Obey Your Verse

I saw the Obey Your Verse campaign from Sprite several weeks ago and have been trying to avoid the cans (not another collection to work on).  First, Coca-Cola brought back its nicknames campaign which meant I would be on the search for those again this summer.  And now Sprite has this collection of cans that features lyrics from various artists.

When I got home I checked all the cans and saw I got eight different ones from this one 12-pack.  Not too bad!  I wasn't sure how many cans were in the collection until I saw the numbers on each can.

Sixteen.  That's not too bad since I now have half of them.  So I'll continue to watch for the other cans.  At least Sprite made it easy by numbering the cans.

Upside Down

I've spent the last couple of days out of town at a conference.  During my free morning yesterday, a couple of us checked out some local antique/junk shops.  I wasn't expecting to find any cans... and that's when I found one.

Tucked away on a shelf in the corner was this lonely straight steel Dr Pepper can.  I already have similar cans, maybe even this exact one I thought, until I noticed the top of it was smooth.  I picked up the $4 can and that's when I saw the label was upside down.  

I know these aren't super rare or really worth much more (if any more) than a normal can.  After all, it's just a mistake.  But it's the first one for my collection!  

The guy at the counter asked if I was a Dr Pepper collector.  I told him no, I collect soda cans of all brands.  He told me he had a couple of old paper Dr Pepper hats worn in a soda shop years ago.  Tempting as it was (haha), one treasure per day is enough!!

July 11, 2015, Update:
A collector of Dr Pepper cans has helped me immensely in the last few years by offering his extras when he needed to make room.  I've bought various Dr Pepper and DP clone cans and offered them for his collection, but he has always had them already.  But when I sent the pic of the above upside-down can he said he did not have one of those yet.  I was finally able to contribute to his collection.  In return, I received a few more of his extras in the mail today.  It's all about the trading...

Summer Nicknames Have Returned

It was to my dismay that I recently saw a new Coca-Cola can... that had a nickname printed on it!  I remember last summer trying to track down all the different names for Coca-Cola cans, then the ones for Diet Coke, then Coke Zero had some, then... then... then...

At the office

Yesterday at work they restocked the beverage fridge.  And that always means new Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Diet Dr Pepper, Mtn Dew, Diet Mtn Dew, and sometimes cans of other brands.  So once everyone was out of the break room, I started digging through the shelves of cans to see how many different nicknames I could find.

The Diet Coke cans were the only ones with names.  I found BFF, Mom, Dad, Soulmate, Superstar and Trendsetter.  I also found a Coca-Cola can with a 2015 Six Flags coupon.

Ok, let's see how many different cans Coca-Cola makes me work to collect this summer...

The Winner Was... Pepsi!

I found this Pepsi can at an antique mall in Evansville, IN, last weekend.  Since I had never seen one before, the $3 price tag seemed reasonable.  The expiration date stamped on the bottom is April 26, 2010.

When I got home I did a little research online and found an article explaining how PepsiCo won the 2010 CO3 Award.  Rather than try to paraphrase it, here's a link to the article.

Looking at the picture below on the left, I'm led to believe this may have been a four-can set with this being the fourth can since the number 4 is highlighted.  

Regardless of what brand or flavor or special occasion, gold cans are always attention-grabbers.  This one grabbed my attention and now sits with over 300 other Pepsi cans in my collection.

Sprite 6 Mix (part 2)

Shortly after purchase

When I stopped in a gas station for some ice on the way to a friend's house this evening, I perused the station's assortment of cans.  I was actually looking for the two 16 oz Dr Pepper Avengers cans but instead found this year's Sprite LeBron's Mix.

In better lighting

Last year I posted about finding the first can released.  I read an article earlier this
year that said a new version was going to be released, but I hadn't seen it yet.

For $.99 I couldn't pass it up.  It's a cool looking red can, but do you know what this means?  I'm still looking for the two Avengers cans.  :)

Road Trip to Evansville

I took a short road trip to Evansville, Indiana, yesterday.  I've been there a couple of times before with limited success in finding cans.  But yesterday was a different story.  I had to choose which cans to buy.

