Notice how he’s not stressed? Must be nice having a clear conscience.

Unfortunately, capitalism is not about morals. It's about greed while looking justified in 'your' greed. Congratulations to this CEO for caring for others!

“Not screwing over and price-gouging your customers”…are you listening, Disney? 🤑

When I was in college, I ran a couple big chain pizza restaurants. We had a late night deal for a small pizza and a can of coke for $5. I promoted the hell out of the deal, and we sold hundreds of them every night. It probably accounted for more than 20% of our total business. One day, the corporate guys showed up(the owner, who was mentoring me, showed up in his suit jacket, lol), and they told me it was my lucky day. They told me they were changing the price of the special to $8. They had charts and graphs and pointy brown leather shoes, lol. They knew it all. I told them that at that price point, people would just go grab a Big Mac combo(it was the early 2000's) because it was faster and easier. They said that was OK because the market could bear it, and we only had to sell 60% of the previous volume to make the same money. I looked right into their dead, corporate eyes and told them, 'You will lose every single customer with that obvious price gouging.' They laughed at me and told me that there was a reason they were in finance, and I was working for them. I'd never seen 10 of the 11 of them before or ever after, lol. Just a bunch of pigs at the trough... Anyways, yup, we lost every single customer, and we lost millions of dollars, and the owner lost two of his 8 stores. The best part is that instead of remembering when I was his friend and tried to help him, he always held it against me and our relationship was never the same. He went on to own a whole bunch of franchises, I finished college and moved on. Anyways, I like to tell this story when a specific price gouging type of video surfaces. I think I'm going to save it to my clipboard so I don't have to write it anew every time, since it's common practice now. BTW, I've always loved Arizona Tea and their business model.

I have never been into a store in Canada that sells these cans for 99 cents. Even when it says 99 cents in the can

Private equity is killing our economy & employee wages & quality of products or services. This is even happening in healthcare. Hospitals started gobbling up independent clinics at least 2 decades ago. Now the hospital systems are being eaten up by one big corporation after the other. It has affected patient care, staff retention, lower educational standards for nurses, etc.

It is disgusting. I worked for a home services company that did various stuff. Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, drain cleaning etc. The cost of materials is almost never an issue, unless your getting a whole new unit or something for a water heater or AC condenser for example, but. for most parts and units We saw the price go up a tiny bit, maybe 15% at the most. from 2019-2023. but our prices? our prices doubled. We asked over and over again and they basically admitted that they were going to keep raising the price until people stopped buying our services. It is disgusting behavior and it is predatory. these companies don't give a rats ass about the customer whatsoever. prices are insane now. for example if you need something as simple as your toilet unclogged (takes literally less than a minute usually) it will cost you about 600 dollars.... insane.

I'm sure this guy can still afford a yacht and has a kickass retirement plan, which just goes to show that constantly rising your prices is pure greed.

Costco openly told potential investors not to invest in them if they expected typical practices.

You can't find a bottle of water for 99 cents, lucky if you find one for less than $2. At $2 to $3 you can get a bottle of water for half the size of an Arizona Tea. Think about it.

As soon as he retires and the accountants take over his company, they will destroy his brand.

Note to self: buy more Arizona Iced Tea.

Yay Costco and Arizona Tea founder😀 Shop Costco guys if you can.

The funny part is if they were $0.99 in 1992 and are $0.99 cents in 2024, then they were kind of expensive in 1992

In Arizona, Arizona tea is always 99 cents. Sometimes you can catch it 2 for $1.00. I don’t even drink it but I notice when it’s on sale cause damn that’s a good deal.

I buy an Arizona everyday, been doing it for decades. Will continue to do so.

My work charges 1.50 per can. I don't like charging people that.

Im gonna go buy arizona as my primary drink choice from now on when u need my fix

I've been drinking Arizona for years. It's the best deal at the gas station

FYI - Costco is publicly traded. I am a fan of Costco. They treat their workers well!

Jackson's and other convenience stores mark up the price to $1.79 and up, by purchasing AZ cans that don't have the 99¢ logo.

Dude is worth $6.5 billion dollars... He's made plenty of money but it's cool that he's not arbitrarily raising the prices just because everyone else is. I wonder how well his employees are paid.

Which means ANY businesses that sell them for more than 99 cents is DIRECTLY profiting off of the price difference because what the CEO is basically saying is that he hasn't changed his wholesale prices to the retail establishments that sell the product. So, as an example, if Arizona sells their cans at 33 cents per can to retailers who should he charging 99 cents, but are choosing to charge $1.49... that means the retail business is pocketing that extra 50 cents because they know they can. I make it a point to avoid paying more than 99 cents for these drinks wherever I see them. If more individuals avoid buying the inflated product, the price will have to go back down in order to move the product or lose money trying to over price the product.

