I just went to a festival that had only this brand for even regular still water, no water bottles with a cap. It was insanely irritating to not be able to just hang on to a bottle of water in my bag and pull it out whenever to take a sip, you have to just sit there and drink the whole water at once. Or toss it and spend another $6 to buy another can of water when you’re thirsty again. A small problem as problems go but frustrating at the time!
I work as a bartender in a live music venue in the Netherlands.
We, just like most festivals, used to always remove the caps from the water bottles, citing safety concerns (people would drop the bottle when empty but put the cap on, which is a nasty tripping hazard).
So a company started to make bottlecaps that clip to your pants, and most water vendors used a single size opening, which made this feasible. People held on to their cap, and could pause drinking.
Then water companies started to attach the cap to the bottle, to prevent litter, and the government issuing a mandate requiring us to charge per plastic unit.
So now we leave the caps on, but as guests return about 95% of bottles and cups to the bar (buying a drink without having a cup adds a 1 eur plastic surcharge), the safety hazard is basically gone.
As a bartender, I’d very much prefer bottles of water to cans. It allows guests to drink at their leasure, they’re easier to transport and can’t cause as much harm as a can (either by throwing or when squeezing it).
They are slightly visually less appealing than a cool can though, I’ll give them that.
Yes and the extremely thin plastic that the bottles are made of these days cracks and lets that air out as soon as force is applied.
Maybe you all drink Dasani exclusively or something, but most bottled water these days comes in plastic that’s as thin as tissue paper. I have had that shit crack in my hands.
[I’m starting to enjoy the response I’m getting to this take. The passion, anger and vitriol directed at me for questioning this shit. It’s hilarious, and I just can’t help myself… Stepped on an empty water bottle with a cap on today and guess what happened? It was immediately crushed, and I am not a heavy person. Please, tell me again how angry that statement just made you]
I suppose… Have you felt how thin the plastic is on water bottles these days though? I feel like the plastic would give first whether there’s a cap on or not. Maybe depends on the person’s weight.
Edit: Lol lots of angry folks here. To the person who said I’m ignoring “actual data”: what fucking data? Somebody said a thing, and now that’s “data”? You’ve got some actual data about the dangers of stepping on water bottles?
It seems like people are referring to unopened bottles of water. Didn’t see anything to indicate that in the original comment, but I guess it makes a little more sense if we’re talking about unopened bottles of water. Since we’re talking about trash that people throw on the ground, I guess I assumed the bottled was not only opened, but empty. Because it’s trash.
That said, I stand by my original comment. Plastic water bottles are made of fucking tissue paper these days. They 100% would snap if someone stepped on an opened/empty bottle.
Plastic bottles are always pressurised at the factory. They can hold shit load of weight when closed, otherwise they would explode during the packaging process.
A lot of festivals in the US had problems with heat stroke in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The two solutions were to either give out free water or allow people to bring in their own water.
The festival organizers generally chose supplying free water.
I’ve been to festivals that did, but they were very specific on the kind of bottle. The festival was also in the desert, so there tons of protections the venue took to prevent heat stroke.
The festival specifically didn’t allow this either, they want you to spend your money inside the festival. I actually did bring my own water bottle anyway because I carry an electrolyte drink with me everywhere to help with a medical condition. The guy checking bags gave me a hard time but I stood my ground and brought it in. But they don’t make it easy
Oh we’re definitely both in agreement that they’re being dicks. My issue is that the original comment I replied to is essentially victim blaming folks by saying “all you need to do is not consent, boom, problem instantly solved”.
Based on everyone else’s input (notably OP neglected to reply), it’s clear that the best you can do is not go to the venue and hope that results in systemic change.
I just went to a festival that had only this brand for even regular still water, no water bottles with a cap. It was insanely irritating to not be able to just hang on to a bottle of water in my bag and pull it out whenever to take a sip, you have to just sit there and drink the whole water at once. Or toss it and spend another $6 to buy another can of water when you’re thirsty again. A small problem as problems go but frustrating at the time!
I work as a bartender in a live music venue in the Netherlands.
We, just like most festivals, used to always remove the caps from the water bottles, citing safety concerns (people would drop the bottle when empty but put the cap on, which is a nasty tripping hazard).
So a company started to make bottlecaps that clip to your pants, and most water vendors used a single size opening, which made this feasible. People held on to their cap, and could pause drinking.
Then water companies started to attach the cap to the bottle, to prevent litter, and the government issuing a mandate requiring us to charge per plastic unit.
