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Glacier Water Services, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History

2651 La Mirada Drive, Suite 100
Vista, California 92083
U.S.A.

Company Perspectives:

Our mission is to be a great company by forming strategic partnerships with retailers to provide consumers with the highest quality, value-priced water dispensed from machines that are consistently clean, attractive, and reliable; ensuring that our employees are focused on service, quality, integrity, and safety; and producing profitable growth at a level that consistently enhances shareholder value.

History of Glacier Water Services, Inc.

Located in Vista, California, Glacier Water Services, Inc. is the largest operator of self-service water vending machines in the United States, with more than 15,000 units located in 35 states. Most of the company's business is tied to supermarkets, especially in Sunbelt states, where its vending machines are located outdoors, but the development of an indoor unit has allowed Glacier Water to make inroads in northern states. The coin-operated machines rely on a combination of techniques, including micron filtration, reverse osmosis, carbon absorption, and ultraviolet sterilization, in order to remove impurities and "polish" the taste of water drawn directly from local municipal sources. Once a week each unit is tested and serviced, but aside from this maintenance, the system is self-sufficient. Customers provide their own containers, although in many cases the retail outlets where the units are located also sell plastic jugs. The price per gallon ranges from 15 cents to 50 cents, depending on local competition, making the company's water an inexpensive alternative to bottled water sold in stores or delivered to homes.

Early History of Water Vending Machines: 1900s-80s

The history of the vending water machine is tied to the Dixie Cup, invented by Lawrence Luellen in Boston in 1908. Luellen's original idea was to market a vending machine that could dispense a clean cup of cold water for a penny. He developed the porcelain "Luellen Cup & Water Vendor," which included a reservoir of water perched above an ice container along with a stack of nested paper cups. These one-piece pleated cups would become known as Dixie Cups. To exploit his device, Luellen recruited a number of investors and formed the American Water Supply Company of New England in April 1908. Because it cost too much to manufacture the machine, the directors of the new company elected instead to focus on marketing Luellen's paper cup, which could be sold next to a standard water fountain.

The first practical water vending machine was not developed until the mid-1970s and was intended to provide purified water in bulk rather than a cup of chilled, untreated water. Not only had water purification techniques been developed, but there was also a rising concern about the safety of drinking water that was pivotal to the creation of the water vending machine industry. Since the early 1960s, with the publication of Rachel Carson's seminal book Silent Spring, the public had become increasingly concerned about the level of contaminants found in the nation's water supply. A spate of environmental legislation resulted, including the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974. Much of the early growth in water vending machines took place in California, which offered a favorable demographic. The state's large number of Latino and Asian immigrants came from countries where drinking water was unquestionably dangerous, and they were already in the habit of boiling water to remove impurities. Because water vending machines were both convenient and inexpensive, this lower-income immigrant population provided the bulk of customers in the formative years of the water vending machine industry. Middle- and upper-class consumers, for their part, were driving the quick rise in the bottled water market.

The founder of Glacier Water Services was Robert G. Miller, whose original business, Bottle Water Vending Inc., was established in 1983. It subsequently changed its name to GW Services, Inc. The company designed and built water vending machines, some of which it sold to others. It operated the remainder, placing the units outside supermarkets, which received a monthly share of revenues. While competitors developed units made out of steel, Miller opted for longer lasting fiberglass. GW Services soon began to expand beyond the California market, entering Arizona in 1984, then Nevada in 1986. By the following year, the company had nearly 900 units in operation, generating $5.6 million in revenues. In 1988, it moved into Texas and Florida, other Sunbelt states with a heavy Latin immigrant population.

Glacier Water Services: 1990s

In the spring of 1990, poor health forced Miller to relinquish day-to-day control of GW Services. In October 1991, he was replaced as chief executive officer by Jerry Welch, who had previously been the top executive at Stars to Go, a video rental business. A month later, on November 19, 1991, Glacier Water Services, Inc. was formed as a Delaware corporation to serve as a holding company for GW Services in preparation for making an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. The IPO was primarily arranged to allow Miller, whose health continued to deteriorate, to liquidate his 50 percent stake in the business and bring order to his estate. Two months before the IPO took place Miller resigned as chairman of the board, replaced by Welch in January 1992. On March 13, 1992 Glacier Water sold two million shares, netting $12 million and becoming the first publicly traded water vending machine company in the industry. By now the business was generating more than $23 million in annual revenues, with 3,300 units in operation. It was number one in the industry, its closest competitor, Aqua-Vend, boasting 2,900 vending machines.

