Most offices pay for jug delivery in four places, but they usually only look at one: the price per bottle. The full cost is the bottles, plus delivery fees, plus cooler rental, plus deposits and extra charges. Here is what each one costs in 2026, and how to add up your own.
The four line items on a water delivery bill
1. The bottles. Published local prices for a 5-gallon bottle run from about $6.50 to $14.95, depending on the dealer, the type of water and how many you order. Spring water usually costs more than purified or reverse osmosis water. Some dealers charge less per bottle when you order more: one Minnesota dealer lists $14.95 for a single bottle but $8.05 each for 10 or more. (ThePricer, 2026)
2. Delivery fees. Many providers add a charge to each delivery, separate from the water. Published delivery fees range from about $1.95 to $9.25 per visit. (ThePricer) One of the largest national providers says it adds "a fee to each delivery to help cover the cost of delivering products to your home or office," and may also charge late fees, a fee for paper invoices and a surcharge for paying by credit card. (Water.com)
3. Cooler rental. If you don't own your cooler, rental for a standard bottled-water cooler runs about $10 to $18 per cooler per month, with hot-and-cold and bottom-load models at the higher end. (ThePricer)
4. Deposits and extras. Reusable jugs usually carry a deposit of about $6 to $7 per bottle, refundable when you return them under the dealer's terms. Seven bottles in rotation means roughly $42 to $49 tied up in deposits. (ThePricer) Check your invoice for anything else too: lost-bottle charges, fuel or energy surcharges, late fees and price increases.
A worked example
Take a small office that goes through 8 jugs a month:
| Line item | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| 8 bottles at $9.00 | $72 |
| 4 deliveries at $5.00 | $20 |
| 1 cooler rental | $14 |
| Total | $106 a month, or $1,272 a year |
That doesn't count the deposits, any late or surcharge fees, or the time someone spends tracking inventory and swapping jugs.
Bigger offices pay a lot more. Culligan Quench, which sells bottleless coolers, estimates that jug delivery costs an office with 25 daily users about $253 a month on average, and an office with 100 daily users about $691 a month, once rental, delivery, repairs and filters are included. (Culligan Quench) Keep in mind that a company selling the alternative published those numbers, so use your own invoice as the real test.
Costs that don't show up on the invoice
- Lifting. A full 5-gallon jug weighs about 42 pounds and goes up onto the cooler at shoulder height or higher. At 8 jugs a month, that's more than 4,000 pounds lifted a year.
- Space. Full jugs and empties take up closet and floor space.
- Running out. When a delivery is missed, offices end up buying cases of bottled water at retail prices.
- Admin time. Someone has to count bottles, place orders, be there for deliveries and check invoices.
How to find your real number in 10 minutes
- Pull your last three water invoices.
- Add up every line, not just the bottles: delivery, rental, surcharges, fees.
- Divide by three for your average monthly cost.
- Note how many bottles you used each month and how many coolers you rent.
- Check whether you signed a service agreement, and when it ends.
Or let us do the math: plug your numbers into the savings calculator and we'll email you a personalized report with your yearly cost, your pounds lifted and what bottleless would cost instead.
What does the alternative cost?
A bottleless (point-of-use) cooler connects to your building's water line and filters on-site, so there are no bottles or deliveries. Dealers advertise flat monthly rates starting at about $50 to $60 per cooler, usually including filter changes and sanitizing. (ThePricer) Installation is often a one-time fee; Culligan Quench, for example, starts installation at $199. (Culligan Quench)
In the example above, $106 a month for jugs against about $55 for one bottleless cooler is roughly $600 a year saved, or about $400 in the first year after a $199 installation. Low-volume offices with several coolers may save less or nothing, so it's worth running your own numbers. For a full side-by-side, read Bottleless water cooler vs. water delivery: an honest comparison.
Prices are published dealer rates as of 2026 and vary by area. Your provider's quote is what counts.