So now we leave the caps on, but as guests return about 95% of bottles and cups to the bar (buying a drink without having a cup adds a 1 eur plastic surcharge), the safety hazard is basically gone.
As a bartender, I’d very much prefer bottles of water to cans. It allows guests to drink at their leasure, they’re easier to transport and can’t cause as much harm as a can (either by throwing or when squeezing it).
They are slightly visually less appealing than a cool can though, I’ll give them that.
How does having the cap on change the danger level of the hazard?
the bottle doesn’t crush because the air is trapped inside.
Yes and the extremely thin plastic that the bottles are made of these days cracks and lets that air out as soon as force is applied.
Maybe you all drink Dasani exclusively or something, but most bottled water these days comes in plastic that’s as thin as tissue paper. I have had that shit crack in my hands.
A bottle full of air rolls when stepped on, with no cap they just squish flat.
[I’m starting to enjoy the response I’m getting to this take. The passion, anger and vitriol directed at me for questioning this shit. It’s hilarious, and I just can’t help myself… Stepped on an empty water bottle with a cap on today and guess what happened? It was immediately crushed, and I am not a heavy person. Please, tell me again how angry that statement just made you]
I suppose… Have you felt how thin the plastic is on water bottles these days though? I feel like the plastic would give first whether there’s a cap on or not. Maybe depends on the person’s weight.
Edit: Lol lots of angry folks here. To the person who said I’m ignoring “actual data”: what fucking data? Somebody said a thing, and now that’s “data”? You’ve got some actual data about the dangers of stepping on water bottles?
It seems like people are referring to unopened bottles of water. Didn’t see anything to indicate that in the original comment, but I guess it makes a little more sense if we’re talking about unopened bottles of water. Since we’re talking about trash that people throw on the ground, I guess I assumed the bottled was not only opened, but empty. Because it’s trash.
That said, I stand by my original comment. Plastic water bottles are made of fucking tissue paper these days. They 100% would snap if someone stepped on an opened/empty bottle.
Plastic bottles are always pressurised at the factory. They can hold shit load of weight when closed, otherwise they would explode during the packaging process.
I guess I was assuming the bottle wasn’t sealed shut since we’re talking about literal garbage that people throw on the ground.
If it’s not sealed then it doesn’t matter if the plastic is thinner by a few microns.
If you know you’re going to a festival why not bring your own reusable bottle of water and use the cans to top it up?
If you’re planning a festival with thousands of people why not provide life giving water without charging 6 dollars?
Or to put it in internet speak “why do anything when you can do something else?”
Not sure where you live, but around here (Southern US) the festivals are required to provide free drinking water to everyone.
What festivals aren’t providing water stations anymore?
Most people just don’t look for the stations, or don’t want to wait in the longer line.
I didn’t even know this was a concept
A lot of festivals in the US had problems with heat stroke in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The two solutions were to either give out free water or allow people to bring in their own water.
The festival organizers generally chose supplying free water.
You got an upvote on the first sentence and a downvote on the second sentence. :)
Because you want to make profit off people who are too incompetent to bring their own water.
That’s a given. The problem comes when you want to profit off people who would bring their own water, but you don’t let them.
Festivals I’ve been to don’t allow your own containers
I’ve been to festivals that did, but they were very specific on the kind of bottle. The festival was also in the desert, so there tons of protections the venue took to prevent heat stroke.
Or… Bring an empty reusable bottle with you.
The festival specifically didn’t allow this either, they want you to spend your money inside the festival. I actually did bring my own water bottle anyway because I carry an electrolyte drink with me everywhere to help with a medical condition. The guy checking bags gave me a hard time but I stood my ground and brought it in. But they don’t make it easy
Well that stinks.
Sounds like a feature, not a bug.
This is a kind of problems that would be solved instantly if people just didn’t consent to being abused.
Wait hold on, so someone buys tickets to an event, show up, and have to buy canned water.
What, in your imagination, should be the next steps so they “don’t consent to being abused”?
Don’t go to that venue again
Doesn’t sound very instant to me
Bring your own water.
In my experience many venues do not let you bring your own water
Hence the abuse…
Okay, so what’s the instant solution here? Apparently it’s as easy as not consenting.
I thought I was agreeing with you…
Oh we’re definitely both in agreement that they’re being dicks. My issue is that the original comment I replied to is essentially victim blaming folks by saying “all you need to do is not consent, boom, problem instantly solved”.
Based on everyone else’s input (notably OP neglected to reply), it’s clear that the best you can do is not go to the venue and hope that results in systemic change.
I wouldn’t bet on that solution.
Or if people just carried around a reusable bottle.