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Linking yourself to a brand in this way completely removes any power you have as a consumer. I don't understand why people do it. And to be honest it seems more

Linking yourself to a brand in this way completely removes any power you have as a consumer. I don't understand why people do it. And to be honest it seems more prevalent the younger you are. If you like a brand, you should really be doing a quick c/b analysis prior to making any purchase. Why? Because it changes often. A seller's entire goal in life is to extract maximum profit, so they tinker endlessly, with formulas, package sizes, prices, etc, etc. As a consumer, you should be looking at how this movement affects your personal cost benefit analysis. At some point, the price may become too high, the formula not ideal, etc. for you. Simply disregarding that and saying "no matter what, I buy Tide" is a sure way to be taken to the cleaners. This is a genius bit of technology for businesses that want to maximize profits, so I'm sure they will be all over it. P&G would love to sell you Tide without you even looking at other brands, or the size of the package, or the price. It's a seller's dream. It's horrible for a consumer though. I'd suggest all consumers give careful thought to relinquishing any bargaining power they may have in an already unbalanced equation. Case in point: Disposable razors. EDIT: Heh, didn't think this would be a popular post. Go figure.

mathattack 12y ago
Here's why people do it... If you have something you like, it's frequently easier not to have to rethink the purchase decision every time. We have finite attention spans. We can spend it on price shopping staples, or programming, or being with our families. For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision. They'd rather invest the time picking software, clothes, cars, schools, or whatever. It's the same reason people won't drive an extra 15 minutes to Walmart.
- run4yourlives2 12y ago
  It most certainly is "easier" to not negotiate to get the best value for your money. Businesses love taking your money, especially if you give them extra. Hell, I like it when my customers do this too. >For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision. I'll just put this here: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-09-30/consumer-debt-hits-an-all-time-high http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-09-30/consumer-deb... I'm perfectly aware that people prefer not to actually think about their money. Hell, that's why credit cards are so popular. I'm saying though that whether they realize it or not, it is not in their best interests to value their few minutes of time over the money they have.
  - mathattack 12y ago
    You're putting words into my mouth. Consumer debt is another thing entirely. It's much more time efficient not to sweat every financial detail. Save time for the big ones. (Mortgage rates, negotiating cards, optimizing debt, making investment choices, etc)
    - run4yourlives2 12y ago
      "Not sweating" the small details is a big part of why we have consumer debt levels where they are. The two are distinctly connected. People who are likely not worrying about an extra $5-$10 are likely not worrying about an extra $5K-$10K either. It's a mentality, not a number.
- ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
  There are people (perhaps not the denizens of HN who make high 5/low 6 figure salaries) who are very sensitive to price. This really screws them.
  - mathattack 12y ago
    There are also people who make $70/hour who will spend 100 hours price shopping to save $200 on a stroller. Time is finite and valuable. You shouldn't walk away from every financial decision, but the small ones aren't worth worrying about.
  - kenjackson 12y ago
    How does it screw them? Is the gov't requiring people to use it? As far as I can tell you can decide if you think the price/convenience tradeoff works for you. As it stands right now, when I go to get replacement razor blades from Amazon, I don't price compare anyways. I know what the ballpark price is, and if its in that ballpark I order. I could spend 2 hours on SlickDeals and other various sites finding the best price, and doing auctions on EBay, but I decided that saving a buck or two isn't worth it (especially since half the time I'd end up saving no money).
mcintyre1994 12y ago
I absolutely get why people choose brands and just stick with them - especially for relatively cheap and occasional things like these. But you do have a point. There's a washing detergent I usually buy because it tends to be cheap and does the job well. But this weekend in my local supermarket it seemed more expensive than usual and another similar one was on sale. I figured I'd take a look - turns out they're both owned by procter&gamble, their ingredients are identical and they claim to do exactly the same thing with the same amount of liquid. My assumption is they're bottled from the same vat, they're certainly interchangeable for me. I'm not saying go analyse every product on the shelves instead of just picking up whatever, but if you're not in a rush it's worth checking special offers if they're really similar to what you were going to buy. And it's definitely worth being aware of the megacorporations that own the brands on the supermarket shelves - most of the well known brands are owned by a few umbrella organisations and not really competing at a high level. I doubt this is a surprise to anyone, but as a couple of examples PG [0] own BOSS Black, Christina Aguilera, Hugo and Old Spice fragrances; as well as Bold, Daz, Fairy, Flash and Lenor detergents. There are nowhere near as many competitors as there are brands on supermarket shelves. [0] full list: http://www.pg.com/en_UK/brands/all-brands.shtml http://www.pg.com/en_UK/brands/all-brands.shtml

