No Stupid Questions

You really nailed it, plus it constantly creates this cloud of confusion in the consumer's mind.

I do a lot of electronic repair, and I see people make incredibly stupid decisions because they are convinced by one small detail that the manufacturer emphasizes, which has no actual bearing on quality!

For example, I do a lot of repair for different types of salons in my city. I might repair professional hair tools that don't have available replacement parts, or I will fix professional nail UV lights. I fix vacuums for one-woman small cleaning companies, etc.

And I see very interesting things. Every one of the small businesses I serve, also has a small second-hand market that goes along with it. They are constantly buying and selling their used devices among one another.

I will see those markets completely collapse when a manufacturer that has made a device for 15 years suddenly adds the word "xtreme" to the product. Like magic, the used salon tool that was selling for $200, is now worth $50 at best because it's not "xtreme". Exact same device. They are professional workhorse tools that have not changed in 40 years.

edit: Oh also... most people don't realize that there's like one manufacturer for most things that are then sold under various brand names.

I talked about the hair tools... if you paid more than $75 for [INSERT HAIR TOOL NAME] I'd bet a week's earnings it was made by DANNYCO. Babyliss used to be Isinis... the trusted leader in professional hair tools. It's just DANNYCO stuff. It's always been DANNYCO and it will always be DANNYCO.

I've fixed or rebuilt 40 LCD TVs in the last year... unless you are in the Samsung or Sony money-range, every singe one at retail is made from identical components - same motherboards, WiFi chips, button panels, IR receivers, inverters, T-cons, LCD panels... it's crazy and people have no idea

Most of the brands you know and love have been playing the "white label" game before you even knew the terms, way before the Internet existed.

orthodontic sneakers

How does your footwear straighten your teeth? :D

buy 3 or 4 more pairs as soon as you realize the fit perfectly.

I fully expected someone to chime in with some variant of "you should make your own shoes anyway, it's trivial with a dead badger and a bottle cork and two pieces of string... kids these day don't know anything no more!".

I've had 5 pairs of the same shoes over 5 years. Apparently nobody else likes them and the same store still had old stock years later discounted to €25 from €100. Cleared them out for the last 3 pairs they had which i now keep as backup.

I’ve always thought about behind a subscription service with an impossibly obfuscated cancellation process is a person who added “increased customer retention rate by 20%” to their cv.

You're supposed to use a toothbrush for no longer than 3 months. So either you use them to long, or you go to the dentist a lot more often than I do.

Electric are worse. You should still replace the heads regularly, but now you’re dependent on the specific company continuing to support your toothbrush

Nice strategy, but I'm not going to buy 10 bottles of shampoo, not that I would have anywhere to store them if I did.

Might not work with electric because the batteries will degrade anyways

Thanks for the tip on Guhl.

I'm not familiar with Guhl. When I did a search, the first result was for Guhl Motors. My thought was, "Thank goodness my motor oil won't change formula." 😀