'price no indicator of worth'

List notable instances iyo where this is true and not true

Show your workings for full marks

Footballers wages.

Fuckin boom sm, boom

We can agree to set reasonable ranges here, if we like.

Frinstance, we might all agree that the catshit coffee is better than the very very basic no brand tesco sawdust

But call it the middle 80% rule or w/e, preground bagged coffee that costs twenty quid a bag has very little to recommend it vs your fiver stuff

We may acknowledge this and consider the thread for the extreme cases of "it literally makes zero difference here from one extreme to the other" or we can just yknow whatever. I won't cry about it.

ceo salaries

ILX costs a certain amount of money to maintain.

fancy branded painkillers that cost £5 a packet are usually exactly the same as own-brand painkillers that cost 18p a packet

https://previews.123rf.com/images/gknec/gknec1403/gknec140300008/26786974-Great-Britain-England-UK-flag-map-banner-icon-Union-Jack-Stock-Photo.jpg

dusts hands off complacently, a satirical jab well executed there

Here now explain yourself

(judging by GiS about two thirds of whatever the technical name for this^^^ is do indeed refuse to respect that the republic is no longer under the crappy heel of english tyranny)

A CD/LP

i will reiterate from the other thread: peelers and kettles. and to be clear, price no indicator of worth for me doesn't just mean 'sometimes expensive things are a bit or surprisingly shit' but also 'cheap ones are often the best ones you get', neither of these statements excluding their opposites. Price just doesn't map to the extent to which it successfully fulfils its Final Cause or 'point'.

as i said on the other thread i misapplied this sort of anti-heuristic to ironing boards and ended up with something that would near kill you every time you attempted to open it up, and which also due to the thinness of the covering material, left your shirts patterned with the metal cross-hatching from which the base structure was moulded.

A lot of kitchenware

Xp!

Heh, just last night I was looking at a very irregularly toasted muffin and concluding that buying the cheapest toaster from Sainsburys had been a false economy.

Didn't realise this was spun off another thread but yeah there is an insane amount of variation in the prices of stuff like can openers - I got one for 50p from wilko that works far better than other ones I've paid a couple of quid for, and I'm sure John Lewis sells something identical for like 20 quid

Also, am currently experiencing a lot of neck and shoulder pain and must insist that £5-a-packet Panadol Ultra with codeine delivers a much more effective anaesthetic effect than budget price paracetamol and ibuprofen.

fyi you can get own-brand paracetamol and codeine iirc

RESIST THE TYRANNY OF PANADOL

movie budgets

yeah the difference with painkillers isn't brand vs generic it's opiates vs no opiates

mmm opiates

the entire fine art market, obv

silicon valley in general

Yeah, the codeine is quite a difference.

I had cheap can openers for years and they were all shit and broke and then I spent as tenner on one in Waitrose out of exasperation and it is way better, so exception/rule.

Well we can take all art of any type as a given i think

not ANY type: illustrations feat.paul weller that make you think

I could imagine most 90's Brit-art is available at knock down prices these days, some of the more high-maintenance stuff would have to be given away (to Dave Stewart probably).

i will reiterate from the other thread: peelers and kettles

protests are a high-pressure environment and the police earn their bonuses imho

*golf clap*

Beautiful

i enjoyed it. sent me down a meandering path involving water cannon, garden hoses and boris johnson's "trinket economy"while he was mayor, which i tried to coalesce into a post before realising i had other things to be doing.

pens. should pens be on here? not sure i've ever spent a *lot* on a pen, but they can botch or be surprisingly pleasing variously within a comparatively large price range. i am left handed tho so it's all fairly chaotic when i write.

When it comes to red wine I have come to the conclusion that there isn't much difference in the sub tenner plonk and often the £4 bottles are as *good* as any within that price range. There was a really good £4 asda-brand Malbec last year, but alas some wanker give it an award and it soon got a 50% mark up.

blame that kid on YouTube's Pengest Bouquet.

xpost Shit, man, I'da just said 'alcohol' across the board but I know what kinda shitstorm that'd start.

Any kind of electronics equipment where the upsell is justified by 'but...it's made of gold!'

Diamonds are one example: the price is only reflective of what someone can be persuaded to pay.

But for me, the real action in this arena is various types of GEAR. In a lot of gear-centric pursuits (sports, music, audio equipment, outdoor adventure) you have, at upper price ranges, a narcissism of small differences that are usually only relevant to pros or rich amateurs.

