****************BRANDED*********************

[Frankn]

ARE YOU BRANDED?
Here's the scoop from the past. I can remember the big brands from the past that earned there reputation By producing a quality product and good service at a reasonable price. Names like RCA, Dumont, Magnavox and Emerson. Times have changed though as businesses get greedy. A resomable profit use to mean selling at a price that was double your cost of material and labor. I have watched that erode to sell it for all you can get. I use to buy brand names because I knew they stood for something. Lately I have seen some old brand names that use to mean quality, sold off and placed on junk. The car manufacturers pull out a name that use to be on a limited edition quality car and use to draw people to a low end car.

The thing that really gets me is people are taken in by a recycled brand name or a new catchy name and they ignore the actual specs. These people boast about what their new product will do beyond what it will actually do thus snowing another person into buying the item. Some actually believe they have the best because they paid an exorbitant price for it when in reality a much lower priced item may be as good if not better or more trouble free. Just some thoughts! Frank...

 

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[rickv14623]

Like some as seen on tv garbage using the Bell and Howell name. Soon to see cheap, crappy Kodak stuff.

 

[calisdad]

" sell it for all you can get"? A recent article in the AARP magazine features a couple who were goaded into buying a vacuum cleaner, on a payment plan. When you added all the payments it came to over $8000 !!! Luckily for them AARP came to the rescue.

 

[Frankn]

Calisdad, That reminds me of my younger days. There was a very high quality manufacturer of sewing machines that had seen better days that had an ad in the paper for sewing machine repairman and salesmen. I applied for the repairman position. Sewing machines aren't that hard to fix. The job was filled but they offered me a sales job. I can tell you now, I am way to honest to go into sales. I went with the salesman to a home for a demo. He demoed a small cheap $50 sewing machine, and sold it for cash. He then wheeled out the big machine and demoed it's features like design cams and two needle operation. He told them how they could make and repair clothes to make the payments on the $300 machine at $50 dollars a month. He said he would use the $50 for the other machine for the down payment. They took the offer. When we left I told him they would never make enough to pay for it. He said he knew, he would probably be reposing it in a month. I turned the job down. Frank...

 

[Chadeaux]

I understand how that works. As a younger man, I was in the Rent-To-Own business. The goal was not ownership, as they advertised, but repeat revenue from the same piece of merchandise.

It preys on the poorest and least educated of the populace. I remember when you could walk into a Wal-Mart or K-Mart and buy a 20" RCA TV for about $259.00 plus tax. Of course, we got the same tv from RCA for under $200.00 (but it was a refurbished model).

We used "Hightouch" software which would allow me to see how much money each piece of merchandise made. One of those tvs had been rented out over a dozen times, they had made $2,100.00 on it before the last rental. They charged him $12/wk for 78 wks ($936.00) plus $1/day any time his payment was late.

Glad I got out of the rent-to-own business.

 

[Nickleanddime]

I worked as a clerk and that was horrible. Stuff way over priced having to constantly up sell to everyone. Had to smile as they yelled at you because of stupid stuff you had no control over. My wife does mcds and man she's a trooper!! I have nothing but respect for her because if what she deals with for us. Shoot I don't even know if this is what this threads about...

 

[CoilyGirl]

I'm not your typical woman and am not caught up in brand names unless they have been proven over and over again to be that much better.even while grocery shopping I try and buy store brands unless they are just horrible.Much cheaper and not all, that much different.

 

[Frankn]

I'm not your typical woman and am not caught up in brand names unless they have been proven over and over again to be that much better.even while grocery shopping I try and buy store brands unless they are just horrible.Much cheaper and not all, that much different.

What some people don't realize is those 'store brands' are the same, in most cases, as the branded items. Only the labels are changed. When I use to drink, as a late teenager, I would drive to the brewery and buy two cases of ' overbrewed' beer from a connection at the brewery. It was $2 a case and they couldn't sell it thru there regular dealers because,'IT WAS TOO STRONG' lol. I quit drinking in my early 20's. Frank...

Just to be different. lol

 

[Nickleanddime]

Kraft and SAMs choice isn't the same, the only similarity is say its Mac and cheese. I thought the same also but after I started working retail you find out there different companies making it and a whole different taste and texture. I got some cereal the other day that was a lower shelf brand of Cheerios and they tasted nothing like General Mills. It was like eating dog food with milk. Yes General Mills might have owned the company that makes it but not same recipe. It's like a Sony and a awaia both are made by Sony but you get better product with Sony.

 

[Frankn]

Kraft and SAMs choice isn't the same, the only similarity is say its Mac and cheese. I thought the same also but after I started working retail you find out there different companies making it and a whole different taste and texture. I got some cereal the other day that was a lower shelf brand of Cheerios and they tasted nothing like General Mills. It was like eating dog food with milk. Yes General Mills might have owned the company that makes it but not same recipe. It's like a Sony and a awaia both are made by Sony but you get better product with Sony.

That may all be true, but I spent some time in retail food also and know for a fact that some brand companies put the same thing in the can for store brands as they do there own. As for cereals, It probably cost more for the box than the contents. The dig difference in cereals today is the added flavoring and you can add this yourself as well as the fruit, which will actually taste better.
Hay, by the way, just curious, How do you know how dog food in milk taste. lol Just kidding! Frank...

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[Frankn]

Now let's bring this home. The pinpointer controversy. The pinpointer is a simple instrument. It's job is to locate small targets at close range like a dime at 1". I have never seen a pinpointer that wouldn't. Some cost as little as $16 and some as much as $180. It seams that price doesn't indicate quality. As I looked thru the technical section, It appears the branded, high cost one are sent back to the factory more frequently. Frank...