Comments on: Water Pricing Evaluation at Sam’s club

By: Tom Stortz

Tom Stortz — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 20:26:13 +0000

In my mind, you’ve stumbled on why it’s a ripoff but I don’t agree with the dollar is a dollar even though I obviously do. % is what dictates emotion. I wouldn’t blink an eye if the dealership told me a 20,000 car jumped 50 dollars. That is .25% difference. Yet that 50 would buy me water for the year and that small sum possessed me to make a whole post pointing it out and calling people stupid for not picking up on it.

Buying habits are completely irrational, for me at least. I’ll spend 6 dollars for a beer and not think twice but won’t spend an extra dollar for the brand name floss because it’s too expensive. Pricing and value is perception and unique to every person.

By: Bud

Bud — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 20:07:17 +0000

I’m with Sam on the tap water. I don’t use a filter or anything, and refill the same bottle of water every day. About the pricing though, I’m curious to see what you think of this…

You’re buying two items, a car and a case of water. You’re just about to close the deal on a car for $20,000 and the dealer says the price jumped to $20,001. Would you be annoyed to pay that extra dollar (discounting the fact that the dealer is a dick for changing the price at the last minute)? I imagine not since it’s such a small percentage of the price. However with water, you wouldn’t want to pay the extra dollar. If you bought a car for $20,000 and a case of water for $5 vs a car for $20,001 and a case of water for $4, in either case you’d end up with a car and a case of water for $20,005. However in one instance you would be annoyed that the water was a rip off, and in the other case you’d be happy. The fact that one case of water is 25% higher than the other, but the car is a much smaller % difference shouldn’t matter. A dollar is a dollar.

I don’t know if that makes much sense, but thought I’d throw it out there.

By: tc

tc — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 19:47:51 +0000

The Brita requires work Sam. Do you know how valuable my time is? Let’s say I fill up the Brita 365 times over the course of the year at 1 minute per Brita fill. That’s 6 hours of work. Conservatively, if I make 1,000 dollars an hour, well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I’m way better off buying the plastic bottle.

Plus drinking the same bottle of water over and over is a sure fire way to contaminate yourself.

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 19:11:40 +0000

“With this thought in mind, I want to pay as little as possible for my water.”

And yet you completely dismiss the cheapest form of water!!!

From the tap, a bottle of water cost about $0.00026.

Okay, fine. Who wants “dirty” tap water? Buy a $30 Brita. Say you go through 2 water bottles a day (conservative), the Brita will have paid for itself in 5-6 months and can be used forever and beyond.

I personally always refill a half gallon bottle with tap water that I carry around the house at all times and I’m no worse for the wear.