Aquaservice vs the 1.5-litre bottle: the math doesn't add up

Aquaservice or the 1.5-litre bottle: the math doesn't add up

Home-delivered water is sold as a convenience but costs what it really is: a premium. The question that opens the comparison is a concrete one: Aquaservice jugs with a loaned dispenser versus the litre-and-a-half bottle at 0.19 cents a litre. The answer that wins the argument leaves no room for doubt: for an ordinary household it isn't worth it, and even less so if you replace small bottles with five- or six-litre jugs, which bring the price per litre down in the shops but still don't match tap water.

How much does home-delivered water cost per litre

The dispenser is on loan, yes, but that's not a perk: it's the visible part of a supply contract. The machine is provided free of charge in exchange for buying the water, and the electricity consumption —if you want it cold or hot— is on the customer. That's where the costs the advertising leaves out of the brochure pile up: the gadget's electricity, the disguised rental and the price per litre of the jug.

The most optimistic calculation assumes that the convenience of having cold and hot water at the push of a button justifies the difference. The realistic scenario starts from a different premise: anyone already buying bottles at 0.19 cents a litre is paying next to nothing per litre, and no jug delivered to your door goes below that. Some argue the right comparison isn't with the litre-and-a-half bottle but with the five- or six-litre jug at the supermarket, which lowers the unit price. Even so, the result doesn't change sign.

It's not mineral water: what the label says

The detail that bothers people most isn't the price. It's the nature of the product. According to one participant, the label on these jugs does not carry the natural mineral water designation: it's listed as a soft drink. It's a legal and commercial distinction that separates two different categories and would explain part of the margin. Natural mineral water has origin and composition requirements; a prepared soft drink doesn't.

Then there's the container. Reusable jugs are thicker than the PET of single-use bottles, precisely because they're refilled several times before being recycled. Some warn that this hard plastic, polycarbonate, is not the same material as PET and raises questions about how it behaves in prolonged contact with water. The warning circulates in the conversation without technical backing, but the container, needless to say, is not that of an ordinary bottle.

Where the dispenser does make sense

Things change when the customer isn't a family. In offices, notary firms and workplaces, the cost per litre matters less than looking after visitors: having cold or hot water for employees' infusions is cheaper than any logistical alternative. There the dispenser isn't competing with the supermarket bottle, it's competing with a fridge full of bottles and a sink full of glasses.

For home, the middle option remains: eight-litre jugs and a three-euro manual pump that lasts for months, compatible with the standard threads on the market. It's the route that avoids the contract while keeping the convenience. The full calculation, with electricity consumption and price per litre broken down, yields a difference that surprises anyone who only looks at the monthly fee.

Is it worth paying for convenience what a good that comes out of the tap at a fraction of that price costs?