To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 13:01:51 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] water, water, two years old
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 11:37:02 -0400 "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net> writes:
> ----- Original Message -----
> Subject: [WSFA] British complain bottled water 'not fresh'

>
> Personally, I have always been amazed at the prices people will pay
> for a
> bottle of *water*.   Since I have a well, I get water without
> chemicals for
> free.
>

The prices some people are willing to pay for a 16 oz. bottle of name
brand water might well bring amazement, considering that tap water is
about three orders of magnitude cheaper.  But we should remember that in
some places (especially outside the U.S.) tap water is not so good, and
the habit of drinking bottled water got established in Europe, and it
seems that Americans are drinking bottled water in imitation of the
Europeans, even though the worry about bad tap water seldom applies in
the U.S.  Of course some Europeans drink bottled water because they have
acquired a taste for a particular type of mineral water, and some
Americans drink bottled water as a more healthful alternative to cola,
when not at home, when sometimes the only easy alternatives for quenching
thirst might be cola or bottled water.  And there are people who believe
that their American tap water is bad.

The price of bottled water is affected not just by what some people are
willing to pay for it, but also by what it costs to provide it.  Name
brand bottled water is usually more expensive to supply in small bottles
than the same amount of cola in similar size bottles, because name brand
water usually has to come from a particular spring (e.g. Poland Spring,
or Source Perrier) and the spring might be hundreds or thousands of miles
from the retailer.  Cola, on the other hand, usually comes from a local
bottling plant which uses local tap water.  My impression is that
'generic' bottled water, the cheapest stuff, in small bottles, costs
about the same at retail as cola in the same size bottles.

Ron Kean

.

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