What is more important when buying?

[Ozzy]

A conversation come up earlier for me which reminded me of a statement I heard many years ago;
You can have it quickly, of good quality and at a low price. Choose two.

I’m wondering how others rank these in their decision making process, and is it different for your business than for your personal purchases?
Has the decision process changed over time too? Perhaps price was more important at the startup stage but quality becomes more important as your business becomes more established?

The poll is based on business; if your choose would be different between home and work.

 

[DontAsk]

Depends what, and when, I am buying so one answer doesn't cover it.

 

[Ozzy]

Depends what, and when, I am buying so one answer doesn't cover it.

It may be just me which’d be fair, but don’t you have a default you go to unless exceptional or unique circumstances dictate otherwise?
ie, you could normally prefer quality and low cost as default, but if something urgent comes up quality drops for speed of delivery; as an example.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I have always wanted all three!

 

[Ozzy]

I have always wanted all three!

I think everyone would like all three but realistically; as a business supplying a product it often isn't sustainable to provide all three.

 

[fisicx]

If I need something quickly I can usually get it within an hour. We are well served by a range of local suppliers.

Ordering online usually means it's for something I need to do soon but not right now. So I'm not concerned if it takes a couple of days to arrive. Invariable I need a collection of items for a particular project so there is no point paying for fast delivery if another part is going to take a week to get here.

The flat we rent out has got a broken shower screen. It took 10 minutes to do an emergency repair giving us time to source and order the correct parts. Quality and cost are the drivers not speed of delivery.

 

[The Byre]

When Pink Floyd went on tour with the giant 'Pulse' show, David Gilmour used an SM57 with a pop cover. That is a £70 microphone. Considering that the tour cost millions to put together, one might be tempted to ask why the (at the time) biggest show on Planet Earth was using one of the cheapest mics one can buy.

There are stage mics costing £70 and stage mics costing £700, so why is the SM58 at £100 the most popular?

Why did a golf course manager I was chatting to spend £250,000 on five mowing machines?

Why will we be replacing a £20,000 48-track recorder with a £2,000 'Black Box' converter?

Why does Roger Deakins prefer shooting in 4K on an Arri Alexa LF Mini, instead of more expensive alternatives with higher resolutions?

Why did I spend £600 on a projector and £6,000 on a 7.1 sound system?

The answer to all the above is - Because that product is the right product for that specific task and does that task better than the competition.

 

[Mark T Jones]

It's very much an 'it depends' scenario.

My personal take is that we each have our own interpretation of Poundland goods & premium goods, usually informed by peers, upbringing, personal interest and bitter experience.

Personally, for example, when buying meat I pay top dollar for good product from a local butcher; meanwhile I buy the cheapest baked beans on the market. The wife insists on Heinz, but will happily buy meat from Lidl.

On the odd occasion where quick is a key issue I will have to decide on the hoof where the compromise lies.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

There are stage mics costing £70 and stage mics costing £700, so why is the SM58 at £100 the most popular?

In any era the equipment that professionals choose is often the same choice. My first camera purchase as a professional was a Hasselblad. I used it for 27 years and sold it for slightly more than I paid for it.

 

[DontAsk]

It may be just me which’d be fair, but don’t you have a default you go to unless exceptional or unique circumstances dictate otherwise?

Like others I would want all three but sometimes I know things are on long lead times so quality and price are to the fore. If I suddenly need a new toner cartridge then Quick trumps both. I'll pay more for faster delivery in that case.

 

[DontAsk]

There are stage mics costing £70 and stage mics costing £700, so why is the SM58 at £100 the most popular?

Sounds like my tyre buying. I never buy the cheapest, usually the 2nd or 3rd cheapest.

 

[fisicx]

Like others I would want all three but sometimes I know things are on long lead times so quality and price are to the fore. If I suddenly need a new toner cartridge then Quick trumps both. I'll pay more for faster delivery in that case.

Or you buy two and keep one as a spare. When used you order a new one at the slower and cheaper delivery option.