The first booth that had cans sold them for $1 each.  I'm used to buying in bulk, so to have to choose which few I wanted to buy was really hard.  And being an antique mall, the seller wasn't there to make a deal with.  So I chose five and continued shopping.

Next was a booth with old steel cans but they were asking $5 each!  Nope.  Another booth had a green aluminum Pepsi bottle and a special edition Pepsi can for $4 and $3 respectively, so I bought those.

Before we left, I lined up my purchases for a group shot which was eerily reminiscent of a picture I took back in 2012 of my first Mountain Dew aluminum bottle (purchased in the same store.)

I have a few more can stories from the trip, but I'll save those for another day...

The Can I Almost Had

I haven't bought any cans on eBay for a while.  That's because I quit looking for cans on eBay.  I realized every time I looked, I found something and spent money.  So I decided to take a break from it... until last week when I decided to look again.  And guess what.  I found a can I wanted.  

I'm a fan of Shasta cans and I'm not sure why.  But I've got over 100 different ones.  So when I saw this tonic mix I knew I had to have it.  Not only do I not have a tonic mix can at all in my collection, this was an old steel can with a funky color palette.  It was also in great condition.  

But the clincher on the deal was the weird opening mechanism.  I don't have anything quite like it.  The listing said it was a prototype Stay Tab test lid.  So I placed my bid and waited.

The auction ended and I won.  Yay.  I knew this can would make a good blog post.  But then I got a real apologetic message a couple of days later that the seller had sold the can in a previous listing and accidentally re-listed it.  I got my money back, that wasn't an issue.  But then I had a decision... raise a stink or move on?

Everyone makes mistakes.  This person had almost 16,000 transactions and a score of 99.3%.  I agreed to cancel the transaction and replied that mistakes happen.  I was a bit disappointed, but you have to take the disappointments with the victories when collecting.

What I really lost was an opportunity to blog about a cool can.  Or did I?

Avengers Cans Assemble

The second Avengers movie came out last weekend.  And for a few weeks prior to that I was seeing can sites mentioning the new Avengers 7-can set from Dr. Pepper.  It was just a matter of time that the cans started finding my collection.

I'm not going to put a lot of effort into getting this set, I'll just see what I end up with and then fill in the holes later.  My household doesn't drink a lot of soda so I'm not going to go out and buy 12-packs to get one of each can.  Or is it two of each?  Or three?  After seeing the two characters I already have, my son decided he wants to collect a set too.  And then my daughter decided she'd like one also.  I hope I haven't created new monsters...

My son wants his own set of Avengers cans

Both of my cans so far have come from the beverage fridge at work.  They try to refill it once a month, so we'll see if new can designs keep coming.  I'll update this post as I get more cans, similar to what I did with the first Avengers movie back in 2012.

5/16/15 Update:
While shopping at Walmart today, I saw the Cherry Dr Pepper cans with Black Widow on them.  Ok, I had to buy it.


5/24/15 Update:
I saw my sister yesterday and she had a gift for me... the Hawkeye Cherry Diet Dr Pepper can.  Keep 'em coming...

7/18/15 Update:
I went by my parents' house yesterday and they handed me this Hulk can and asked if I had it.  Nope, I didn't.  I explained it's one of the cans I've been on the lookout for when I'm out and about.  Another one found.

One Man's Trash...

Last week someone gave me a trash bag of cans for my kids to recycle.  

The good thing about this system is I get to dig through the cans before the kids get a hold of them.  And in this bag, I found ten cans I didn't have.  Jackpot!!

Good for the environment... and my collection.

The Can Fairy: Second Visit

Two years ago I posted about the Can Fairy visiting my house and leaving a can on the front porch.  I still don't know who it was.  Yesterday, the Can Fairy returned.

This time I was checking the mail and saw these three cans down inside the mailbox.  I took them out to see what I got.

I already have an orange Monster Juice can similar to this, but upon closer examination there is a variation in the icons that are listed on the back of the can.  So it's a new can.  The Lime Freeze Rockstar is a brand new can for me.  And sounds delicious.  Plus I was given an extra to trade.

