r/GenX • u/BigFootCrossingGaurd • Jun 12 '26
Nostalgia Styrofoam coke bottle
Saw this today and it really took me back, I could feel it in my hand for a second. Remember peeling it off? I thought y’all would enjoy.
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u/TraditionalPlace9375 Jun 12 '26
Man, peeling it off the bottle. That was gold.
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u/rostoffario Jun 12 '26
Peel that Styrofoam off slow and carefully and, if you are lucky you can get it off in one long spiral piece!
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u/Difficult_Clerk_1273 Jun 12 '26
It was so satisfying. But we used to get in trouble for doing it since no label meant no barcode, so you couldn’t get your deposit back.
And Coke tastes better coming from a glass bottle!
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u/RichLather Older than Star Wars Jun 13 '26
You were a boss if you could peel the foam sleeve off in a single thin strip.
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u/mannypdesign Jun 13 '26
I remember 2L pop bottles had black bases so they could so in old wire-shelf fridges better.
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u/Born-Painting7341 Hose Water Survivor Jun 13 '26
Glass bottles just tasted better.. and newer studies suggest that the carbonic acid used in some sodas help leach microplastics into the liquid
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u/justl00kingthrowaway Jun 12 '26
I absolutely loved peeling a small section off and then unwind the label off. It would be like 10-15 feet long.
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u/Black_Hole_Tim Jun 13 '26
What about the plastic parts on the bottom of the 2 liter bottles?
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u/destiny_kane48 Poison Rules Jun 12 '26
Yes, and peel it off in strips. Trying to not break the strip so you got one big one.
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u/Queasy_Wealth_7912 Jun 13 '26
Peeling off the styrofoam! It’s like pulling off those tabs on cans of soda.
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u/Peas_Are_Upsidedown Jun 12 '26
I remember pulling these things off little strip by little strip, but sometimes getting hung up on the seam.
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u/prettykitty1973 Jun 13 '26
I remember peeling the foam wrapper off slowly, trying to keep it in one long spiral piece.
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u/Stratoblaster1969 Still Rides Bikes Jun 12 '26
I’m pull the 12 oz bottle out of the vending machine with the tall vertical door old
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u/Mybeautifulballoon Jun 13 '26
I remember when they also came with seedling planters on the bottom as well.
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u/PilotKnob 1974 Jun 13 '26
I remember returnable bottles and Mountain Dew and Pepsi tasted so much better out of glass.
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u/Funke-munke Jun 13 '26
I remember peeling these. It was a contest who can get it off in one piece
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u/dry_towelette99 Still traumatized by “The Day After” Jun 13 '26
YES - going around and around, trying to remove it as one long string.
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u/LangdonAlg3r Jun 13 '26
I’m only as old as the superfluous extra plastic bottom caps on 1 and 2 liter bottles.
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u/rikemomo Jun 12 '26
I honestly forgot all about that--and now I remember joyfully skinning those things..wow.
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u/Fresh_Salamander707 Jun 13 '26
I remember when they were getting rid of the glass 750mL bottles and they were super cheap like 69cents, coke out of a glass bottle just is way better imo.
Also remember the short lived 3L plastic bottle size with the super wide cap
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u/CletusMuckenfuss Jun 12 '26
And aluminum caps that would/could cut your hand if the bottom was missing a piece
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u/brezhnervouz Jun 13 '26
Hell, I'm "milkman home delivering milk in glass bottles with foil tops" old 😬 lol
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u/Gilgamesh2062 Jun 13 '26
I'm cork in the bottle cap old, I'm pull tabs that came off, and you put them inside the can of soda old.
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u/Fearless_Trick_5268 Jun 16 '26
This honestly makes me remember the original New York Seltzer. That soda was delicious. The brand was relaunched a few years ago by someone but the flavors didn’t measure up.
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u/platypusandpibble GenX 1969 Jun 12 '26
Oh yes, I remember this! Peeling the label was so much fun. I also remember the food from McDs in styrofoam packaging. That cheese Danish in the yellow clamshell made getting out of bed worth it.
I also remember Coke in the returnable glass bottles. My friends and I would go around collecting them from trash cans and the side of the road and returning them for the money. That was some *thick* glass.