In addition to allowing Miller to clean up his estate, the IPO helped to fund the expansion of Glacier Water, not only to northern states but also within existing territories. In August 1992, the company announced that it had signed a deal to place its machines in front of 250 Wal-Mart Stores in Glacier Water's five-state territory. It was the first time that a water vending machine company entered the mass merchant retail section. In support of its plan to expand into northern states, where year-round outdoor vending was not practical, the company also introduced its Model 1W, an indoor unit that could be mounted directly on a wall. Despite these promising developments, Welch suddenly announced his resignation, maintaining that the company did not need as many full-time executives as it currently had. Although he remained as a consultant and a board member, he was replaced as CEO by the company's president, Duke Bushong, and chairman by Peter T. Dixon, a senior executive vice-president of Loeb Partners Corp., one of the company's major investors. Several months later, in April 1993, however, Welch was again elected chairman of Glacier Water, and when Bushong resigned in September 1994 Welch also reassumed his role as chief executive officer.

No matter who was leading the company, the goal of Glacier Water was clear: solidifying its grip on the top position in the water vending machine industry. To support this end, management focused on bolstering four areas: operations, finance, marketing, and human resources. More marketing people were especially needed to expand into new territories, and additional staff would be needed to work in the field servicing the units. The customer base for vending machine water was also growing, as more middle-class consumers opted for the service rather than spend money on more expensive bottled water. Moreover, the market for purified water in general continued to grow at a significant pace, prompting the company to seek new geographical territories as well as to broaden the range of retail establishments where water vending machines could be placed. Supermarkets (in particular the Vons California chain, which accounted for as much as 13 percent of total revenues) would continue to provide the most suitable locations, but drugstores, convenience stores, and other establishments would also be targeted. The major source of customers, however, would remain in the company's home state of California: with just 12 percent of the country's population, California accounted for 30 percent of all purified water sales.

In 1993, Glacier Water paid $450,000 to acquire Vend Pure H2O Associates of Lubbock, Texas, adding 75 water vending machines. In general, however, the plan at this stage was to grow internally rather than pursue acquisitions or joint ventures. In 1993, Glacier Water entered the New Mexico market and that year deployed 1,114 new units systemwide. The company also initiated a pilot program in Taiwan, ultimately concluding, however, that it was not yet ready to commit to an international program. In 1994, Glacier Water added 1,945 machines and entered Louisiana and Mississippi. The following year Georgia was included and the total number of machines increased by 1,793. In 1996, Glacier Water grew beyond the Sunbelt, adding Illinois to its base of operations and overall increasing the number of vending machines systemwide by 646. At the end of 1996, the company also signed an important agreement with Ralph's Grocery Company, a major California supermarket chain, to place water vending machines at their locations. As of December 31, 1996, the company had a total 9,164 units deployed, placing it well ahead of its closest rival Aqua-Vend, which had only a third as many. Annual revenues grew from $30.6 million in 1993 to more than $46 million in 1996. Net income during this period grew from $2 million in 1993 to $3.3 million in 1996.

In March 1997, Glacier Water grew by external means, paying approximately $9 million to acquire its closest rival, Aqua-Vend, part of San Francisco-based McKesson Corporation's McKesson Water Products Company. For McKesson, selling Aqua-Vend provided funding that allowed it to expand upon direct delivery and grocery sales of its bottled water products. For its part, Glacier Water in a single stroke added 3,000 water vending machines located in California, Texas, Nevada, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Approximately 600 of the units, however, would be removed as part of an integration plan that laid out balanced territories for the overall system. The increased number of vending machines added significantly to revenues of Glacier Water, exceeding $57 million for 1997. Although the company had many rivals in the water vending machine sector, some 40 small companies across the country, none boasted more than a 5 percent market share. Glacier Water now estimated that it accounted for three-quarters of all water sold through vending machines.

