TMI Tuesday: Consumer Sense & Satisfaction

Shazz [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

1. Name a category for which you are very fussy and only one product will do. Name the product.
This is probably silly, but Kraft American cheese. I don’t like the generics/store brands/other brands at all, and if I can’t have my Kraft cheese slices, I won’t eat sliced cheese.

2. Name a category for which you are fussy about quality and buy top-of-the-line brands.
There’s probably quite a few things that would fit here, but I think I’ll go with two: computers and theater systems.

For computers, I only buy Apple. My love affair started with them a long time ago, when I got my very first one, an Apple II+. Some of you will remember that one: green monitor (we hooked up a TV for color), all caps, and those wonderful text-based games. Now, I have iMacs and MacBooks, and will pay more to have a Mac than a PC. I’m an iPerson 🙂

For theater systems, I’m not so brand-specific, but I do like higher-end TVs, receivers, etc. A lot of my gear is Sony, but there’s some Pioneer and Yamaha in the mix.

3. Name a category for which you are most interested in price, and will buy whatever brand is cheapest.
Laundry detergent is at the top of the list. I can’t justify paying 5 times more for something like Tide, when the cheaper soaps clean fine. As long as they’re compatible with my washer and work, I go as cheap as I can.

4. Name a category for which you are unable to find a satisfactory product.
A left-handed serger. I have one for sewing, and I love it…but I cannot thread it. I’ve tried….and failed. The way the threading mechanism is, it’s impossible for me to do it, so I have to have help. It’d be nice if it was made so it threaded either way, or if there was a specific left-handed one.

5. Name a product that has disappeared from the market for which you have been unable to find a satisfactory substitute.
The first thing that came to mind here is low-carb Doritos. Yeah, I know, that sounds odd. But back when I first went to low-carb, it was suddenly the craze, and you could actually get low-carb Doritos, Cheetos, and Tostitos in the store. They were everywhere! They were a nice indulgence that sometimes kept me sane.

6. Name a product that you buy that your mother or father used to buy.
That’s a tough one. I guess I’ll go with Fig Newtons. I don’t buy them a lot, but when I do it’s the original figgy ones.

7. Name a product that you won’t buy because your mother or father used to buy it.
Quite honestly, I can’t think of a single thing that fits here!

8. Name a product that is over-rated.
Bottled water. It’s insanely expensive, and if the tap water is that bad, buying a filter (or using the filter in the fridge) is a hell of a lot cheaper.

9. Name a product that is under-rated.
This was another tough one, so I’ll go with 3D-TV. It was something our new TV had that I wasn’t super keen on originally, and then I watched Avatar and a few other movies….and wow. It’s cheaper to buy the 3D movie and watch it at home, the picture is clearer than at the theater, and it’s just a phenomenal experience. Now that I have one, I can’t imagine not having one. And I want 3D channels on the satellite.

Bonus: If there was one product that you would re-invent or improve, what is it?
Ice Melt. It works great but it sticks to your shoes and you end up tracking it places you don’t want to track it. I’d make it so it wouldn’t stick to the bottom of boots….so not to rubber or leather.
 

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