Consumer Gullibility

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AltaRed
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by AltaRed »

couponstrip wrote:A "private club" in our neighbourhood...
Sounds a lot like the Glencoe and Winter Clubs in Calgary. What a frigging joke..... but for those that feel 'elitism' is worth thowing money down the toilet, better them than me.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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MSRP $14,995. EX model shown.
I am cautiously optimistic. When it goes up, I claim I have been optimistic; when it goes down, I claim I have been cautious.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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Believing what the ad says or shows. Airbrushed make-up ads banned for 'misleading'
Cosmetic adverts featuring airbrushed images of actress Julia Roberts and model Christy Turlington have been banned by the advertising watchdog.

Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson complained that the L'Oreal adverts were "not representative of the results the products could achieve".

The Advertising Standards Authority agreed that the images were exaggerated and breached its code of conduct.

L'Oreal admitted retouching but denied that the two adverts were misleading...
If the product is as effective as the advertiser would like us to believe and the advertiser wants us to believe that they're not trying to mislead, then why do they need to "retouch" photographs?
Sedulously eschew obfuscatory hyperverbosity and prolixity.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by bekair »

My latest FAV. "Abreva" cold sore medication. The best thing to heal your cold sore?

White (no see) printing that scrolls across lower screen at Mach 1 speed

"Starts healing in 4.1 days as opposed to 4.8 days with no treatment."

WOW - I am (un) impressed.

bbt
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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CROCKD wrote:...
GILLETT FUSION RAZOR: A few years ago my barber gave me a free razor. It worked well but of course when it came time to replace the cartridge I found they were very expensive causing me to evaluate my alternatives. The razor is still sitting in the cupboard without further use.
Big deal you say it's just a razor. Well if you have been paying attention when watching TV over the last few years, you will have seen a lot of commercials extolling the virtues of this razor. These have typically featured Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and other top sportsmen sometimes together. Gillette has spent big advertising bucks promoting this shaving system - so draw your own conclusions about profitability.

SCHICK HYDRO RAZOR: This has provided the catalyst for my rant. The razor has worked well but as it is now time to replace the cartridge I investigated their cost at my local SDM. As I suspected they are expensive even with the coupon included with the give away.
Schick have obviously concluded that they too should be on the expensive replacement bandwagon.

Nothing is ever really free! Hence my conclusion about gullible consumers
Here is another way to beat the oligopoly:
Frugal shaving system

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CROCKD
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by CROCKD »

Thanks Keith.
Just put in an order to DORCO.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by Flaccidsteele »

Bylo Selhi wrote:If the product is as effective as the advertiser would like us to believe and the advertiser wants us to believe that they're not trying to mislead, then why do they need to "retouch" photographs?
For the same reason we colour our salmon pink, gas our tomatoes red, and throw out non-ideal shaped root vegetables?

Because it sells?
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by kcowan »

I think they are different problems. Retouching photographs that are used to sell skin products is much more misleading than making tomatoes look red the way they really look.

Once in a while i see a model who really looks perfect and it is breathtaking...
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by Flaccidsteele »

kcowan wrote:I think they are different problems. Retouching photographs that are used to sell skin products is much more misleading than making tomatoes look red the way they really look.
Perhaps. However, they're similar in that the methods are used to influence the consumer's visual opinion.

We make decision based on what we see. It shouldn't be surprising that everything we buy is presented 'ideally' to our visual senses.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by braat »

My favorite of all of them is from way back when wallets were made of "Genuine Imitation Leather"... another one was ABC Sports TV declaring their shows as being "Recorded Live"...
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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Buy 2 and get 25% of the second item. :shock:

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poedin
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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2 yen wrote:Buy 2 and get 25% of the second item. :shock:

2 yen
BOGO, BOGOHO is my favourite ... we've tried asking for half the discount on just one item, but to no avail. Perhaps better luck with a stand alone retailer rather than a chain one.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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2 yen wrote:Buy 2 and get 25% of the second item.
If I bought 2, I'd want all of the second item. ;)
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by Shakespeare »

Q-Ray bracelets. :lol:
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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IdOp wrote:
2 yen wrote:Buy 2 and get 25% of the second item.
If I bought 2, I'd want all of the second item. ;)
Hehe. Yeah, me, too.

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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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poedin wrote:
2 yen wrote:Buy 2 and get 25% of the second item. :shock:

2 yen
BOGO, BOGOHO is my favourite ... we've tried asking for half the discount on just one item, but to no avail. Perhaps better luck with a stand alone retailer rather than a chain one.
The best part of stores that employ this tactic is to raise the prices of the "sale" merchandise so that there really isn't a sale at all. I ran into this recently where the BOGOHO price per unit including tax was exactly the same as the price per unit after tax of the non sale comparables in store. It wasn't a sale at all just a con to double purchases. Of course it wasn't exact items, but similar quality by different manufacturers. Hence the out, but you know what's really going on.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by 2 yen »

scomac wrote:
poedin wrote:
2 yen wrote:Buy 2 and get 25% of the second item. :shock:

