Coca-Cola to discontinue Tab

[golden eagle]

I may've had a Tab once ever. I remember not liking it.

https://www.eater.com/21523028/coca-cola-retires-tab-diet-soda

[GaryV]

There's a lady at our church who will be disconsolate.

I could never see the attraction.

[JoePCool14]

Someone, somewhere out there will be very upset this morning.

[Max Rockatansky]

Tab?  I can't give you a tab unless you order something!

[SP Cook]

The panic/pandemic has caused a serious shortage of both bottles and cans.  My local places, both grocery and individual retail, can only get the basic flavors now.  KO is using the time to cull out lots of small brands. 

This contradicts the "jello theory" in marketing.  95% of jello sales are of its core 8 flavors, yet it makes upwards of 50.  Why?  Because knowing each store only has so much space for gelatin, the more of it taken up by jello eliminates lesser brands.

[kevinb1994]

I'm honestly going to miss having this as something that was far more than a product of its time. It was and will always be something I miss as part of the Homestuck community. It is quite the "˜pop' culture reference, even though it could be qualified as somewhat obscure.

I will add that I haven't had any of it, having sold my soul to bottles of Faygo instead.

[Throckmorton]

They still make TaB?

[Takumi]

What year is it?

[-- US 175 --]

Coke has tried to phase out Tab for several years, but apparently, despite the presence of both Diet Coke and Coke Zero, Tab still has a small group of loyal fans.  I've looked in a couple of stores in the last week or so, and no traces.

[formulanone]

Back when I worked in a grocery store in the 1990s, there were always one or two customers who would hoard all the TaB we had on the shelf and any remaining backstock.  But I don't remember too many people asking for it when it was a stock-out, so I don't think that really counts as hoarding!

...if anything, more customers were likely to give us stockclerks a puzzled look and say, "They still make Tab?!?"

[golden eagle]

I didn't realize Tab was still around until recently.

[Thing 342]

Someone, somewhere out there will be very upset this morning.

I'm more cross that they also decided to discontinue Northern Neck Ginger Ale. Far better than Seagram's or Schweppes, in my opinion.

[1995hoo]

Tab?  I can't give you a tab unless you order something!

Then gimme a Pepsi Free.

[oscar]

I tried Tab when I had to switch from sugared to unsugared sodas in the 1980s. I couldn't stand it. Fortunately, around that time aspartame-flavored diet sodas hit the market, and they worked much better for me (and I guess lots of other consumers), so my switch to Tab was short-lived.

[Stephane Dumas]

To my knowledge, the Tab Cola wasn't sold in Quebec. I remember more RC Cola.

[Rothman]

TaB disappeared at least from my hometown for a while when I was a teenager.  A local ice cream store never changed their menu.  One time, a friend tried to order a large TaB and he and the cashier had a good laugh over it.

[Max Rockatansky]

Tab?  I can't give you a tab unless you order something!

Then gimme a Pepsi Free.

Hey pal, I can't give you a Pepsi unless you pay for it!

[hbelkins]

My brother used to drink Tab.

Now that Diet Coke and Coke Zero have killed Tab, how long until one of those kills the other? I prefer Diet Coke, but have developed a taste for Coke Zero on occasion.

And will Fresca suffer the same fate as Tab, now that I'm seeing more Diet Sprite availability?

[KeithE4Phx]

Tab?  I thought that brand was replaced by Diet Coke decades ago.

[1995hoo]

Tab?  I can't give you a tab unless you order something!

Then gimme a Pepsi Free.

Hey pal, I can't give you a Pepsi unless you pay for it!

Just give me something without sugar.

[Dirt Roads]

Oh my, TaB.  When I was working a large railroad territory back in the mid-1980s, I would try to remember every McDonalds that still served Tab and generally avoid them.  My territory covered Pennsylvania (both sides) through South Carolina (technically, Savannah) and I helped cover a number of projects elsewhere.  But when I got transferred to the Pittsburgh area, I got into a nostalgic phase.  I found an old country store in the South Hills (Castle Shannon, IIRC) that sold TaB in the bottle.  But one such stop there, they had started selling Fresca in the can and I grabbed one.  The parking area was on the other side of Library Road.  You should have seen the face of the police officer who stopped to let me cross when I took a sip right in front of him.  He couldn't figure out what kind of "beer" that I was drinking. 

Anyhow, I do confess that I did frequent some McDonalds along I-77 and I-95 in search of TaB for a few years.

[Dirt Roads]

I also confess to transporting cases of Diet Mountain Dew from the Save-a-Lot on Industrial Blvd (MD-51) in Cumberland, Maryland all across the country.  For a number of years, it was the only place that I ever found any.  It was probably illegal to transport so much, but I wasn't about to give any away.  (I did offer to a few friends who politely turned up their noses at diet sodas).

[Max Rockatansky]

I also confess to transporting cases of Diet Mountain Dew from the Save-a-Lot on Industrial Blvd (MD-51) in Cumberland, Maryland all across the country.  For a number of years, it was the only place that I ever found any.  It was probably illegal to transport so much, but I wasn't about to give any away.  (I did offer to a few friends who politely turned up their noses at diet sodas).

Clandestine Diet Mountain Dew?  Sounds like a premise for a Smokey and the Bandit exploitation movie.  The protagonist can drive a Mustang II Cobra instead of a Trans Am. 

[jeffandnicole]

My brother used to drink Tab.

Now that Diet Coke and Coke Zero have killed Tab, how long until one of those kills the other? I prefer Diet Coke, but have developed a taste for Coke Zero on occasion.

And will Fresca suffer the same fate as Tab, now that I'm seeing more Diet Sprite availability?

It appears these are the top selling sodas:

Coke
Pepsi
Diet Coke
Mountain Dew

Using a report for 2018, Diet Coke sales were up 4.6% since 2010; Coke Zero went up 10%. Both seem to be doing well for Coca-Cola.

[Dirt Roads]

I also confess to transporting cases of Diet Mountain Dew from the Save-a-Lot on Industrial Blvd (MD-51) in Cumberland, Maryland all across the country.  For a number of years, it was the only place that I ever found any.  It was probably illegal to transport so much, but I wasn't about to give any away.  (I did offer to a few friends who politely turned up their noses at diet sodas).

Clandestine Diet Mountain Dew?  Sounds like a premise for a Smokey and the Bandit exploitation movie.  The protagonist can drive a Mustang II Cobra instead of a Trans Am.

Cool.  For the record, I was driving a cheap Firebird back then.  But most of the time, it was the company K-car (or company Jeep after moving to Pennsylvania).