Brand Loyalty

[Rothman]

Another Cheez-It loyal here.  I've tried a bunch of copycats and have regretted every one when I wanted this silly snack.

I used to be loyal to Nissan vehicles after an old Dodge Stratus of mine went kaput.  But, given the low quality of my current Nissan Rogue, I'm ditching them when purchasing new.

Swiss Miss hot chocolate comes to mind.

I will never buy a Canon peripheral ever again after the last inkjet printer I had.  Total junk.

[Max Rockatansky]

I also like to add a dash of root beer to conventional sodas (Coke and Pepsi) when available at fountains. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Another Cheez-It loyal here.  I've tried a bunch of copycats and have regretted every one when I wanted this silly snack.

I liked Cheese Nips for a change of pace, but those were permanently phased out during COVID. Better Cheddars are basically a larger, flatter, rounder Cheese Nip but not the same aesthetically.

My one odd brand loyalty is Crystal Farms butter.

[formulanone]

I will never buy a Canon peripheral ever again after the last inkjet printer I had.  Total junk.

You're not wrong; though I honestly bought mine to spite the HP hegemony after 15 years and it was a cheap all-in-one when the last Photosmart gave up on me.

It gives me just as many minor finicky problems, sucks down toner like whale, and requires mysterious reboots, but at least I can use it like a giant Polaroid Land Camera with Wi-Fi printing (...they pretty much all do wireless printing now).

[Rothman]

I will never buy a Canon peripheral ever again after the last inkjet printer I had.  Total junk.

I switched to Brother.  The only annoying problem is their driver isn't totally compatible with Windows 10.

You're not wrong; though I honestly bought mine to spite the HP hegemony after 15 years and it was a cheap all-in-one when the last Photosmart gave up on me.

It gives me just as many minor finicky problems, sucks down toner like whale, and requires mysterious reboots, but at least I can use it like a giant Polaroid Land Camera with Wi-Fi printing (...they pretty much all do wireless printing now).

[english si]

Diet Dr Pepper and Dr Pepper Zero Sugar (which, I suspect are the same thing)

Different artificial sweeteners (as well as different marketing - Diet tends to be feminine-coded, Zero masculine) so that the Zero tastes more like the original.

[Big John]

Diet Dr Pepper and Dr Pepper Zero Sugar (which, I suspect are the same thing)

Different artificial sweeteners (as well as different marketing - Diet tends to be feminine-coded, Zero masculine) so that the Zero tastes more like the original.

Then there was the short-lived low calorie "ten" that was marketed strictly to men.

[kalvado]

Brand loyalty tends to be less meaningful as the years go on, and I'd guess the realm of appliances wind up that way. There's either loads of knock-offs or just limited reason to stick with one brand unless it's price or you want everything to match.

But on the other hand, areas where there's less competition also brings about loyalty, whether intentionally or begrudgingly. I'm sure many of us are wedded to our phone and computer OS brands. And I'm not immune, I've been shooting with Canon for decades because you buy into a lens system...the moment I even thought about moving into a new brand, a friend of mine let me use his new mirrorless EOS and I didn't look back. The familiarity is all right there and some backward compatibility is nice.

On the other hand, there's usually a lot of blind spots created when you're overly brand loyal. Unless you're really following a specific industry, you can really miss out on other developments and historically-better options because you're all-in on one brand. Many times we do this for emotional and nostalgic reasons being the deciding factor; or we hold onto untested ideas and preconceived notions of the competition.

As for food, I like to try different brands of the same types of products, just to see if I'm missing anything. Mostly my family likes the same things and that's that. I suppose I've traveled with a tin of lightly-salted Blue Diamond almonds for the best part of nearly 20 years. The generic or local brands are either unsalted (which taste like wax) or over-salted (which taste like...salt) so they just win by default.

Y'all are absolutely right about Cheez-it crackers; there really is no substitute. I can enjoy like 42 brands of potato chips and snack crackers, but nothing hits that "gently crunchy-salty-cheesy" spot quite like they do.

Battery powered tools is another area where loyalty is force fed by incompatible batteries.

