Does Anyone Buy Generic Products ?

[Hall]

Several large supermarket chains operate their own dairies.

Kroger has multiple dairy facilities. There's a regional grocery chain called Meijers here in the midwest, like Publix for the south, that has their own dairy as well.

I know of a grocery store chain that has their own line of barbecue sauce that also packages it under name brands. People always suspected that Kelloggs or Post, for example, also made the generic cereals, but in this case, it's the store brand that's making the nationally known "name" brand !

 

[Kira]

List products down a Y axis.
Make 3 columns: a.name brand, b. store brand, c. true, white box generics (if any store even sells them anymore)

For every product check which you buy (past 5 years)

What is amazing is when name brands offer coupons and still can't compete with the store brand.

 

[99Saturn]

Just depends. I‘ll happily buy Heinz ketchup over everything else. But Aldi diapers are better than Huggies and Pampers.

Diapers. Mind boggling running the numbers for a name brand like Pampers versus a store brand, probably like $.15 or $.20 per diaper. We used Aldi at first but Up and Up and Mama Bear work better for us when stacked with either one of Target's or Amazon's promotions.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Most name-brand products are NOT produced in some facility owned by the brand. There's a giant company that makes literally everything in the condiment aisle but a few brands/products, they just make different recipes, put it in different bottles with different labels. I'm not saying "it's the same thing", just made by the same facility.

Sunshine used to own the Cheez-It brand. Sunshine used to have a fairly extensive cracker-goods line and had a decent shelf-share of the cracker aisle in the grocery store. Now hardly any Sunshine products/brands exist, Kellogg's owns Cheez-Its, etc.

 

[methusaleh]

Most name-brand products are NOT produced in some facility owned by the brand. There's a giant company that makes literally everything in the condiment aisle but a few brands/products, they just make different recipes, put it in different bottles with different labels. I'm not saying "it's the same thing", just made by the same facility.

Interesting; thank you for sharing that.

I am not someone who cares about fashion, rather I buy quality clothes that are made
well and are durable, as I know many here do.

This was about 30 years ago (ouch, I feel old!)…long story short, in college I had to take a filler course because I had taken four years of a foreign language in high school. I ended up in “Fundamentals of Fashion Design”. It was taught by a recently-retired industry executive. One day she brought in some sort of paperwork showing production contracts and material source info from a company none of us had heard of. It looked liked a boring business document. The professor handed out copies to the class and watched as the content slowly dawned on us.

The long and the short of it was— at that time at least— for many brands of blue jeans, from $10 Walmart jeans to $50 “designer” brands, the company that manufactured them and the raw materials that were used were the same. With the exception of things like the exact stitching pattern and the logos on the hardware, the jeans were all made to the same standards by the same production lines. Same work crews, same machines, same settings on the machines, etc. One hundred percent identical procedure, quality standards, thread, and fabric.

Needless to say this news was rather devastating to those in the class who thought they were special for paying higher prices.

 

[Hall]

The long and the short of it was— at that time at least— for many brands of blue jeans, from $10 Walmart jeans to $50 “designer” brands, the company that manufactured them and the raw materials that were used were the same.

It may depend on the brand, but in my personal experience, there are absolutely differences in quality of jeans. I've worn out some brands in a few months while others (Levi's, for me) can last years.

 

[tcp71]

Polish Sausages are still on the Costco menu in Canada. Some generics are really poor quality/quantity. Others are better than the name brands. Loblaw's pototato chips are better (in my opinion) than lays, etc. Better flavours too.

https://www.realcanadiansuperstore....Life at Home&productBrand=Everyday Essentials

https://canadiangrocer.com/costco-canada-has-no-plans-eliminate-polish-hot-dog

 

[vavavroom]

I'll give you an example of zero difference between a branded product and an unbranded product that are 100% identical other than there is a brand name on the rotor of one of them. Seiko makes their Seiko-branded automatic 4R35 watch movement (the VW Bug of watch movements) but they also make an unbranded version called the NH35 which finds its way into other manufacturers' watches. The only difference between the two movements is the price. Around $80 for a 4R35 and around $40 for an NH35. Either movement could come out of a Japanese or Malaysian factory. All parts are interchangeable, both movements can be adjusted to the same level. One says Seiko, one doesn't. Seiko uses only the branded movement in their own watches but you can of course replace either movement with one or the other as you see fit. The unbranded movement offers the same value at half the cost unless you value the name on the rotor, in which case YMMV.

 

[Thermo1223]

My mother did growing up, now the only things I buy in generic form are the paper products or one use type things. This brings back all the memories...

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Are we confusing store brand with generic? I remember the ultra-cheap, low-quality stuff in plain white wrappers in the 70's and maybe 80's.

Then there's the store brands. Like I said earlier, the store brands were nowhere near the quality they are today. There was a distinct difference IMO.

 

[Hall]

Are we confusing store brand with generic?

I asked earlier what the OP means by "generic" and there's been no responses from him/her or anyone else. I'm not sure if "generic" stuff exists anymore, at least not what I call generic (same as you describe - in plain, white packaging).

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

I asked earlier what the OP means by "generic" and there's been no responses from him/her or anyone else. I'm not sure if "generic" stuff exists anymore, at least not what I call generic (same as you describe - in plain, white packaging).

