You’ve heard it said “You Get What You Pay For.” What does that mean? In every price you are paying for something. Buying something in an airport or hotel sundry shop you’ll pay high prices in desperation for the item you left behind. In convenience stores you’ll pay more for the chance to get something close or at late hours. In discount-club warehouses you’ll pay for the feeling of being a smart shopper even though you’re buying unknown brands in mega sizes and browsing through a no-thrills dump. What about going for the generic or house brands instead of the national names at the grocery, drug or department store? What strategy makes the most sense? If cost is all you’re thinking about, you are using the wrong logic.

John Ruskin, the English philosopher, made the point—posted for years in the B-R ice cream store: “There is always someone who can make something to look cheaper, by using less quality or more dangerous ingredients and diluting them to look like more, and the person who looks for price alone is that man’s legal prey.” What you should be looking for is NOT COST BUT VALUE, the product that works the best, lasts the longest, for the most reasonable price. Routinely detergent powders are fluffed to look like a lot for a little, but the use directions are money down the drain. Vitamins made from synthetic chemicals are cheaper but not readily assimilated by the body. What you want to buy is the most effective product for the least cost per use. That’s value!

Our exclusive vendors make a concentrated laundry detergent that Consumer Reports (1/09) ranked number 1 for effectiveness and it’s cheaper per use than #2  by 19%. Yet by the box it looks like more, because it takes 1 cup of Tide  to equal our 1/4 cup usage! Concentrates let you make fewer trips to the store or pay less for shipments. Again that’s value. It’s like GAS at $6 a gallon, but it will take you 100 miles on a single gallon. We can demonstrate those values again and again. In fact, in a recent survey of our published prices versus Walmart and Target (Rochester,  MN) for 28 typical products for home, health and personal care, our retail customers saved 10.8% over Walmart and 16.3% over Target. Our individual business owners who buy for themselves at wholesale saved 36.5% over Walmart and 43.2% over Target. (Survey details available upon request) It’s even more impressive in skin care and sports nutrition.

The proof of the pudding is that our clients and associates continue what they think is a good value, making our brands the leader in product loyalty in their industries. Why not quit being deceived by the cost-manipulators and go for effective values?