How Much Money is Bottled Water Anyway?
According to the most recent (2007) figures from the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), the weighted average price per gallon of bottled water is $1.32. In the retail channel, the average price per gallon is $1.43. In the HOD market, prices of five-gallon water containers depend upon volume and frequency of purchase, but BMC has determined the average price per gallon at $1.54, delivered at home and $.99 per gallon for commercial bulk delivery.
How many times have we heard anti-bottled water critics claim bottled water products are more expensive than gasoline? It sure has been a long time since we’ve seen gas for $1.32 or $1.43 or $1.54 or even 99 cents per gallon. But people don’t drink gasoline and, while bottled water is more costly to produce than most consumers realize, it is illogical to compare two totally different entities. Think apples and oranges.
Are our critics wrong? Well, bottled water is available at a wide range of retail and wholesale price points, especially in a single serve portion at an average convenience store. It may possible they take the highest retail price they can find and extrapolate from there. Even when gasoline was cheap, this was never a valid comparison.
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You are speaking about the price of bottled water, not what is done with it. Price wise, people are paying more per gallon than for gasoline. You can't say it's not logical to not compare these prices. Here are two liquids that we need and consume and both are sold by the gallon. Simply because we don't drink gasoline doesn't mean it isn't a viable comparison.
I'm not sure where these peices come from. If I go into a convenience store the bottled water cost the same as or more than a comparably priced soft drink. If I order it in a restaurant I pay an additional premium. In both cases the price is higher than $4.00 a gallon.