2 yen
BOGO, BOGOHO is my favourite ... we've tried asking for half the discount on just one item, but to no avail. Perhaps better luck with a stand alone retailer rather than a chain one.
The best part of stores that employ this tactic is to raise the prices of the "sale" merchandise so that there really isn't a sale at all. I ran into this recently where the BOGOHO price per unit including tax was exactly the same as the price per unit after tax of the non sale comparables in store. It wasn't a sale at all just a con to double purchases. Of course it wasn't exact items, but similar quality by different manufacturers. Hence the out, but you know what's really going on.
I think Marketplace or someone exposed how supermarkets do this, too. Gotta say, we did fall for the buy 2 burgers and get one free at Harvey's yesterday. Yum!

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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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Two can dine for $8.99 coupons?
or the more upscale "pay for your meal (from our special menu ) and your guest eats free"?
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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izzy wrote:Two can dine for $8.99 coupons?
or the more upscale "pay for your meal (from our special menu ) and your guest eats free"?
Haha. 3 burgers and one side of onion rings and one fries (both miniscule) + one water was around $17 and change. The same price as one burger and fries at our local microbrewery.

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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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CROCKD wrote:Thanks Keith.
Just put in an order to DORCO.
My thanks also, Keith.

I shave my head and also take a blood thinner, so avoiding cuts is very important to me. I have been using a Gilette Fusion for 10 years. The blades are very expensive, but it is worth it to me.

I received my order from Dorco a couple of weeks ago and I like the razor better than the Fusion. There was a deal on the handle with a 7 blade cartridge and two 4 packs of blades. I bought two of the deal to get the free shipping on orders over $20. Ignoring the handles, I got 18 blades for just over $55 including tax and US exchange working out to $3.10 per blade. After tax, the Fusion blades at Costco cost me $4.01.

Since I put in my order, I have gotten an email with a new deal each week. Last week was 25% off everything and this week it is a BOGO free on blades.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by Flaccidsteele »

Personally I don't know anybody that uses premium gas.

U.S. drivers waste billions paying for premium gas, AAA says
While most car engines are built to run on regular gasoline (AAA said that only 16% of vehicles sold in the U.S. require premium fuel), some car makers require or recommend the higher-octane, pricier versions most to meet promised power output and fuel economy figures.

That has led to the belief that premium blends — which on average cost 23% more than regular gasoline, AAA said — equal better-run cars, regardless of model or maker.

Energy companies have capitalized on that belief, with “marketing campaigns that tout the cleaning abilities of their fuel detergent additive packages,” AAA said.
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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Flaccidsteele wrote:Personally I don't know anybody that uses premium gas.

U.S. drivers waste billions paying for premium gas, AAA says
While most car engines are built to run on regular gasoline (AAA said that only 16% of vehicles sold in the U.S. require premium fuel), some car makers require or recommend the higher-octane, pricier versions most to meet promised power output and fuel economy figures.

That has led to the belief that premium blends — which on average cost 23% more than regular gasoline, AAA said — equal better-run cars, regardless of model or maker.

Energy companies have capitalized on that belief, with “marketing campaigns that tout the cleaning abilities of their fuel detergent additive packages,” AAA said.
Coincidently, I'm reading up on a petroleum additives company and going through the 10K slowly to learn what it is they do because prior to this I knew nothing about petroleum additives. I still don't know very much.

One of the products they produce are octane enhancers. I didn't quite understand what an octane enhancer did so I did some searching around and learned that it is connected to the premium gasoline you can buy when you fill up. The octane enhancer increases the octane level in gasoline and supposedly decrease emissions.

That led me on a search on whether my current car requires higher octane gasoline or if it is recommended by the owners manual. The manual says that 87 is the minimum acceptable. When looking through forums of car enthusiasts, many seem to swear by higher octane gasoline as being better for the health of the engine and mileage.

I'm no petroleum scientist or grease monkey or even a car enthusiast to understand octane levels in depth and its effect on a car's engine. Wonder if anyone around here does have a deeper understanding of octane levels in gasoline and whether premium gas is better?
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by Shakespeare »

Paying a Premium for High Octane Gasoline? | Consumer Information
Unless your engine is knocking, buying higher octane gasoline is a waste of money.
Sic transit gloria mundi. Tuesday is usually worse. - Robert A. Heinlein, Starman Jones
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

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Shakespeare wrote:Paying a Premium for High Octane Gasoline? | Consumer Information
Unless your engine is knocking, buying higher octane gasoline is a waste of money.
Mine isn't knocking but I'd rather not take a chance because the compression ratio of the engine is 11.5 : 1 and the manual does specify premium.

Agreed, that in many cases regular is fine and premium would be a waste of money. That being said I believe that there is also more energy in a litre of premium than there is in a litre of ethanol based fuel, (less water).
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Re: Consumer Gullibility

Post by Profit not Prophet »

Didn't read the first page but here's one one wine.

https://priceonomics.com/is-wine-bullshit/
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