mathattack 12y ago

Here's why people do it... If you have something you like, it's frequently easier not to have to rethink the purchase decision every time. We have finite attention spans. We can spend it on price shopping staples, or programming, or being with our families. For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision. They'd rather invest the time picking software, clothes, cars, schools, or whatever. It's the same reason people won't drive an extra 15 minutes to Walmart.

run4yourlives2 12y ago
It most certainly is "easier" to not negotiate to get the best value for your money. Businesses love taking your money, especially if you give them extra. Hell, I like it when my customers do this too. >For many people, the $10/order of rethinking prices isn't worth the hassle of 15 minutes and uncertainty in a less important decision. I'll just put this here: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-09-30/consumer-debt-hits-an-all-time-high http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-09-30/consumer-deb... I'm perfectly aware that people prefer not to actually think about their money. Hell, that's why credit cards are so popular. I'm saying though that whether they realize it or not, it is not in their best interests to value their few minutes of time over the money they have.
- mathattack 12y ago
  You're putting words into my mouth. Consumer debt is another thing entirely. It's much more time efficient not to sweat every financial detail. Save time for the big ones. (Mortgage rates, negotiating cards, optimizing debt, making investment choices, etc)
  - run4yourlives2 12y ago
    "Not sweating" the small details is a big part of why we have consumer debt levels where they are. The two are distinctly connected. People who are likely not worrying about an extra $5-$10 are likely not worrying about an extra $5K-$10K either. It's a mentality, not a number.
ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
There are people (perhaps not the denizens of HN who make high 5/low 6 figure salaries) who are very sensitive to price. This really screws them.
- mathattack 12y ago
  There are also people who make $70/hour who will spend 100 hours price shopping to save $200 on a stroller. Time is finite and valuable. You shouldn't walk away from every financial decision, but the small ones aren't worth worrying about.
- kenjackson 12y ago
  How does it screw them? Is the gov't requiring people to use it? As far as I can tell you can decide if you think the price/convenience tradeoff works for you. As it stands right now, when I go to get replacement razor blades from Amazon, I don't price compare anyways. I know what the ballpark price is, and if its in that ballpark I order. I could spend 2 hours on SlickDeals and other various sites finding the best price, and doing auctions on EBay, but I decided that saving a buck or two isn't worth it (especially since half the time I'd end up saving no money).

mcintyre1994 12y ago

I absolutely get why people choose brands and just stick with them - especially for relatively cheap and occasional things like these. But you do have a point. There's a washing detergent I usually buy because it tends to be cheap and does the job well. But this weekend in my local supermarket it seemed more expensive than usual and another similar one was on sale. I figured I'd take a look - turns out they're both owned by procter&gamble, their ingredients are identical and they claim to do exactly the same thing with the same amount of liquid. My assumption is they're bottled from the same vat, they're certainly interchangeable for me. I'm not saying go analyse every product on the shelves instead of just picking up whatever, but if you're not in a rush it's worth checking special offers if they're really similar to what you were going to buy. And it's definitely worth being aware of the megacorporations that own the brands on the supermarket shelves - most of the well known brands are owned by a few umbrella organisations and not really competing at a high level. I doubt this is a surprise to anyone, but as a couple of examples PG [0] own BOSS Black, Christina Aguilera, Hugo and Old Spice fragrances; as well as Bold, Daz, Fairy, Flash and Lenor detergents. There are nowhere near as many competitors as there are brands on supermarket shelves. [0] full list: http://www.pg.com/en_UK/brands/all-brands.shtml http://www.pg.com/en_UK/brands/all-brands.shtml