Polar Pop Express

It's 10:43 p.m. Monday. Mac's employee Ben Kulow stands behind the counter. \nHe's busy as six people wait in line while more flow through the doors. This might seem like an everyday scene in convenience stores nationwide.\nThere's one common characteristic, however, among five of his customers. There's a white and blue Styrofoam cup clutched in their hands as if it contains life-sustaining fluids. In the other hand, many customers hold 63 cents.\n"Some people get really weird about their Polar Pops," Kulow said after the onslaught subsided.\nThe white and blue cups are Polar Pop sodas, and what's inside is a soda often containing college students' version of a staple fluid -- caffeine. The Polar Pops come at a student's price of 59 cents, or 63 with tax.\nThe entire package combines to make Polar Pops a favorite of IU students. From satisfying that caffeine fix with a late-night run to grabbing a Mountain Dew on a hot day, Polar Pops are everywhere, and IU students are slurping them down.\nMac's spokesman Graham Bell said Polar Pop sales have increased 30 to 40 percent from last year to this year. In comparison, Bell said, the fountain drink industry is only showing about a 12-percent increase in sales.\n"If you look at the industry, we're way ahead," Bell said.\nThe Mac's location where Kulow works, which students sometimes call the BP, is 527 E. Third St. -- a location near many greek houses on Third Street. \nKulow said many of his customers at that particular Mac's are greeks -- especially members of sororities. He remembers a time during January's recruitment week when 50 or 60 thirsty women mobbed the station at once. Why were they there? You guessed it -- Polar Pops.\n"It's ridiculous," Kulow said.\nDuring an eight-hour shift, Mac's employee Joy Brumbach said, she once saw the same people purchasing five different Polar Pops in five different soda runs.\nThe sodas aren't different from the ones you buy elsewhere. They come out of a machine with 12 "push here" buttons. Each button corresponds to the 12 different soda varieties Mac's offers such as Diet Coke, Pepsi and Mountain Dew. \nBut why are these seemingly regular soft drinks selling like hot cakes?\nSenior Peter Corsaro doesn't understand the allure of the Polar Pop.\n"I always hear people talking about how they're going to BP to get a Polar Pop instead of just going to get a Coke," Corsaro said.\nOne explanation, Kulow said, is the soft-drink creativity Polar Pops afford. He said he sees customers mixing different varieties of soda for a specific combination. \nAnother reason is the Styrofoam cup that holds the drink. Some students love how the cup keeps the soda cold for so long. \n"If you buy a Polar Pop, it'll stay cold for about four hours," Bell said. "In the summertime, that's particularly good."\nSome customers even use the cups as gifts. Brumbach said one customer gave the Polar Pup cup as a gift and Brumbach said she had to write, "You get one free Polar Pop" on the bottom of the cup. \nPerhaps Polar Pops are so popular among students because of the drug they hold -- caffeine.\nSenior Jenny Cash started drinking Polar Pops when she was a sophomore, and through the years said she has developed a slight addiction to caffeine.\n"It's like I need a Polar Pop to study," Cash said. "I usually get them before I go to the library."\nCash is a Polar Pop mixer -- she blends regular Mountain Dew with Diet Mountain Dew.\n"That way I don't feel so bad," Cash said.\nJunior Erin Frazier also purchases Polar Pops because of the caffeine. Frazier usually chooses Diet Coke. She enjoys them because of one other reason as well.\n"They're enormous," Frazier said.\nWhile the caffeine, the cup, the varieties of soda and even the ice attract customers, Bell said Mac's uses a three-pronged approach to promote Polar Pops. Through the soda's quality, variety and low price, Mac's gets the most out of its Polar Pops.\nAnd IU students are getting the most out of their 63 cents.\n"Polar Pop junkies," Kulow said, "they think Polar Pops are better than any other pops."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.