Central PA Fridge Pack switch

[teamtitan512]

It appears that it depends on where you go in the region, because anything serviced out of Lemoyne appeared split in Fridge packs/old 12 packs. Some places, like a Kmart near Harrisburg, still had an entire display of old 12 packs.

In Lancaster, I didn't see any Fridge Packs, so apparently that sales center is a little behind.

I saw no Mello Yello anywhere, so maybe the Fridge Pack change means the end of Mello Yello for Central PA. I did find Fresca though in both packages.

Also saw Pepsi Vanilla and Diet Pepsi Vanilla in 2 liters for the first time at a Super Wal-Mart. The Minute Maid flavors replacing Fruitopia were also seen in 20 oz. at the York Super Wal-Mart. I believe someone said Central produced product in York, but these days must be over, because anything I saw in York came from HG - Hagerstown. Central's demise is appearing more and more evident.

Also at a Super Wal-Mart I saw a Pepsi cooler that seemed somewhat deserted and was almost empty, and other than 5 Diet Pepsi bottles, half of the bottom of the cooler was entirely filled w/Sierra Mist, good for Pepsi this product is starting to fail. In the Harrisburg area, Diet Dr Pepper is being put in the coolers in that bottom row, just to avoid putting a lot of Sierra Mist in. In Chambersburg, they don't have this luxury of course, Dr Pepper is brought from Winchester for third-tier. Pepsi markets Dr Pepper much better in the PA capital region than they do in my region of MD, where I wish they'd just terminate their rights and give them to 3rd tier, to give them the slightest chance of putting a cooler in a store here. Finding 3rd tier in Western MD can be a chore, especially 20 oz.

[karks88]

Giant in Carlisle is now completely switched to fridge packs. I bought a nice pack of Barq's with tape on it ;) I handled it with care...

[fusion]

FPs are in Lancaster. I was there last week, I saw them at the Super Wally and at the Weis, both of which are on PA 462, on the east side of the city. About 50% of the flavors had switched over, but there were a lot of holes. I don't think Baltimore is producing Grape Medley FPs yet, and I do know that Nestea Cool has been out of stock a lot lately. I think Lancaster has Mello Yello, if I remember correctly.

The old Capitol Division Pennsylvania Sales Centers (Lancaster, Lemoyne, Sunbury) still receive almost all of their 12 packs from Baltimore, as do some of the eastern old Herbco sales centers (Pittston, Reading, etc). Some stuff trickles in from Twinsburg and some from Elmsford (New York Division). Their switchover was staggered a little behind ours, but I'd say a little ahead of the western part of the Eastern Great Lakes.

We also don't have FP MM Valencia Light, FP Fanta Grape or FP Fanta Strawberry yet, and FP Nestea Peach also hasn't been produced yet (new 12pk flavor for the Mid-Atlantic Divison). Dasani FPs are authorized in about half of the chains, but we just got a whole new shipment of the older style 12 packs, where it's the cardboard tray wrapped in plastic.

Once in a while, I like to hit York just to see what Central is up to, since it's their closest territory to where I live. I usually check out the Super Wally, but I avoid the Giant since their are notoriously slow with their authorizations, and some things never do get in there.

I also like to stop by the Food Lion, which is on the east end of the city... on Market street (same street as Giant & Wally).

[teamtitan512]

I looked in Lancaster at 3 quik stores, a Toms, a Sheetz, and another one I can't remember. I also looked at a Kmart and Weis on the west side of town, on Fruitville Pike. In Harrisburg, other than Kmarts, most displays were entirely FP's. The Kmart on Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg actually has no FP's yet. Probably never see that again anywhere.

I saw Fanta Grape FP's at the Carlisle WM. I didn't see any Mello Yello. I got some V-style Vanilla Coke 20 oz. in Lancaster, code SS (Silver Spring). There were still regular packs of MM Grape Medley.

Giant is terrible w/Coke marketing. For some reason, they are extremely biased toward Pepsi. For some reason, so are Wal-Mart Supercenters, and it doesn't seem sales indicative either.

What I don't understand is the cycling of Central between the MM flavors and Fruitopia. Out here in the Highlands Sales Center (Cumberland), we've never seen anything but Fruitopia. Hagerstown and Winchester have seen both off and on for the past month or so now. York had them for sure this weekend, not sure if they've been alternating like down here.