Drinks

Things mostly are not cheap anymore anywhere. Even at the "99 Cents Only" stores, many items in their inventory now exceed that price. Indeed, they all do, as the cheapest price now is 99.99 cents. Knowing that, it is a surprise to me whenever an item sold represents any kind of a bargain. I even lose perspective on what a bargain is, and a four dollar beer at a bar can sound pretty good. That is, of course, no bargain whatsoever.

There are still bargains out there, and one in particular comes to mind. I don't shop at Trader Joe's often, though I probably should. It would be good for my health (though I fear it would be bad for my checking account balance, the name of which I must confess I wince while typing). They have many find offerings, but there are only two that I have had great enthusiasm for at any time. One is their bread, which is pretty good. I can't eat as much of it as I used to.

The other thing they have that I like is water. Everyone sells water these days, but theirs is remarkable. It is not so in the sense that it is especially delicious, nutritious or brought from some exotic locale. It is not even refrigerated. Maybe that contributes to the salient details, which is that Trader Joes' bottled water is absurdly cheap. The smallest bottle, which measures at 16.9 ounces, costs 22 cents after tax. That's unquestionably a bargain.

I have wondered whether they can make any money on the water at such a price. Leaving it at room temperature must help, but what is the true cost of a bottle of water? Can it be as little as 17 cents or even less? It's true that businesses offer what is called a "loss leader", but could bottles of water serve that purpose? It's true enough that I feel almost as if I'm stealing when I buy the water, so I do feel the impulse to buy something else in order to produce a total cost that makes sense. Whatever the case may be, I like that water.