 

[DontAsk]

Personally, for example, when buying meat I pay top dollar for good product from a local butcher; meanwhile I buy the cheapest baked beans on the market. The wife insists on Heinz, but will happily buy meat from Lidl.

Next time you are in Tesco, or wherever, check the batch codes, factory codes (for goods that have them), pharmaceutical licenses, ingredients, nutritional info, etc., between "value", normal and premium. It's eye opening on some products.

Value paracetamol v normal "fast acting" at twice the price with exactly the same product licence. It might have been ibuprofen, but you get the idea.

The only real (alleged) difference with Heinz is they use real tomatoes instead of puree. They used to (may still do) make value baked beans

 

[fisicx]

Next time you are in Tesco, or wherever, check the batch codes, factory codes (for goods that have them), pharmaceutical licenses, ingredients, nutritional info, etc., between "value", normal and premium. It's eye opening on some products.

I know someone who works in a soup factory. It's pretty much the same vegatable soup no matter what you buy. The only difference is the posh soups much have a few more veggies.

 

[DontAsk]

I know someone who works in a soup factory. It's pretty much the same vegatable soup no matter what you buy. The only difference is the posh soups much have a few more veggies.

Yeah. The difference in price between Covent Garden and Aldi carton soups does is not justified by the ingredients, nor by the quality IMHO.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I like quality stuff
I dont like things falling apart
Mercedes build a better van than the French !
The French make better cheese than the Germans
Its a funny old world .

Forced with a choice it would be quality stuff at home and cheap stuff for the the business for the simple reason I work to live

 

[IanSuth]

Next time you are in Tesco, or wherever, check the batch codes, factory codes (for goods that have them), pharmaceutical licenses, ingredients, nutritional info, etc., between "value", normal and premium. It's eye opening on some products.

Value paracetamol v normal "fast acting" at twice the price with exactly the same product licence. It might have been ibuprofen, but you get the idea.

The only real (alleged) difference with Heinz is they use real tomatoes instead of puree. They used to (may still do) make value baked beans

The first time we had a baked bean price war about 20 yrs ago I remember looking at Tesco Value, Normal and "HealthyEating Low Salt & Sugar" beans side by side.

Basically there was standard at about 25p and then choose whether to save money by them having left out sugar and salt or pay a premium for "low sugar and salt" - the Basics at 6p were literally identical in nutritional information and ingredients as the 42p Healthy eating version so I believe were the same product with different labelling

 

[IanSuth]

I know someone who works in a soup factory. It's pretty much the same vegatable soup no matter what you buy. The only difference is the posh soups much have a few more veggies.

My school geography teacher had worked in a pizza factory, he would tell us how a claxon would go off, the line would stop someone would turn a dial 1 notch on the tomato sauce dispenser whilst the stock in the packaging machine was changed and they would go from Brand name to Own brand or the other way around, they did a couple of big brands plus numerous own brands all on the same line with minor tweaks

 

[UKSBD]

Value paracetamol v normal "fast acting" at twice the price with exactly the same product licence. It might have been ibuprofen, but you get the idea.

I used to think that, but when you struggle to swallow them you really notice a difference.
I often pay extra for the more expensive paracetamol if they are easier to swallow.

 

[IanSuth]

When Pink Floyd went on tour with the giant 'Pulse' show, David Gilmour used an SM57 with a pop cover. That is a £70 microphone. Considering that the tour cost millions to put together, one might be tempted to ask why the (at the time) biggest show on Planet Earth was using one of the cheapest mics one can buy.

There are stage mics costing £70 and stage mics costing £700, so why is the SM58 at £100 the most popular?

When i was student and stage crewing /helping a PA company it was all 58's for vocal 57's for instruments/high drums and from memory a 52? for kick drum (an egg shaped cardiod mic anyway)

 

[IanSuth]

I used to think that, but when you struggle to swallow them you really notice a difference.
I often pay extra for the more expensive paracetamol if they are easier to swallow.

