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The Cost of Hauling Water Yourself
Let's say you need 4,200 gallons of water. You have a 450 gallon tank in the back of your pickup and live 15 miles (30 miles round-trip) to where you get water. You will have to make 10 TRIPS to carry 4,200 gallons. According to the IRS, the cost to drive one mile is 67¢ [ok, we will use this number, although the IRS is not taking into consideration the stress on the vehicle of carrying 3,700+ pounds of water each trip.] 10 trips of 30 miles each adds up to 300 miles and $201.00 And that isn't including the price of the water! Now, what is your time worth? If you drive 60mph, that is 5 Hours of driving time. (Let's be realistic, on the gravel county roads you aren't going that fast!) Then add a minimum of 5 minutes each trip for loading the water. You are at almost 6 Hours of your precious time. This is not counting the time to load and unload the tank into the pickup or unloading the water at your house. If you "charge" your time at $15/hour, that is $87.50 for your time. And your time is certainly worth more than that! |
Let's Do the Math!
4,200 / 450=9.3 trips ~10 trips 10 trips @ 30 miles = 300 miles 300 x $0.67 = $201.00 300 miles / 60mph = 5 Hours 5 minutes/trip to load = 50 minutes 5.83 hours x $15/hour = $87.50 $201.00 + 87.50 $288.50 |
FYI, given this scenario, VWA Services charges less than this!