On Wednesday I managed to take multiple layers of skin off of a couple of my fingers. After burning through the band-aids we had on hand in a few days, I rolled up on my local CVS to replenish our first aid kit. After tracking down the appropriate aisle, I found myself facing the age-old shopper's dilemma:
Name Brand OR Generic?There I stood, wavering between the known quality of the brand name and nearly double the quantity of generic bandages. Trying to be the good steward, I went generic.
Now I've got twice the quantity of bandages that are 1/2 the quality of the ones I SHOULD have bought. Next time I'll get 1/2 as many that will last twice as long. Arrrggghh. And the worst part, I knew better.
How about you? When do you go generic? When does it pay to go with the name brand? Do you see a big difference between the two?
5 comments:
Optimist! Think of the pressure you put on the name brand to lower prices. We all benefit from your scarifice.
This is a subject that hits close to home for me. My dad owned a pharmacy for many years and the argument was presented to me many times a day. I will start by saying that as far as medications go, the generic manufacturer must be within a certain percent of equal to the active ingredient to the brand name, however the inactive ingredients can differ. This is FDA regulated. When it comes to prescription medication and over the counter things like ibuprofen and acetaminophen, I will take the generic any day. Even in my cholesterol meds I insist on the $8 per month prescription that I know will work just as well aas the $180 a month drug.
As you have found there are sometimes that the generic or store brands really bite. There has been a few times I have been burned too (no pun intended). I have to admit that on those things I will go brand name. Live and learn right? Other than that, I will go generic. I try to stay on the thrifty side. I guess it just has to be chalked up to a learning experience. On the up side, you have plenty of bandages for the young 'uns. They probably don't care about the difference. I know from my experience that just the idea of a bandaid helps the hurt with them.
Hope you heal quickly! I am glad too that you are getting settled. Miss you all.
i go generic on most things, except bagels, ice cream, spaghetti sauce, and tub cleaner.
My general rule of thumb is: If the object is better known by its brand name than its actual name, buy the brand name e.g. Kleenex, Band-Aid, Q-Tips, Google. :)
This post stayed in my head all day. So far this is what I've come up with.
Brand name: alcohol,disposable diapers,good chocolate, ice cream,Coke,Diet Pepsi,Qtips,toothpaste
Generic: office supplies,food (is store brand considered generic?)
Then there is the category of stuff that comes in name brand but I don't care what the brand is as long as I get a good deal: clothes, shoes, coffee
I love the word "craptastic"!
-Jennifer Davis
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