Money Pet Peeve: National Food Brands
Free Money Finance had a recent post about the Publix grocery chain offering a buy-one-get-one-free special, in which you would get a free store brand product along with a purchase of a national brand. This promotion is to try to convince buyers that their Publix branded products are every bit as good as national brand products. One of my biggest money pet peeves is the fact that people still waste money buying national brand products.
I asked my wife why this would be the case, and she said it had mainly to do with the packaging. Take a look at the above photo, for example. The Welch's juice bottle has a very pleasing photographic label, while the Publix brand is more monochromatic. This might lead to the unconscious impression that the premium packaging contains a higher quality product, which I have very seldom found to be the case.
When my wife and I do our grocery shopping, which we usually do in the middle of the night to avoid the big crowds, we usually pick up whatever products are the cheapest and will fulfill our needs. Safeway is our grocery store of choice, and their store brand is for the most part every bit as good as the national brand (plus Safeway offers online grocery shopping and delivery). There are only a couple of exceptions that I can think of, for which it is nice to have the genuine article. Here are a few products that come to mind, on which I don't mind spending just a little extra cash to get a product that makes me happy:
Crackers: I love Wheat Thins and Triscuits. Safeway makes a decent imitation of these crackers, but they just plain don't square up to the real thing.
Coca-Cola: This is more for my wife than for me. I would basically be content with generic Safeway soda (usually a six-pack for a dollar), but my wife is in love with Coca-Cola's diet black cherry vanilla coke. Much more expensive, but it is a unique flavor that to my knowledge no generic brand has tried to capture.
Herbs & Spices: Sometimes I will pick up a big package of generic Italian seasoning, but if I am doing any fancy cooking I like to pick up some premium spices that are a bit more flavorful and higher quality.
Charmin: This should be self-explanatory.
Other than these few items, we generally purchase the generic brand as long as the national brand product is not on sale for less than the generic (sometimes this is the case, so be sure to compare prices). If you are still purchasing national brand products, consider switching to generic products for the bulk of your needs. You will come home with a thicker wallet and you should be every bit as satisfied with the store brand products as with the national brands. Don't fall prey to deceptive advertising any longer!
(By the way, my wife is a former employee of Publix and she has nothing but good things to say about this company.)
