en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_price_of_Coca-Cola_from_1886_to_1959
1 correction found
In 1950, Coca-Cola owned over 85% of the 460,000 vending machines in the United States.
This misstates what the 460,000 figure refers to. The source cited by Levy and Young says about 460,000 was the number of bottle machines in the soft-drink industry, not all vending machines in the United States.
Full reasoning
The article turns an industry-specific figure into a nationwide total.
Levy and Young's paper explains that soft drink machines were only a subset of all vending machines in 1950: soft drink machines accounted for 24.6% of vending machine sales. The paper then says there were about 400,000 Coca-Cola bottle vending machines and that the soft drink industry as a whole operated about 460,000 bottle machines. Their conclusion is that Coca-Cola accounted for about 87% of the industry's bottle vending machines.
So the correct reading is:
- ~400,000 Coca-Cola bottle vending machines
- ~460,000 bottle vending machines in the soft drink industry as a whole
- Coca-Cola had ~87% of that industry segment
That does not mean Coca-Cola owned over 85% of all vending machines in the United States.
1 source
- “The Real Thing:” Nominal Price Rigidity of the Nickel Coke, 1886–1959
By 1950 soft drink machines accounted for 24.6% of vending machine sales… by 1950 there were about 400,000 Coca-Cola vending machines… The soft drink industry, as a whole, operated approximately 460,000 machines at that time… it accounted for about 87% of the industry’s bottle vending machines.