The Marginal Cost of Coca-Cola

I was an economics major so let’s discuss the marginal cost of Coca-Cola, which is apparently zero.

The marginal cost of something is the amount it costs to produce more of a product. Usually, the more you make of something the less it costs to be produced. This is because it usually costs some fixed amount to start producing something. In the case of Coca-Cola it probably costs some big amount to buy the machine to produce the product and then once you’ve bought the machine, it is pretty cheap to produce.

Anyway, look at the cost of Coca-Cola at a theater.

You can get a small cup for something like $2.50.

A medium, which is usually twice as big costs $3.00.

The large, which is probably twice as big as the medium usually costs $3.25.

Are the cups really this expensive? It makes me think that if I brought a trough to the theater and asked them to fill it up, it would cost less than a dollar.

Want a thimble of Coke, it will cost you $2.00. Want to fill up your swimming pool with Coke? $2.25. Weird.