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When I was growing up in
West Virginia, I was acutely aware of the costs of things. Coming from
abject poverty I was always on the lookout for ways to make a dime. A dime
would buy me lunch which consisted of an RC and a Moon Pie. RC’s at that
time were 5 cents and so were the Moon Pies. Then one day I walked into “The
Snack Shack” and was told in short language that “pop” as we called it, had
gone to 7 cents. Immediately there was an explosion in my brain. “Holy cow”,
I said to myself. “Now I have to find a way to get another two cents or I
have to make the choice of the RC or the Moon Pie.” On those days when I was
more hungry than thirsty. I would buy a moon pie and ask for a glass of
water. In those days water was always free and no one in their right mind
would have thought of asking someone to pay for it.
Then came the French. I am sure there was a conversation over some cheese
and wine that the subject came around to stupid Americans and their having
too much money and would buy anything you put in front of them. After the
caffaws and snickers died down a bit one of the people said “Oh yes, those
stupid people would buy water if you put a fancy label on the bottle.” A
light bulb went on and “Perrier” was born. For a long time it was a status
symbol to order it in restaurants and bars. Of course, then some
enterprising stupid American said, “Why pay to import bottled water. We can
provide the same thing here and undersell them by the price of importing.”
Thus, time went by and others jumped on the water wagon so to speak and
today we have bottled water companies in every state. Most of the bottled
water we get today is not “spring water”, as most of the earlier companies
advertised. Most of today’s bottle water is just tap water run through
additional charcoal filters.
The prices of “pop” has gone up severely since those days in the early 50’s
and of course the cost of the bottles of water has gone up too. Last week I
had my grandson over to help me with a little project around the house and
on the way back to his house, he asked for a bottle of water at a gas
station. I handed him 50 cents and sent him inside. He came back and
informed me that the water was $1.19. Again, as my brain did in the early
50’s, it exploded. I cannot understand how they can charge $1.19 for eight
ounces of water and advertise two boxes or 24 cans of 12 ounces Pepsi Cola
for $4. The ride to my daughters house was quiet, I did tell my grandson
that I was in no way upset with him. He was anxious to get away from his
Papaw before the explosion took place and I understood his plight.
Upon returning home I got out my calculator and started doing some figuring,
but first I had to do some investigating. While the retail cost of the water
was 14.5 cents per ounce. The Pepsi Cola came out to a little over 1 cent
per ounce. What is worse the water came out to $9.52 a gallon. So maybe
$1.61 for a gallon of 87 octane for the car is not such a bad deal after
all. I took a bottle of water and a can of Pepsi and compared the contents.
I wanted to see just what the water had in it that made it so expensive. The
bottle said it contained water. Nothing else, just water. I looked at the
Pepsi can; Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, caramel
flavoring and on and on. So how can Pepsi put all this stuff in a can and
sell it cheaper than water? Is this one of those mysteries that will not be
solved in my lifetime? Is this one of those things that made Enron want to
re-cook the books because of all the money being made off water? I must
admit that every jogger these days carries a bottle of water. I have yet to
see anyone carry a can of Pepsi while they were running. I have thought of
giving this business a try myself. Of course, I won’t have any trucks or
fancy labels on the bottles. I think I will put it up in old fruit jars and
sell it out of the back of the car. Much like most moonshiners did back in
the thirties. What do you suppose those moonshiners would think if they
found out stupid Americans will pay $9.52 a gallon for water in a bottle?
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