Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company, Mr. Lenssen. We appreciate your interest in our Company. The Coca-Cola Company manufactures beverage syrups and sells them to locally and independently operated bottlers who have contracts to produce the finished beverages and sell them in their individual marketing areas. We price the syrups to these bottlers. When the syrups or beverage bases are purchased and processed by the local bottling plants, many other cost factors become involved. Each bottler establishes the price that is charged to retailers, which is the wholesale price. The retailer then sets the cost that the consumer pays, which is the reason it may vary from place to place or from one package to another. If you have additional questions or comments, please visit our website again. (...)