(Sorry in advance for the USAness here.) I have a $500 bicycle that I think is probably better than a $100 bicycle. But it's probably not five times as good. Then there are $5,000 bicycles that are probably better than the $500 bicycle, but they are DEFINITELY not ten times as good. The improvements at the upper end are microscopic, probably invisible to all but the most sensitive souls.

I also have several $500-ish guitars, which I know to be superior to $100-ish guitars. Of course I lust after $5,000 guitars, but I know that they won't be ten times as good as the $500 ones.

Wine, whiskey, etc.: same deal. In theory one might think that a $3 bottle of wine is probably undrinkable, a $10 bottle adequate, and a $100 bottle an excessive splurge, but others will have completely different thresholds. Blind taste-testing could unmask some snobbery in this realm but where's the fun in that?

I think a lot of tech, AV &c stuff fits this as a lot of not-great stuff is sold at Sky-high prices to clueless avg joes whereas the cognoscenti can pick something much better for a fraction of the price xp

plus let's not forget the difference between booze as taste sensation and booze as passport to inebriation

But for me, the real action in this arena is various types of GEAR. In a lot of gear-centric pursuits (sports, music, audio equipment, outdoor adventure) you have, at upper price ranges, a narcissism of small differences that are usually only relevant to pros or rich amateurs.

Yeah, when I saw this question, my first two thoughts -- since they are hobbies I engage in -- were bicycles and guitars.

xpost Works great to curb those morning shakes, as well!

having a partner with a co-dydramol prescription also helps with the shakes!

When the pollen rains down, my sinuses can't tell the difference between Claratin and Zyrtec and their generic counterparts.

With some exceptions, a similar principle applies to foods that are canned, frozen, or sold in cardboard boxes.

why are you putting food into your sinuses at all is my question, regardless of how they're packaged

keeps out the pollen

practical, i like it

Spices in jars are nori-lly priced fairly, the large bags of spices they sell for a quarter of the price in my local Asian supermarket are the same quality.

leap in price between bog-standard and high-end gear sometimes reflects that high-end is not made in large numbers, so cannot take advantage of economies of scale

and sometimes it reflects taking the piss because you can

consultancy, training, education in general

bottled water

price hike^^^ = not pissed in at source, trust me

I have a $500 bicycle that I think is probably better than a $100 bicycle. But it's probably not five times as good. Then there are $5,000 bicycles that are probably better than the $500 bicycle, but they are DEFINITELY not ten times as good. The improvements at the upper end are microscopic, probably invisible to all but the most sensitive souls.

see also: high end stereo gear

One aspect not yet discussed is the socio-cultural signaling aspect of consumption.

We may think we're enlightened souls who only value worth, quality, craftsmanship, or whatever.

But I suspect almost all of us have bought things whose main distinction from other things had to do with signaling. It might be status signaling or virtue signaling, but it's still signaling.

It's cliché and trite to point out that a plain polo shirt is $10, while one with a little polo pony or alligator is $25 or $40. Hahaha, one might say, about the fools who will pay $x for a logo. Ditto the Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura phenomenon, where essentially the same car gets a price commensurate with its brand. Haha, the fools.

A plain black t-shirt is $5; a black t-shirt that says "This is what a feminist looks like" is $20. Are ppl spending $15 to signal their wokeness, or because they believe it's important to have the message out there so that like-minded souls know they're not alone? I dunno but it's all related somehow.

second-hand value is interesting too - some consumer goods will keep their value on the second-hand market or even increase it over time but most will be worth a good chunk less as soon as you pay for it

e.g., used underwear, an often-overlooked source of bargains for the thrifty

tbf some people will pay considerably more for used underwear

Always buy the second most expensive option, a wise man told me

He was the second wisest man i ever met actually

I'm told that some restaurants will put their least-desirable bottles of wine as the second-cheapest on the wine list.

No guy wants his date to see him ordering the cheapest bottle of wine. But he doesn't know what's good and can't make head or tail of the descriptions. He can't afford the higher-priced stuff, so he goes for the second-cheapest.

Chateau de Bloopy-Fermeau cabernet sauvignon: $53
Winkelpopper Reserve Cellars beaujolais: $47
Tabitha Grand Cru pinot jaune: $33
Wallemart Swille de Pisse chardonnay: $15
Domaine de Tarjay white bordeaux: $11

"Jeez, can't order the least-expensive wine in front of Suzie From Accounting! She'll think I'm a cheapskate. Better go for the Wallemart Swille de Pisse."

good thread

toothbrushes (electric and non)
phones (various degrees of garbage)
most clothes (cheap llama wool sweaters are warm as fuck; cashemere too but expensive)
humans

One must not of course forget the krancjar principle

Housing

"When it comes to red wine I have come to the conclusion that there isn't much difference in the sub tenner plonk and often the £4 bottles are as *good* as any within that price range. There was a really good £4 asda-brand Malbec last year, but alas some wanker give it an award and it soon got a 50% mark up."