[SEWIGuy]

State Farm Insurance. Both my wife's and my families grew up with it and we insured our first car with it 35 years ago. Have had great service and zero problems with claims. Have never shopped around.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've had Geico as my car insurance since I was 21.  I wouldn't say that I've stayed with them out of "brand loyalty" but rather nobody else has offered me a better rate. 

Verizon has been my cell provider since 2009.  Like Geico, I never changed because I can't find a better rate when I shop around.

[SEWIGuy]

Some others:

Tide laundry detergent
Skippy peanut butter
Kwik Trip / Kwik Star gas

[Rothman]

State Farm Insurance. Both my wife's and my families grew up with it and we insured our first car with it 35 years ago. Have had great service and zero problems with claims. Have never shopped around.

Never understood loyalty to insurance.  My wife's family supported a State Farm agent's career for his entire life and across generations.  Her brother died in a car accident and State Farm initially denied the claim.  Family still stuck with them for some reason.

Had another co-worker that stuck with State Farm, but his financial situation was a mess all around.  Didn't seem to have the wherewithal to comparison shop and as long as his agent was nice to him, he would pay whatever rate to avoid the inconvenience of switching.  I suppose you pay for what you want in that regard.

Still, I've yet to see much difference in handling of claims across insurance companies and it's rare that I need that service as well -- despite hitting two deer on two separate occasions in the fall of 2023.

Sure, I'm happy with my current car insurance's service and rate and even my assigned agent (through AAA), but it's getting time to re-evaluate my policy again to go with what's cheapest, especially because the effect of those two costly claims (one deer somehow t-boned the rear quarter of my car while the other jumped out in front -- instead of totaling the car, they repaired half the paneling for big cost -- and another reason why I'm getting rid of the Rogue -- I'd bet hitting it with a pool noodle causes it to dent).  My son will also be dropping off my insurance come the summer, so that's another big consideration.

Claims are too infrequent and with coverage uniform across the board, there's little reason in my book not to go with the cheapest bona fide insurance service.

[formulanone]

State Farm Insurance. Both my wife's and my families grew up with it and we insured our first car with it 35 years ago. Have had great service and zero problems with claims. Have never shopped around.

Never understood loyalty to insurance.  My wife's family supported a State Farm agent's career for his entire life and across generations.  Her brother died in a car accident and State Farm initially denied the claim.  Family still stuck with them for some reason.

Had another co-worker that stuck with State Farm, but his financial situation was a mess all around.  Didn't seem to have the wherewithal to comparison shop and as long as his agent was nice to him, he would pay whatever rate to avoid the inconvenience of switching.  I suppose you pay for what you want in that regard.

Still, I've yet to see much difference in handling of claims across insurance companies and it's rare that I need that service as well -- despite hitting two deer on two separate occasions in the fall of 2023.

Sure, I'm happy with my current car insurance's service and rate and even my assigned agent (through AAA), but it's getting time to re-evaluate my policy again to go with what's cheapest, especially because the effect of those two costly claims (one deer somehow t-boned the rear quarter of my car while the other jumped out in front -- instead of totaling the car, they repaired half the paneling for big cost -- and another reason why I'm getting rid of the Rogue -- I'd bet hitting it with a pool noodle causes it to dent).  My son will also be dropping off my insurance come the summer, so that's another big consideration.

Claims are too infrequent and with coverage uniform across the board, there's little reason in my book not to go with the cheapest bona fide insurance service.

I don't have a great answer, but the speed and professionalism of how auto insurance claims are inspected, estimated, adjusted, and paid varies from brand to brand. There is a race to the bottom at times, just to save $100 on part procurement by making a customer wait another week for a part (swap new/used, knock-off supplier) . There's less professional companies than others, from my sporadic training at collision centers and body shops.

But as someone who very fortunately hasn't had a major claim in nearly 30 years (windshields excluded), I can't tell you anything other than anecdotally which are better or worse. There's been a collective lethargy in just sticking with what works (if ain't broke don't fix it mentality), which is why insurance companies have been jamming everyone with a advertisements for the last 20-30 years.

I will say I've been leery of GEICO since many decades ago, they offered money to police departments to purchase more radar guns which in turn, creates more traffic offenses, and in turn causes your rates to go up...that's a racket I don't want to part of, but I suspect a lot of agencies now come up with methods like this nowadays. That OBD port scanning device might be for you, or it might be tracking many more infractions...

