I’d like to extinguish the myth that generic is always cheaper.
No, I don’t buy generic. No, I’m not a name brand snob. Yes, I save more money.
Yet, had you asked me this a year ago, I would have told you that all I bought was generic since I was trying to find the best deal. Store brands are always cheaper than the manufacturer brands, right?
I saw a segment on the news segment a few weeks back on how to save money at the grocery store and it really irritated me because the consensus at the end was that generic store brands will save you more money, so shoppers should stay away from high priced name brands. I’ve also heard this countless times from well meaning shoppers. Case in point, my experience several months ago:
About 6 months ago, when I was a coupon newbie, I was stocking up on a great Cheerios deal at Fry’s, when a fellow shopper tried convincing me to buy the store brand. The conversation went something like this:
Shopper: Wow, that is a lot of boxes of Cheerios, you know the store brand is a better deal.
Me: Actually, I have coupons for each of these, so I’ll save more.
Shopper: Oh well, I never buy name brand name because generic is just as good and always cheaper.
Since I was new to using coupons, I didn’t push the subject farther, but the truth is that I paid less than $1 for those boxes of cereal, while the store brand was on sale for $1.99. I wonder what that fellow shopper would think if she ran into me at the store now, with my large coupon organizer? I wouldn’t be shy to talk more about coupons, how they help save my over 65% at the grocery store each month, or how she could visit my blog to learn more!
Another example of actually getting FREE name brand products was when Fry’s was running a triple coupons promotion not long ago. Dial soap was on sale for $.99, the normal Kroger price. I had a $.35/1 coupon, which was tripled, so that dial soap was FREE! There are many more examples, especially if I talk about saving at CVS, but I think I’ll stop for now.
Since watching deals, using coupons, and stocking up on good deals (of items that we need), I have spent less on our groceries, while buying name brand products. Of course I realize that sometimes generic is cheaper and I do buy it in those cases, but I really just wanted to point out that generic is not always the best option.
What are your thoughts? Do you only buy generic or store brands? Or do you only buy name brand? Which saves you more?
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