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HOW DO YOU DECIDE whether to go with good, better or best?
My next-door neighbor always goes for the best, regardless of what it is. He pays more for everything. He’s a senior vice president, and I guess he feels he needs or deserves the best. God bless him.
That’s not my approach. I recently replaced my gas furnace and central air conditioner. My furnace was 23 years old and my air conditioner 10. To save money, I try to repair as many things as I can. But not these. Other than replacing the filter, if something goes wrong, I call the company that installed the furnace and A/C.
One of the sales tactics used by the installation companies: They’d give me three quotes. They were classified as good, better and best. What to do? I hate spending money, so cheap is always my way to go. But cheap usually means more frequent breakdowns and the need to replace sooner.
On the other hand, I learned the warranty coverage is typically limited to 10 years. No matter which brand I looked at or how much the unit cost, it was always 10 years, so what difference does it make what I choose?
Given my thrifty tendencies, I settled on good—a single-stage furnace with a standard digital thermostat. I chose a higher-efficiency furnace since our family hates being cold. I also chose standard A/C since we only use it three months out of the year.
The same thrifty approach has benefitted me with other purchases. I’ve been buying automotive hand tools for 54 years. My go-to brand was Sears Craftsman. The tools had a lifetime warranty. They were sold at any Sears store. Back then, many of the wrenches, ratchets and sockets were made in America by the Danaher Corp.
My alternative tool supplier would have been Snap-on, which is sold only by its dealers, who drive around in Snap-on trucks and sell directly to auto dealers and garages. Snap-on’s tools cost more than Craftsman’s.
While I could have bought the best—Snap-on—I chose “better” since Craftsman tools were good enough for what I needed. In addition, if one of my tools broke, I could always get a replacement at the local Sears store. As it turned out, none of my Craftsman tools has ever broken.
I’m cheap, frugal, thrifty, a tightwad, know the value of a dollar. My inclination is always to buy the cheapest of everything. Cheap often makes sense, but not always.
Take motor oil. For many car enthusiasts, synthetic motor oil is the way to go. They believe that, since it costs more, it must be better. A popular brand is Mobil 1. It’s sold in many stores, including Walmart. You don’t need to change your oil as frequently with synthetic oil, as you do with conventional oil. But is it better for everyone? No.
If you live in extreme climates, like Alaska or on the equator, yes, synthetic is better. If you own an exotic car, like a Ferrari, yes, it’s better. If you drive a Honda Accord in Ohio, no. You’d pay more, but you don’t get more. You’d just get different.
If you’re like my neighbor and feel you deserve the best, go with Mobil 1. Otherwise, go with standard oil. If you want to save even more, buy a store brand. Just make sure it has API in a circle on the back of the container. This certifies that it meets the American Petroleum Institute’s quality standard for new cars. We got 300,000 miles out of my wife’s 1997 Ford Taurus using store-brand oil.
What is the answer to good, better, best? If you need to know you’ve got the best, then go for it. If everything doesn’t need to be the best, save some money and buy better. If you’re going to use something once and throw it away, go with good.
My first girlfriend in college gave me my first fundamental lesson about “good”, “better” and “best”. She said it was very important to get what you thought was the best in two specific areas – facial tissue and toilet tissue. You immediately know the difference when you use the product. Everything else was negotiable.
As one’s life progresses, we tend to associate quality with certain brand names. A good friend in one of my earlier jobs gave me my second lesson. about “good”, “better” and “best”. We all tend to experiment with name brands, new brands and house brands over time, to find the right balance of price and quality. My friend pointed out that a product brand actually operates as a warranty. Whether or not it is objectively the best, we tend to think of certain brands as good or bad from our own experience, and new products from the same company will be trusted more. We gravitate toward names we know. But a company can quickly lose that respect if events show they are cheapening what they sell, or taking advantage of their loyal customer base.
Finally, it helps to think of how people offer their products and services to the public. A famous business writer, Michael Porter, opined about 30 years ago that there were three dimensions on which a company can operate – price, quality, and customer intimacy. (A few later writers also throw in quick response as a fourth.) But going with the original three, Porter posited that a company could do only two at most, and couldn’t do all three simultaneously. The “good”, “better”, “best” issue is really an application of Porter’s framework. If you want “best”, your personal preferred value proposition is quality. In recent years, the world seems to be moving more toward price.
Dave, your a guy after my own heart. You made the right decision going with the standard A/C. I did the same three years ago after I did some research and discovered the multi-stage A/C’s with a computer board in the outside condenser unit usually go bad.
I’ve always tried to buy either the best, or second best. I’ve found that the best is usually the cheapest in the long run. I really do hate to pay full price for anything though. If I don’t need something right away I’ll wait months or sometimes a year or more something to come on sale, or for black Friday to roll around. Like you, I also was a buyer of Sears craftsmen tools when they were still made in the US. Snap-on probably was the best but I just couldn’t justify their prices. I’ve never had a craftsmen tool break either, except for a spark plug socket that I had used an extended breaker bar on. That was the only time I tried to buy a replacement from Snap-on, but then I couldn’t get the local dealer to stop by my house.
Several years ago, Samsung’s top end stainless steel refrigerator was the most beautiful refrigerator I had ever seen. With top end features like four separate computer controlled, isolated zones, one refrigerator, one freezer, and two that could be switched between refrigerator and soft freeze. It was around $4000 at Best Buy, much more than I was willing to pay. I waited a year and a half until I found one on closeout plus scratch and dent for $1700. That was still a lot but I’ve never had a problem with it and I like looking at it every day.
As far as vehicles, my only new one was a 1979, made in Germany, Ford Fiesta. I still have it but parked it years ago when the engine head cracked and never got around to fixing it. I’ve gone used since and currently have a 96 Chevy Lumina Van with 308K miles that I love. It was last year the body was made out of a plastic composite that can’t rust. I do all my own work, even front end alignments, and replaced both head gaskets last year. Over the years, I’ve never liked any of the new vehicles I’ve seen at the autoshow’s, but this year I finally like the Honda Ridgeline small pickup that I may order new.
I used to fly coach for a long time, but a few years before retiring I started flying first class and find it well worth the money.