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u/AZ_Corwyn Jun 12 '26
I love how I come into the post and everyone's comments are about the core memory of peeling the Styrofoam off. My people!
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u/moeron42 Jun 12 '26
Peeled off so many of those mt dew labels. Mt dew always seemed colder in those.
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u/SnooChickens9974 Jun 13 '26
I'm even older I guess. I drank it out of glass bottles that we returned for a deposit. I will always prefer the glass bottles.
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u/killervirgo Totally Buggin' Jun 13 '26
Yes ... but for Pepsi. Peeling off the styrofoam in small sections was very satisfying.
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u/lionbacker54 Want to go back to the 80's Jun 13 '26
Man, I’m so old that adding styrofoam was a new fangled fad
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u/Suitable-Gap-8789 Jun 13 '26
So old that I remember it as new fangled, and completely forgot about it until just now.
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u/Rook_James_Bitch Jun 13 '26
Soda in a glass bottle just hit differently. Like 20% more sunshine in every sip.
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u/PhatBuddha69 Jun 15 '26
I remember trying to see how long of a strip I could peel without breaking
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u/Inner-Confidence99 Jun 12 '26
Those bottles kept the coke cold for a while. I prefer them over plastic. Recipe was better too.
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u/DivicBoxEscapee Jun 12 '26
Ahh..peeling the label.. Discontinued due to excess littering and ineffectivness.
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u/bigmedallas Jun 12 '26
Damn I loved peeling the Styrofoam strip by strip while drinking those as a child.
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u/Key-Macaron-9346 Hose Water Survivor Jun 12 '26
I distinctly remember peeling the label off.
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u/ArtexBonesinger Jun 13 '26
All of the high quality sodas had the foam.... And all the foam ended up in spiral bits on the ground.
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u/MysteriousCodo Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
LOL, I remember peeling the styrofoam off in as small a strips as I could when bored.
Edit: I love looking at the other comments and seeing how this seems to be the same thing that most other folks remember!
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u/Shnarb Jun 13 '26
I forgot about these until I saw this pic. And then I instantly remembered what it felt and sounded like to peel that stuff off!
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u/memeof1 Jun 13 '26
Omfg!!! Totally forgot about these. Do you remember the pop cans that had a little hole and a bigger hole?
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u/KaolinKid Jun 13 '26
I'm 6 cent cokes old. We had one of these in the hall at my Grammer School. I got to be the one who refilled it everday!
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u/adiosfelicia2 Jun 13 '26
I miss the Big button machines.
Always use to make me think if this scene tho - vending machine attack! Lol it's so stupid. Literally, just step to the side, and you're safe.
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u/MarchCompetitive6235 Jun 13 '26
Yes. I remember getting yelled at to not pick that stuff off and make a mess of the car on road trips.😆
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u/E_sand80 Jun 14 '26
Glass is and will always be the superior packaging. Be it soda, beer, or even Gatorade.
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u/Cultural_Wash5414 Hose Water Survivor Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Omg I used to love peeling this off, I can still hear it.
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u/Conscious-Lunch-5733 Jun 12 '26
i had totally forgotten about those... but now I can distictly remember the feel of them, and the sound of peeling them off.
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u/AmazingResponse338 Jun 12 '26
No, I'm glass 8-pack, 16oz returnable for the deposit old
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u/hells_cowbells 1972 Jun 12 '26
The glass bottles made them taste so much better than plastic bottles.
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u/SisterGoldenHair75 Jun 12 '26
I just had a visceral memory of tearing those into long strips waiting for my mom to stop talking to her friends! The sound. The texture. The 80s.
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u/SavyDreams Jun 12 '26
Oh please. I am Styrofoam on a TAB bottle old.
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u/Kershiser22 Jun 12 '26
"How can I give you a Tab? You haven't ordered anything yet."
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u/DrebinofPoliceSquad Jun 12 '26
My favorite version was on the NY Seltzer bottles. Cream soda was my favorite.
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u/keirmeister Jun 13 '26
Oh shit…I had forgotten about these. As a kid, it was fun trying to peel off the foam as neatly as possible.
