However, there are still a few things that cost the same as they always have.
The signature 23-ounce can of Arizona iced tea is still 99 cents, the same price since it debuted 30 years ago.
The family-owned company sells about 1 billion of the 99-cent Big AZ Can, as it’s known internally, each year, the Los Angeles Times reported in April.
“I’m committed to that 99-cent price — when things go against you, you tighten your belt,” Don Vultaggio, the company’s 70-year-old founder, told the newspaper. His reasoning: raising prices and losing customers as a result is simply not worth the short-term profit.
Arizona — which got its start in Brooklyn — keeps costs down by spending less on marketing than other beverage brands and makes most of its profits by selling higher-priced fruit drinks, energy drinks, bottled teas, snack foods, hard seltzer and other products .
Costco’s $1.50 hot dog and soda combo
Costco’s hot dog soda deal at its food courts has cost $1.50 since its inception in the mid-1980s.
The hot dog offering emerged in the early days of the company. Costco added a Hebrew National booth at its second warehouse in Portland, Oregon, shortly after it opened in 1983.
To keep the hot dog’s price stable, Costco has found ways to reduce other costs in the food court, such as:
Costco (COST) sold kosher hot dogs at its food courts until 2009, but suppliers were running out of meat. So the chain brought production in-house and switched to their own Kirkland Signature brand hot dogs. Costco now produces around 285 million hot dogs at its California facility. Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal once told Craig Jelinek, the company’s current CEO, “If you raise that damn hot dog, I’ll kill you.” Find out.” “I know it sounds crazy to make a big deal around a hot dog, but we spend a lot of time on it,” Sinegal told the Seattle Times in 2009. “We are known for this hot dog.
Last year, Costco sold 122 million hot dog and soda combos worldwide.
Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Fried Chicken
Despite a 16.4% year-over-year increase in chicken prices, wholesale clubs and other grocers have kept fried chicken prices low. Fried chicken stays at Costco for $4.99, as it has for more than a decade, as well as BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ). At Sam’s Club they haven’t cost a dime less for over five years.
There is a strategy behind these stores’ decision to keep these prices constant.
The fried chicken is a popular product for supermarkets because it attracts customers to the stores. Customers typically buy more than one chicken in one visit. Because of this, retailers want to remain competitive in fried chicken prices and are willing to lose money on sales, even if production costs increase.
Additionally, shoppers know exactly how much their fried chicken costs and they will see an increase. The price of a fried chicken helps determine the consumer’s overall perception of the value of a deal.
Even though BJ’s fried chicken production costs have skyrocketed, the company has kept prices firm because it’s “such a meaningful cause for our members,” CEO Bob Eddy said at an earnings call in May.
However, the efforts Costco has made to keep its chickens at $4.99 are under close scrutiny.
The retailer is facing a lawsuit from two shareholders alleging that Costco and its top executives allowed the abuse of chickens in violation of animal welfare laws.