Signs of the Times - December 2017 - 20

AT LARGE
DAREK

OLIGOPOLOES, GINGER
ALE AND BUYING CHOICES

JOHNSON
is ST's Editor-at-Large.
Email him at darek.johnson
@stmediagroup.com.

Not.

OLLING south on I-75
and suddenly the Flying J
pizza I grabbed for lunch
comes back to haunt me.
Nausea, yuck. I downshift at the next
exit and circle in to a Speedway to
buy a ginger ale, the common remedy.
Inside the Speedway, LED-lit coolers
enclose Pepsi and Coke-type beverages,
but there's no ginger ale. Obviously,
ginger ale's two popular makers -
Cadbury Schweppes and the American
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group - don't
contract with Speedway.
Damn.
You've read of drowning men grasping at straws? I pick a Sprite, Coca-

In an August 2010 paper, Michigan
State Univ. professor Philip H. Howard
wrote that three firms control 89% of
US soft drink sales. Most interesting,
he noted, "This dominance is obscured
from us by the appearance of numerous
choices on retailer shelves." His report
is supported by Investopedia.com,
which says Coca-Cola Co. owns,
licenses and markets more than 500
beverage brands. The site also says
PepsiCo owns 22 brands that each
exceed a billion dollars in annual
PHOTO BY DAREK JOHNSON

R

Cola's 7Up knockoff, as a substitute cure.
And, appreciating that I'll soon feel
better, I add two Krispy Kreme donuts.

If you buy soda, eat chips, search Google or use LED lamps, such as those
that illuminate this cooler, oligopolies are influencing your costs.
20

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

DECEMBER 2017

sales. Pepsi's assembly includes FritoLay, Quaker (Gatorade), Tropicana,
Lipton and a Starbucks partnership.
Coca-Cola's website records even
more diversity. It recently said, "By
early 2013, the buzz surrounding
wearable technology caught the
attention of the Coca-Cola Company's
Strategic Marketing Venture team,
which invests in high-potential startups
aligned with Coke's core business,
including digital music streaming
service Spotify, social fitness community Endomondo and music licensing
firm Music Dealers."
Such diverse companies are often
identified by words only the bigmoney guys toss around, for example:
monopoly, oligarchy and oligopoly.
The most familiar, "monopoly,"
describes a company that has full
control over a product realm or
service. "Oligarchy" defines a small
government or power faction that
exercises total control over its influence sphere.
"Oligopoly," Investopedia.com says,
is a business construct in which a
small number of firms holds the largest
portion of market share, which allows
them to "set prices and increase
profit margins above what a truly
free market would allow." As a consequence of such control, oligopolies
can either cost you money, limit your
buying choices or both. Their influence is far-reaching and can affect
your buying options and budget,
especially when buying wholesale
plastics and metals, but also in major
http://www.Investopedia.com http://www.Investopedia.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - December 2017
