So who sets the price?
With the warm temperature at hand, the pool requires that I invest in time and materials to keep the waters limpid. Specifically, the backwash to get rid of the accumulated debris and the magic powders that need to be added, in portions that are about as roughly estimated as I can get away with.
The chemistry isn’t cheap, so I tend to buy in bulk and keep the stuff in the basement for up to a year at a time. Today, I emptied the drum and headed off to buy more. The surprising thing is that all the companies sell exactly the same thing, produced by the megaton someplace, and the pricing seems to have no rationale. The price varies by more than 20% from one store to another, the convenient “pucks” are another 30% MORE expensive for the same chemical content.
Worse, the stuff is nasty to breathe, in even the smallest of quantities. Yet, every house on the street uses the stuff. Environmental madness.
Google Earth shows that the houses without pools in Quebec City can be used as landmarks; navigational points for aircraft, whatever. A lot of chemistry to keep those limpid waters.
