pictures from Project Smile was a low blow. Just think if Ashley was getting a Starbucks latte everyday--then you would really have something to talk about.
Is Ashley really drinking 5 cans a day? Unbelievable. I drink one fountain DC a day at about 1.00 and not (usually) on Sundays so I figure my coke addiction is cheap in comparison.
Mr Carter I am with Ashley here. That child smilling IS a LOW blow. Ash I have decided that there are just some sacrifices in life I am NOT willing to make and DC is on that list. My family would NOT want to deal with me if DC suddenly disappeared out of my world. I love you girl and I will take on Tyler any day of the week. I do still love ya though Tyler.
This was a good post. I guess I appreciated it because 1. I don't drink soda, DC or otherwise, and 2. whenever I buy stuff repeatedly I start doing calculations in my head to see what else an equivalent of my money would buy.
I have wondered how much my vices cost. Sometimes it is not just the money. Sometimes there is even more at risk. Be grateful it is just a sloooow leek in the piggy bank and not and emotional whamie!
Very thought-provoking. Just soothing my own conscience for the immense amount of soda I've drunk over the years, but it's not quite as bad as that. :)
The present value of the $42k cost isn't quite $17k (based on a 5% annual interest rate). Plus, Coca Cola's profit margin is 25%, so the company only gets $4.5k. The rest would go to pay employees, vendors, the IRS, etc. Without the Coca Cola Company, 71,000 people would be out of work, including 59,000 who live overseas, many of whom live and work in developing countries.
And, yes, I'm swilling a Zero right now.
Rob, I had considered working in present value calculations but, as you've shown, that kills my numbers. Thanks a lot.
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