Many vendors claim to save you money. Buyer beware! If you fail to check out the claims, you could end up spending more. Advertisers are paid to make a product appealing; not to provide all the facts to support the claims being made. Consumers need to evaluate advertised claims to make an informed decision that results in true cost savings. Saving money is influenced by the availability of like products for comparisons, the local economy and time. To see how long will it take to see a cost savings you need to conduct a cost analysis.

The makers of SodaStream claim that you can make a can of soda for just 25 cents. That sounds like a great bargain, but do the numbers actually reveal it to be true? Let’s do the claim and cost analysis.

BREAKING IT DOWN

A SodaStream system has three components. The dispenser, flavoring, and a carbonator. The least expensive dispenser is $79.99, the least expensive flavoring is $5.99, and a 130-liter carbonator which is $49.99. (The carbonator also comes in a 60-liter size which is sold in pairs and costs $59.99. Since 120 liters costs $10 more, the 130-liter is the better deal.)

SodaStream estimates that each 500ml flavoring bottle makes about 12 liters of soda. This results in a cost per liter of $0.4992 for the $5.99 bottle. The $49.99 130-liter carbonator makes 130 liters of soda, so the cost per liter is $0.384. The combined total for both consumables is $0.8837 per liter. This puts the cost at $0.0261 per ounce or $0.31 for every 12 ounces.

COST BREAKDOWN
	130-liter carbonator		500ml Flavoring
	Total/Cost	Equation	Total/Cost	Equation
Cost per liter	$0.3845	$49.99 / 130	$0.4992	$5.99 / 12
Cost per ounce	$0.0114	$0.3845 / 33.814	$0.0148	$0.4992 / 33.814
Cost per 12-ounces	$0.1365	$0.0114 X 12	$0.1771	$0.018 X 12

COMBINED CONSUMABLE TOTALS
	Total/Cost	Equation
Cost per liter	$0.8837	$0.3845 + $04992
Cost per ounce	$0.0261	$0.8837 / 33.814
Cost per 12-ounces	$0.3136	$0.0261 X 12

 

Given this analysis, SodaStream’s true cost for each 12 ounces of soda is 31 cents and not the advertised cost of 25 cents. SodaStream makes the claim of 25 cents by not retaining any numbers past the hundredths place. By omitting these fractions of a cent you end up with lower numbers when you convert the cost from liters to 12-ounce portions. This chart shows the price discrepancy.

MISSING FRACTIONS
	130-liter carbonator			500ml flavoring
	Rounded total	Actual total	Variation	Rounded total	Actual total	Variation
Cost per liter	$0.38	$0.3845	-$0.0045	$0.50	$0.4992	+$0.0008
Cost per ounce	$0.01	$0.0114	-$0.0014	$0.01	$0.0148	-$0.0048
Cost per 12-ounces	$0.12	$0.1365	-$0.0165	$0.12	$0.1771	-$0.0571

 

There is only a 1.6 cent variation in cost per 12-ounces for the 130-liter carbonator. The 500ml flavoring has a 5.7 cent variation which has the greatest impact on price difference. While the purchase of SodaStream consumables is cheaper than spending 75 cents to a dollar fifty per can, it’s still costs 6 cents more than the advertised claim.

HOW IT STACKS UP

The cost of soda varies greatly depending on where you live, the brand of soda purchased, and applicable sales taxes. The volume of soda purchased and whether it’s in a can or bottle matters as well. Bulk soda is typically purchased in cases of 12 and 24 12-ounce cans as well as 2-liter bottles. Where I live, the cost of a 12 pack of 12-ounce name brand cans of soda is between $4 and $6. This puts the best price at $4 per pack which is $0.33 per can. Cases of 24 12-ounce cans of name brand soda is between $7 and $8. This puts the lowest cost at $7 per pack or $0.29 per can. 2-liters of name brand soda are between $0.88 and $1.50 which puts the cost of an $0.88 2-liter bottle at $0.44 per liter. Per ounce, the 2-liter is $0.0130 which is $0.156 per 12 ounces.

Priced lowest to highest, the 12-ounce cost for all the products are:

HOW THEY STACK UP
COST PER 12 OUNCES	ITEM
$0.33	12 pack of 12-ounce cans
$0.31	SodaStream
$0.29	24 pack of 12-ounce cans
$0.156	2-liter

 

These initial results show that simply being smarter about your soda purchases (especially in cans) is more cost effective than the SodaStream consumables. If you’re buying 12 packs of soda at $4 each then you are spending more money than what it would cost you to make your own soda. If you’re buying 24 packs at $7 each or 2-liters at $0.88 each then you’re saving money. (Note: These numbers don’t yet include the cost of a SodaStream dispenser.)

Let’s say instead of buying soda cans, you purchase 20-ounce bottles from a convenience store. What’s the cost story in this scenario? A 20-ounce bottle (where I live) costs $1.50 which is $0.075 per ounce or $0.90 per 12 ounces. The purchase of soda in bottles proves significantly more expensive than the cost of SodaStream consumables.

Next, let’s use a reasonable cost analysis to see how long it will take to start saving money with SodaStream versus 20-ounce bottles.

ANNUAL SODA CONSUMPTION

In September of 2013, Credit Suisse released a research report on sugar consumption with soda being at the top of the list for sugar intake. Their findings showed that the largest consumer of soda per year is the United States at just over 160 liters followed by Mexico, Argentina, and Chile, which are around 140 liters per year. There are some websites placing consumption of soda in the United States at 206 liters per person per year. Other figures are even higher, but the sites didn’t include a source for those estimates and claims so for this analysis we’ll be using Credit Suisse’s report.

Let’s look at the costs on the basis of a week’s soda consumption. 140 liters per year is equal to 4733.96 ounces which figures out to 91.03769 ounces per week. Drinking 20-ounce bottles at this rate is 4.55188 bottles per week at a cost of $6.8278. Using a SodaStream to make 91.03769 ounces per week costs $2.376. These numbers bode very well for SodaStream for the weekly costs, but the initial $79.99 cost of SodaStream machine needs to be calculated into our weekly totals. While the first week of 20-ounce bottles purchased is only $6.8278, the total first week cost of the SodaStream is $82.37. Over the course of one year the costs of using the SodaStream and the costs of purchasing 20-ounce bottles look like this:

The final figures for one year of using a SodaStream at the average consumption rate for the United States comes to $203.71 while purchasing 20-ounce bottles (at this same rate of consumption) comes to $355.05. This shows that the SodaStream pays for itself and saves $151.34 in the first year.

That cost savings is great news for people who only purchase 20-ounce bottles of soda. But what about people who purchase the 12 packs of 12-ounce cans which we now know is only slightly higher in cost than SodaStream’s consumables? This calculation is bad news for SodaStream users. You won’t break even on SodaStream until week 644 which is 12.38 years. The difference in price between SodaStream and can purchases (at this rate of consumption) barely changes each week. The following chart shows 8 weeks on each side of week 644, where the cost of 12 packs finally reach higher than SodaStream’s cost.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With these numbers, and because SodaStream is still a relatively new product, it’s unknown if 12 years of use would be more than the dispenser’s life expectancy. The dispenser may last this long without needing to be replaced, but it wouldn’t be until then that you would finally break even.

In the end, SodaStream is really only beneficial for people that are purchasing single 20-ounce bottles from convenience stores or soda machines. If you’re already buying 2-liters or 24-pack cases you’re already coming out ahead.