No, AriZona Iced Tea hasn’t raised the price of its 99-cent can to $1.29

Inflation in the U.S. hit a 40-year high in May 2022, as price increases continued to extend to everything from food to gasoline. 

A viral tweet now claims that even a popular beverage isn’t safe from price hikes. The post shows two cans of AriZona Iced Tea next to each other – one priced at 99 cents and another priced at $1.29.

“If you weren’t panicking before…now is the time,” the tweet reads. 

VERIFY reader Brian reached out to the team on Instagram to ask if it’s true that AriZona Iced Tea raised the price of its 99-cent can to $1.29.

THE QUESTION

Has AriZona Iced Tea raised the price of its 99-cent can to $1.29?

THE SOURCES

• AriZona Beverages
• Online check of AriZona Iced Tea prices

THE ANSWER

No, AriZona Iced Tea has not raised the price of its 99-cent can to $1.29.

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WHAT WE FOUND

AriZona Iced Tea responded to the viral tweet from its official account, confirming that the price of the drink is still 99 cents in the U.S.

“This goes viral A LOT!” the tweet reads. “The can on the left is in US dollars. The can on the right is in Canadian dollars. Hope this clears things up. Don’t panic.”

A spokesperson for AriZona also told VERIFY that the price of its big can is $1.29 in Canadian dollars, which is equivalent to 99 cents in U.S. dollars.

Twitter user @__cordazzle, who shared the claim, acknowledged in a reply that the $1.29 price is for iced tea sold in Canada. But the tweet is still available on his page as of June 20. 

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VERIFY also searched online for the 23-ounce cans of AriZona Iced Tea, and found that Safeway, Fred Meyer and other U.S. stores are still selling them for 99 cents before taxes.

The claim about a price increase has garnered attention on social media since at least January 2021 when another Twitter user shared the same photo, writing, “If this world is coming, I don’t want to live in it.” That tweet received nearly 150,000 likes and tens of thousands of retweets. 

AriZona responded to that tweet, too, writing that the recommended selling price in the U.S. was still 99 cents.

AriZona has sold the canned iced teas for the same price since its launch in 1992, CNN Business and TODAY reported. 

Don Vultaggio, founder and chairman of AriZona Beverages, told CNN Business in an interview on June 9 that the can is still 99 cents because he doesn’t think customers need “another price increase.”

“We’re just fighting hard to maintain that price so we’ll give consumers a reason to buy us,” he said. 

In 2021, AriZona Beverages said on its website that it pre-prints cans with a suggested retail price of 99 cents, but retailers can sell them at whatever price they prefer. The company also makes and sells non-priced cans, too.