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Generics -- hurray or no way?
Recently I splurged -- hold me back! -- on name-brand Noxema. As I was scooping out a fingerful in the shower, I was inordinately thrilled with how smooth it was. The generic face goop I had been using prior to my splurge was nothing like this.
I will usually go for store brands (aka generics) over the brand-name items, but every once in a while, I run across something -- diet cola, mentholated face cleanser, chocolate chips -- that isn't quite up to the standards of, say, Diet Coke or Noxema or Guittard. I usually shrug, chalk it up to lessons learned and move on without permanent psychological damage.
Or do I? Miller-McCune recently ran an article, "Generic Products Lower Users' Self-Worth." A study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that people who were told they were using generic keyboards and mice "expected a lower monthly salary than did participants under the genuine-accessories condition." The researchers postulated that people use brand names to bolster their sense of self, so being deprived of those brands makes people feel a little shakier about their self-worth.
It's counterintuitive, as a lot of folks who buy generics may feel good about themselves, perceiving themselves as savvy shoppers and therefore smarter than the crowd. But I wonder if the college students tested were thinking back to their primary-school days, where kids who wore generic sneakers or didn't have the "it" snack of the moment (Hostess cupcakes, Frito chips) were somehow lower in the pecking order. There's a difference between being the consumer who chooses to buy generic versus having those generics foisted on you by a parent who could not care less if every other fourth grader is wearing name-brand whatevers. It all comes down to control. And that -- more than sporting a brand name -- may be what affects self esteeem.
Generics: empowering or triggering painful elementary-school memories? Speak up at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| January 12 2011 at 09:01 AM
Flashback: How to return gifts without headaches
It's the day before Christmas and really, at this point, you should stop worrying about shopping for presents -- you can always hand them over later with a "Happy Boxing Day!" "Happy 2011!" "I have twelve days in which to give you presents, up to and including twelve drummers drumming" or "I'm on the Orthodox calendar now, so this is actually early" -- and start worrying about what to do about any unwanted stuff you receive.
INSERT DISCLAIMER HERE: You're all civilized human beings, so I'm sure it goes without saying that you receive gifts graciously, thank the giver warmly and cherish the notion that you mean enough to someone else to merit a gift in the first place.
However, you can totally be touched by the sentiment and less than thrilled by the actual gift. And if you want to return it, here's how to do so with as few headaches as possible. At least, the return process will be headache-free.
| December 24 2010 at 08:20 AM
What you could do without this season
I snickered my way through Drew Magary's Deadspin entry, "10 Things That Christmas Would Be Better Off Without," (warning: the language is a little adult) if only because I too really, really dislike those Lexus ads where someone surprises someone else with an expensive car.
That entry got me thinking: What would I eliminate from Christmas? I'm still noodling that one over, but I'd love to hear what you'd eliminate if it were possible. Think big -- car commercials, shrink-wrapped gift baskets of cheese-like products -- and sound off at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| December 20 2010 at 10:27 PM
How our frugality affects our shopping experience
Get ready for scantily-stocked shelves and ever more elusive customer service. In response to American consumers' continued frugality, retailers are "adapting to the prolonged economic slowdown by reducing employee work hours, maintaining bone-thin inventories, squeezing costs out of supply chains and finding other ways to match consumers' belt-tightening."
That quote comes from yesterday's "Retailers Are Sold on Frugality" in the Wall Street Journal. In an effort to keep their bottom lines strong, retailers will be trying to cut costs across their operations.
How will this affect you as a shopper? You'll probably want to do more research online before you head into a big-box store -- check the website to see if the product you want is in stock at the store you're headed to, for example. You'll probably want to scale back your expectations for any customer service, as employee coverage will be spread thin across the sales floor. And if you see something in a sales circular that you want, you'll want to hit stores the day the sale begins.
Of course, these recommendations all hinge on the presumption that you're still planning on shopping. Since we're all being really frugal right now ... maybe these developments won't affect you one iota.
| August 19 2010 at 10:16 AM
What you choose to brand yourself with
This will date me horribly: When I was in sixth grade, the be-all-end-all of high fashion at my middle school was a pair of Jordache jeans. Oh, how I coveted a pair with the horses stitched in yellow thread on the back pocket. I believed, as only someone right on the edge of a hormonal maelstrom could, that all the pains of adolescence would have magically dissolved if I could just have the right jeans.
Naturally, my parents snorted at paying up for designer jeans. And they asked, sensibly and repeatedly, "Why would you pay to advertise someone's business? That makes no sense financially."
