New York’s soda ban: the Nanny State goes wild

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  • 09/21/2022

The detailed implementation of New York mayor/nurse Michael Bloomberg is under way, and the New York Post reports “merchants were shocked to see the broad sweep of the new regulations”:

Say goodbye to that 2-liter bottle of Coke with your pizza delivery, pitchers of soft drinks at your kid’s birthday party and some bottle-service mixers at your favorite nightclub.

They’d violate Mayor Bloomberg’s new rules, which prohibit eateries from serving or selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.

Which is awfully inconvenient, and expensive, for people trying to throw a party or feed a family:

Typically, a pizzeria charges $3 for a 2-liter bottle of Coke. But under the ban, customers would have to buy six 12-ounce cans at a total cost of $7.50 to get an equivalent amount of soda.

“I really feel bad for the customers,” said Lupe Balbuena of World Pie in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Domino’s on First Avenue and 74th Street on the Upper East Side is doing away with its most popular drink sizes: the 20-ounce and 2-liter bottles.

“We’re getting in 16-ounce bottles — and that’s all we’re going to sell,” a worker said.

He said the smaller bottles will generate more revenue for the restaurant but cost consumers more.

It will also trash more plastic into the environment.

But you can still buy such containers at grocery stores, at least for the time being, so this amounts to a regressive super-tax on people who try to access convenient delivery services or dine at restaurants.

As the Post notes, restaurants formerly served beverages in pitchers holding about 60 ounces, but now they’ll have to implement more expensive alternatives because Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t think his dimwitted citizens can be trusted not to guzzle the whole 60 ounces, rather than sharing the pitcher.  Even the carafes holding mixers for alcoholic beverages are falling under regulation.  Excessive alcohol consumption used to be the pressing issue facing bars and their patrons; now it’s excessive consumption of the Coca-Cola in your rum and Coke.  And anyone who makes a mistake under this complex regime of hyper-regulations is looking at a fine of $200 per violation.

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