| The Times they are A-Changing | | | | of one-use water bottles in their communities. |
| The bottled water industry generated $15 billion in | | | | Most recently, Ann Arbor, Mich., announced it |
| revenue in America in 2006. It will top $16 billion | | | | would no longer offer bottled water at |
| this year. That's more than Americans spent on | | | | city-sponsored events." |
| movie tickets or iPods. | | | | Forgive my immodesty, but I saw this coming |
| And while 50 percent of Fijians don't have access | | | | back when I posted on Crystal Geyser water in |
| to clean, reliable water, millions of gallons Fiji | | | | November 2006. |
| Water is shipped most of the way across the | | | | So in times like this what choices do you have if |
| Pacific and then trucked from the coast to chi-chi | | | | your business is based on consumables? That is, |
| hotels or otherwise sold at a premium across the | | | | what if your business model is to sell stuff that |
| country. | | | | we discard rather than save after use, like |
| This even though almost every American could | | | | chewing gum, newspapers, or paper checks? |
| walk to the closest tap and draw out clean, safe | | | | It appears to me that the staff at Check Gallery |
| and often good-tasting water. These and other | | | | has asked this very question and came up with |
| choice facts come out in Charles Fishman's | | | | some solid answers, based in part on |
| well-wrought 6,000-word piece on water in the | | | | cause-related marketing and social responsibility. |
| July Fast Company. | | | | Checks are a consumable and thereby have an |
| At a time when the bottle watered business has | | | | environmental impact. But for a check printer, |
| never been better, I predict that the only | | | | that's hardly their only worry. Checks are also |
| direction it can go from here is down. The times | | | | threatened by electronic banking and debit cards. |
| they are a-changing. | | | | To get a feel for that threat, next time you go |
| Fishman concludes: | | | | shopping count the number of merchants which |
| "Packing bottled water in lunch boxes, grabbing a | | | | have a little sign taped to the cash register, often |
| half-liter from the fridge as we dash out the door, | | | | hand-lettered, that reads "We know longer accept |
| piling up half-finished bottles in the car cup | | | | checks. Sorry for any inconvenience." |
| holders--that happens because of a fundamental | | | | Above is the front of a flyer delivered to my |
| thoughtlessness. It's only marginally more trouble | | | | mailbox on July 10, 2007. The headline reads: |
| to have reusable water bottles, cleaned and filled | | | | "America's Leading Earth-Friendly Checks For |
| and tucked in the lunch box or the fridge. We just | | | | Less." |
| can't be bothered. And in a world in which 1 billion | | | | The deck below reads; |
| people have no reliable source of drinking water, | | | | "Great designs get you in touch with your |
| and 3,000 children a day die from diseases caught | | | | interests at a significant savings. And whatever |
| from tainted water, that conspicuous consumption | | | | design appeals to you--you'll benefit from Check |
| of bottled water that we don't need seems | | | | Gallery's outstanding value and |
| wasteful, and perhaps cavalier." | | | | environmentally-friendly products. All checks are |
| From a June 27, 2007 story in the Deseret | | | | printed on premium, recycled paper with non-toxic |
| Morning News: | | | | inks and are available in One-Part and Duplicate |
| "Mayors across the country on Monday joined | | | | formats in boxes of 150." |
| Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson in calling | | | | Okay, it ain't exactly Shakespeare's Sonnet 30, |
| for a study of how bottled water impacts city | | | | but you get the point. |
| budgets and waste streams. | | | | In all, Check Gallery supports six charities: National |
| "Anderson, along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin | | | | Wildlife Foundation; Lupus Foundation of America; |
| Newsom and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, | | | | Defenders of Wildlife; National Breast Cancer |
| sponsored a resolution at the U.S. Conference of | | | | Foundation; Humane Society of the United States; |
| Mayors in Los Angeles calling for the study, and | | | | and, the Boat U.S. Foundation for Boating Safety |
| according to a news release from the nonprofit | | | | and Clean Water. |
| group Corporate Accountability International, the | | | | In effect, Check Gallery has made cause-related |
| conference's attendees "overwhelmingly" adopted | | | | marketing, normally a tactic, into a strategy and I |
| the resolution... | | | | applaud them for that and for addressing this |
| "CAI estimates people in the United States | | | | issue now, even if their approach is a little |
| currently spend $11 billion yearly on bottled water, | | | | ham-handed. Witness their awful logo on the top |
| a figure it compared to the estimated $22 billion | | | | left, for instance. |
| funding shortfall in the country's municipal water | | | | Still, if you're in the consumables business, there's |
| infrastructure budgets. | | | | probably something you can learn from Check |
| "Other cities have attempted to reduce the use | | | | Gallery. |