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Every three years or so, I can’t resist the temptation to buy disposable razors at Costco. Given the disposables are about $1 each, they are about a third of the price of buying razor cartridges. About a week into the purchase, however, I am reminded why I prefer the cartridges. While more expensive, the cartridges provide a better shave and they last about 3 times as long. While the initial impression I get is that I am getting a bargain, I sacrifice quality and at best I am breakeven on the transaction.
What examples do you have on times when a focus on price was more costly than if you’d ponied up for a better quality product in the first place?
Kyle, I did the same thing at Costco with the razor situation, but I watch the sales on those cartridges as well. Those new super duper ones are almost $4+ a piece but I stick with the Turbo type for $2+ or so, and ONLY buy them when on sale! But remember, after trying those $1 disposables, the GREAT thing about Costco is you can return the rest of them and get a FULL refund. My favorite stores besides Costco, is Nordstrom, Amazon and Lowes’s which all have EXCELLENT goods and return policies.
quality counts in everyday purchases like the new roof to tree removal we went with a local company that was a little more expensive but both had great reputations just in case any problems……well worth it for peace of mind which is worth every $$$
We do not skimp on food quality. We grow a lot of organic fruits and veggies. We eat almost all our meals at home and are very particular about ingredient sourcing, quality and nutrition.
We buy the best we can afford. A specific store for Basmati rice, a specific online source for spices, a specific Japanese source for green tea and so on. And we invest in quality cookware – no non-stick or plastic.
Computers. I bought e-Machines, Lenovo, and HP, some with AMD CPUs, and even built my own before deciding the extra quality of Dell with Intel CPUs was worth it.
Earlier in my career I owned a 4 plex rental and did most of my own maintenance. I learned pretty quickly that with building materials (plumbing fixtures, roofing materials, etc) good quality products held up much better than cheap quality products. I particularly hated maintenance work that was now necessary due to inferior quality materials used when the building was built. Usually the savings originally realized were trivial but the later remediation was hard and costly.