Stores not carrying popular items

[algorerhythms]

Diet Pepsi is a very poor substitute for Diet Coke. If I am eating at an establishment that has Pepsi products, I get Diet Mountain Dew if it's available because Diet Pepsi is swill. Around here, Dr Pepper is a Pepsi-distributed product so some places have Diet Dr Pepper, and I'll get that.

I've noticed that Speedway and Sheetz stores have both Coke and Pepsi products available at the fountain.

Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi are poor substitutes for regular Coke and Pepsi. I'd rather drink Cuyahoga River flambé than any drink or food containing artificial sweeteners. They're not only bad for you and dangerous, but they taste like Doberman shit. I was filling up the saccharin in the sugar/creamer machine at work the other day and got some of the saccharin in my mouth. It tasted like absolute poo and I could still taste it several hours later. Right after I tasted the saccharine saccharin I developed a bad headache. The same thing happened the next day and I got the same type of headache. Sucralose is the worst. At my last job, the sugar machines had a spot for Splenda, which easily becomes airborne. I got that shit in my mouth, up my nose and all over my clothes. I learned to start tucking my shirt over my nose in the same way that everybody does when they smell shit. It looks like I'm going to have to start doing that with the saccharin. And I'm not even going to touch aspartame because it's a low lying target. I'm starting to wonder if the banned cyclamates were safer than sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, neotame, and saccharin (which is probably the safest artificial sweetener on the market (which isn't saying much)). Is anyone here old enough or Canadian enough to remember what cyclamates tasted like? How bad was the aftertaste? They were banned years before I was born so I have never gotten the chance to taste it.

Could be worse.

[SteveG1988]

Truck Stops in general don't carry lock deicer, try to find it...and you're going to pull your hair out while you try.

[hbelkins]

Is anyone here old enough or Canadian enough to remember what cyclamates tasted like? How bad was the aftertaste? They were banned years before I was born so I have never gotten the chance to taste it.

I remember, vaguely, and don't remember an aftertaste. There was some sort of liquid artificial sweetener made with cyclamates, the name of which I can't remember, that my grandmother used sometimes to sweeten iced tea. The bottle she had lasted long after the substance was banned.

[bugo]

Is anyone here old enough or Canadian enough to remember what cyclamates tasted like? How bad was the aftertaste? They were banned years before I was born so I have never gotten the chance to taste it.

I remember, vaguely, and don't remember an aftertaste. There was some sort of liquid artificial sweetener made with cyclamates, the name of which I can't remember, that my grandmother used sometimes to sweeten iced tea. The bottle she had lasted long after the substance was banned.

Sucaryl?

[ftballfan]

My mom shops at Oleson's (a local chain in my area) and they haven't had pizza flavored Goldfish crackers the last few times she's been there. Needless to say, she can't wait for the new Meijer store to open in a few weeks

[NE2]

Hobby Lobby refuses to carry sex toys and birth control, despite sex being the oldest hobby.

[DaBigE]

Hobby Lobby refuses to carry sex toys and birth control, despite sex being the oldest hobby.

You forgot Hobby Town USA.

[JMoses24]

I just ran into this problem.

Specifically, my local Walmart did not have either 12 or 24 packs of caffeine free Diet Mountain Dew. My local grocer does carry it, but one problem...they weren't open when I sent my brother to get it at 1:40 AM. And none of the gas stations carry 20 ounce bottles OR 2 Liters of the stuff. But I can find 20 ounce bottles of caffeine free Diet Coke at every gas station within 3 blocks. WTF?

[jeffandnicole]

I just ran into this problem.

Specifically, my local Walmart did not have either 12 or 24 packs of caffeine free Diet Mountain Dew. My local grocer does carry it, but one problem...they weren't open when I sent my brother to get it at 1:40 AM. And none of the gas stations carry 20 ounce bottles OR 2 Liters of the stuff. But I can find 20 ounce bottles of caffeine free Diet Coke at every gas station within 3 blocks. WTF?

