shrinking packages
Jacob says:
I'm was browsing my local HyVee (supermarket) and found one interesting deal. You can either buy their 15 pack "Best Seller" spring water for $3.88 or if you look down you will notice that the same exact 24 pack of spring water can be bought for $3.88. I know it might get confusing to compare unit prices or price per oz, but this is just ridiculous. I like how the box for the 15 pack says "NOW" right next to it, as if getting less for the same price is actually a good thing. I guess it is harder to carry 24 bottles vs 15 bottles, so you are actually paying for the convenience.
We're going to guess that HyVee is in the process of raising the price of their
bottled water. 15 is the new 24, don't you know?
labels
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering
a bill that would require bottled water to bear a label clearly stating the source of the water, contact information for the bottler, and the location of recent water quality reports. SB 220 sailed through the California Legislature earlier this month, and would remind
bottled water guzzlers that they are shelling out big bucks for a free, public resource.
The confusion has put some companies in hot water. PepsiCo Inc.'s Aquafina brand and Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani were slammed by consumer and environmental groups for failing to clearly note that their products came from water systems.
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A family in Hainan, China worried that it had a tainted bottle of water on its hands, so it gave the water to a pet chicken; the chicken died "within a minute." We smell a new export opportunity here for Chinese manufacturers—your very own house chicken to peck out any tainted toys, toothpaste, or pet food. And maybe it can sniff the popcorn, too. Reuters already made a chicken-choking joke, so we'll pass. [
Reuters]
[Updated to reflect correct location of incident—our bad; we misread the article dateline as the location of the incident and incorrectly wrote "Beijing" the first time around.]
conspicuous consumption
We were thirsty the other day and wandered into a cute organic foods store on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. As we went to pick out something to drink, we saw that only Fiji brand water was chilled. We decided to buy some tea, but for a moment we considered buying water from Fiji. After all, we were thirsty.
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frugality
While cruising the
New York City 2006 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report our eyes lit up on the following item from the FAQ:
Should I buy bottled water?
You do not need to buy bottled water for health reasons in New York City since our water meets all federal and State health-based drinking water standards. Also, bottled water costs up to 1,000 times more than the City's drinking water.
We don't know exactly what they're basing their numbers on, but we do know tap water is just as good as bottled. Put it in the Brita, put the Brita in the refrigerator, boom, lovely water. Just make sure to clean your Brita often enough.
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Consumerist
