While it seems like the price of pretty much everything is going up, when you go to reach for that can of AriZona Iced Tea on a hot summer day, it's still going to cost you just 99 cents.
Whether its Arnold Palmer, Green Tea or Mucho Mango, AriZona has sold its signature 23-ounce "Big AZ Can" at a 99 cent price point since 1992.
The cost of nearly everything that goes into producing AriZona beverages has increased over the past 30 years -- from aluminum cans and ingredients to gas that powers delivery trucks.
Still, the price of the Big Az Can has remained unchanged. The company itself even tweeted that it's "the greatest mystery in business" as to how they've never increased prices yet are still able to turn a profit.
Don Vultaggio, the company's founder and chairman, said it's all about principle.
"I'm committed to that 99 cent price... I don't want to do what the bread guys and the gas guys and everybody else are doing," he said on a Zoom call in early April, the Los Angeles Times reported. "Consumers don't need another price increase from a guy like me."
Vultaggio went on to say any short-term profit from a price increase wasn't worth losing customers in the process.
"Your company has to deal with cost increases, but your customers have to deal with cost increases too," he said, according to the Times. "And if you break their back, nobody wins."
One of the ways the company makes sure they can afford to sell the beverages at 99 cents is through its marketing strategy.
"We don't advertise for example, and we put those costs towards giving our consumer the value they want and expect," Vultaggio told Thrillist in 2016. "We feel like it's more important to spend money on something that our customer really cares about, instead of buying billboards or putting our cans in the hands of some celebrity for a few minutes."
Vultaggio said AriZona appreciates its fans more than anything and he wouldn't compromise their loyalty by changing its price: "They'll always know they can head to their local store and our drinks will be 99 cents."
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