Entering the Mexican Market: 1998

In 1998, Glacier Water opted to enter the Mexico market, creating Glacier de Mexico. By the end of the year it had placed 144 vending machines in Mexico City (adding another 434 machines the following year). Prospects for the company appeared bright in 1998, a fact that was reflected by the price of its stock, which peaked at $32 per share in April 1998. A few months later, however, it would face the challenge of adverse publicity. In September 1998, a yearlong study on the quality of vending machine water (sold by Glacier Water and two dozen other companies) was released by the Environmental Toxicology Bureau of Los Angeles County. It found that 93 percent of all vending machines contained 163 times more bacteria than tap water, and that many units were poorly maintained. Some had dirty spigots or filters so old that they were incapable of removing contaminants. In defense of its operations, Glacier Water maintained that it inspected and maintained its units once a week. Management also pointed out that in order to lower bacterial levels, chlorine would have to be reintroduced to the water, while noting that a major reason consumers opted for its water was because of their dissatisfaction with the taste of chlorine. The fact that the report "found no clear evidence of danger for consumers" was overshadowed by the allusion to bacterial levels. Because consumer confidence in the product was paramount, Glacier Water was quick to call for a mandatory state inspection program, which it suggested could be funded by charging the owners $20 to $40 per machine. Although California had licensed and regulated water vending machines since 1989, it had relied on a self-inspection system that only required the reporting of results every six months. With the most machines deployed, Glacier Water had the most at stake if the industry lost credibility, but with the greater resources the company was also better able to afford the fee-based inspection program it promoted. In fact, it stood to benefit, since the expense added another barrier for companies attempting to rival its supremacy.

Glacier Water spent $125,000 in public relations fees combating the negative publicity that resulted from the county study. It faced other unforeseen charges as well in 1998, which was clearly a disappointing year for the company. It was accused of patent infringement and paid $675,000 in legal expenses. It spent $800,000 in an unsuccessful test of the efficacy of media advertising, performed in San Diego and Phoenix during the summer months. Moreover, the company took a one-time charge of nearly $1 million related to the removal of 1,450 underperforming machines, to be relocated over the ensuing months. As a result of these difficulties, revenues fell slightly and the company posted a loss of $3.3 million.

Over the next two years, Glacier Water continued to struggle. In 1999, it reported more disappointing results. Although revenues showed a modest improvement, increasing to $56.7 million, the company net loss grew to $7.2 million. In September 1999, Welch resigned, replaced as CEO by Chief Operating Officer Jerry Gordon, who had started in the company as a salesman, and as chairman by Richard Kayne. Under their management in 2000, the company would have to make a tough decision on its Mexican operation, which was not performing up to expectations. In the first half of the year, it generated just $246,000 in revenues, resulting in a net loss of $558,000 for the period. By August, the decision was made to terminate the operation, take a $1.4 million restructuring charge, and return the vending machines to the United States for redeployment. Weeks before Glacier Water reported a loss of $6 million for fiscal 2000, Gordon resigned "to pursue other opportunities for personal reasons," according to a statement released by Chairman Kayne.

In May 2001, Glacier Water hired a new chief executive, Brian McInerney, a former executive of Honeywell International. A month later the company had a new chairman when the board elected Charles A. Norris. He was familiar with the industry, having served as president of McKesson Water Products and overall having spent 20 years in the bottled water industry. He had also served as chairman and director of the International Bottled Water Association. The company's new management team elected to pay off long-term debt and concentrate on internal growth, adding machines to current territories. By early 2002, however, Glacier Water Services announced a major acquisition, picking up Pure Fill Corp. and its subsidiaries. Pure Fill had been in the water vending machine industry for more than 15 years and operated 1,625 units in 13 states. Because the Pure Fill assets complemented Glacier Water's other assets, McInerney expressed optimism that the acquisition would help to accelerate the company's return to profitability. In any case, Glacier Water was even more of a dominant player in the water vending machine industry, now boasting more than 15,000 units under its control. It was also clear that the demand for its product--inexpensive, clean drinking water--would only grow in the years to come.

Principal Subsidiaries: GW Services, Inc.; Glacier Water Trust I; GW Services International, Inc.

Principal Competitors: The Coca-Cola Company; Culligan Water Technologies, Inc.; Danone; Nestlé S.A.; Water Island.

Related information about Glacier

A body of ice originating from recrystallized snow in cirques in mountain areas and flowing slowly downslope by creep under its own weight (alpine glaciers). Huge glaciers on continental plateaux are termed ice sheets. Glaciers flow until the rate of ice loss at the snout equals the rate of accumulation at the source.

A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. A glacier is formed by multi-year ice accretion in sloping terrain. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water. Glaciers can be found on every continent, including on the greater Australian continent. Glaciers are more or less permanent bodies of ice and compacted snow that have become deep enough and heavy enough to flow under their own weight.

