Don't go cheap on the drinks

I like Coca-cola in a bottle from Mexico ($1) and Ito-en tea ($1.75), drink about two of each every day. That's about $6/day. The cheaper alternatives will run at 25 cents, 75 cents, so a total of $2/day. My preference costs $4/day, $20/week.

If I take one trip a week out of the office to buy these from a store, that's about an hour, at some horrific cost to the company because I'm a tech worker in San Francisco.

It's even worse if the company doesn't have any free drinks or paid vending machines because everyone will go to the store. This is how I helped get a subsidized vending machine on the tech floors at a bank (no free drinks!), pointing out how many of us liked to shop at the convenience store.

I'm trying something new this month, which is to order 200 bottles of soda and 200 bottles of tea, sell them to needy coworkers. Who am I kidding, I'll probably drink them all.