It Seems Like a Good Idea

Near my desk there are a couple of soda machines, one Coke and one Pepsi. They're pretty much the same, both about the same age, same number of selections. There is one difference though (aside from the brand of the drinks inside), the Pepsi machine just shows the price, while the Coke machine cycles between the price, Ice Cold Coca Cola, and the temperature of the drinks.

Showing the temperature sounds like a good idea, but I wonder if it really gets them as many sales as they'd like.

Too often I go to buy a soda and the Coke machine will say the temperature is 41 degrees or 39 degrees. When I see that I switch and pick something from the Pepsi machine. For all I know the Pepsi machine is 30 degrees or 50 degrees or who knows what, but I know the other one is warmer than "Ice Cold" so I pick a Pepsi product. To be fair though, sometimes I might be in the mood for something from the Pepsi machine and I'll see that the temperature in the Coke machine is an even 30 degrees. Then I'll switch to the Coke machine in hopes of scoring a slushy soda. It never is slushy, but what if, right? But seeing 32 or lower in the temp seems to be far less common than 38 or higher.

In my opinion, the temperature drives away more sales than it brings in (at least when it comes to my money), even though I recognize that the Pepsi machine may be just as warm. At least the Pepsi machine isn't proving to me that it's warm. It's sad too, because is 38 really warm as far as drinks go? I've got no idea if I can tell the difference between 32 and 38 degrees, and I've got no idea if the temperature is accurate. Maybe the sodas nearest to the bottom are ice cold, and the newest ones at the top are still warmish, but will cool down soon. The average could be 41, but that might not have any bearing on the drink that I'll get when I press the button.

These are the things I think about when I'm about to pick a soda. I recognize that I'm probably over-thinking something so incredibly trivial. But why give data if we're not supposed to analyze it, right?