I grew up poor, I remember the plain white wrapper generic crap back then. I decided I didn't like being poor, I pursued a different lifestyle. I don't shop at stores that might have that stuff, I don't need to, I don't want to. It's generally 18-24 months between my WM visits, I do wander through an Aldi every 6-8 months just to see what the internet hoopla is about, only to walk out shaking my head. I tend to stay out of Kroger, their stores are basically WM made over. Stuff strewn everywhere, mostly empty shelves, poor lighting and every aisle has someone on a scooter.

 

[SR20DE]

Berkeley Bowl was actually a bowling alley. My parents took me there at least once when I was a kid. It had an art deco facade and the original facade was maintained for years with the Berkeley Bowl name, even after Berkeley Bowl Marketplace moved to what used to be a Safeway. The old Berkeley Bowl building was an Any Mountain store but when Berkeley Honda moved in they modified the facade (which wasn't the original anyways). Still looks art deco but they took out the Berkeley Bowl name.

Neat, I've been there a few times and never knew the meaning behind the name. Their bulk section is the best I've ever seen.

 

[PimTac]

I asked earlier what the OP means by "generic" and there's been no responses from him/her or anyone else. I'm not sure if "generic" stuff exists anymore, at least not what I call generic (same as you describe - in plain, white packaging).

You are correct in the historical sense. Back in the Malaise Era our family did the shopping at the local U-MarkIt where every item purchased was priced with a grease pencil by the shopper. (Young ones here are now quickly searching for grease pencil as they never heard of it)

The canned goods were plain labels. Cream corn. Beans. Etc etc. That was the generic labeled good products. The big store chains started their own brands. Safeway was big on that with their Lucerne branded products.

The quality was poor back then but it has improved a lot over the years.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I buy some generic items however when it comes to ketchup I have to have Heinz. There are instances where generic potato chips or crackers are just fine but when it comes to favorites I stick with what I like.

 

[Hall]

I don't shop at stores that might have that stuff, I don't need to

Pretty sure it doesn't exist anymore

 

[SwampSurvivor]

If you mean store brand, I generally always buy that.

There are a few exceptions. Dawn dish soap is one.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

There are a few exceptions. Dawn dish soap is one.

We have used Dawn for ~30 years. Rarely have we had something else on the sink. Maybe Palmolive.


Until recently, I bought the 1/2 gallon refill jug of Kirkland dish soap. It's Palmolive green. I don't have a problem with it, but it did gunk up the spout on the small bottle that we've refilled for years with Dawn. I think we have three of these small bottles, we keep the two spares under the sink, refill all three at once.

We do handwash some stuff - pots/pans, knives and wooden spoons/cutting boards/etc. Everything else basically gets rinsed clean and put in the dishwasher.


I had to laugh one day about 3 months ago at the return line at Costco. I see this ~65-70 yo woman in line in front of me, with a buggy and 2/3 of that Kirkland brand dish soap jug sitting in the child seat in the buggy. She was returning 2/3 of the 1/2 gallon jug of soap. I think it cost $9? Her husband was next to her and I could tell he was furious and embarrassed at the same time.

Of course, I was returning a $35 memory foam pillow that I didn't work for me....

But dish soap? Good grief. Use it, don't buy it again and move on.

 

[y_p_w]

Neat, I've been there a few times and never knew the meaning behind the name. Their bulk section is the best I've ever seen.

It's in their official history. But I'm old enough to remember it. I wasn't a huge Berkeley Bowl customer before they moved to their current location, but I do remember shopping a few times at that Safeway store when I was a student in the 90s. It was really weird with that store too, because it was in a fairly low income area near the border with Oakland. Safeway said their problem was that they had way too many customers living from paycheck to paycheck and only buying small quantities, which increased their labor costs. Supermarkets need a good proportion of loaded shopping carts to be financially viable.

https://www.berkeleybowl.com/about​

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In 1977, Glenn Yasuda opened a small neighborhood market in the converted building that formerly housed Berkeley Bowl bowling alley and Berkeley Bowl was born.​

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In 1999, we moved into a renovated former Safeway site at 2020 Oregon Street, which gave us the ability to truly expand all areas of our growing business.​

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In June of 2009, our second store, Berkeley Bowl West, opened in a new modern building at 920 Heinz Avenue, in the former Heinz Ketchup factory.​

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Berkeley Bowl West features expanded parking areas, including an underground parking lot below the main building, with charging stations for electric vehicles!​

The Heinz complex buildings are still there across the street. Scharffen Berger Chocolate used to be in one of the buildings - I think where they made pickles.

 

[y_p_w]

Their bulk section is the best I've ever seen.

It's OK. I remember back when chain supermarkets had bulk items - usually foods. But at Berkeley Bowl they've got other stuff like shampoos and other toiletries. Whole Foods does too, but their prices are just ridiculous. Sprouts isn't too bad for bulk items too.

The most extensive bulk foods section I've seen is Winco Foods, but there's none within 30 miles from my home. I'll usually get a bunch of stuff at once. Possibly the most I've saved is buying bay leaves at maybe $2.50/lb (although maybe the price went up the last time I got them). I'll see just a few of them sold in a tiny jar for $3-4. But I've grabbed a huge amount in bulk and it cost 30 cents when I put it on a scale.