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  • I guess you need to define "fine". Most things are fine to buy but some name brand items are, in my opinion, worth spending more on.

    For example, for me it's certain condiments and spices. Red pepper flakes by a name brand such as McCormick just taste better and have a more potent flavor. Buying a generic brand is just "fine" - it gives a good kick to food - but it doesn't nearly taste the same or is as flavorful as the name brand. In my opinion!

    • Lol, just a FYI about McCormick they also produce the generic spices on the exact same lines with the exact same spices as their own brand.

      I worked on the ground pepper line, the ONLY difference between McCormick and the black white 4oz cans was the amount that was considered "acceptable". Brand name was kicked off it was under filled below 3.75 while generic cans could be 3.5 oz and still considered acceptable.

      • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

        Price discrimination is a microeconomic pricing strategy where identical or largely similar goods or services are sold at different prices by the same provider in different market segments.[1][2][3] Price discrimination is distinguished from product differentiation by the more substantial difference in production cost for the differently priced products involved in the latter strategy.[3] Price differentiation essentially relies on the variation in the customers' willingness to pay[2][3][4] and in the elasticity of their demand. For price discrimination to succeed, a firm must have market power, such as a dominant market share, product uniqueness, sole pricing power, etc.[5] All prices under price discrimination are higher than the equilibrium price in a perfectly competitive market. However, some prices under price discrimination may be lower than the price charged by a single-price monopolist. Price discrimination is utilised by the monopolist to recapture some deadweight loss.[6] This Pricing strategy enables firms to capture additional consumer surplus and maximize their profits while benefiting some consumers at lower prices. Price discrimination can take many forms and is prevalent in many industries, from education and telecommunications to healthcare.[7]

        In a theoretical market with perfect information, perfect substitutes, and no transaction costs or prohibition on secondary exchange (or re-selling) to prevent arbitrage, price discrimination can only be a feature of monopoly and oligopoly markets,[19] where market power can be exercised (see 'Price discrimination and monopoly power' below for more in-depth explanation). Without market power when the price is differentiated higher than the market equilibrium consumers will move to buy from other producers selling at the market equilibrium.[20] Moreover, when the seller tries to sell the same good at differentiating prices, the buyer at the lower price can arbitrage by selling to the consumer buying at the higher price with a small discount from the higher price.[21]

        You're undermining their reliance on consumers not having perfect information there.

  • Honestly, i've always approached this question the reverse of how it's posed here. Pretty much every store brand whatever is just fine.
    But, picking a few fancier versions of things as exceptions is nice sometimes.

    Lately for me, Kingdom aged organic cheddar and Kerrygold butter have been my indulgences. I don't eat much dairy, so they last me a long time. They're loaded with flavor. And, it's just nice to have a few things that feel special.

  • Depends which store brand too. Costco stuff (Kirkland) is almost always really good. Safeway has a good store brand too (O Organics and Signature). Kroger's are like, okay (Private Selection). Walmart's (Great Value) are hit or miss. Natural Grocer's stuff is usually good, and Trader Joe's is usually great. Target's Good and Gather seems good though I haven't tried many since I rarely go there for groceries. Uh... so I guess I mean pretty much everything.

    • I personally think good and gather is really good. They also own a couple other store brands that aren't apparent. I pointed out an ice cream to my girlfriend, she turned it around and sure enough a tiny target logo.

  • Non organic and GMO foods. Oftentimes the only difference is the label. Even if truly "non GMO" that doesn't count for the thousands of years worth of selective breeding that are basically GMOs with extra steps.

    Not to mention for organic and GMO food they often use a shit ton of pesticides because they can't use plants with built in insect resistance.

    Another, perhaps controversial, item are non cage free/free range eggs and meat. Similar to the first point, most of these only differ in label and there is often no difference. Even if they are free range and certified by the government, the official definition for free range is a maximum of 5 chickens for a 1x1meter of space, hardly free range. Cage free is even worse, instead of many small cages it's essentially one large cage with thousands of chickens and much greater chance for workers to step on and crush them while attempting to work.

    Food should be cheap but a company's soul objective is to increase revenue (high prices) and reduce cost (inhumane conditions). Even farmers markets are corrupted, many of the stands there sell goods from large producers to capitalize on peoples willingness to spend more for "local" and "humanely" produced goods.

    That being said if they are genuinely a local farmer doing honest work then please support them. They need all the help they can get.

  • I'm guessing this is an American thing, because branded versions of common grocery items are typically industrial, overprocessed garbage. Or maybe the OP means actively manufactured stuff like cereal or yougrt as opposed to actual common groceries like meat, cheese or vegetables? i don't know it's weird phrasing either way.

    FWIW, not in the US and it's unbranded fresh/locally sourced stuffstore brand from specific storesindustrial brands for me in most cases. Except what? Olive oil, maybe? Cookies, in that locally made cookies are actually more expensive than the mass produced sugar pucks. Eh... I don't know, soft drinks and snacks? Basically if it's actively trying to kill you the big brands do it better.

    • right? it's so wild

      i don't give a rats ass what brand something is unless it's nestlé, in which case i refuse to even use it if someone else has bought it.

      what matters is ingredients, sourcing of the ingredients, and certifications. Sure it's a decent amount of effort to keep track of that but good god it's the least we consumers can do..

119 comments