I was just writing a section on product costs, and I used bottled water as an example. The calculation was so staggering I had to do it several times, then use a simplified online calculator to make sure I’d set it up correctly. As an exercise for the Dopers:
In front of you is a pint bottle of water you bought for $2.00, and a pint glass of water from your residential tap. The ratio between their cost is:
I’m on my own well system, and the water is magnificent. My kids won’t drink it though. But bring home a case of bottled water and they’re through it in a week.
The best price I EVER got on water at my store was 13.5¢ per pint. We were selling if for 69¢. That’s a 80% margin. Even at $2.00 it’s an 93% margin.
What do you think stores are paying for their products?
Right now (I just looked), I’m paying $360 for a pallet of 72 cases, delivered and labeled with my logo. The best price I can get without that is (oddly enough) going to Restaurant Depot, which has the same price as Sams Club. $5.99/24 and sending one of my employees to pick it up. Add in his hourly wage and the gas in the truck he uses to drive over there…
The difference, though, is that the tap water in my house tastes like chemicals (even if I filter it), while the bottled water tastes like . . . water. But at least I buy it by the gallon, not the pint.
People are stupid. There, I said it. Not only is the bottled water unbelievably expensive, but it may not be as safe as tap water. If your tap water tastes like crap, that’s unfortunate, but I don’t think that’s why many people drink bottled water. The water in Calgary comes from the Bow Glacier, and is strictly controlled for safety, and even has no added fluoride in it any longer because the junk science people won, but there are tens of thousands of people in Calgary who won’t drink a glass of tap water.
Buying bottled water is a rarity for me. I’ve always wondered why people insist on it. Sure, there are regions and countries where bottled water is the only option, but that’s not the case around here. The only objection to Chicago’s water that I’ve heard is a chlorine taste. Well, Brita filters and the like work just fine taking that out. So put a Pur filter on the faucet or use a pitcher. My mom’s recently turned into a bottled water person. I’m constantly showing her my canteen and saying, “I’ll just refill this with the tap,” and looking at her like she’s crazy. Because she is.
I bought a lot of bottled water when I lived in my last apartment because even after filtering the tap water it tasted and smelled bad. It wasn’t all that bad buying Poland Spring 24 packs at 3.99, the worst part was carrying them home. Now that I moved the tap water tastes fine and I haven’t bought water since.
We drink exclusively bottled water at our house, though paying only 4 cents per pint. (We used to be thriftier and collected rainwater from our roof. I do confess I use tap water to brush my teeth or down my pills, but out of laziness rather than stinginess.)
We do lose an extra $2.50 whenever we break one of the reusable 5-liter plastic bottles.
One of my sisters refuses to drink tap water or use it to make ice cubes. We grew up on tap water, and she’s always lived in the metropolitan Baltimore area, so she gets good water at home, but for whatever reason, she got weird at one point. Her husband is constantly having to run to the store for another bag of ice. Whatever…
The only place I truly hated the water was when my inlaws lived in Jacksonville, FL - so much sulfur in the city water, it was gross! If it was cold enough and I didn’t look at the particulate matter floating in my glass, I could choke some down, but it was nasty stuff. We’ve had deep wells at most of our houses, and we’ve always had good water. I’ll only buy bottled stuff when on the road if I don’t want a soda.
Yes. Me too, and although I loathe paying $1.50 to $2.50 for a bottle of water, it’s usually the most appealing beverage in the fridge. Nothing quenches my thirst like ice cold water.
I bought a couple cases for part of my water storage at my house in case of potential problems (contamination leading to boil orders, that kind of thing - you don’t want to have to boil your drinking water too, then wait for it to get lukewarm enough to drink, especially in hot weather), but that’s about all I buy these days. I have a Brita pitcher at home, and carry a Nalgene water bottle to work.
It’s one of those things that, when the trend started, I was all, “how stupid is this buying bottled water? This fad will last one summer.”
I never got involved, I suppose I buy maybe 1 bottle a year if I need to take a pill or something. I carry my own filtered water with me but I did that before buying water became a fashion, as I had been a surveyor - out in the middle of nowhere under the sun. We even used those old school evaporatively cooled bags hung on the front. This was long before car fridges.
I filter my water using a Britta jug and have done for 10-12 years. Prior to that my tap water was fine. Where I am now it is awful. Supposedly the Britta filters are only good for a few weeks but I just keep using them until the water tastes bad, or I get scale on my coffee maker. Neither event happens for a very long time - way over 6 months. I don’t know or care what is being filtered out or not filtered out for that matter but I can infallibly pick unfiltered local water form filtered.