Greed is a choice!😕

I knew I wasn't crazy! I have been telling people that the price of Arizona Ice Tea has been 99 cents since the 90's! My husband is an avid fan of this tea.

Awesome if only more did what this man and Costco do.

well shit, an ethical CEO. So unicorns do exist.

And watch when he dies the next generation will put it up 1000%. It's good to still see some decent ppl still exist

They, the rich investment firms, are doing this to healthcare and housing, too.

I normally drink Snapple. From now on I’m an Arizona man.

Being from Arizona, I was like... Arizona Ice Tea from New York city! LOL I will continue to purchase their products over others. Some times I gotta love the privately held businesses. Hold your debts low. Save your cash to be more flexible in the market place. Debt is a tool, use it right or use it wrong. Looks like a lot of businesses have forgotten this rule. Love the humble business owners! I hope that they continue to make lots of money.

Good for him. It's unbelievable how out of control the corporate greed has gotten post pandemic. Especially when you figure in what a low percentage of revenue is paid to salaried workers that don't get bonuses in stock, a far cry from the way it used to be with RCA, Honeywell and the like decades ago. The major grocery producers are among the guiltiest, I hear that.

I love Arizona drinks and I'm always grateful. They did a good thing and didn't change it. Great story so glad you brought this to the table.

American Media stunned by CEO not being a crook. Reporter: "But we did so much work to make americans believe that you're allowed to be a crook and accepting of it. Don't you have responsibility to other CEO's to rip of consumers?" CEO: "Uh...?"

But he can’t stop stores like 7-Eleven from increasing the prices. Cause it’s over two dollars where I’m at.

I've been telling people for years that Arizona is truly for the people. They are a great brand. (Try the lemon tea)

Yes! We've been fascinated by the fact that Arizona tea has been 99 cents since we were kids. It's dang good tea, too. Give the man his flowers.

This is why Arizona's the goat. And it's not the Costco model, it's the AriZona Model. AriZona Bev has been around longer than Costco.

I have never been into a store in Canada that sells these cans for 99 cents. Even when it says 99 cents in the can.

My brother said this years ago "You know the economy is a joke. Look at Arizona Tea."

And no plastic pollution

And, most of his products are in recyclable glass or metal, not plastic.

Good for you Don Vultaggio.

"I'm just not going to buy groceries because I can't afford it." We live very different lives Ana.

Arizona beverage better than Arizona government.

“We’re going to fight as hard as we can for consumers, because consumers are my friend.” - Literally no one in the American economy, save for this absolute legend who is now my favorite person.

Wait. These are no longer 99 cent in NYC. The price was raised here about a year or 2 ago. They are $1.25.

I think I will start buying Arizona tea. And join Costco. Thanks for this information.

So they were price gouging so hard originally that they can still turn a profit on the original price 25 years later.

When asked if he would ever raise the price, he was honest and said at least not in the foreseeable future. I can respect his honesty. He could have easily said he'd never raise prices then raise prices and gaslight people later about it or act like he never said it. Honesty and genuineness is rare in this world. That Arizona Tea is absolutely delicious.

Publicly traded companies are the worst at this, profit driven greed built-in.

Don's like one of the very, very few CEOs out there who are actually GOOD guys!

He shows you can be successful without gouging your consumers

I love this CEO! He is a billionaire, and he's very content with that. I've been a fan of Arizona and the owner for a while now. He runs a PRIVATE company. That's key.

He made it very clear his company's debt-free and everything is paid for there's not one company on the stock market who can say that

I've switched from Pure Leaf (Pepsi Co) to Arizona myself. A lot of variety, and love their pricing. Also, NOT on the BDS list (and made in America!). Best choice.

Except for their $1.69 for smaller bottle that they did. You can still get the can until they run out. And gas stations have raised the cans to 1.25 to 1.50.

Hell yeah, owner of Arizona does something these competitor companys unfortunately DON'T DO.

Thank you so much.

Corporations are not people... But he is. God bless my friend & neighbor.

I have so much respect for him! Most companies use the pandemic and inflation as an excuse to price gouge. Not only do they raise the price but also give us less and lower quality products. I’ve noticed a drastic decline in quality of some of the food I buy.

I had this exact issue recently going to the corner store. They removed all cheap options to the point that beer is cheaper than most anything else. The small can of soda is gone completely. That use to be the cheap option. Instead now, they got a larger soda can for 2.50$. Most other things that cost 2.50 are 2 for 5$ "bargain". I don't want two, I just want something to drink. Water was not available in smaller container at a cheap price. After checking all options, I came to realize nothing I could buy was under 2.49$ for a single serving drink. A small bottle of apple juice was 4$, this is a ridiculous amount when a full size bottle at the grocery cost 2-3. A smaller milk was also 2.49$. That was the minimum price for any drink. I did not realize it was that bad. Before the inflation spiral, you'd still find drinks for 1 to 1.50. The small soda can was around that. The small water bottle was around that. Now nothing under 2.50. Removing cheaper options on purpose like the small soda can and the small water bottle... and of course no Arizona Iced Tea.

