Can We Do the Dew?
September 18, 2021 5:48 AM Subscribe
Is there a Diet Mountain Dew shortage? My sister can’t find her drink of choice.
I assume it might have something to do with supply on bottles, but I’m having a hard time finding anything. My sister claims it seems to just be a Diet shortage (she’s in FL).
I assume it might have something to do with supply on bottles, but I’m having a hard time finding anything. My sister claims it seems to just be a Diet shortage (she’s in FL).
I an in the Washington DC area and it's plentiful here. We did have a Fresca shortage last year (the horrors!). A coworker of mine called a local bottling company who said it was due to an aluminum can shortage, and Coke was prioritizing its other brands. But that seems to have passed and both are available here. That said, I only buy diet Mt Dew in plastic bottle six packs, but there's never been a shortage. Hope she finds it soon!
posted by kinsey at 6:06 AM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by kinsey at 6:06 AM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
Here in NC we have pretty much every flavor of Mountain Dew available - including diet.
posted by Roger Pittman at 6:53 AM on September 18, 2021
posted by Roger Pittman at 6:53 AM on September 18, 2021
Plenty in Los Angeles (luckily)!
posted by bluesky78987 at 8:07 AM on September 18, 2021
posted by bluesky78987 at 8:07 AM on September 18, 2021
I don’t know what part of FL she is in, but I just quickly did a search for it in Orlando on Target.com and the first store I tried has it in stock for immediate pickup. I’ve found Target to be pretty accurate with their online inventory, so she might try searching the stores around her to find one that has it (much easier than driving to each, or even calling and trying to connect to a human).
To the bigger question, we’ve been having shortages of an ever-changing list of seemingly-random items ever since the pandemic started, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a localized shortage of this item where she lives. But my experience is that these shortages lately have been lasting between a couple of weeks and a couple of months, so it should eventually be back.
posted by primethyme at 8:53 AM on September 18, 2021
To the bigger question, we’ve been having shortages of an ever-changing list of seemingly-random items ever since the pandemic started, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a localized shortage of this item where she lives. But my experience is that these shortages lately have been lasting between a couple of weeks and a couple of months, so it should eventually be back.
posted by primethyme at 8:53 AM on September 18, 2021
If you guys are anywhere near Atlanta GA I have a bunch of bottles of it of that I'm trying to get rid of.
posted by manageyourexpectations at 9:06 AM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by manageyourexpectations at 9:06 AM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm in West Palm Beach, Diet Mountain Dew is my son's drink of choice, and my nearest Publix is out of it about one in three times that I go. It always ends up coming back in a few days.
posted by Daily Alice at 9:07 AM on September 18, 2021
posted by Daily Alice at 9:07 AM on September 18, 2021
I'm in the suburbs of Chicago, and I've had trouble off and on finding caffeine free diet sodas, particularly Coke and Pepsi. Diet Ginger Ale is sporadic. The same types of diet sodas were really hard to find last summer, and I asked the Coke rep at the grocery store about it. He said at that time that there was an aluminum shortage due to aluminum being used in ventilators, and that the soda companies were limiting quantities of some types of soda to prioritize their best sellers.
So maybe something similar is happening now with the uptick in Delta.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 11:26 AM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
So maybe something similar is happening now with the uptick in Delta.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 11:26 AM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
A Galavant reference?!!! I LOVE it!!!
I'm in Albuquerque NM USA. No soda shortages of any kind that I have noticed here.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 2:58 PM on September 18, 2021
I'm in Albuquerque NM USA. No soda shortages of any kind that I have noticed here.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 2:58 PM on September 18, 2021
I wonder if this is part of soda companies new thing of labeling their sodas as ________ Zero Sugar, instead of Diet _________.
Does Mountain Dew Zero taste like Diet Dew to her?
posted by kuanes at 4:29 PM on September 18, 2021
Does Mountain Dew Zero taste like Diet Dew to her?
posted by kuanes at 4:29 PM on September 18, 2021
People in our house drink diet mt dew and I can confirm it has been out a couple times in the past month, randomly, even when other sodas are readily available.
posted by aetg at 6:07 PM on September 18, 2021
posted by aetg at 6:07 PM on September 18, 2021
I (try to) buy only the 36 pack (cans) of Diet Mountain Dew that Sam's sells and ever since the pandemic started the availability on these is infrequent. I go through a lot of of it and I would say it's out at either my Sam's, the next closest Sam's I will drive to, or both, a lot. Sometimes for 2 or more weeks. So then I have to buy regular 12-packs where I can find them, which sometimes means I have to go to multiple Walmarts or Walgreens (or whichever local grocer has it on sale). This is in the St Louis area. So yet another anecdote that it has been a problem. And this is cans!
