Think Twice Before Grabbing A Soda By The Grocery Store Checkout — You Could Be Paying Extra

If you've ever grabbed a soda from the cooler near the checkout aisle at your local supermarket, we're in no position to judge you. Who among us hasn't come to the end of their shopping expedition and reached for those little sliding doors, whether to grab a drink for the car or to save it for later? Sure, sometimes there are complications — like when you're a resolute Coke person and you find yourself stranded in the aisle near the cooler filled with Pepsi — but there's nothing inherently wrong with it, right? Well, not really, but you may find yourself paying a little more than you might like.

It's often the case that, when you pick up a soda from the coolers near the front, you're paying more money than you would for the same soda picked up from the beverage aisle. Now, it's true that the beverage aisle isn't usually refrigerated, so if you're looking for an ice cold Dr Pepper (with its 23 secret flavors) to drink on the spot, it could still make sense to get it from the cooler. But if you're saving it for later, you could very well be spending more money for no reason.

It's easy to casually notice something and not think about it very deeply, but there are some things worth wondering about. Why is it, really, that just about every supermarket in America has those coolers right near the checkout aisles? The same reason why every checkout aisle has racks full of candy waiting to entice you: the goal is to get you to make an impulse purchase. Not only are these items usually small, making it easier to pick them up and toss them on the conveyor belt, they're also located in a part of the store that everybody has to go through. In military terminology (or video game terminology, whichever you're more familiar with), the checkout aisle is a choke point, and the people who design the stores are determined to take advantage of it.

There's another layer to the cooler strategy, called "decision fatigue." Once you've reached the checkout aisle, you've probably already sorted through hundreds upon hundreds of products, buying some, ignoring others, and resisting the siren call of certain tempting options. By the time you reach the end, though, you're tired of making decisions, tired of resisting: you want a frosty cold Pepsi, and you want it now. These are the small decisions, like what items go on sale and why rotisserie chickens are so cheap, that go into running a supermarket.