It looks like every parent who has had to smack down their kids' aspirational retail yearnings was on to something. According to a study in the Journal of Marketing, "Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence," luxury consumers typically have one of four relationships with designer-branded goods. They are:
- "Patricians" -- wealthy consumers who, according to the study, like discreet or no-label signifiers for their luxury goods, because they don't want to be "misconstrued as someone who uses luxury brands to differentiate themselves from the masses."
- "Parvenus" -- who are also wealthy, but would like to make sure everyone know it, so "they use well-known luxury brands with conspicuous marking to show others that they are wealthy."
- "Poseurs" -- not-wealthy consumers, but they'd like you to think so, so they try and buy luxury goods. They're also very likely to buy counterfeit goods.
- "Proletarians" -- who have opted out of the whole branding schmazz, mostly because they can't afford to participate. In the words of the study, they "either cannot or will not concern themselves with signaling using luxury goods."
Why do luxury brands matter? According to Jonah Lehrer in Wired:
While a Rolex is a lovely piece of time keeping machinery, the value of the watch has nothing to do with its function. Instead, it depends on the intact authenticity of the brand. [...] There's now suggestive evidence that our faith in the authentic -- especially when the authenticity is supported by effective marketing campaigns -- is a deep-seated human instinct, which emerges at an extremely early age.
In other words, we assume that brands stand for something.
I'd argue that for some consumers -- i.e. those who aren't regularly buying luxury goods -- avoiding conspicuous brand loyalty also stands for something. Don't some of us get a little thrill over seeing the price difference between the Raley's-brand shredded wheat and the Kellogg Frosted miniwheats, right as we put the store brand into the cart?
And while one of the distinguishing features of this recession has been that private (i.e. generic or store-brand) labels saw their sales grow while branded groceries slipped for budgetary reasons, some research shows that private-label users simply concluded that there was no reason to pay up for what they thought was the same product.
I know we've talked about what brands you're loyal to before (hat tip to the reader who made the very persuasive case for only baking with Guittard chocolate). But have you ever drawn a direct line between what you think a brand stands for and why you want any part of it? Share your answers at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| August 16 2010 at 02:09 PM
Oh, baby: When to buy used
It's the thick of yard sale season, and I've noticed a lot of baby gear out there for buying. Some used baby stuff is a fantastic bargain -- clothing, for example -- but some, you may wonder about from safety or sanitary perspectives
I looked around to see what, if any, guidelines are out there for parents who want to lighten their little one's impact on both their wallet and the planet. Here's what the experts out on the Internet say regarding what to buy used:
DO BUY: Used baby clothes ("Babies grow so fast they usually don't stay the same size for more than a month or two, and that means their clothes aren't worn very often."), shoes and outerwear; baby furniture like gliders or changing tables; strollers, if they've been made after 2007; baby bathtubs
PROCEED WITH CAUTION: On baby toys (check for cracks and chipping, loose parts, small choke-hazard parts, or the possibility of it having been recalled); on playpens, AKA "pack-n-plays" (make sure it was made after 1999, and there are no big holes in the mesh); on cribs (check for recalls before you buy); high chairs (make sure it's got "a five-point harness to prevent a child from climbing out and a fixed crotch post so he can't slide out," but NOT "removable trays or arms that lift the tray over the baby's head")
DO NOT BUY USED: Pack-and-plays or playpens; car seats; cribs; breast pumps; soft infant carriers and slings.
(See where the advice begins to conflict? Listen to one source and a used playpen is fine; listen to another and they discourage it for safety reasons.)
DO NOT BUY USED: Cribs; car seats; crib mattresses.
DO BUY: Children's toys (so long as they're in good condition)
DO NOT BUY USED: Car seats (although there's this caveat: "You're getting the car seat from a friend or relative whom you'd trust with your child's life, because that's what you're doing. Still, check with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to make sure the model you're getting hasn't been recalled.")
And finally, I thought this list of top five products to always buy new, never used, from MomFinds was a real conversation-starter. Their list: breast pumps; baby bottles; infant bath tubs; sippy cups; a baby gym. The real, overriding concern here seems to be that babies drool a lot, and picking up something that's been coated in some other baby's spit is kind of gross.
What do you think about buying baby gear, be it new or used? Are there lines you don't cross? Dish on them at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| August 09 2010 at 03:50 PM
Electronic bill pay -- do you trust it or not?
