My brother-in-law, whom I called “a bachelor with expensive taste” in a previous article, wants a retraction. He says “bachelor” is a slur. He prefers to be called “a single, successful marketing genius.” I will call him single and succ...
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sometimes people go with the brand name because it is a “tested” product, while you are “taking a risk” with the no-brand stuff…depending on the original price difference, it might or might not be worth it. For example, there’s a local brand well known for their quality in children’s socks. They cost $1.75- $2.50 per sock. The ones I bought DD were no-name socks and cost me $2 for a 6 pack….and I discovered they are just as good! really soft and long-lasting.
The no-name shoes I bought her for $6, on the other hand, were a complete waste….they lasted 10 days!!…If I had stayed with brand name, I’d have paid anywhere between $20-$40, but, the shoes would have lasted at least 6 months (or I would have been able to request a refund/exchange!)…so, I never buy no-name shoes anymore!
CVS is a good example of this. They have their brand of everything and it is usually exactly the same as the name brand.
Here are a few experiences I’ve had with brand name/no name products.
Whenever I need an extra battery for my cell phone or camera, I purchase it on eBay for about $7 including shipping. I am shocked to see that the same item with the brand sticker costs at least $30 retail. I have never had any issues with these no-name batteries. However, a couple of years ago I bought some Walgreens brand AA batteries and found that they drained unbelievably quickly (one hour in a CD player). I bought two packages about a year apart and had the same experience with both, so I felt pretty confident that they really were inferior.
Where I live, you can buy shoes and clothes very cheaply from cramped, no-name stores in a chaotic part of town. They are the exact same, mass-produced factory items that we pay at least twice as much for when we go to the mall!
My brand name, highly touted Apple computer had more problems than any product I’ve ever purchased.
A couple of shirts I bought from J. Crew cost about twice what I usually pay at Old Navy, but they have held up better over the years, much to my surprise. There has been no pilling, thinning, or fading of the fabric.
Not five minutes before reading your article, myself, my husband, and my brother-in-law were comparing our past “production line” jobs and the way we just put away one set of stickers (or bags) and got out another, for the exact same assembled product from the exact same boxes of parts.
I’m humbled to admit I’ve rarely been mindful of brand-name vs generic-brand shopping before. Sure, I realized the generic brands were less expensive; I just rarely made a conscious, deliberate decision to shop for generic offerings. But the comments regarding product assembly in factories – with same products for big brand and generic ones – really woke me up. Thanks for this discussion thread; it’s motivating a video post at my vlog…so thx for the idea!
It would be ironic if your brother’s brand name, expensive items were actually counterfeit. Another good reason to buy no-name/generic is, well, who would bother to make a knockoff.
I agree that there are too much hype when it comes to brand names. But I must say you pay for what you get. I bought a pair of socks from Walmart that lasted only one to two washes and compared to my socks from Macys that I have had now for a while there is a difference. An d when it comes to jeans for me qaulity deos count but I buy the $100+ at thrift stores for far less
Amen, Sister.
While there are times that no name items are fine, in general, the store made products (even the ones made at the same plant) use lesser quality items to make their items. Not so much that it doesn’t work, but enough to annoy you to want to buy the brand name product.
Also, a lot of brand name items now have customer satasfaction included in the purchase. For instance, Apple ipods if they break will be fixed at cost by apple. And if they break three times, they replace it for free to the consumer. Buing a cheaper MP3 player doesn’t come with this satisfaction and makes the Apple brand product more appealing.
I would tend to agree, you do get what you pay for.
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