TLDR: Low operating costs are more important than high profit margins, over a long enough period of time. This generates loyalty from your customers, and also protects you from market risks

And his company never got a bailout, isn't subsidized by tax money, and minimum wage has gone from 3 to 15 dollars. And its stayed profitable at that (usually) same low price. We need him in congress!!

This is not true. There are 99 cent cans that don’t have the ice t label on them. So the store sells them for $1.38

I lost seventy pounds drinking Arizona iced tea Arnold Palmer half an half lemonade with Chinese food and coffee ☕️ and no soda 🥤 for six months and boom 💥 ten inches from my pant size and from 4x to extra large ! Most effective and delicious diet ever !

He has a lot of advantages. First, as he said, his company still owns its assets. Once those are paid off, you only need to incur maintenance costs to keep going. Property and other taxes are fairly small. Utilities (especially water prices) going up will hit, but probably not to an extreme amount on a per-can basis. It also helps that beverages (especially tea) are super high margin.

The reporters face says it all, loves the greedy companies that extort their customers. Pathetic.

There are a few convenience stores in the area that actually price sticker over the 99 cents on the can and sell for more.

The distributors still do lol. I work in retail management and remember when stores stopped carrying the cans because they cost more than we could sell em for

We make art from the cans! 🖼️

I am all for it. Consumers are my friend. Costco, Chick-Fil-A, In' N' Out have the best model. Once you are publicly traded you are done. These companies prove you can have both quality & success.

This video is out of date. The price isn't printed on the cans anymore. Stores can charge what they want

Please send this to the Dollar Tree. What use to be $1 is now $1+. What adds insult to injury is that the the products are getting smaller in volume, but prices are going up. Ex.: Stars & Stripes Soda. It started out at 3 Liters. They lowered the volume to 2.75, now it is 2 Liters like a regular soda. Talk about corporate greed.

Anytime i go to a store and it's more than $1 i just leave to another store. They still go for a dollar it's the stores raising the price

No, the point of democracy is to ensure no one should have that much pow… Kings shouldn’t exist, not even benevolent kings.

If more companies stopped trying to expand to fast by getting large amounts of debt they wouldn’t have to raise prices so much. Greed is out of control.

Somebody gets it, the "IT'S FINE" realization...

People are starting to sell arizona cans for up to 2 dollars now though

Arizona tea may not be the best tea, but it is one I am still gonna buy very regularly because they are very pro consumer and fairly priced. Almost every other company has been chomping at the bit to find any excuse to raise prices.

Perhaps TYT can get a sponsorship from them. The channel is struggling financially.

They cost 79 cents at CostCo

That's it, I'm buying Arizona. It's american made not from arizona but the company is american let's go😮 Costco is aussie dont be fooled😂

I'm now a customer of Arizona. I'll buy my first tomorrow.

Time to support Arizona drinks !!

I'm a Republican voter but these business practices i agree with this is real free market

Living proof that being rich and successful doesn't have to turn you into an out of touch monster. It's a choice.

Those cans now sell for a minimum 1.49 in Jersey.

The can may say .99 but every damn store is selling them for more…

Makes me feel so good about all that Arizona tea I have been drinking

Give this man the medal of honor, he kept the price of his flavored sugar-water at 99 cents. 🙄

It's the difference between the greed of Wall Street and the ethics of Main Street, between investors and entrepreneurs, and between parasites and contributors. I used to love Arizona Ice Tea (before I limited my caffiene to two cups of coffee/day)!

Now that is a good man!

He doesn't answer to shareholders as a private company. So he doesn't need to be greedy.

For American CEO whose salary is tied to stock options, greed and illegal stock manipulation (pulp and dump) is the norm. My father said “greed built this country and greed will destroy this country” we are one day closer to that being true.

I’ve just become a loyal Arizona ice tea fan. There are some decent people left

I love arizona tea its pretty damn good. I get the green tea and mix in a little peach juice i have. Its amazing

Yes stores are allowed to charge more and if you look at the website it does say 99 cents is suggested retail price.

Can I say how much I love that Cenk has stopped screaming all the time? It pleases and sparkles and I've been meaning to say how much I love the change. So, I love it! I love not being yelled at while I'm listening to my news.

The reason he doesn't have to raise prices is because he's selling water sweetened with corn syrup and it's still profitable. If costs go up to where profit can't be made at that price, they will have no choice but to increase prices. He definitely is not greedy but he is still selling people sugar water.