Geologic features associated with glaciers include end, lateral, ground and medial moraines that form from glacially transported rocks and debris; U-shaped valleys and corries (cirques) at their heads, and the glacier fringe, which is the area where the glacier has recently melted into water.

Types of glaciers

There are two main types of glaciers: alpine glaciers, which are found in mountain terrains, and continental glaciers, which are associated with ice ages and can cover large areas of continents. Polar glaciers are always below the freezing point with most mass loss due to sublimation. The superimposed ice zone is a zone of such high melt and refreeze that ice lenses have merged to a continuous mass.

The smallest alpine glaciers form in mountain valleys and are referred to as valley glaciers. Larger ice layers can cover an entire mountain, mountain chain or even a volcano; this type is known as an ice cap. Outlet glaciers are formed by the movement of ice from a polar ice cap, or an ice cap from mountainous regions, to the sea.

The largest glaciers are continental ice sheets, enormous masses of ice that are not affected by the landscape and extend over the entire surface, except on the margins, where they are thinnest. Antarctica and Greenland are the only places where continental ice sheets currently exist. This type of glacier appears in many places, especially in Iceland and some of the large islands in the Arctic Ocean, and throughout the northern Pacific Cordillera from southern British Columbia to western Alaska.

Tidewater glaciers are glaciers that flow into the sea. As the ice reaches the sea pieces break off, or calve, forming icebergs. The Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska and has a calving face over ten kilometers long. Yakutat Bay and Glacier Bay are both popular with cruise ship passengers because of the huge glaciers descending to them.

Piedmont glaciers occupy broad lowlands at the base of steep mountains, and form when one or more alpine glaciers surge from the confining walls of mountain valleys. The size of piedmont glaciers varies greatly: among the largest is the Malaspina Glacier, which extends along the length of the southern coast of Alaska. And it is only a part of the much bigger Kluane Icecap, which spans the Mount St. Elias and Chugach groups of mountain ranges all the way from the Malaspina Glacier to the Copper River and well into the southwestern Yukon, as well as southeast from the Malaspina towards the Iskut River in British Columbia.

The highest alpine glacier in the world is the Siachen Glacier, which is also a zone of political conflict between India and Pakistan.

Formation of glaciers

The snow which forms glaciers is subject to repeated freezing and thawing, which changes it into a form of granular ice called n辿v辿. Under the pressure of the layers of ice and snow above it, this granular ice fuses into denser firn. The distinctive blue tint of glacial ice is due to Rayleigh scattering, the same effect that gives the sky its blue color.

The lower layers of glacial ice flow and deform plastically under the pressure, allowing the glacier as a whole to move slowly like a viscous fluid. The upper layers of glaciers are more brittle, and often form deep cracks known as crevasses or Bergshrunds as they flex. Glacial meltwaters flow throughout and underneath glaciers, carving channels in the ice similar to caves in rock and also helping to lubricate the glacier's movement. As a rule of thumb, the accumulation zone accounts for 60-70% of the glacier's surface area. The depth of ice in the accumulation zone exerts a downward force sufficient to cause deep erosion of the rock in this area. After the glacier is gone, this often leaves a bowl or amphitheater-shaped depression called a cirque.

On the opposite end of the glacier, at its foot or terminal, is the deposition or ablation zone, where more ice is lost through melting than gained from snowfall and sediment is deposited. The place where the glacier thins to nothing is called the ice front.

The altitude where the two zones meet is called the equilibrium line. Several non-linear relationships define the relation between accumulation and ablation.

In the aftermath of the Little Ice Age, around 1850, the glaciers of the Earth have retreated substantially. www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/064.htm

Even in very cold climates, there may be unglaciated areas, which receive too little precipitation to form permanent ice. This was the case in most of Siberia, central and northern Alaska and all of Manchuria during glacial periods of the Quaternary, and occurs today in Antarctica's Dry Valleys and in that part of the Andes between 19属S and 27属S above the hyperarid Atacama Desert where, although the mountains reach 6700 metres above sea level, the cold Humboldt Current completely suppresses precipitation. The increased pressure on ice deeper than that depth causes the ice to become plastic and flow. Friction between ice and rock and geothermal heat from the Earth's interior also contribute to thawing.

Speed of glacial movement

The speed of glacial displacement is partly determined by friction. This was confirmed by experiments in the 19th century, in which stakes were planted in a line across an alpine glacier, and as time passed, those in the center moved further.

