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Interesting service that may not have settled into the best business model yet. Consumer demand for chilled & filtered tap water seems high. A hearty consumer market for this seems impossible: so many free substitutes exist. In B2B (quick-serve franchises, malls, gyms) and B2G (parks, transit hubs, anywhere there is a queue) the opportunity is different. Reefill service can solve problems: expensive recycling of plastic water bottles, poor quality water being served, no source of water on site, no staff trained to safely maintain drinking water quality standards.... Striking the deal with the party whose problem you can solve usually works out.
@kkdub Thanks for the feedback Kelly! We agree that demand for chilled & filtered tap is high -- Americans spent $21 billion on bottled water last year (more than soda for the first time ever!). Good B2B and B2G ideas! We're working closely with NYU, which gave us a grant funding and is purchasing memberships for incoming freshmen to help them ditch bottled water. We're also working with NYC and the NY/NJ Port Authority to help map public bottle filling stations on our app.
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$1.99/mo. seems fair if you purchase bottles regularly. Would be cooler without app and it recognized the bottle or something though.
@nealrs Hey Neal! When I'm at home or the office I drink straight from the faucet. Sometimes when you're out and about in NYC, though, it can be hard to find a place to fill up which is why New Yorkers buy millions of bottled waters every week and why Americans spent $21 billion on bottled water last year -- that's more than they spent on soda! We want to change that by providing convenient, on the go access to cold filtered water without the waste. The $1.99 fee -- less than the cost of just one bottled water -- is for the infrastructure and chilling and filtering, but not for the water itself -- you can take as much as you want and even fill up your friends' bottles. As long as people are not buying bottled water, we're happy.
@patrick_connorton
If your goal is to limit bottled water waste, you should be taking your funds & efforts and using them to lobby local government for more public water fountains and better recycling programs.
@nealrs We love public fountains and definitely wish there were more of them! In NYC they're mostly in parks and playgrounds since it's impractical and cost-prohibitive to put them in the densest parts of town -- and unfortunately they need to be off six months of the year to avoid freezing. But we are working with the city to help map those fountains as well so people are aware of where they can fill up and it is easier to avoid buying bottled water.
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I am a water snob and I think this is an awesome idea, though the availability of the refill locations and the quality of the filter will make or break this in my mind.
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Anyone who drinks water should give this a second look; especially if they can't speak to the TDS in the water they drink. FYI: If you don't know what TDS is, you aren't knowledgeable enough about drinking water to have an opinion on this idea.
Which leads me to an obvious group of questions to the owner of this idea...
What is the TDS of the water dispensed by this device?
How is the TDS monitored?
How do you ensure filtration is occurring?
How often is the filtration system maintained and/or replaced and at whose expense?
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I didn't read all the comments, so this may have already been said, but, I could see this being very useful in a home setting. Cities such as the one I live in use well water as the source, which ends up tasting like diluted bleach after being treated at the plant. Otherwise, to get decent-tasting drinking water, we have to buy bottles, subscribe to delivery services, or purchase expensive filters. For $2 a month, I would use the heck out of this at home!
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I would be glad to develop the concept by commerce means
Pros:
very practice
Cons:
could be wise focus on the renew energi to drive the machines!
@pbriod Agreed that there's no more efficient way to get water to the end user than great municipal infrastructure, and that's something that Reefill helps cities highlight. We're working with NYC's mayor's office to map public bottle filling stations on our app as well. These are largely located in parks and playgrounds since its impractical or cost-prohibitive to install them in the densest parts of town (they also need to be off six months a year to avoid freezing). Reefill fills in the gaps so that there's no need to ever buy bottled water.
I would be glad to develop the concept by commerce means
Pros:very practice
Cons:could be wise focus on the renew energi to drive the machines!