Office vending machine math

Hi, it's Joan from Only in York County, dropping by for a guest-post...

And I'm hesitant to even point this one out, for fear that the vending machine company that supplies our office will somehow pick up on it and ruin things for me!

We have both canned (12-ounce) and bottled (20-ounce) sodas available in our office vending machine. Used to be that the 20-ouncers were $1 each; in the last few months, the vending company upped that to $1.25. Fine, it's still cheaper than the convenience store nearby, so I'm OK with that.

However. Cans have stayed the same at 60 cents each.

Now, your only canned choices are Sunkist Orange, ginger ale, and caffeine free Diet Pepsi. It happens I like the ginger ale and the caffeine free diet, so I'm in good shape when I'm a little short on change, like today, when I brought a buck twenty five, hoping to get one 20-ounce bottle of caffeinated Diet Pepsi to last me all night.

Suddenly, the lightbulb goes on! That's $1.25 for 20 ounces... but if I'm willing to sacrifice the caffeine, I can get a whopping 24 ounces (in the form of two cans) for a nickel less! Now, I was a math major in college, so the fact that it's taken me three months or so to catch on to this is a little off-putting.

But, now that I've discovered this great "trick," I'm just so proud of myself that I had to share. And a bit confused, too. Ever seen any weird vending machine math? Share, so I don't feel so alone.