Mean speeds vary; In other cases they can move as fast as many meters per day, as is the case of Byrd Glacier, an overflowing glacier in Antarctica which moves 750-800 meters per year (some 2 meters or 6 ft per day), according to studies using satellites.

Many glaciers have periods of very rapid advancement called surges.www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/glaciology/maths.htm These glaciers exhibit normal movement until suddenly they accelerate, then return to their previous state. -->

Moraines

Glacial moraines are formed by the deposition of material from a glacier and are exposed after the glacier has retreated. These features usually appear as linear mounds of till, a poorly-sorted mixture of rock, gravel and boulders within a matrix of a fine powdery material. Glacial meltwaters contain rock flour, an extremely fine powder ground from the underlying rock by the glacier's movement. Transport of fine-grained material within a glacier can smooth or polish the surface of rocks, leading to glacial polish. Glacial erratics are rounded boulders that were left by a melting glacier and are often seen perched precariously on exposed rock faces after glacial retreat.

The most common name for glacial sediment is moraine. The term is of French origin, and it was coined by peasants to describe alluvial embankments and rims found near the margins of glaciers in the French Alps.

Drumlins

Drumlins are asymmetrical hills with aerodynamic profiles made mainly of till. An example of these fields is found east of Rochester, New York, and it is estimated that it contains about 10,000 drumlins.

Although the process that forms drumlins is not fully understood, it can be inferred from their shape that they are products of the plastic deformation zone of ancient glaciers. This pulverized rock is called rock flour. This flour is formed by rock grains of a size between 0.002 and 0.00625 mm. Sometimes the amount of rock flour produced is so high that currents of meltwaters acquire a grayish color.

Another of the visible characteristics of glacial erosion are glacial striations. By mapping the direction of the flutes the direction of the glacier's movement can be determined. Chatter marks are seen as lines of roughly crescent shape depressions in the rock underlying a glacier caused by the abrasion where a boulder in the ice catches and is then released repetitively as the glacier drags it over the underlying basal rock.

The velocity of a glacier's erosion is variable. The differential erosion undertaken by the ice is controlled by four important factors:

Velocity of glacial movement
Thickness of the ice
Shape, abundance and hardness of rock fragments contained in the ice at the bottom of the glacier
Relative ease of erosion of the surface under the glacier.

Material that becomes incorporated in a glacier are typically carried as far as the zone of ablation before being deposited. Patterns of glacial erratics provide clues of past glacial motions.

Glacial valleys

Before glaciation, mountain valleys have a characteristic "V" shape, produced by downward erosion by water. However, during glaciation, these valleys widen and deepen, which creates a "U"-shaped glacial valley. Because of this interaction, triangular cliffs called truncated spurs are formed.

Many glaciers deepen their valleys more than their smaller tributaries. Therefore, when the glaciers stop receding, the valleys of the tributary glaciers remain above the main glacier's depression, and these are called hanging valleys.

In parts of the soil that were affected by abrasion and plucking, the depressions left can be filled by paternoster lakes, from the Latin for "Our Father", referring to a station of the rosary.

At the head of a glacier is the corrie, which has a bowl shape with escarped walls on three sides, but open on the side that descends into the valley. After the glacier melts, these corries are usually occupied by small mountain lakes called tarns.

There may be two glaciers separated by a dividing ridge. This structure may result in a mountain pass.

Glaciers are also responsible for the creation of fjords (deep coves or inlets) and escarpments that are found at high latitudes. With depths that can exceed 1,000 metres caused by the postglacial elevation of sea level and therefore, as it changed the glaciers changed their level of erosion.

Ar棚tes and horns

An ar棚te is a narrow crest with a sharp edge. The meeting of three or more ar棚tes creates pointed pyramidal peaks and in extremely steep-sided forms these are called horns.

Both features may have the same process behind their formation: the enlargement of cirques from glacial plucking and the action of the ice.

Sheepback rock

Some rock formations in the path of a glacier are sculpted into small hills with a shape known as roche moutonn辿e or sheepback.

Alluvial stratification

The water that rises from the zone of ablation moves away from the glacier and carries with it fine eroded sediments. The water then gradually deposits the sediment as it runs, creating an alluvial plain. When the deposition is to an estuary, the sediments are known as "bay mud".

