At Sam’s Club yesterday I was doing an experiment that involved people’s preferences about water. I didn’t set out to do it but I did it after realizing what was happening if you were wondering. What I deduced is that people are willing to pay more for water than they should and are too stupid to realize it.
Unless I’m wrong about this thought, water is water. I’m not sure if there are different levels of water pureness but my overall feeling from drinking thousands of bottles over the course of my life is that bottled water all taste the same . I can’t tell a difference from one producer to the next. With this thought in mind, I want to pay as little as possible for my water. I would think that this thought process would hold true for the masses but I’m wrong because people don’t care about nominal sums of money. Let’s take a look at the following examples and notice the selling/bullet points which all describe the same thing.
Member’s Mark
Let’s start with the smartest option and the buyers choice. 40 bottles for $3.56 equals out to about 9 cents per bottle. This is our benchmark for water.
40 bottles for $3.56 = $.089 per bottle
Nestle
Will you pay 3.5 cents more per bottle for Kosher (aren’t they all?) and a 14 step purification process? 8 less bottles and 42 cents more compared to Member’s.
32 bottles for $3.98 = $.124 cents per bottle
Aquafina
I get sticker shock by $4.48. 8 less bottles and 92 more cents compared to Member’s Mark. Why on Earth would you choose Aquafina? The 3 bullet points are sodium, gluten, and fat free.
32 Bottles for $4.48 = $.14 per bottle
Deer Park
5 less bottles and $1.02 more dollars when compared to our leader. I suppose 100% spring water isn’t a great selling point. This pallet had the most cases on it when I went there.
35 bottles for $4.58 = $.131 per bottle
What I found though after observing the scene is that people don’t even bother to look at the price and compare items that are right next to each other. Obviously we are talking peanuts here and the right decision won’t make or break anyone. I found it fascinating though that people don’t even bother to shop. I believe with a purchase of this magnitude, people justify a small sum of money as something they can afford whether or not it’s the best buying decision. Water experiment closed.
“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.
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.
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.
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.