Name Brands vs Generic/Store Brand: WHich do you prefer?

[sak4kat]

I prefer to buy store brands as often as I can.  Most of my shopping is done at Aldi so there are few things I need to pick up from other stores.  Now there are some products that going generic just doesn't taste right.  Oreo's for instance.  Sometimes I have run across name brands costing less than store brands.  Jennio turkey dogs are cheaper at our local wal-mart in comparison to fit and actives aldi turkey dogs.   Household stuff though - who cares who makes the paper towels and tp?

[Forp]

generic are fine with me...read some where there are only really 6 or 7 pharmaceutical companies that make all the vitamins...but they all get sent out to different companies and have the different labels put on them...don't know how accurate that is but it makes some sense...there would be alot of small companies going broke...and I think this rule would apply to alot of other goods I purchase to....Kenmore is really Whirlpool...and alot of fancy model cars are are just dressed-up basic models...so the generic's are o.k. with me.

[tjshorty]

I usually just purchase what ever is cheaper.  I don't really buy name brands.

[lywb2168]

It depends on what it is, I have tried almost all the generics, sometimes I cannot event ell the difference others it is really awful so I stick to the brand name, my girls actually tell ot do not eat the generic if is bad, that is how I know.

[crisstar]

I buy both depending on what it is. Some name brands just work better (or I just think it does!).

On the flipside, some generic brands work just as good as name brands if not better, whereas some don't even come close to working as well as the name brands.

So...it just depends. I'm not locked into a decision one way or another.

[nannycoe1]

I mostly buy store brands unless I have a really good coupon or sale on something I need.

[bowrunner]

I buy quite a few generic or store brands because they are cheaper but for some things I prefer the name brands.

[jmc1070]

I usually buy store brands, but through trial and error I have discovered on some things the name brand tastes better, so I will buy name brands for those items that I didn't care for store brands. I always will try the store brands first to see if the taste is okay, but sometimes the name brand wins.

[Tresbn00]

Being as tight with money as I am I rarely indulge in name brands.  That being said I will buy a pair of Levis every three or so years. I buy one pair of shorts every two years and usually spend two years looking for the perfect pair! I will buy Dial soap (in bulk) because I have used that brand since I was a teenager.  I will only buy Ban under arm deodorant. Crest is the only toothpaste that I like to use. I only like to wash my clothes with TIDE.  I will not pay more than fifty cents for a roll of two ply toilet paper or more than one dollar and ninety nine cents per pound for chicken *bleep*. I will not pay more than twenty cents for a can of soda.

[dodgers16]

  I think that for most iteams the  Name Brands and Generic/Store Brand are pretty close to the samething, but with some things the  Name Brands are better then Generic/Store Brand

[cathy37]

There are some things that I only use the brand name products and then there are some products that I use the generic brand.

[mgint]

use both which ever is best price

[bretay]

i use both..it really depends on the food..now for canned pinto beans i only eat luck's,not the store brand..and i will only eat duke's mayonnaise,don't like no other brand..other than those 2 not really picky on a lot of the stuff.

[lvstephanie]

I go with whatever is the best price value... There is a difference between "price" and "value" where price only factors the monetary cost while value factors in other things like quality, quantity, etc. For example, some generic items taste worse than the name brand version, so I might purchase the name brand instead because my perceived value of its taste is worth more than the amount of money I could save by going with the generic brand.

Also it isn't always true that the generic brands are cheaper... Although the name brand item may have a higher regular price, if you factor in coupons, sales, promos (eg using a shopping reward program like Ibotta), etc. the name brand may actually come out cheaper in the end. Because the name brand has a higher regular price, there is more "wiggle room" for those manufacturers to issue more coupons etc. whereas the generics are already fair low in price that they aren't able to have as many sales to discount the price even more. Some of the "Extreme Couponing" sites that I've checked out have mentioned that they hardly even buy generic items since they can get more discounts and can time them to stack on top of each other with the name brand items, which in the end saves them much more money than just buying a generic counterpart.

[squirrelgirl44]

Depends what the item is. For most food products, generic is to ME the same as name brand, and usually about half the cost. For things like clothing, I usually buy name brand.