this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
368 points (99.2% liked)

Asklemmy

43757 readers
1694 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I saw this post and wanted to ask the opposite. What are some items that really aren't worth paying the expensive version for? Preferably more extreme or unexpected examples.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] Thevenin@beehaw.org 38 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Fashion accessories. For most fashion (not workwear), the expensive stuff is made from the same material and in the same factories as the cheap stuff, they just market it harder.

Body wash. It's watered-down soap. Just buy a bar of soap.

Amazon Prime. Amazon used to be space-age Sears. Now it's just Aliexpress. Fake reviews and bribery are rampant, dangerously nonfunctional products get top recommendations, used and broken products get resold as new while untouched returns get thrown into landfills, Amazon Basics violates IP, and they're putting ads in Prime Video now.

Microwaves and space heaters. The boxes may try to convince you otherwise, but the amount of heat these devices can deliver is bottlenecked by the power outlet. Every 1100W microwave is just as effective as the others. If you're paying more, it's for looks and for features you'll never use like popcorn mode.

Electronics, for most people. Most people won't get more use out of a new $1500 phone than a last-gen model from the same manufacturer for $500. Do you really want a $200 smart coffee maker, or a $20 dumb coffee maker with a $10 plug-in timer?

Software. Obligatory FOSS plug. I don't blame people for sticking to what's familiar, but if you have the time and energy to spare tinkering, most software out there has a good free or open-source equivalent these days. At least for personal use. In my use case, LibreOffice beats Microsoft Word, Photopea beats Photoshop, and Google Sheets beats Excel.

[โ€“] PelicanPersuader@beehaw.org 9 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Hard disagree on body wash vs soap. Soap always leaves a weird filmy feeling on my skin no matter what brand I use. Plus having to lather up the bar is annoying and I don't want to deal with wet washcloths in the shower. Give me a poof and a bottle of body wash any day.

[โ€“] CCMan1701A@startrek.website 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah, body soap last me a lot longer as well. People gift me Lush some times and the large bottle lasts months, I'm almost 1/4 done with one I got back in October.

[โ€“] doofy77@aussie.zone 2 points 10 months ago

The advantages of being hairy. I have out evolved the need for washcloths.

[โ€“] Thevenin@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago

Huh. I had to google it, but you're right -- body wash isn't technically soap, it's detergent. So it's less likely to leave a film, particularly in hard water.

You learn something new every day.

[โ€“] Welt@lazysoci.al 1 points 10 months ago

Sounds like you have hard water

[โ€“] blimpkun@lemmy.zip 4 points 10 months ago

Google Sheets is FOSS?

[โ€“] vinhill@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago

Google sheets isn't FOSS, right? Is there something comparable in libre?

[โ€“] legofreak@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago

I agree with everything but using Google sheets. It's neither free nor open source. You don't pay with money but with your privacy. Libre office is just as good as a desktop application and is actually FOSS. If you absolutely need the cloud storage, get a provider you can trust, buy the space and sync your files online, after editing locally.