Pretty soon, we're talking real money

[madbaker]

We have subsidized soda machines at work. About a year ago, they started carrying bottled water. My cow-orkers go through four or five bottles each every day.

While that's healthy of them, I don't understand the economics of it all. At a quarter apiece, it's not huge dollars but a buck a day is $20-25 per month. We live in the SF Bay Area and get our water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. It's very pure - there was even a short-lived attempt to sell it.

Why would anyone spend money on bottled water when free stuff from the tap tastes as just good or better?

Comments

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

Convenience, I guess. I don't understand it, either. Yes, at Disneyland or some place, I will often buy a bottle of water. But here in the Bay Area, we do bottled water for SCA Events, and not much else. We have several bottles in the fridge that don't get used, because ... well ... we forget to take them to an event, and ... Oh, and not everyone gets Hetch Hetchy -- just your side of the Bay. <g> Us East-Bay-ers get EBMUD (East Bay Municipal Utility District), but the water is at least as good ...

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

No, I understand getting bottled water when you're travelling. I keep some at home for events or hikes. But it's no more convenient to walk downstairs and plunk a quarter into a machine than it is to turn on the faucet in the breakroom.

Also, we have ice and chilled water on tap, so the temperature argument doesn't wash (hah!) either.

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

I know that when bottled water first hit the markets it was "cool" to be seen carrying a bottle of water. But frankly, once you have the first bottle, why not just refill it? Anyway, yeah, I agree with you, it is strange. Especially since you have ice and chilled water right there.

[lifeofglamour.livejournal.com]

I don't get it. I buy a bottle at work about once every two weeks and then refill it from the tap a couple of times a day until it seems like time to get a new one, the only reason I buy one is because it's easier than washing the old one. Some people mistakenly believe the bottled water is more pure than tap water which is bunk because there are no purity requirements on bottled water, but there certainly are on tap. Some people are easily misled by hype and marketing I guess.
I actually dislike the taste of evian in particular and most bottled water in general. It tastes flat to me compared to local tap water.

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

Penn and Teller (on their Showtime series Bullshit!, in season 1, I think) did a great bit with bottled water. They literally had a water somalier at a nice fancy schmancy restaurant, who described to the customers in great detail why this bottle of water was worth 4.95, and that bottle was worth some other amount, and did tastings ... people really thought they tasted a difference. He filled each of the bottles from the same hose in the back of the restaurant ... (with great glee, but that was just the guy doing it). It was hysterical. The Amazonian bottle was hysterical, because it had a "spider" in it ... (it was a plastic spider, I'm sure, but ...). Anyway, worth watching for the laughter and reaction on people's faces ...

[lifeofglamour.livejournal.com]

I saw it! :-) I almost retched when they drank the spider water.

Marketing

[finickynarcane.livejournal.com]

I suspect it really does boil (eh hem) down to fabulous marketing.

[mastersantiago.livejournal.com]

Marketing pure and simple.

Most people aren't smart enough to realize that the water they are getting more often then not isn't really any better then tap water. P&T did a great episode of BullSh!T that focused on this very topic.

If people would stop and think for half a second they would realize that they could take a minute to verify the quality of the water from their taps. But they don't. They just assume that if it's bottled with a picture of a mountain on it then it must be pure or something.

And don't even get me started on things like "Penta-Water." These A$$holes are actually selling bottled water that they claim is more efficient the regular water at being absorbed into your system and hydrating you! That's right, more efficient water! Gods how stupid can you get!

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

Gods how stupid can you get!

You're asking this? You, who make money off people's incredulity? <g> But seriously, people will believe anything if a marketeer tells it to them in the right way. I am often astounded by the bullshit people buy into.

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

Part of the reason is that you're not *supposed* to refill those bottles - at least not after a while. The cheap plastic degrades or something, once opened. So maybe these people are just taking that warning a bit too seriously.

Anyway, at work the soda machines are completely free (and stocked with Coke and Pepsi products), but I tend to go for the free juice, or fill up with the machine-filtered water dispensers we have. But I probably would get free water from the machine every-so-often, just to upgrade my bottle.

I'll note that also, there's a feeling of "someone doing something for you" when you get something from a machine, as opposed to standing at the water dispenser (for all of 15 seconds) and filling a water bottle yourself. A perception of convenience that people like.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Free vs. free I could understand. But free vs. pay?

[semy-of-pearls.livejournal.com]

I realized quite some time ago, that it was less costly for me to buy a Brita pitcher and the filters, and constantly refill from the tap. I spent $20 for the pitcher originally, it came with one filter good for two or three months, then a pack of new filters (three) for $15 every six months? Lot cheaper in the long run, and I drink the equivalent of 6 of those bottles a day.

I keep it in the fridge, fill up the Nalgene bottle at my desk, cold water with little cost.

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

I know one person (not local, so don't ask) who buys a certain brand of bottled water because they "read somewhere" that it's bottled by a team of minimum-wage wage-earners...

... and they want to make sure those people keep their jobs.

I think it's 'social responsibiliby' taken a step or two too far.

Hurricaines in Fluorida

[gaudete1066.livejournal.com]

How 'bout fluoride? Some of us hain't too excited about intentionally ingesting it. That's one reason I prefer bottled water when I'm in areas where they fluoridate. Fizzy water at that. If you're ever in Ireland, get a bottle of Ballygowan. Right tasty stuff.

tinfoil hats and fluoride

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

That's a valid personal preference. The guys in question don't care, as far as I can tell.

[maestrateresa.livejournal.com]

I buy water by the 5 gallon carboy because I really truly loathe the way that San Jose water tastes. The one *good* thing about living in East Palo Alto, was that the water was really good (I think San Mateo county water is Hetch Hetchy). The water down here is amazingly hard--hard enough that we had difficulty keeping an aquarium ammonia-free, back in the day (I know this, because aquarium test kits include tests of water hardness, since it's a factor in general aquarium health). The water that I get is fitered & ionized tap water, and, as such, not dreadfully expensive.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

If our water tasted like that, it would make sense. Likewise, the L.A. tap water that looked like skim milk.

But Hetch Hetchy is better than many bottled brands! Why pay for an inferior product?