Price of detergent. Wal Mart vs BJ's

[Ed Pawlowski]

In another thread I mentioned buying a new HE washing machine. They have to use HE type detergent that is low sudsing. (regular machines can use it too)

We happened to be in a shopping plaza with a Wal Mart so we stopped in to see what they had. My wife likes All that is unscented so we found it and checked the price. The container said it does 96 loads and the selling price was $17.97 or .187 per load. We were headed to BJ's Wholesale Club (similar to Costco for those not in their territory) so I figured we get it there at a similar price.

BJ's had the same All detergent but it comes in a larger container that says you can do 150 loads. Selling price is $13.99 or .093 per load!

My wife also takes a couple of generic OTC drugs that were less than half the Wal Mart generic brands.

You can attempt to brainwash people that you have the lowest prices, but the proof is in the shopping. You really can live better for less if you pay attention.

[trader4]

You can usually beat the Costco, BJ's etc prices on a lot of stuff with the weekly specials at the supermarket. In my experience, if you need something like paper towels or dishwasher tablets and you have to buy it today, then those shopping clubs usually have good prices. But if you can schedule you're buying, then the supermarket will probably have it a lower price, you just have to wait a week or two.

Ice cream has gone nuts now. HagenDaz, Ben & Jerry's have gone way up in price. They are around $4.50 here now. HD is not even a pint anymore, 14 oz. instead. But about every other week one or the other is on sale at the supermarket for $2.50 or so. I'd be curious to see the sales figures. How many they sell at $4.50 vs $2.50. Unless you're dumb or really don't care about spending money, you would think people would just buy enough when it's $2.50 to last a couple' weeks until it's $2.50 again.

[dpb]

...[story of a couple of items at W-M more expensive than found elsewhere elided solely for brevity]...

I rarely go into the W-M but in a small town w/ none of the competitors around sometimes they are just the only alternative, unfortunately, any more--they have done the typical thing of driving out almost all the traditional storefronts since they arrived 30 yr ago or so.

Anyway, I had need for a few pavers to fill in an area in the barn alleyway at ends where I had used some on-hand leftover blocks and old silo staves, etc., and happened to be at the W-M for one of those cases of they were the only one in town who has another item any more. It was end of spring season so walked by the garden area to see if were clearing out the pavers -- no, weren't yet but noticed for the same identical ones from the same manufacturer their price was almost 2X that of the Ace Hardware down the street -- $1.50 or so/ea as opposed to ~80 cents. On top of which Ace let me just have the broken in the pile to clean 'em out which worked just fine for my purpose since had to cut 'em to fit in the holes, anyway...

All to simply confirm that's nothing at all new or surprising nor different. W-M has always (well at least since Sam's been gone lo! these many years and even often before then) had prices that aren't necessarily lower than some others.

Advertising can and does do wonders to create impressions in merchandising as well as in all other areas of propagandizing...tell a lie often enough and it becomes accepted.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On many items, yes. Meats at BJ's are cheaper every day and often cheaper than the supermarket sale price.

If you like vanilla (my favorite) you just go to BJ's. A half gallon (full 64 ounces) is only $10. They only carry vanilla though. Like you, I buy other flavors when on sale.

[CRNG]

On Sun, 06 Oct 2013 11:11:07 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote in Re Price of detergent. Wal Mart vs BJ's:

Exactly. A lot of items at WalMart/SAMs, are not much cheaper than prices available at other locations. Of course, a lot are cheaper, but you just can't assume it.

[DerbyDad03]

I'm not sure about heavy items such as detergent, but many items like generic OTC drugs can be purchased at the lowest price by shopping online. I have a few items that I always get online. I start at Amazon and then look in the right hand column where other vendors are shown. You can often find a cheaper price than the one offered in the "main window" at Amazon.

Sometimes I'll buy multiple bottles since the shipping is often the same or very close to just a single bottle. That cuts way down on the per pill price. Even with shipping, many items are cheaper online than from any brick and mortar store, even the clubs.

