To: Ditchdigger who wrote (22140 ) 11/27/1997 1:20:00 PM From: slotman Respond to of 55532
I paid a visit to a local "Stater's Bros" chain type grocery store last nite and found 4 different bottled water brands. The 2 biggies in my area are Arrowhead and Sparkletts, both bottled locally (so Cal) 1 other is a designer label (perrrier) and the 4th is "Stater Bros" label. Obviously stater bros does not bottle their own water, so someone is. That someone could be anybody including the good folks in Ten Sleep. The generic label is real cheap looking and the bottle itself is somewhat flimsy compared with the others. Production costs are much lower, I'm sure. Employing the strategy of using different lables for the same probuct produced by the same company is a common practice of self-defense in the event of a product liabilty suit. If the La Times wrote a story about worms being found in a certain brand name, for example, "Ten Sleep" bottled water, it would have little sales impact on sister label "AquaVista" . The demand for bot water in socal is tremendous. I can't recall seeing anyone drink out of the tap or fountain in 11 years. The tap water imo is just flat out dangerous and getting worse. The future demand for bot h20 regardless of cost is going to explode and RMIL, with new hi speed, hi volume production capabilities (IF TRUE) is positioning herself at a critical time. When the Northridge earthquake hit, bottling plants could not keep up with the demand, Same with the Florida hurricane and the midwest floods and other natural disasters. Many of the victims, experiencing bottled water for the first time on a regular basis, became lifelong customers. It's been said that the next "major" military conflict will be over water rights. That just exemplifies the strategic importance of companies that are purchasing long term water rights right now. My son told me that the army provides the troops with private lable bot water when they go on manuvers. So.. If RMIL is real and they have water rights and cash in the bank and a somewhat established shipping mechanism, how can it go wrong, short of being mis-managed or improperly marketed?