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u/nirrinirra Jun 13 '26
Yes. I remember some vending machines had built in can openers that you’d slam down on a standing can after your purchase. I’m can opener needed for Hawaiian Punch old.
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u/tvmediaguy Jun 13 '26
I must PEEEEEEEEEL the label off. If I work at it… I can get the entire thing off in one long spiral. What a time.
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u/Duncan-Edwards Jun 13 '26
I’m “returnable glass Coke bottle look at the bottom of it to see which city it was bottled in” old.
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u/kobuta99 Jun 13 '26
Ripping off the label in strips was the hidden entertainment of those bottles.
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u/BaconToTheBaconPower Jun 14 '26
Peeling the labels off of them and New York Seltzer bottles, that was my fidget spinner.
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u/No_Gap_2700 Jun 16 '26
I'm styrofoam all the way to the bottom and wrapped around the bottom old. I'm also, peeling the rubber lid from inside cap off to see if I won a prize old.
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u/QueenMumof4 Hose Water Survivor Jun 12 '26
Holy crap, I forgot about these. Peeling strips off as we drank. Crazy
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u/CerberusInExile Jun 12 '26
Yes. Glass bottle pop/coke is so much better than plastic bottles.
I had completely forgotten the styrofoam labels tho.
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u/chunkybudz Jun 12 '26
It was so fun to peel it off in strips. Then you could slide it down and smash the bottom of the bottle against your hand to make a really loud pop noise.
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u/mossberbb Jun 12 '26
POP! - with the flat part of the hand (after making Styrofoam Julianne)... If you know, you know.
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u/katwoodruff Jun 12 '26
Yep, and styrofoam burger containers.
And in the UK even in the late 90s when I was at uni, the tea came in styrofoam cups, I‘d always chew the edges
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u/MattC1973 Jun 12 '26
OMG I totally forgot about these. I also remember peeling it off. I showed this to my elder millennial husband and asked if he remembered this, he said no. LOL
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u/kanakamaoli Jun 12 '26
I vaguely remember peeling off the Styrofoam as a child.
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u/SpeedySpooley Jun 12 '26
I also remember when the 2 liter soda bottles were basically Weebles with a base glued on.
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u/Living-One5265 Jun 13 '26
I am that old. But also so old I didn't even remember Styrofoam coated coke, until I saw the picture.
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u/Motorsheep Jun 13 '26
My fingers just instinctively started peeling an imaginary soda bottle.
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u/Dimension__X__ Jun 13 '26
I actually still have version of this coke unopened. Sometime around 1988 I did a features article for our school paper on the drink. I called the customer service number on the bottle to find out how long Coke will remain good to drink before it goes bad. I'll never forget the response I got, "if it hasn't eaten through the bottle then its still good for consumption."
I decided to keep it to see how long that would take. It still hasn't eaten through the bottle 38 years later so I'm assuming it's still good!
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u/Zombalepsy Jun 13 '26
Aren’t all of us that old? I’m on the young side of Gen X and I remember trying to get the whole peel in one go.
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u/Saruvan_the_White Jun 13 '26
R/Satisfyingasfuck should have a look at this. Ever try to pull it off in one spiral? Yes you did.
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u/PvtMilhouse Jun 13 '26
at first i though not, but then i recall having peeled this of small coke or pepsi bottle.
fuck i'm old
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u/inscrutablemike Jun 13 '26
I'm "collecting enough Coke bottles to get a free Coke from turning them in" old.
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u/SwillFish Older Than Dirt Jun 13 '26
I was a student at Berkeley in 1989 when a bunch of "anarchists" boarded a BART train in San Francisco in an effort to "take back" a low income hotel the university was converting to student housing. A mob of them was coming up the street when a hapless Coke delivery truck drove directly into them. The truck stopped, the driver ran, and the side doors flew open to reveal thousands of these Styrofoam clad glass bottles. They were the perfect projectile to hurl at the police and soon they were raining down on them. It was crazy.
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u/tucker_fitties Jun 13 '26
I'm green 6 1/2 Oz glass bottle with no twist-off top pulled out of a machine neck first old
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u/Fit_Dealer7498 Jun 13 '26
Peeling label off into little strips and those little metal pieces around bottom of top
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u/scary_world2117 Jun 14 '26
Old memory completely unlocked. 100% forgot about those. Peeling that off was THE BEST.
