Quote:
Originally Posted by Martian
I am willing to pay a premium for quality. I am not willing to pay a premium for a brand name.
The trick is figuring out which is which.
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That, I think, is what I'm really getting at. At one time, I could be reasonably
assured that any product bearing a certain "brand name" was going to be quality. Therefore, I could gravitate toward that brand when shopping for a given item. I wasn't buying the label, per se, but I
was buying what that label stood for.
Let's use my Dockers brand slippers for an example. They have the Dockers logo proudly emblazoned upon them. That should have given me a reasonable expectation, based upon their reputation, and my experience with the brand, that they would have provided me with years of service...not two days. Worse yet is the fact that altough the quality has diminished, the price has not. I can still expect to pay a higher price for anything that bears the Dockers name, but I will not be getting as high a quality product as I once had.
Not everything that I buy has to be "top of the line". I purchase an item based upon how I will use the product. If I plan on using the item frequently, then I will pay a premium price for better quality. If it's going to be infrequently, or seldom, used then I will go for the lesser quality and cost. For example; I can expect to use wrenches and screwdrivers on a fairly regular basis. I will pay for a quality set. However, If I need...say...a
pipewrench...I will not be using that very often. Probably once or twice after the initial use that precipitated the purchase in the first place. I do not need a high end pipewrench. I will purchase said pipewrench based primarily on cost. But, even then, if the wrench just slips, and barely performs at all, then the benefit of buying based upon price is negligible. It's a strange balancing act.
Look, anyone that has ever been fishing knows that Zebco is not "top of the line". There is better out there. But, their basic quality was always there. Zebco is a very trusted name in their industry. The Zebco 33 reel has been around since the 50's, and has long been thier flagship model. Why, on earth, would Zebco sacrifice the quality of that model? A model that tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people have known, used, respected and come to trust.