I could ask around and probably find out who left them, but it's more fun not knowing :)

Please Ask First

Last year I received an email from someone who had visited this blog.  The email said they saw a listing on eBay for a soda can collection and for the listing, the picture of my cans in the background of this blog had been used.  I found the eBay listing and sure enough, that was the picture I had taken of my cans!  (I edited out the personal info in the screenshot below)

So I sent a message to the seller and told him that was a picture I took of my own collection and no one had asked permission to use it.  Now, I've needed pics before and went to Google Images and grabbed a couple of random ones, so I figured this may have been the case with him too.

I read through the description of his listing and he said it was several hundred cans for sale.  I warned him that someone buying cans would probably expect to receive the cans shown in the picture, especially since he made no mention that the pic wasn't his actual collection.  

I'm not sure if the auction expired or he took my warning and ended it, but it soon disappeared after I sent the message to him.  He never did reply to my message.

In the last four years, I've been asked if people can use pics from my site to make t-shirts, use in articles they were writing and even a couple of professors for their classes.  I've said yes in every case.  It's nice to know my pictures can sometimes be of use to others, but I certainly appreciate being asked first.   :)

Cans in the Shoppes

I spent today in an area I've never been before.  It consisted of a 1.5 mile long street full of ol' time shoppes and vendors.  Lots of shoppes.  Lots of vendors.  And lots of cans.  BUT...

Good price, but all beer cans.  Except one Coca-Cola can which I already have.

RC soda cans, but I wasn't sure which ones I have and don't have.  And they cost too much $ for me to be guessing.

Three trays of beer cans, one tray of soda cans.  Unfortunately, all the Vess soda cans were the same.  And I already have it.

All beer.

All beer.

I wasn't about to go home empty-handed.  I stopped by Target and found the two newest flavors of Red Bull (orange and wild cherry).  I also picked up a Vitamin Water can I didn't have.

I had set a goal this morning of coming home with at least one new can.  It's nice to achieve goals.  One way or another.

Flea Market Fonz

Third weekend of the month.  Temperatures hit the 70's.  I could hear a distant call of soda cans beckoning me.  My family headed to the flea market this morning.  And boy was it crowded!

I saw a few booths with beer cans and an occasional lone soda can that I already have.  And then my mom called me and said she found a table with soda cans.  So I made my way through the crowd to the table and saw about twenty steel soda cans for $.50 each.  Nice.  

The seller was impressed when I whipped out my phone to check my collection website.  I said with nearly 4,000 cans, it's hard to remember what I have and don't have.  After a good look, he had two I didn't have.

The Fonz

In the end, I walked away with this straight steel Nehi strawberry soda can from 1978.  It's the Fonz, can #17 of the 35-can "Happy Days" set, series 1.  There are a lot of Happy Days cans and I haven't put any effort into collecting them yet.  In fact, the only other one I had until now was the #24 Howard Cunningham fruit punch can.  

The other can I bought was a straight steel Staff diet root beer can.  And I learned a bit of trivia when I bought it.  My mom said Schnucks (a local grocery store) sold Staff soda back in the 70's when she worked there.  Nice connection!  I have quite a Staff collection started, this being my 26th steel Staff can.

Overall, not bad for $1.  

No Cans, Yes Cans

I did another flea market and antique store road trip today to a city I've never been to before.  Not much luck as far as soda cans go though.  I saw an old Vess and an old Ticket can, but I already had both of them.  So the day was already feeling like a bust when I drove past this:

Not what a can collector likes to see.  The pallets stacked and lined up behind that truck were all crushed cans!  The day could only get better from there.

Not far from there I rounded a bend in the road and saw a glorious Big Lots store!  I have referenced Big Lots several times before after finding discontinued drinks there.  So I stopped and ran inside and sure enough, I walked out with six new cans:

So the day wasn't a total bust.  And I'm ready for the next road trip.

180 Degrees

Back in 2006, Anheuser-Busch of St Louis, MO, launched a new energy drink called 180.  It has since been discontinued.  The can I have is 180 Blue with Acai.  It became one of the first cans in my collection when I dug through the recycle bin of aluminum cans at work back in 2011.  The bin hadn't been emptied for a few years.  So after my first dig I had scored many cans, some that were no longer available.

But what's interesting about this can is one side is printed the correct way and the other side is printed upside down.  At first I thought I had a rare misprint, but no, it was just a gimmick that tied into the name of the drink.

