Remember when water was...free? I do. But that was back when canned meats were all the rage, too.
Then bottled water came along, and even though you could certainly drink water from the tap without tapping your wallet, you'd pay for it with ridicule and haranguing by your friends. "You drink tap?!" So though the water in LA is perfectly fine to drink, I find myself buying bottled water, just because. It's an extra dollar to save myself the looks of disgust. The snickering at "how cheap" you are. The sighs for your imminent death by polluted water.
But today, I almost fell over when I went to a small deli for lunch that offered all drinks in bottles out of the refrigerated case. Row and rows of bottled water is nothing to balk at, but some of the bottles were almost five dollars! And that's not even for a large bottle.
I had a diet Coke instead. I can't pay more than a dollar for bottled water and feel okay with it, even if the bottle is glass and is beautiful and could be used for years to come as a flower vase.
Would you pay close to $5 for bottled water?
2-17-2006 @7:11PM Mike said... I'm sure I've paid over $5, but really just to get the bottle. The larger Voss ones are particularly handy for making alcoholic infusions like Limoncello. They're clear, straight sided and have a large opening.
Once you get to the expensive ones you're really paying for the packaging, like pretty blue bottles.
Reply
2-17-2006 @7:59PM Jennifer Olsen said... It is a bit ridiculous. But then again, I'd pay for the Voss bottles too. Hmmm...I'm a sucker for those Norwegians.
Reply
2-18-2006 @7:34AM Andrew Bowness said... I'm lucky enough that where I live people actually bottle the water to sell it. But as soon as I go South (in England) the water seems to get more Lime-y (the rock, not the citrus), so I find myself only drinking bottled water.
Reply
2-19-2006 @4:56AM Kelley Ritchey said... Five dollars? I'm doing time (but not in the prison sense) in Thailand, but here bottled water runs no more than twenty U.S. cents a bottle. In the interest of full disclosure, the bottle is not reusable as a high-end fashion statement.
I've never understand the sticker price on many of these waters because many are not pulled from some exotic spring somewhere, though some want you to believe that with their imagery.
Yes, I'll box up a couple of cases and send it to you, but I will mark the price up to 50 cents a bottle.
Reply
2-19-2006 @8:07PM FJK said... At the recent fancy food show, one vendor was offering samples of aromatherapy infused waters that would retail for about $12. My understanding was that the envisioned buyers wanting its aromatherapy benefits and purchasing the water instead of wine.
But $12 for water.
Reply
2-20-2006 @10:57AM Blue Balloon said... I pay only 35¢ a gallon of spring water from my location. :)
Reply
2-22-2006 @6:37AM Rachel Grace said... My mother grew up in the Great Depression. It has cursed me all my life. Pay money for water? We're talking about someone who saves hotdog bun bags instead of wasting money on baggies. She would say tap water has flouride, which prevents cavities, no bottled water as long as it's free. (I hide mine when she comes to visit.)
Reply
2-22-2006 @9:13AM Jan said... I,too,never understood the concept of paying big bucks for bottled water.My limit is $2 a bottle.I was one of 9 children so money was scarce and we drank the tap water whether we liked it or not!My how things have changed! Personally,I don't care if the packaging is fancy or not.Water is water.... I'm with the person from Thailand who pays only 20 U.S. cents per bottle....
Reply
2-22-2006 @9:46AM Diana Cooper said... We were in Las Vegas rcently where there are very few drinking fountains so occasionally we were forced to buy bottled water. We were buying a foot-long hot dog for $1.29, but they wanted $2.39 for a 16-oz bottle of water! I wouldn't pay it and got a 16-oz Marguerita for 99 cents instead!
Reply
2-22-2006 @10:35AM tobi said... I live in an area where the spring water or well water has arsenic and mercury in it. If you follow any info. on water, most fresh spring water has these contaniments in it and the reason is potution and the area you live in. I buy water at a dollar a bottle or less. My water is not safe.
Reply