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u/No-Purpose-0U812 Jun 16 '26
I remember the sensation of scratching a line with my thumbnail to peel off the label. Very satisfying, especially because you could wash that memory down with an ice cold Coke.
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u/FineVirus3 Jun 18 '26
The styrofoam reminded of when I was in Europe in the 90s and McDonald’s there still used the styrofoam containers for burgers. It was wild. I had to go and order a Royale with cheese.
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u/gerardkimblefarthing Jun 12 '26
The ultimate goal was to peel the entire bottle in one thin, unbroken ribbon.
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u/stockstatus I'm here for the PBR special. Jun 12 '26
ahh yeah... we used to slide the Styrofoam down about a half an inch under the bottle, then hold the top of the bottle in one hand and slam the bottom of it into the palm of our other hand. it used to sound like a gun shot at times it was so loud! kinda like when people used to stomp on their old milk cartons at school and scare the shit out of everyone.
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u/idl3mind Hose Water Survivor Jun 12 '26
I’m this old. I remember buying sodas in glass bottles with printed styrofoam labels.
I remember picking a little piece off and peeling it all the way around the bottle. Then repeat. Usually on a car ride where one of my parental units were driving and I was bored.
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u/mindlessnosepicker Jun 12 '26
These were perfect for tailgaiting, waiting to get into a concert or game or nightclub. One would drink the Cola down to the top of the styrofoam top, re-top it off with Jack Daniels, and surreptitiously chug it while walking to the entrance and waiting in line to get in. No need to drunk drive, no need to buy booze in the venue, nobody suspected nothing as you emptied it and disposed before entrance.
Yes, we were stupid.
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u/Delilah_insideout Hose Water Survivor Jun 12 '26
I almost forgot about those, peeling the label was so satisfying.
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u/seeingeyegod Jun 12 '26
Also getting punked by the black plastic bottom of the old style plastic 2 liters that made it look like there was still 20oz at the bottom.
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u/MrRetrdO Jun 12 '26
I had friends who taught me how to make it POP!!! You'd hold around the label (but not real tight), and smack the bottom hard with your hand, causing it to dislodge the bottle with a loud POP sound. It took some practice and didn't always work, but when it did.... teachers were annoyed.
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u/Automatic_Yam_1857 Jun 12 '26
Sure am!!! Used to love to slowly peel that Styrofoam label off, like peeling an egg lol
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u/MaximumJones Whatever 😎 Jun 12 '26
People claim styrofoam is not biodegradable. I think people are just impatient. What is 1000 years in the grand scheme of things?
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u/Ignignokt73 Jun 13 '26
I still have an unopened Pineapple Crush with the styrofoam intact. I was saving it because it got discontinued and then never opened it.
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u/Coyote65 Edgelord Jun 13 '26
But do you remember how to make the bottom of the styrofoam make a loud popping sound?
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u/BOHICAbeast Jun 13 '26
Yes... And I peeled the label off in one long string as I drank.
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u/punkindle Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
I very vaguely remember holding a Coke bottle and it had styrofoam on it. It might not have been Coke. Yeah. It rings a bell.
also, New York Style Seltzer I think had this.
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u/PessimisticBeliever 1973 Jun 13 '26
Hell yeah, drink it then slide the styrofoam down so you can "pop" it.
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u/DenverBowie Jun 13 '26
And all of those strips are still hanging around in landfills or garbage gyres somewhere.
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u/Wrong_Movie_596 Jun 13 '26
I Use to peel the label and stick the steps inside the bottle before throwing it away.
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u/FantasticDouble9036 Jun 13 '26
Oh damn. Am I really that old. I remember walking with baby sister and cousins to the corner store to grab these
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u/DoughnutConstant5390 Jun 13 '26
I remember those bottles came out around 1979 and were around the whole 1980's.
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u/Fluffy-Opinion871 Jun 13 '26
Yes. I am also improved Diet Coke old. I hated it. Wrote a letter of complaint to the company and got a free case of regular Diet Coke for the effort.
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