Ever wonder why Pepsi prices are more higher at some gas stations than others? Us too, but, hey—in the wise words of Britney Spears, “Pepsi’s Pepsi.”
However, one man believes he understands these price inconsistencies. “We were paying an insane amount for their sodas,” he exclaims.
Just yesterday, gas station owner and TikTok user Cam (@cornerstorecam) shared his family-owned store’s mind-boggling discovery. In less than 24-hours the video has gained quite the traction, receiving over 83,700 views and 3,557 likes on the first clip in his multi-part series.
Cam begins by taking viewers through the step-by-step process of purchasing bulk orders of certain beloved drinks. With an emphasis on Pepsi, the Florida native walks around his store and tells all.
“The Pepsi Beverage company was bending us over, and spanking us with their soda prices,” Cam begins.
Believing the company has been taking advantage of small, independent stores, Cam grew frustrated. After explaining exactly his role as the gas station owner and operator, Cam dives into his plans to stop this. But first, he explains just exactly what the issue was.
What is Pepsi doing?
“For those of you that don’t know,” Cam says. “When you go into a gas station, every single shelf you see in their big walk-in cooler like this, every single shelf is contracted with a company.”
Continuing on, Cam claims that roughly once a year, a brand representative from companies such as Pepsi, 7up, or RC comes in and evaluates their current contract with the store. The contract states how much shelf space their products receive in the stores. However, as an independent store, this can get tricky for Cam.
“We don’t have huge chains where we can negotiate these deals with these big beverage companies,” Cam explains.
Now showing the size of these shelves within the cooler where the drinks are kept, Cam continues. He refers back to the large brand representatives.
“They say either ‘we need more space or you’re good,’ and depending on how much space we give them, determines the tier of contract we get,” Cam says.
Allegedly with three different contract tiers, each different tier determines what stores, like Cam’s, pay for a case of the brand’s product.
“Gold tier pays the least, Bronze pays the most,” Cam says. “This is where we get into issues.”
How do they enforce it?
According to Cam, just last year Pepsi representatives came in and demanded more space on his shelves. However, when Cam asked just how much more space they needed. Pepsi wanted roughly 17 more shelves.
“They wanted the same product on multiple shelves. Imagine three shelves of just regular Mountain Dew. They wanted to update our water selection. They wanted to give us three rows of Celsius energy drinks,” Cam says.
Yet, when Cam agreed to some, if not all, of the Pepsi representative’s requests, he claims to have still been put on the lowest tier plan. The lowest tier contract for their company.
“And we were paying an insane amount for their soda. And per the contract, we can’t go up on the prices of individual bottles,” Cam says.
Because Cam’s store was paying more per case of beverage and keeping the same prices for consumers, inherently Cam was making less money. To further explain his next steps, Cam decided to upload a part two of the series shortly after.
How did Cam fix his Pepsi prices?
Believing that as a small store large companies, such as Pepsi, didn’t truly care about Cam’s business. So, Cam decided to invest in a third-party affiliate.
“We went with a third company that would, on our behalf, negotiate these contracts with these big beverage companies,” Cam says.
And at this point, Cam shared his discovery of the brand, Independent Buyers Company, IBC. A company which already has a set way to configure each company’s soda in the store shelves they are contracted with.
“All the negotiating is already done,” Cam says. “They say ‘Coke, you get this many shelves, 7up, RC, you get this many shelves.’”
Then moving forward, the store is allowed to do however they please with the leftover shelves of their stores. And the best part?
“The pricing is already set in stone,” Cam says.
With set prices for every different soda and case prices now dropping due to his affiliation with IBC, Cam isn’t the only one benefiting, but the customer is too.
“That allows me to sell the individual bottles at a cheaper price for the customer,” Cam says.
The benefits of joining the IBC
Again, he explains that because he was initially dropped to a lower contract by Pepsi, he was going to have to raise the individual bottle prices for customers. This left Cam struggling to make the same income he was prior while still overcharging consumers for simple cans of sodas.
“The customers would be like, ‘Why are Coke sodas $2.49 and Pepsi sodas $2.79?’ or something like that you know,” Cam says.
Excited for the future of his store, Cam shares his new plans for the store with his ability to now have more products on the newly available shelves. Not only this, but due to his partnership with IBC, Cam will also allegedly be getting rebates throughout the year from the company.
“It’s just gonna be good overall for the business,” Cam says.
As he wraps up, Cam concludes his two series by advising all small business owners to consider joining IBC.
“Tell them Cam at the corner store sent you,” Cam concludes.
What did viewers have to say about Pepsi prices?
Now after his series, Cam received some backlash from viewers for his lengthy story which they believed could have been shorted into one quick video. In response, Cam made a couple of follow-up videos, responding to these viewers once again restating his story.
However, one viewer brought up something interesting.
“Cigarette companies do the same thing to independent companies. Price fixing!” The viewer exclaims.
In response, Cam gave some insight on this matter as well. Cigarettes are the exact same, and according to Cam, Marlboro is the most harsh. Because of this, Cam claims that without a contract with the company, it is virtually impossible to sell cigarettes due to the high pricing.
Many other viewers also shared how they stopped drinking sodas all together due to the prices.
“Soda in general has priced out of what I am willing to pay,” one viewer says.
“As a consumer, I quit drinking pop. The prices are ridiculous,” another adds.
And according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, these commenters are correct.The price of soda has increased significantly, with the average cost of a 12-ounce can in a 12-pack rising by over 45% in the past four years.
With this price change being a result of many different factors like inflation or aluminum costs, it can be helpful for store owners, like Cam, to help bring these prices down as much as possible for consumers.
So next time you’re out, it may be interesting to check your local store’s prices in comparison to others. You never know how much you could be saving.
@corner_store_story THEY CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS #gasstation #cornerstore #conviencestore #cstore #gasstationorder #gasstationtok #smallbusiness #smallbusinesscheck #smallbusinessowner #pepsi #coke #cocacola #soda #beverage #sodas ♬ L.Boccherini, Minuet from String Quartet No.5 in F major – AllMusicGallery
The Daily Dot reached out to Cam (@cornerstorecam) via TikTok direct message for comment. The Daily Dot also reached out to PepsiCo via their North American media relation’s email.
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