With the 4-year anniversary of the start of my collection coming up next month, I thought it'd be neat to "circle" around (360 degrees) and highlight one of my first cans.  Especially one that is now extinct.

Coca-Cola Life

One of my friends sent a picture to me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I had that can.  What can was it?  I'd never seen one like it before.  It was a Coca-Cola Life can.  A what?

I said, "I don't have it!  Save it for me!"

When I got the can, I looked it over.  CC Life is sweetened with cane sugar and Stevia, the middle ground between real sugar and HFCS.  I didn't get to try it, but I would guess the taste is better than Diet Coke but not as good as delicious Mexican Coca-Cola.  And you get better taste (I'm assuming) at only 90 calories compared to regular Coca-Cola's 140 calories.

But the elephant in the room is the color of the can.  Is it "green" because its ingredients are more natural (somewhat)?  Is the competition green with envy?  Is it just another cash-grab for the company?  Green means go, so go get some Coca-Cola?  Or does that color stand out on the shelf at the grocery store?  YEP.

This is such an unusual color, especially for a Coca-Cola can, that I immediately wanted it regardless of what the contents of the can were or what the label said.  And just like the black Coke Zero cans, these cans will definitely stand out in the walls of red Coca-Cola can displays.  

What I Got Out of Training

I spent the last two days in training at work.  During one of the "get out of your seat and mingle" exercises today I spied this can sitting on a nearby table.  I immediately knew I didn't have it because it looked totally unfamiliar.  My next task: watch to see whose it was.

A few minutes later when we returned to our seats, I saw who the owner was.  Fortunately it was someone I have worked with in the past, so I might not seem like a total loon when I asked him for can when he was finished with it.

At the next break I took a deep breath and did what I've actually become rather accustomed to doing... I asked if I could have his can when it was empty.  I got the typical "This?  Why?" look, but I explained about my collection and then he understood (or at least he said he understood).  Either way, I had a new can.

He said his girlfriend had bought this Dasani apple flavored water.  His review was not so good.  He named a few other brands he'd rather have, which led to a short discussion on flavored water.

And THAT is what I got out of my leadership training.  I call it a success.

Kickstart Valentine's Day

The third set of Mtn Dew Kickstart flavors recently came out.  These are slim 12oz cans whereas the first two sets were 16oz cans.  The red can is strawberry kiwi and the yellow can is pineapple orange mango.  These hydrating boost drinks are both made with coconut water, something I've not been a fan of in the past, but with flavors like those I'll still give them a shot.  Who knows?  They could become a new love of my life...

Happy Valentine's Day

Trashed Cans

I watch for cans to add to my collection while the kids watch for cans to recycle.  A few people at church heard we collect cans, so I made sure they understood the difference in the two types of "collecting."  Once in a while someone at church will bring me a can and ask if I have it yet.  Others will bring a trash bag of cans for the kids to recycle.  But I always go through the bags first to look for cans I need.

And so was the case today at church.  Someone gave this bag to me for the kids.  Of course Dad gets first dibs, so I went through the bag and only found one can I didn't have yet:

But a collection gets bigger even one piece at a time, right?  Keep the bags coming...

The Newest Coca-Cola Can

The Coca-Cola 2014 holiday can featured Santa in front of a horizontal logo.  Now that the holidays are over, Santa has disappeared from the can and now there's just the logo.

The new design matches the horizontal logo Diet Coke switched to late last year.

I was at a friend's house last night and noticed they had the new can so I snagged one for my collection.

Canbot

What is this crazy thing?

This is one of the gifts my kids got me for Christmas.  After I put it together, I slid a can through the two rings and had Canbot!

With a couple of AAA batteries, the thing vibrates and scoots around on any hard surface.  

This is definitely a novelty item that I'll be proud to display in my can collection.

My Latest Trade

I made a recent 12-can trade with a fellow collector in Canada. 

 

Among the cans I received is a Scottish carbonated soft drink (Irn Bru), a Pepsi Light from China, the Canadian 2013 Mtn Dew Dewmocracy winner (Voltage) and many more. 

My trading has slowed down this year but I still like receiving an occasional box of cans that I can't get in my area. 

Thanks, Ryan!