Convenience store’s cold drink surcharge divides shoppers

A Sydney shop has raised eyebrows over this sign advising of a surcharge for a common item, which has quickly become the topic of hot debate.

A Sydney shop’s surcharge for a common item has raised eyebrows and become hotly debated.

A shopper took to Reddit to share their bewilderment upon spotting a sign advising of an additional fee for cold drinks inside a CitiSuper convenience store.

“Surcharge for cold drinks? I guess that’s a new one (at least for me),” they wrote.

They shared an image of the sign, which stated it would cost 20 cents for under 1.5L and 50 cents for above 1.5L.

Reddit users were divided over the surcharge, with some furious over the fee and others supportive.

One user said it was “so disgusting”, while another commented, “Surcharging getting out of hand lately everyone is on that ship.”

And a third said, “Do they sell all the same drinks non-refrigerated? This sign infuriates me and I don’t know why.”

However, others pointed out that many shops charge extra for cold drinks, they just usually don’t advertise that it’s a surcharge.

Some of the drinks on display. Picture: Reddit

One shopper wrote, “Woolies and Coles do this just without the sign. Ever noticed how expensive a Pepsi is from the fridge instead of the shelf?”

Whole another said, “Am I the only one who thinks it’s kind of reasonable, I mean at the end of the day they have to pay for the fridge, floorspace, power, etc. If you want to pay less than buy the warm drink, if you can get your cold drink cheaper elsewhere then go elsewhere.”

And a Reddit user even praised the shop owners.

“Pretty average, nice of them to actually advertise it at least,” they said.

“Go check the price difference of a warm 2L bottle of Coke on the shelf at Colesworth versus the price of a cold one from the same store.

“If I remember right it was about $2 for 2L of warm Coke, or $4.50 for a 600mL cold one.”

When contacted by 7News for comment, the owner of CitiSuper in Sydney’s CBD said, “We give our customers the choice, they can either grab a cold drink from the fridge and pay a little bit more, or they can grab one from the other section for a bit less.

“But all supermarkets do it, like Coles and Woolies, they just include the surcharge in their price already for cold drinks.”