I had heard early that early in the pando Pepsi cut back a lot producing their less popular flavors due to shortages. I'm not sure if this is true because it was secondhand. But my mom loves Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi in bottles and it's also been very hard for her to find -- harder than usual when it is not easy to find normally.
posted by possibilityleft at 7:44 PM on September 18, 2021
I had heard early that early in the pando Pepsi cut back a lot producing their less popular flavors due to shortages. I'm not sure if this is true because it was secondhand. But my mom loves Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi in bottles and it's also been very hard for her to find -- harder than usual when it is not easy to find normally.
posted by possibilityleft at 7:44 PM on September 18, 2021
About buying diet soda in bulk.
We just threw out two 2 lt. bottles of Diet Dr. Thunder (Walmart store brand of Dr. Pepper). It tastes vile after its expiration date.
We have not had that problem with regular sodas.
Also, canned sodas seem to go bad over time regardless of what brand they are or how they are sweetened.
Supplies of diet cream soda are currently low or nonexistent.
I have relatives who live 30 minutes or more from the nearest town with reasonable prices for groceries (the limited selection at the local gas station does not count). Shopping is a few times a month as part of regular errands.
Canned and bottled groceries are stored in their tornado shelters or storage sheds. Boxes and bags of food in bulk go in the laundry room and kitchen. Some items like opened bags of sugar and flour are stored in the refrigerator until there is room in the glass/plastic storage jars.
Keeping bugs and rodents out of the groceries is the priority, but food spoilage is also an issue when the only alternative to a cooking disaster is to begin calling neighbors to borrow an egg while cooking dinner.
posted by TrishaU at 8:15 PM on September 18, 2021
We just threw out two 2 lt. bottles of Diet Dr. Thunder (Walmart store brand of Dr. Pepper). It tastes vile after its expiration date.
We have not had that problem with regular sodas.
Also, canned sodas seem to go bad over time regardless of what brand they are or how they are sweetened.
Supplies of diet cream soda are currently low or nonexistent.
I have relatives who live 30 minutes or more from the nearest town with reasonable prices for groceries (the limited selection at the local gas station does not count). Shopping is a few times a month as part of regular errands.
Canned and bottled groceries are stored in their tornado shelters or storage sheds. Boxes and bags of food in bulk go in the laundry room and kitchen. Some items like opened bags of sugar and flour are stored in the refrigerator until there is room in the glass/plastic storage jars.
Keeping bugs and rodents out of the groceries is the priority, but food spoilage is also an issue when the only alternative to a cooking disaster is to begin calling neighbors to borrow an egg while cooking dinner.
posted by TrishaU at 8:15 PM on September 18, 2021
Does Mountain Dew Zero taste like Diet Dew to her?
It absolutely doesn't for me. I hit a point a few years back where normal soda is almost too thick and overly sweet and syrupy to me. But given the choice I prefer good ol' fashioned aspartame/sucralose diet sodas over the newer Zero mixes because Zero does a great job, too good actually, of hitting the target of tasting like the original.
And yeah, I can confirm that the extremely niche diet caffeine-free mountain dew has been a rare pleasure for me over the past year and there have been occasional shortages of diet, but nothing I couldn't shop around to resolve.
posted by Kyol at 8:03 AM on September 20, 2021
It absolutely doesn't for me. I hit a point a few years back where normal soda is almost too thick and overly sweet and syrupy to me. But given the choice I prefer good ol' fashioned aspartame/sucralose diet sodas over the newer Zero mixes because Zero does a great job, too good actually, of hitting the target of tasting like the original.
And yeah, I can confirm that the extremely niche diet caffeine-free mountain dew has been a rare pleasure for me over the past year and there have been occasional shortages of diet, but nothing I couldn't shop around to resolve.
posted by Kyol at 8:03 AM on September 20, 2021
Does Mountain Dew Zero taste like Diet Dew to her?
It absolutely doesn't for me.
The flavors of Mtn Dew Zero and Diet Dew are different formulations, just like how Diet Coke and Coke Zero are different flavors.
My interpretation is that the local canneries are rationing the aluminum cans they have and doing smaller runs of the less-selling products. Like, up here in Minnesota I couldn't find Mtn Dew Zero for months, but lots of (gross, sorry) Diet Dew, and it's slowly coming back, although they haven't brought back my favorite Diet Code Red yet.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:03 AM on September 20, 2021
It absolutely doesn't for me.
The flavors of Mtn Dew Zero and Diet Dew are different formulations, just like how Diet Coke and Coke Zero are different flavors.
My interpretation is that the local canneries are rationing the aluminum cans they have and doing smaller runs of the less-selling products. Like, up here in Minnesota I couldn't find Mtn Dew Zero for months, but lots of (gross, sorry) Diet Dew, and it's slowly coming back, although they haven't brought back my favorite Diet Code Red yet.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:03 AM on September 20, 2021
« Older Short fiction and poetry about girlhood | Persimmons: I have too many and some questions Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ftm at 5:55 AM on September 18, 2021