Drinkflation: The Math Says It's Real

You can't argue with fridge-temperature-cold math. Owen Whelan '27

Inflation, shrinkflation… drinkflation? Soda connoisseurs best beware of how drinks are priced around the Marist University campus.

Saving precious Den Points means squeezing every cent you can out of Gourmet Dining’s a la carte system for drinks and snacks. For carbonated beverage enthusiasts, the math is more complicated than you might think.

Marist’s food options often provide both canned (12-ounce) and bottled (20-ounce) options for soda, and bottled (16.9-ounce to 1L) options for water. The price of these products, however, varies widely between retailers, even within the same brands of soda.

A can of Diet Pepsi will run you $2.49 at Saxbys. That same can is a mere $1.80 at Press, Marketplace and other Gourmet-ran locations on campus. A bottle of soda comes out to $3.15 at Donnelly’s café.

The numbers don’t lie: the most expensive water on campus is Halal Shack’s 16.9-ounce Aquafina for $3.60 ($0.21 per ounce) and the most expensive soda is Saxbys’ $2.49 12-ounce Pepsi can ($0.21 per ounce). Everywhere else on campus is best for can drinkers, with a near universal standard of $1.80 for 12 ounces ($0.15 per ounce). Bottle drinkers are best served at vending machines ($2.75), but $3.15 ($0.16 per ounce) is typical for Grubhub vendors. Surprisingly, the cost per 20-ounce bottle is cheaper at vending machines than even ShopRite ($2.89). York Street Market cuts a solid 10 cents off the Marist standard, at a slick $3.05. 

If you’re going solely for the most liquid by ounce, your best match is the dining hall, where soda is included with the one-swipe or $14.44 Den Point entry fee.
The beverage options also vary by location: Saxbys and Press only offer cans, while locations like York Street Market only offer bottled soda à la carte. True soda freedom, however, is in sight: Books and Beans offers both.

Even with inconsistent options, prices are relatively fair: canned soda comes out to about 15 cents per ounce compared to 16 cents for a bottle. If you prefer one container over the other, the price difference doesn’t hold you back.

While coffee prices vary on campus, the individual locations offer different products, making direct comparisons difficult. Soda and other soft drinks, however, don’t vary between locations yet are priced wildly differently. Water has a similar problem: Halal Shack charges $3.60 for 16.9 ounces of water compared to other locations that charge either $2.59 or $2.60. 

A solution is achievable. Things could start with our supplier: providing both bottled and canned options at every dining location allows students to get their bubbly caffeine for the day the way they want it, reflecting how coffee is readily available across campus. Price hikes for convenience, especially at Saxbys, and Halal Shack could be mitigated by normalizing all soda on campus to $1.80 canned and $3.05 bottled from food places and keeping $2.75 for vending machines. 

With limited Den Points and meal swipes to go around, every carbonated, carmel-drink spent cent counts.