On Coke™ vs. Pepsi™

This is a border-line pedantic post, but the issue comes up so often with people that know me. #1. I don't drink coffee. Ever since I was a kid I never liked hot liquids. I don't know if it was due to getting burned at a young age but I do not enjoy drinking hot liquids. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, even soups area often problem. I know, a Canadian that doesn't drink warm drinks... :O  Cold drinks on the other hand, yum. Even in the middle of winter I'd quite often stop off and get a Slurpie™ from 7-11.

But back to the Coke vs. Pepsi. (excuse the lack of ™ from this point, I'm bound to have forgotten one and/or use my clipboard. :) At work I bring in a can of Pepsi from home. On my way in I drop it off in the office freezer for 1 - 1.5 hours. (For the record they can go 3-4 hours without bursting.) So I sip a chilled Pepsi from around 08:00 and it lasts me until ~11:00. It's my morning pick-up and keeps my blood sugar level pretty stable through to lunch.

Some days when I'm bringing a spicy lunch I'll have a second can in the fridge with my lunch for the afternoon, however occasionally I get a craving in the other days for a second hit to get me through the afternoon. (Especially on particularly boring days) On those days I buy a Coke from the office vending machines.

People are often shocked by this, at least enough to point out that the vending machine does actually have Pepsi. There is this preconception that if you drink one of the major colas, you drink it exclusively. Frankly I never understood this, brand loyalty with soft drinks? I usually respond about the beer or wine they drink. Do they drink solely one brand? Maybe the issue is that with colas it is effectively a duopoly. It's perfectly understandable for people to have a preference, and I've noticed that if I drink one exclusively then try the other, it can taste a bit "odd". So to the question of that if the vending machine does have Pepsi, and I bring Pepsi in the morning, my preference should logically be for Pepsi, why would I buy a Coke?

The vending machine has 1 slot allocated to Pepsi and 16 slots allocated to Coke. I can drink either without qualm and by selecting Coke I don't have to worry about punching in the wrong number, plus it's very easy to see that it has stock. Both are the same price. Why then do I bring Pepsi in the morning? Pepsi 24 packs are cheaper here than Coke. I generally only pick them up when they're on sale for around $10 a pack. Coke is never that cheap.

Now the big question: If Pepsi and Coke were available for the same price in the 24 pack, which would I buy? Honestly I'd probably buy a pack of both and alternate. Well actually if all of the sodas were available for the same price, it'd probably be neither... I'd be picking up cases of Dr. Pepper, and A&W Root Beer. :)