Now inflation has gone too far: Rising price of Diet Coke prompts reckoning

When egg prices skyrocketed I rolled with it. Did I waste my precious coin on dyeing eggs for Easter? No, we were a plastic egg only family.

I’ve also over the years just accepted that gas prices were going to be mercurial. When they’re high I just stand by the pump humming that Blood, Sweat and Tears classic “Spinning Wheel”: “What goes up must come down.” (Sorry if that song will now be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.)

But there’s one price hike that is causing me angst: the increases in the cost of a McDonald’s Diet Coke.

For years you could get a large McDonald’s Diet Coke for 99 cents. It was one of life’s certainties like death and taxes. But in the last several months the price (in my neck of the ‘burbs) has steadily risen to almost $1.50.

WTH? That’s quite an increase.

A rational person would just stop buying McDonald’s Diet Cokes. It’s not like it’s a necessity. But I’m not rational and that’s because I love Diet Coke. As in I’ve been in a long term committed relationship with McDonald’s Diet Cokes for decades.

It all started years ago when I was child and would (I kid you not) ride my horse up to the corner store and get myself a Tab (and, I kid you not again, buy my mom a package of Winston’s 100s. It was the ‘70s and times were very, very different). The Tab came in a frosty glass bottle, and I would gulp it down before I got back on my horse.

Now as any soda aficionada knows Tab was the gateway drink to Diet Coke. When that blessed beverage burst upon the scene when I was college I was smitten but not obsessed. My full-blown love affair didn’t happen until I had a McDonald’s Diet Coke in the ‘90s.

It was a game changer. The syrup to carbonation ratio is chef’s kiss. Amping up the delight is the volume of ice per beverage. Together it creates a liquid experience that is refreshing perfection.

From that point on it was buh-bye to cans and bottles of Diet Coke. I become a connoisseur and only consume McDonalds Diet Cokes.

All of this why I can’t just go cold turkey and quit drinking them. Also, and this is major, I have drive-thru window friendships with lots of McDonald’s employees.

A couple of years ago they requested a well person check on me because I hadn’t been through the drive-thru in two weeks. Now, I always tell them when I’m going on vacation.

I can count on at least several people always noticing when I get my hair cut (the same can’t be said for my husband), and they know when I have an important meeting based on the fact that I have on makeup.

How do you put a price on that? You can’t. I’m getting a superior soda while enjoying the camaraderie of lovely, caring people.

So, join me as I raise my 30-ounce polypropylene cup filled to the brim with what I consider refreshing goodness as I toast the wonder of my favorite beverage and my drive thru buds. People who I’m lucky enough to see every day. Honestly, sometimes twice a day because there are times (as in many times) when a girl needs a McDonald’s Diet Coke to help her make it through the afternoon.

Reach Sherry Kuehl at snarkyinthesuburbs@gmail.com, on Facebook at Snarky in the Suburbs, on Instagram @snarky.in.the.suburbs, and at snarkyinthesuburbs.com.