In this "Bucks: Making the Most of Your Money" blog entry, Credit.com's John Ulzheimer talks about his strategies for keeping his credit rating really high. Among them: avoiding electronic bill pay. Here's his reasoning:
He's worried the payment wouldn't go through properly (and has heard horror stories about this). Second, he wants to make sure his payment is with the remittance slip so his account can be easily identified. Finally, his sense is that online bill paying can sometimes add even more time to a payment's delivery since checks may still be cut and sent out by your bank after you input the payment information online.
Mr. Ulzheimer's still in a majority regarding online bill pay; a survey from earlier this year found that only 40% of American households use online bill paying. However, the survey also found that online bill paying is spreading rapidly across a wide cross-section of Americans, so that 40% is likely to keep growing as electronic bill-paying continues to gain among both upper- and lower-income Americans.
There's also a mounting body of evidence that people like paying bills online. Granted, some of this evidence is being collected by organizations that have a vested interest in pushing paperless billing, but for folks who like a decluttered living space or the feeling that they're not killing the trees, hey -- who's to say they're not on to something?
What do you think about paying bills electronically? Share why you do or don't like it at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| August 04 2010 at 04:37 PM
Here we go again: Christmas in July
From an Associated Press story, "Stores Push Summertime 'Christmas' Sales," the following:
Retailers are pumping still more energy this year into trying to get shoppers to loosen their purse strings early for Christmas with sparkly ornaments, holiday music and special prices. In July.
Target Corp. is entering the game for the first time, with a one-day online sale starting Friday on 500 items from clothing to Blu-ray disc players that's modeled after sales typically held Thanksgiving weekend. And Sears and Toys R Us are dramatically promoting "Christmas in July" online and in the stores based on the success they saw in last year's efforts.
In addition to Target's mid-summer holiday promotion, both Sears and Toys'R'Us are running seasonal promotions meant to help goose retail sales as shoppers think, "If I buy now, I'll save money later."
Consumers have been reluctant to open their wallets this year, mostly because they're concerned about managing their personal debt levels and keeping their jobs. According to a recent survey by Alix Partners, consumers aren't likely to feel free and easy with their discretionary cash until 2013. So consumers may spend the next few summers fa-la-la-la'ing their ways down the aisles -- if the holiday promos work now.
Since it's the usual cool summer weather here in SF, are you more likely to entertain the thought of stocking up for the holidays now? Share your seasonal spending habits in the comments or at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| July 20 2010 at 03:10 PM
First, it was the tote bags. Now, it's the water bottles
We've covered the question of whether or not you'll haul around your own totes if/when San Francisco gets around to instituting a price-per-shopping-bag practice. Today's question: How do you feel about carrying around your own water bottle?
No doubt, some of you are already doing so -- a carabiner and a SIGG bottle, and you're good to go -- but more of you may have to start.
San Francisco is considering a bottled-water ban at all events on city property. The SF Appeal outlines how this would affect you, namely that you'd no longer be able to buy water at:
festivals, park events, street festivals, etc. as part of the city's zero-waste campaign. This proposal would also affect concerts or parades with city "use agreements" where alcohol consumption is widespread.
It's true that bottled water is never, ever cheap -- not in terms of what you're paying for it, nor in the environmental resources it requires. What I'm wondering is this: Many people have gotten to the point where they at least remember their tote bags are in the car. Are we ready to start remembering our beverage bottles too?
Got any pointers as to where we can get free water bottles? Share at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| July 12 2010 at 01:34 PM
Shipping costs: the price you pay to reduce stress
Internet Retailer reported recently that shoppers who checked out products in stores before buying online were less satisfied with their purchases than people who researched their purchases online, then bought them in a store.
One of the reasons people were dissatisfied: after finding the item in a store at one price, they were often unable to find the same item online for the same price. The question I had after reading the article: Whether people who research in-store before buying online factor shipping costs into what they're willing to pay online versus what they'll pay in person.
I have friends who hate shopping in person and love e-commerce; their way of dealing with shipping costs is to figure it's a convenience tax. They don't have to leave the house, they don't have to tramp up and down the aisles in a store, they don't have to deal with human beings, and their stuff gets dropped at their door. I also have friends who refuse to pay for shipping, figuring that they'll either hit Freeshipping.org for bargains or work an item's pickup into their regular automotive errands.
Where do you stand on shipping and e-commerce? Is a shipping fee a small price to pay for convenience or a sucker fee? Share your opinion at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.
| May 27 2010 at 09:57 AM
Dollars and Sense is about finding new ways to inject dollars, cents and sensibility into your everyday spending.
By Lisa Schmeiser, Read Bio
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