Surely that is about the shape/coating rather than the active ingredient so they would have the same bpc number

 

[UKSBD]

Surely that is about the shape/coating rather than the active ingredient so they would have the same bpc number

No idea, I just know that of the 2 on the shelf the more expensive ones are far easier to swallow.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Next time you are in Tesco, or wherever, check the batch codes, factory codes (for goods that have them), pharmaceutical licenses, ingredients, nutritional info, etc., between "value", normal and premium. It's eye opening on some products.

Value paracetamol v normal "fast acting" at twice the price with exactly the same product licence. It might have been ibuprofen, but you get the idea.

The only real (alleged) difference with Heinz is they use real tomatoes instead of puree. They used to (may still do) make value baked beans

I seldom buy processed food - which is probably why it is firmly in my discount category. I do however have a strange fascination with cup-a-soup in cold weather. I buy the cheapest & wouldn't dare look at the ingredients.

I try to buy fruit & veg from greengrocers or a nearby farm shop but sometimes default to Lidl/Aldi - experience says they should absolutely avoided for anything soft or perishable because - presumably due to storage & handling the shelf life is short - price isn't always just the label!

 

[Deleted member 59730]

The first time we had a baked bean price war about 20 yrs ago I remember looking at Tesco Value, Normal and "HealthyEating Low Salt & Sugar" beans side by side.

I go for quality and never buy baked beans.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

. I do however have a strange fascination with cup-a-soup in cold weather.

Takes me back. I did the photography on the packs when Cup a Soup launched.

 

[IanSuth]

Takes me back. I did the photography on the packs when Cup a Soup launched.

My go to cheap student meal was Sainsbury's own brand cup a soup special minestrone powder tipped onto a pack of 9p cheap ramen in a bowl, add some boiling water and place a plate over the top for a few minutes, cost under 20p a serving, didnt need anything other than a kettle (or the free vend hot water on the uni coffee machine) and filled me up

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I started out working in supermarkets and one, Budgens, introduced a range of high quality and significantly more expensive (x 10?) canned items from 2 main suppliers 'Epicure' and SB.

Each of the SB Peach Halves was exactly the same size, the centre was scooped out and perfectly symmetrical. The colour, consistency was uniform in every tin and purchased by top end caterers and those for whom an irregular Flan was not good enough! You gets what you pay for, or did back then!

 

[Deleted member 335660]

A conversation come up earlier for me which reminded me of a statement I heard many years ago;
You can have it quickly, of good quality and at a low price. Choose two.

I’m wondering how others rank these in their decision making process, and is it different for your business than for your personal purchases?
Has the decision process changed over time too? Perhaps price was more important at the startup stage but quality becomes more important as your business becomes more established?

The poll is based on business; if your choose would be different between home and work.

I disagree with the premise.

A Bic pen is cheap but it lasts a long time, does what it is supposed to do, and is reliable so it’s good quality too.

You can buy expensive things and they do not always last. We started selling a cheap Smartwatch with a 2 year guarantee and had several people ditching more expensive FitBit watches.

People often misunderstand the real meaning of quality. Quality is about doing what it is supposed to do, reliably and at an acceptable price.

For smart wear I buy good quality Italian shoes that cost me £2-300 but they last me a long time and the cost per year is better than the cheaper causal wear shoes that only last 2 years.

 

[Paul Norman]

I have picked a default.

But my behaviour does vary a lot depending on what I am buying. And I can step outside my default easily.

I usually, for example, don't like to wait ages for stuff. But I did order a car 3 months ago, and I still have 3 months to wait before the good people at the factory build it. But I had anticipated that, and ordered before my normal change cycle.

But mostly, I avoid the cheapest option unless it really is a purchase in which I have no interest at all.

And 'cheap' can be misleading. A local post on Facebook contained a request for a referral for a decent auto electrician. They had been quoted £50 an hour. I reckon they will struggle at that price. I am certain the last time I had my car fixed the cost per hour was more than £100. Not cheap. But cheaper than having someone ruin the car.