The worst part is that many of the bottled waters use tap water as their source.
I agree, but occasionally I’ll stop at a vending machine for a drink, if the water is the same price as the soda I’ll buy a soda just for spite. Their profit isn’t so ridiculously high because they had to spend something on color, flavor, & carbonation therefore it seems like a better ‘deal’ to me.
I buy bottled water because water is heavy and I’m not going to carry an additional 0.5 kg around for 60c (I bring 500 ml of my own water, after that I buy).
Virtually all of them do. Even many that claim to come from an exotic source simply come from the tap in an “exotic” location.
Dasani comes from your local Coke bottler; it’s simply local public water run through their filtration system and diverted to bottles before adding any syrup, sugar, coloring etc., and it’s usually within the same price range as the flavored drinks. (Why do I have no problem hearing the howls of laughter from the board room when they look at the sales reports?)
Almost any water bought in large jugs is local public water run through commercial filtration.
I’m not knocking anyone who buys the cheap tier of filtered water because their pipe water tastes bad - although decent osmotic filtration systems can be had for $100, and that covers a lot of even generic bottled water plus time, transport and effort. We have well water that’s pretty good straight out of the tap, but the prior owners put in such a system and I do prefer that extra level of taste improvement and filtration for cooking.
We have well water that tastes. . .like water. It is delicious. That said, we occasionally buy a case of bottles for convenience (taking boating, serving guests, etc) but I repeatedly refill the bottles.
I drink beer, not water. I hear fish fuck in it.
I have a re-fillable water bottle in my car with me at all times - I just re-fill it from taps while we’re on the road.
Consider switching brands.
Like don’t ask, when I first saw people paying soda prices for tap water, I figured it was a Pet Rock type thing that would die out soon enough. Glad I didn’t make any bets on that one. Even better is the multitude of varieties of premium tap water — 75% more nothing than the leading national brand, all for only six bucks a bottle!
Ah well, just makes this Penn & Teller clip that much sweeter.
But what the hell else would we put in our Keurigs!?
I have a case of bottled water that I bought during the last hurricane warning. It’s sitting unused. I have a Pur filter on my kitchen sink and if I didn’t have that I’d probably just drink straight tap water.
As others have said, bottled water is a huge scam, and it seems like they’ve successfully conditioned younger generations to insist on it.
I see people who claim to be concerned about the environment yet buy their water at the supermarket. They don’t even buy the big jugs, which at least use less resources per gallon.
I know someone who says that it’s for the convenience of being able to carry water with them. When I suggest that they refill the bottles from the tap, they say that they’ve heard that it’s not safe to reuse the bottles. I don’t know where they get the idea, but it sounds to me like marketing propaganda from the bottled water companies. Even if they get contaminated somehow, you can wash the things.
I don’t see any reason why bottled water is stupider than, say, coca cola - and it’s definitely more intelligent than uber expensive wine.
Obviously drinking it for health reasons is silly, but the mineral balance of water definitely affects how it tastes. I am very confident I could tell the difference between evian and volvic on a blind taste test, for example.
Yeah, but with Coca Cola I get caffeine, a nice brown color, sugar and bubbles and shit. Bottled water is just… water. No bubbles. You don’t get any other stuff.
I like bubbles.
I do love me some San Pellegrino.
That’s where I live, and yeah.
You get trace amounts of minerals that affect the taste.
And you do get bubbles with a lot of bottled water anyway. I would have thought more than half of it is carbonated, at least that’s the case over here.
That is true for some discount light beer breweries that never clean their tanks but I am not sure why you consider that a selling point.
Whatever you wash your BMWs or Priuses with.
You get the bottle. And it’s refrigerated. That’s what makes it cost more than tap water.
How much do you think the colour, caffeine, sugar and bubbles cost? The markup on coca cola would be similarly absurd if you only count the ingredients.
I buy bottled water occasionally when I’m eating at a fast food place or restaurant. Because I rarely drink alcohol or sugary drinks. What’s left? I’m going to spend a few dollars on a drink with my meal. It’s no sillier to spend it on cold water than it is on cold sugary water.
Eggs on toast costs maybe $10 at a restaurant. That’s at least a 1000% markup! Oh the iniquity!
Not only is Dasani, (and other bottled waters) just filtered tap water from wherever it is bottled, things like Epsom salt and regular salt are added back in to provide a ‘mineral water’ taste.
I am fortunate that my local water system gets its water from wells sunk into the cracked basalt of the local mountains, and it is delicious right out of the tap.
I still buy bottled water for convenience when traveling in my car or at work but I know what it is that I am getting.
Which includes cooking, cleanup, probably the coffee to go with it and a place to eat it. (And it’s more like $5-6 for something that basic.)
Water is water is water, whether it comes from a drinking fountain, a generic tap-water bottle or Fiji. Even a Coke has to be compounded from some somewhat exotic ingredients in a technically exacting process, creating some added value. (I won’t argue that a bottled Coke at $2.00 is any better buy, but the sheer audacity of bottling and selling something at premium prices that is essentially free anywhere you go in the western world - just a staggering triumph of marketing that has few equals.)