Paying for branding infects society. People fork over half their paycheck to own a label, while a lot of the time, generic brands result in the same effect. A swath of past opulence chasers formed an online discussion to air their opinions about favoring generic brands over lavish, luxurious lines.
1. Detergent
“I used to buy expensive laundry detergent for babies because I was allergic to something in many detergents that would give me a rash around my waist or ankles. Also, bedsheets would do the same. I realized that hotels can’t afford to use detergent on their sheets that give any of their guests rashes, and I asked a housekeeper what they used. Now, I buy a 40-pound bucket of Boardwalk industrial detergent for $40. It’s very concentrated and only needs to use a few tablespoons per load, and a bucket lasts about two years in my house,” an intelligent commenter replies to the thread.
2. Makeup
A former makeup artist recalls their resounding discovery regarding the makeup industry while working. “I used to work at Sephora, and I realized that for the vast majority of products, the cheaper brands work just as well. In fact, sometimes they’re literally just the same product made by the same factory and just white labeled with fancy marketing. Foundation is now my only splurge, and even then, it’s only because you can’t try on drugstore foundation to color match.”
3. Nuts
Cans of brand-name mixed nuts cost way more than what they’re worth. A nut aficionado adds their wallet hack for other nut consumers: Buy single bags of various nuts and mix them yourself. That way, you avoid purchasing a can filled with an inferior nut or allergies.
4. Razors
Pink tax pollutes products. Pink tax refers to the elevated price surrounding women-geared merchandise. For example, razors in the men’s section cost half of what women do, have better blades, and have higher quality. Don’t succumb to the pretty pink plastered boxes. Thank me later.
5. College
I know people who are $200,000 deep in student loan debt, working minimum wage jobs because they convinced their parents to send them to a private college, and I know individuals thriving in community colleges sans debt and on the way to their dream jobs. Most companies care more about your skills versus where your degree came from.
6. Medicine
Doctors interchange name-brand medicine with generic titles as easily as singers jump pitch. Someone speaks of a recent occurrence of purchasing heartburn medicine. They choked out $25 for name-brand Pepcid, and only paid $4 for the generic offshoot.
7. Hair Care
“Every stylist I’ve ever seen has bad-mouthed drugstore shampoo because they have alcohols or sulfates, and then turned around and tried to sell me a shampoo with alcohol in it. Drug store shampoos that aren’t $1 don’t have sulfates, either,” someone shares. Another user agrees and states, “L’Oreal owns most of the salon lines these days. Lauder owns a bunch, too. If you look at their mass market lines, you’ll see a lot of the same technology and ingredients. It all trickles down eventually.”
8. New Technology
Every year, Apple rolls out a new iPhone, iPad, iMac, etc., which claims to be the best version yet with the least bugs, for a couple of hundred dollars more than the last model. I switched from an iPhone 11 to an iPhone 14 a month ago since my iPhone 11 alerted me I had used all the storage. When I took my phone to the store to switch it out, the worker informed me the phone had a glitch, and I didn’t actually use all the storage, but the only way to resolve the issue was by purchasing a new phone. However, my iPhone 14 has started telling me I’ve used all the storage. I could’ve kept the 11 for half the price and the same stress level.
9. Food Brands
I know cheese connoisseurs will disagree with this statement, but I don’t think brand-name cheeses and generic bags taste different. I made tacos for a few friends once and bought the generic Walmart cheddar to save a few dollars. When I arrived at the party and began constructing the tacos, one girl approached me, picked up the bag, and scoffed that I could commit such an offense as buying Walmart brand cheese. However, she devoured the tacos.
10. Clothes
Workers learn a lot about their chosen industry while on shift. Someone who used to work at Polo Ralph Lauren notes the same factory that made the high-end polos and shirts sold at K-Mart. How did he know this? He sent back all the boxes addressed to K-Mart that ended up in their warehouse by mistake.
Source: Reddit.
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