[SEWIGuy]

State Farm Insurance. Both my wife's and my families grew up with it and we insured our first car with it 35 years ago. Have had great service and zero problems with claims. Have never shopped around.

Never understood loyalty to insurance.

I just told you why.

[1995hoo]

I call BS on SP Cook's claim that he actually watches every single channel he gets on DirecTV.

[Rothman]

I call BS on SP Cook's claim that he actually watches every single channel he gets on DirecTV.

I don't know.  With my mother's family, I've learned to never underestimate an Appalachian's ability to sit still and watch TV.

[SP Cook]

I call BS on SP Cook's claim that he actually watches every single channel he gets on DirecTV.

Never said I did.  Said I had the option to.  Message boards all over, and YouTube, are full of tight a**es who like to brag about how much money they saved just watching Netflix (or whatever) and how little they miss being a part of the mainstream culture.  OK, you do you.  Life is way too short to sit about and actually brag about how cheap you are.

[1995hoo]

Ok, well, you did say "I will be enjoying every single option there is on DirecTV," so I quite understandably interpreted that as your claiming you watch every channel. Had you said, "I enjoy having every single option," I wouldn't have doubted your comment.

I personally couldn't care less about having the option to watch the religious channels, the Spanish-language channels (I don't speak that language, so the only Spanish programming I watch is the occasional soccer game), or the porno channels. If I know I'm never going to watch a channel, the option to do so is simply irrelevant to me. But I guess if having the option makes you feel important, that's certainly your prerogative.

[Rothman]

On this tangent of television watching, I only watch broadcast TV for New Year's Eve and the Super Bowl nowadays.  Quite happy with living in a location where I don't even need an antenna to get more channels than I'll ever "enjoy" for the rest of my life.

[Takumi]

There's definitely no substitute for a Cheez-It. Cheese Nips were a good alternative 20+ years ago, but they slowly got worse until they were discontinued. Otherwise we're not particularly brand loyal, though I've been with Verizon since college. I was with State Farm for car insurance since I got my first car until a month ago. My agent was great but corporate jerked me around too much in recent years and I had enough.

[formulanone]

Battery powered tools is another area where loyalty is force fed by incompatible batteries.

I believe Harbor Freight Tools sells "house brands" of popular power tool battery packs. They also sell some white-label products which are just as good as several other branded tools, and people claim they're essentially the same item. Though they also have a lot of average to basic-grade stuff which professionals avoid, unless it's a tool they will use once and probably not need again.

[JayhawkCO]

Message boards all over, and YouTube, are full of tight a**es who like to brag about how much money they saved just watching Netflix (or whatever) and how little they miss being a part of the mainstream culture. 

I might argue that if you watch a lot of broadcast TV and don't have any streaming services, you might be the one outside of mainstream culture.

[Bruce]

State Farm paid out a whopping 5% of assessed value after my car was broken into and dropped me. I've filed complaints with the State Insurance Commissioner because it's frankly insulting to be treated this way for two total claims in 10 years.

[Bruce]

Never said I did.  Said I had the option to.  Message boards all over, and YouTube, are full of tight a**es who like to brag about how much money they saved just watching Netflix (or whatever) and how little they miss being a part of the mainstream culture.  OK, you do you.  Life is way too short to sit about and actually brag about how cheap you are.

Considering that most of the trending and popular shows nowadays are on streaming platforms, or even exclusive to them, TV is outside of the mainstream. And good riddance to the ad-filled hell that it is.

[kalvado]

Battery powered tools is another area where loyalty is force fed by incompatible batteries.

I believe Harbor Freight Tools sells "house brands" of popular power tool battery packs. They also sell some white-label products which are just as good as several other branded tools, and people claim they're essentially the same item. Though they also have a lot of average to basic-grade stuff which professionals avoid, unless it's a tool they will use once and probably not need again.

It's more along the lines of my first drill being Ryobi - and then every time I need another tool (something like 7 by now), batteries on hand (4 or 5 by now) make me look towards another Ryobi before even thinking about other options. Anything else would require a battery - which isn't really a cheap thing, even generic one.
Another dirty trick is the shape of Ryobi battery - other brands can be adapted for Ryobi tools, but not the other way around.