There are many different choices of soda out there, and only so much space to carry it within small convenience stores.  I wouldn't consider Caffeine Free Diet Mountain Dew a "popular item".

[signalman]

I just ran into this problem.

Specifically, my local Walmart did not have either 12 or 24 packs of caffeine free Diet Mountain Dew. My local grocer does carry it, but one problem...they weren't open when I sent my brother to get it at 1:40 AM. And none of the gas stations carry 20 ounce bottles OR 2 Liters of the stuff. But I can find 20 ounce bottles of caffeine free Diet Coke at every gas station within 3 blocks. WTF?

There are many different choices of soda out there, and only so much space to carry it within small convenience stores.  I wouldn't consider Caffeine Free Diet Mountain Dew a "popular item".

Nor would I.  Infact, until I read JMoses's post, I didn't even know that it was available.

[Brian556]

quote from NE2:

Hobby Lobby refuses to carry sex toys and birth control, despite sex being the oldest hobby.

funny.

[Brandon]

Hobby Lobby refuses to carry sex toys and birth control, despite sex being the oldest hobby.

Yeah, but Menards has more and bigger wood.

[GaryV]

Caffeine Free Diet Mountain Dew

As my sister says, "What's the point?"

[bugo]

Caffeine Free Diet Mountain Dew

As my sister says, "What's the point?"

+1

[Scott5114]

I was at BJ's Brewhouse the other day and they have discontinued their boneless wings. We don't eat at BJ's a whole lot, because it is kind of expensive and they don't allow reservations unless you have an arbitrary number of points in their rewards system, so it's not a huge deal. Next time I'm in the mood for wings though, I'll probably just go to Buffalo Wild Wings.

[bugo]

The best Buffalo wings I've ever had were the boneless mild Buffalo sauce "wings" you get at Pizza Hut. The sauce doesn't have a lot of heat so it can't rely on just heat. They are more flavorful than their medium or hot wings for sure;.

[Scott5114]

^ Never had wings from Pizza Hut. Might have to try them.

[mcdonaat]

As far as soda brands go, it is annoying when fast-food joints only have Pepsi products. Pepsi sucks. I hate it.

Funny, I seem to run into many more places that are Coke-only rather than Pepsi-only. Worse still, the Coke-only outlets usually don't carry diet Sprite, the only Coke product I can stand, but rather only regular Sprite (I can't drink sugared sodas for medical reasons).

While I have ridiculously strong brand preferences, it usually doesn't matter since on the road I bring my favorite sodas in a portable electric cooler.

Not trying to poke a hole in your statement, but I saw Sprite Zero for the first time on a fountain at a DQ in Beaumont, TX. Tasted way better than a regular Sprite.

[bugo]

I went to Kmart to get a C clamp. Of course, they didn't have any. I then went to Walmart and they didn't have any either. I ended up having to go to Lowe's to get a simple C clamp.

[Pete from Boston]

I went to Kmart to get a C clamp. Of course, they didn't have any. I then went to Walmart and they didn't have any either. I ended up having to go to Lowe's to get a simple C clamp.

The second-to-last time I went to Wal-Mart was late at night when I was on the road and needed a spark plug.  They had an unusually good selection of automotive consumables for a general-merchandise store.  However, the tool section was a mess.  The selection was limited and inconsistent, and open and damaged packages abounded.  I felt like it was the clearance tool section, where the last one of everything was being sold along with damaged merchandise, but it was not.

The last time I was there, I looked for a collar extender, which they did not have, but in a more telling tale of America today, they had a larger version that was a waistband extender.

[roadman65]

I was in an electronics store to replace one half of my lap top power cable.  Apparently they have to sell you the entire thing despite you only needing one part of it.

Normally it would not bother me that much, but when they charge you over 80 bucks it I cannot stop to think about it.