Alluvial plains and valley trains are usually accompanied by basins known as kettles. These depressions are formed when large ice blocks are stuck in the glacial alluvium and after melting, they leave holes in the sediment.

Generally, the diameter of these depressions does not exceed 2 km, except in Minnesota, where some depressions reach up to 50 km in diameter, with depths varying between 10 and 50 meters. Meanwhile, meltwater flows over, within, and beneath the ice leave stratified alluvial deposits. In other cases, they are just the result of fans or deltas towards the exterior of the ice produced by meltwater.

When the glacial ice occupies a valley it can form terraces or kame along the sides of the valley.

A third type of deposit formed in contact with the ice is characterized by long, narrow sinuous crests composed fundamentally of sand and gravel deposited by streams of meltwater flowing within, beneath or on the glacier ice. After the ice has melted these linear ridges or eskers remain as landscape features.

Loess deposits

Very fine glacial sediments or rock flour is often picked up by wind blowing over the bare surface and may be deposited great distances from the original fluvial deposition site. These eolian loess deposits may be very deep, even hundreds of meters, as in areas of China and the midwestern United States.

Isostatic rebound

This rise of a part of the crust is due to an isostatic adjustment. This is post-glacial rebound and is currently occurring in measurable amounts in Scandinavia and the Great Lakes region of the United States.

Ice ages

Main article: Ice age.

Ice age divisions

A quadruple division of the Quaternary glacial period has been established for North America and Europe. In order of appearance, they are the following: Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoisan, and Wisconsinan. This classification was refined thanks to the detailed study of the sediments of the ocean floor. Because the sediments of the ocean floor, in contrast to that of the Earth's surface, are less affected by stratigraphic discontinuities, they are useful to determine the climatic cycles of the planet.

In this matter, geologists have come to identify over twenty divisions, each of them lasting approximately 100,000 years.

Causes of ice ages

Little is known about the causes of glaciations.

Generalized glaciations have been rare in the history of Earth. However, the Ice Age of the Pleistocene was not the only glaciative event, since tillite deposits have been identified. Tillite is a sedimentary rock formed when glacial till is lithified.

These deposits found in strata of differing age present similar characteristics as fragments of fluted rock, and some are superposed over bedrock surfaces of channeled and polished rock or associated with sandstone and conglomerates that have features of alluvial plain deposits.

Two Precambrian glacial episodes have been identified, the first approximately 2 billion years ago, and the second (Snowball Earth) about 600 million years. Also, a well documented record of glaciation exists in rocks of the late Paleozoic (of 250 million years of age).

Although there are several scientific hypotheses about the determining factors of glaciations, the two most important ideas are plate tectonics and variations in Earth's orbit (Milankovitch cycles).

Plate tectonics

Because glaciers can form only on dry land, plate tectonics suggest that the evidence of previous glaciations is currently present in tropical latitudes due to the drift of tectonic plates from tropical latitudes to circumpolar regions. Evidence of glacial structures in South America, Africa, Australia, and India support this idea, because it is known that they experienced a glacial period near the end of the Paleozoic Era, some 250 million years ago.

The idea that the evidence of middle-latitude glaciations is closely related to the displacement of tectonic plates was confirmed by the absence of glacial traces in the same period for the higher latitudes of North America and Eurasia, which indicates that their locations were very different from today.

Climatic changes are also related to the positions of the continents, which has made them vary in conjunction with the displacement of plates. Since continents drift very slowly (about 2 cm per year), similar changes occur in periods of millions of years.

A study of marine sediment that contained climatically sensitive microorganisms until about half a million years ago were compared with studies of the geometry of Earth's orbit, and the result was clear: climatic changes are closely related to periods of obliquity, precession, and eccentricity of the Earth's orbit.

In general it can be affirmed that plate tectonics applies to long time periods, while Milankovitch's proposal, backed up by the work of others, adjusts to the periodic alterations of glacial periods of the Pleistocene.

References

Michael Hambrey and J端rg Alean, Glaciers, 2nd ed.

Chronology

Key Dates:
1983: Robert G. Miller founds Bottle Water Vending, Inc.
1984: The company enters the Arizona market.
1988: The company enters the Texas and Florida markets.
1991: Glacier Water Services, Inc. is formed.
1992: The company is taken public.
1996: The company enters Illinois, its first non-Sunbelt market.
1997: Aqua-Vend is acquired.
2002: Pure Fill Corp. is acquired.

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