Friday OT #1 - Even Better Than the Real Thing

Angie

Tugboats and arson.
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Thanks so much to @madguy30 for today’s topic:

“What are things we skimped on that have lasted or worked even better than big brands?”

For example, do you have a cheap pair of shoes or lawn clippers where cheap was best?
 

JP4CY

Lord, beer me strength.
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Testifying
I was SHOCKED to see how much it costs to get blinds/curtains installed when my wife had it priced out.
I told her to pick out what she liked window wise and that I would do it.
I'm not a cheapskate at all but there must be good money in that industry.
 
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Cyclones_R_GR8

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The other day I bought Kroger brand yellow mustard and I see no difference between that and French's outside of the price.
 

carvers4math

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That’s a solid U2 lyric.

I’ve never seen any difference between generic drugs and the name brand.
Husband’s doctor has one prescription he gets that he insists he get the name brand.

Simple foods like canned or frozen vegetables, the store brand seems just fine.
 
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WhatchaGonnaDo

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I had a cousin work in a cheese packaging/distro plant for HyVee. There is no difference between the name brand and store brand. It's literally the same stuff with different packaging.

This isn't counting anything from the deli of course, just anything that comes prepackaged in the cooler section.
 

CYdTracked

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I had a cousin work in a cheese packaging/distro plant for HyVee. There is no difference between the name brand and store brand. It's literally the same stuff with different packaging.

This isn't counting anything from the deli of course, just anything that comes prepackaged in the cooler section.

Yup, they actually have a department at their corporate office (at least they did when I interned there over 20 years ago) that gets product from their suppliers that they do quality and taste tests when they pick out who is going to provide and package their Hy-Vee brand products. They had a test kitchen and would have people randomly do taste tests and get their feedback some days. I usually buy the cheaper generic brands of most common things at the grocery store as usually most of them taste just as good - some even better than the more expensive name brands.
 

drlove

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I have a buddy that's a very marginal golfer who insists on playing Pro V1s. Watched him buy 2 dozen at the pro shop once and proceed to go through about ever damn one of them.
what is a "marginal" golfer?
 

BurgundyClone

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In cover bands for years -the Shure SM58 is the standard/best mic for live performing -$100-$119 -but we went cheap one time with Behringer XM8500's for $30 and they are awesome! That's what we have in our karaoke room now.
 
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madguy30

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Accidentally posted in a previous one but I had bad luck with ipod shuffles going to crap within a few months and they're obsolete anyway so about 5ish years ago I bought a Sandisk mp3 layer.

It's bulkier and has a screen like a Gameboy circa '89 but still does the job.
 

CascadeClone

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Off brand circus peanuts are better than Brachs because they are a little more stale and dried out, thus more chewy and less like a piece of foam.
 

MeanDean

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A year or so ago we switched to the Walmart brand of corn chips because the Fritos price hike seemed unreasonable. For half the price (or less) they seem identical to me. And I'm a Fritos guy from waaaay back.
 

MeanDean

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Damn, must have been close to 30 years ago. I was in the Tipton IA Walmart killing time because my Mom was living there (Tipton, not the actual Walmart) and it was somewhere to go and wander around with her (and she got her cigs there).

On the clearance rack were these dark green hooded jackets with black satin lining for $8. I didn't really think I needed a light/medium jacket but I kind of liked these and picked one up.

I freaking LOVE that jacket. Seems perfect for almost any weather above 20 and I can ball it up and when I put it on again it looks good. Zippered pockets so stuff doesn't fall out. The lining is bad now but I'm still wearing it (and people still compliment it even though it's looking a bit worn.)

My biggest regret is I didn't buy 3 or 4 of them that day.
 
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