[Malcom "Mal" Reynolds]

Costco has meds specifically for pets at extremely low prices and at least in the bastion of left-leaning civilization you don't need a membership to use the Pharmacy

[dadiOH]

Lord, I'd go broke. Around here, a half gallon is in the $4.00 - $4.50 range. Not the "super premium" though. On special, about a buck less. Some cheap brands for $2.50 always.

[Frank]

I would not trust on-line drugs unless from a reputable pharmacy.

With old employer's drug plan, I quit it. Cost $76 for warfarin before Medicare deductible was met and $14 thereafter. Walmart was $10.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I've given up on the cheaper brands with all the fillers and gums. Breyers used to be a good brand, but no more since they went the cheap route. I'd rather eat less of the good stuff than a lot of the cheap stuff..

[Klem]

Hard to beat BJ's meat, not just in price, but for quality.

[krw]

BJ or beat their meat? On second thought, I don't want to know.

Sam's has quite good meat, here. Walmart's is terrible.

[DerbyDad03]

I forget the numbers, but I was looking at BJ's chicken breasts the other day. My choices were packages of Purdue individually wrapped breasts or BJ's labeled packages of unwrapped breasts for something like 50 cents a pound cheaper.

The butcher happened to be nearby so I asked him about the quality of the BJ's vs. the Purdue. His answer: "All the boxes in the back room say "Purdue" on them". They buy all their chicken from Purdue and label the bulk packages with their own label.

I'm sure it's the same way for all of their meats.

[Nil]

On 06 Oct 2013, DerbyDad03 wrote in alt.home.repair:

The quality of all the meats and deli stuff at BJs is far better than any of the local conventional stores in my area... and it's much, much less expensive.

[TimR]

I wonder if you could just use less of an ordinary detergent?

Actually, much of the time clothes come just as clean with no detergent, and I suspect this would be even more true with the HE machines. It's the mechanical action that does the cleaning. (google is your friend)

[Arthur Conan Doyle]

The presence or absences of suds is no indication of the cleaning properties of the detergent. Suds were pushed as a marketing device back in the 50s and 60s (primarily by Tide) and managed to convince consumers that they were connected to the cleaning properties of the detergent.

"HE" detergents have been around for decades - they just used to be referred to a low sudsing.

Not everything you read on Google is true. Most clothing contains a significant amount of residual detergent from previous washings. While you may think you are washing is plain water, the fact is that residual detergent is still doing it's thing. Hence the fad some time ago of "Laundry Balls".

Consumers have a difficult time judging the effectiveness of detergent over the short term. One detergent manufacturer discovered that increasing the amount of perfume made some consumers think the detergent was stronger. Even absent that - rinsing may remove some surface dirt, but blood, sweat and ground in dirt need a quality detergent to remove.

[dadiOH]

One eats what's available :(

Yeah, they no longer even label it as ice cream; they call it a "frozen dairy dessert".

[Ed Pawlowski]

No, regular detergent will suds up too much even if you use less of it. Many of the detergents are no HE and can be used in any machine and the cost is about the same.

You don't need a lot, but the surfactants in the detergent are a big help to the mechanical action to clean stuff. I always use less than what the guy trying to sell the stuff recommends.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I was reading some reviews and one person wrote "I know the clothes are cleaner because I can smell the detergent" Duh, you can smell residue and perfume.

Many years ago I was developing a product that needed pressure sensitive adhesive. No matter how well they worked, people thought the ones that felt sticky to their finger touch worked best even if actual testing showed otherwise.

I took one adhesive that was white when wet and added food coloring to it then did a blind test. The same people chose the red as it stuck better than the blue or white.

[krw]

One can't infer that because they came from the same supplier that they are the same product. That's the fallacious Kenmore vs. argument.

I'm sure you're right. BJs probably doesn't make cows, either.