A friend once advised that his wine buying technique of getting whatever was on offer at Waitrose had never failed him (and following this advice has never failed me) but I suspect there are things to unpack from this (eg. the difference between buying wine from Waitrose or, say, Tesco). That Asda wine was good for the price.

Aldi wine well worth a shot, judge by how much u like the picture of the chateau on the label ime

as if the pic is more important than ABV :p As soon as Aldi start doing home deliveries I think I will switch to them.

fancy branded painkillers that cost £5 a packet are usually exactly the same as own-brand painkillers that cost 18p a packet

― not even my mate ross king sniffed out this hot gossip (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, March 16, 2017 3:58 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this makes no sense to me. what's the reason not to buy generic ever?

i believe generic drugs are reversed engineered because branded have secret proprietary formulas/ingredients

uhh no
https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/UnderstandingGenericDrugs/ucm167991.htm

that link does not disprove what i say

this backs up what i'm saying tho

http://www.pharmtech.com/role-reverse-engineering-development-generic-formulations

Determining the original drug's excipient content and other formulation optimization steps can be facilitated using reverse engineering, which is the decoding of an innovator product's formulation parameters. Such parameters include the quantitative composition of the innovator product, the solid-state characterization of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and the manufacturing process.

Although some information about an innovator drug product's API and excipient components can be found in common sources such as product information brochures, Physician's Desk Reference, or FDA's Web site ( http://www.fda.gov/), one can be more confident about the generic product's performance by developing a formula that is as qualitatively and quantitatively similar to the reference listed drug (RLD) as possible. Under US law, quantitative information about the excipients in oral dosage forms is not required to be revealed. In this context, reverse engineering of the innovator product's formulation is a scientifically sound and cost-effective strategy for accelerating generic product development. From a practical perspective, the chances of developing a bioequivalent product can be significantly increased by extending the concept of generic product sameness to formulation sameness with the RLD. Generic product sameness is defined in terms of pharmaceutical equivalence and bioequivalence. Formulation sameness with the RLD is defined in terms of equivalence of qualitative and quantitative formulas, solid state characteristics, and manufacturing process to the RLD (see Sidebar, "Generics terminology").

i believe generic drugs are reversed engineered because branded have secret proprietary formulas/ingredients

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, March 16, 2017 10:21 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but some branded drugs are like literally acetaminophen or like an anti-histamine that was developed in the 60s. i feel like surely any drug company can confidently make these now.

if it were some newer drug recently developed then i guess if they were reversed engineered i could see the difference

i actually wasn't referring to the quality

but i agree with

went through all this with various drs and drugs when a family member had a terminal disease

generic brands have less research/study done (if at all) unless they've been around for ages

like we would be told such and such medication has been shown to do this and that

then they'd recommend the generic one, but the generic one wasn't always included in the research/study

Gigs in large venues.

I was prescribed generic codeine painkillers by my GP, but found that that they made me vomit, whereas the Panadol codeine painkiller doesn't. So my guess is that part of the Panadol 'secret formula' is a stomach settler that the generics don't bother with.

Healthcare generally though

hotel rooms in medium-sized or small cities.

ready meals or pre-prepared food.

restaurants generally.

wine to an extent.

hotel rooms in medium-sized or small cities

this is a good one. feels like pot luck, more or less. exceptional cheap ones (with owners who care about what they do) and laughable expensive ones (boilerplate breakfasts, tiny hot rooms with no view etc). Sometimes in the same city.

a $200 bottle of tom ford perfume doesn't smell any better than a $30 of guerlain

this is a good one. feels like pot luck, more or less. exceptional cheap ones (with owners who care about what they do) and laughable expensive ones (boilerplate breakfasts, tiny hot rooms with no view etc). Sometimes in the same city.

yeah it is madness. i am staying in brighton this weekend and there were places for like £200 that were just standard daintily renovated townhouses. two hundred pounds. in the end i got a place for about £85. i've paid a bit for the odd hotel over the years but for £200 i'd expect a spa, swimming pool, incredible service, a nice bar, and maybe to be in a major city.

George Osborn's wages.

Markets are irrational, so pretty much everything.