Twin Products, Different Prices

How often do you reach for the name brand product and resist the much less expensive generic brand sitting right next to it? Chances are likely that they are identical twins, perhaps even manufactured by the very same company.

Food
The Web site WalletPop.com compared a number of brand name food products against their store brand counterparts. Not always did the store brand stand up to the taste test, but in many cases it did. Wheat Thins were compared to Kroger Wheat Crisps and the taste was practically the same although the store brand was less salty. What is interesting to note is that the store brand was $2 less expensive. The same article compared Cheetos to Kroger’s brand cheese curls and the store brand actually won on both taste and price. In many of the comparisons of major brands to Whole Foods’ 365 Organic competitors, Whole Foods typically won in the taste and price comparison.

So don’t be fooled by the bright colors, slick packaging and expensive marketing campaigns of brand name products; try out the generic equivalent and compare for yourself. You will find your bills dropping quickly when you can resist the temptation of the “designer” products.

Medications
The differences between prescription brand-name medications and generic are less subtle. Check with your doctor to determine which is best. If the generic version is similar to the brand name, you can likely use the $4 prescription offer at Wal-Mart, Target and several other large pharmacies. When making the switch to a generic prescription, take note of your symptoms and well-being during the initial stage, just to make sure you find no differences.

Over-the-counter medications (OTC’s) are another area where you can score huge savings. Compare the brand name to the generic alternative and the majority of the time you will find exactly the same ingredients, with the generic being less expensive.

Vehicles

Have you noticed how very similar the Pontiac Vibe and the Toyota Matrix look when viewed side by side? The reason is that they are both manufactured at the same plant. Both vehicles start with a basic Corolla chassis and only minor differences separate the two.

An Edmunds.com article explains, “Twinned vehicles are basically the same under the skin, but are sold under different brand names and marketed as unique vehicles. Manufacturers see this as a way of killing two birds with one stone: expanding their reach in various market segments while avoiding the higher costs of engineering a new vehicle. This practice is also referred to as "badge engineering," since an automaker can create the illusion of an "all-new" model simply by changing the badges, the grille and other superficial styling details.”

“Twinned vehicles are built on the same chassis and share most of their under-hood and interior components, but often have different sheet metal, amenities and interior design. This idea extends as well to "triplet" and "quadruplet" vehicles, as in the case of the Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia/Saturn Outlook/ Chevrolet Traverse quads.”