I started drinking diet Coke some time in 1984. I was working at a Cock Robin restaurant (think McDonald's as it may have been in the 60s). I had unlimited access to the stuff, both there and then later at college when I worked in the dining hall.

I don't drink it because of its dietetic effects, which is kind of obvious. Although, from 1999 through 2000, I stopped drinking diet soda altogether after reading something about Aspartame and promptly gained ten pounds (I didn't consider ceasing drinking soda and just drank soda with corn syrup sweetener, nor did I consider the impact of drinking a zillion more calories per day).

Anyway, you may have heard or read about Coca Cola switching to 1.5 liter bottles, from 2 liter bottles.

Thing is, most places are keeping the prices constant, so instead of paying $1.49 for a 2L bottle, you're paying $1.49 for a 1.5L bottle, or from paying 75¢/L to 99¢/L, a 33% increase.

No, no inflationary trends in the consumer economy to worry about. It won't be inflationary if consumers cease purchasing things that go up this much this quickly.

I ran into this at our local deli which admittedly charges a lot for soda to begin with (a 2 liter bottle was $1.99, the 1.5L bottle is $1.69, still a 13% increase). I've checked FreshDirect and they've done the same thing, retaining the 99¢ price from the 2L bottle, but for the new 1.5L bottles.

Funny side note: if you go to the official diet Coke web site and try to submit a mesage through their Contact Us link you'll learn that Coke really doesn't want to hear from its customers (you get a server error on submitting a message).

If this isn't inflation, then what is it (other than a bad business move)?