Bottled Water! For Better or for Worrse?

Bottled water has in the past few years, become a necessity to everyday life to some people. Families that buy bottles upon bottles to put in their homes or college students that are convinced that the tap water in the dorms is not safe enough to drink. In some houses and dorms I would have to agree with an alternative form of finding safe water to drink. However, I don't believe buying cases upon cases is the answer.
Manufacturers of bottled water create their own demand for the product by instilling fear within their customers that they are trying to reach.These manufacturers target consumers by creating the worst possible scenarios for consumers. What do i mean by this? Manufacturers embellish the fact that some water but not all has parasites and bad bacteria that is truly not safe to drink. In many house holds the water is completely safe and in general is better for you.   Household tap water is enhanced with many minerals that come naturally from the earth's water table. When water is bottled, those minerals are filtered out, which is why some bottled water does not taste as good as the water that comes out of your faucet at home.
   For those of you that are concerned about the safety of the water, such as the type that comes out of the dorms, alternative water sources can help. By using a filtering system such as a Britta water filter, will decrease that amount of water that you by, and therefore keeping money in your pocket and  out of the manufacturers.
    When consuming bottled water one must consider where the product came from and where it is going once you are finished with it. In many cases bottled water is transported by tractor trailer trucks all across the country. That means that gallons upon gallons of gas is used to transport this product to stores that are convenient for you. 
   Where do the bottles go? Once you have finished consuming the product. The most reasonable place to put it is in the garbage can or recycling bin. Where after they are again transported to a landfill or recycling plant. This seems like a lot of gas and trouble to go through just to get the same if not better result from you tap water.
How many bottles of water do you drink in one day? A week? Month?
The Sory of the Water Bottle

Conditioning Consumers for Brand Name

Could there be such an idea of conditioning consumers to buy brand name products? A study that the Los Angel es times  reported finds that in many ways a plethora of different companies and industries use sophisticated marketing campaigns to condition consumers to ask for the brand names. This is prevalent in the prescription drug industry. Many companies ensure that brand name items are more appealing to consumers by giving them the comfort of brand name. However, once we as consumers are able to get past the name of a product, we could be saving hundreds of dollars a year.For example, users of Lipator, which costs about $112 a month,(30 pills) could get the same treatment from lovastatin for roughly $4 a month. Lipator is a commonly used prescription among patients that have high cholesterol. It works by lowering bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol absorption within the body. The name for this class of medications is atorvastatin and all of them work the same way by lowering bad cholesterol. The name brand manufacturer Pfizer owns both the patents to these medications, therefore they manufacture the same product just at different prices.

This aspect is baffling to me, we as consumers are hooked on brand names that we are scared to cross over to the field of generics. I must recognize that many individuals make the argument that generics do not work as well or they have reactions to certain generics. This aspect seems full valid in context however, I struggle with the fact that those who say, " generic medication does not work the same as name brand ."  could have a mind over matter approach. The last fact that those that are allergic to generic medications i find that to be valid as well however, one could make the same statement about a name brand product. In the end it depends what dye sets the manufacturer uses and the way the prescription breaks down once it has entered the blood stream.

How much are you willing to spend to be comforted by name brand?

In response to Abby's blog (The overspent American)

"What are your views on consumers "over spending"


I feel as though my views are mixed in regards to Americans' "overspending. While reading Abby's blog and watching a portion of the film in class i feel as though many aspects can be justified as to why, we as Americans spend so much money on things that we will later for get about and become obsolete in our lives within a few months. The film offered a few explanations as to why we as a society do this, however it seemed as though the film was based on the theory of buyers remorse. This to me does not justify the aspect of spending. In my opinion I feel as though we are all raised in a capitalist society, that was once derived from, "The American Dream". People worked for what they had and climbed their way up the socioeconomic latter withing life. The film touched upon this for a few moments and then connected this justification back to buyers remorse. Which i don't full agree with.
I believe that these aspects are two separate entities. By living and growing in capitalist society, it was the way that we were brought up. I like how the film brought up the fact of emulating those that have what we want and i find that to be a valid point and which is why we as Americans growing up in this type of society would see that strong correlation between the two aspects of life without realizing it.
I must say however that I am not giving the"green light" to spending more money or consuming more product. I am only trying to provide an alternative justification to  why we spend more money than we may actually have to live outside of our means.

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons!

I know that this may sound like a broad topic to some; and in many ways it can be. However in recent years many more people have been using coupons. This can be caused by our recent economic downturn, while many families have to cut cost anyway that they can. Although I must pause to consider how many people use coupons based on what they need. For example, your house has just run out of paper towels, you remember skimming through the Sundays' news and seeing a coupon. You proceed to cut it out and use it in your purchase.For some this is the case. However, it is not the case for all, many people will use coupons just because they have them and think that it is a good deal. In this case you are wasting money. When using a coupon just to use it, means that you are purchasing a product that you didn't necessarily need until you had the coupon.  
Do you think that marketers know this? The obvious answer, of course they do! They use it in many ways as a marketing technique to promote new products that have just hit the market to gain a following.
For those that use only four to five coupons a week for things that they actually need they can save up to
$100 dollars a year.
While listening to the radio I found that many people cover this same topic, those as common as John Tesh.
"In a Washington University study, shoppers spent an extra $8 on impulse buys and luxury items for every dollar’s worth of coupons they used.The researchers think this happens because we like to reward ourselves for being thrifty. It also means that saving two dollars with a double-coupon on laundry detergent might get you to splurge on $16 worth of candy and hand-cream. The fix? Shop from a list and only use coupons for items you were going to buy anyway." How often do you use coupons for things that you actually need?
There are many more stories that pertian to this; I encourage you to check it out
http://www.tesh.com/ittrium/visit/A1x97x1y1xa5x1x76y1x2431x1x9by1x2436x1y5x1fc29x5x1

In response to Jordan's blog;" Americans Happiest careers are not about the money"

  I would have to agree with Jordan and the article that was chosen to illustrate the point.

  I believe that many Americans do care how much they bring home each week. However, it has been cited in many sources that workers are willing to take a pay cut in order to become more content with the work that he/ she is doing.

  In many respects I feel that it depends primarily on the person. If money is what makes a person happy then, he/she would probably be more content with this situation. However if social contact and control over their daily tasks makes the individual more happy then i would assume by the recent studies, that the individual would be more inclined to take a pay cut and receive those benefits.

Green Marketing; Whats Green and Whats not?

   In the past few years many companies have decided to "go green". To many consumers this seems like a great option for the store in which they are shopping. However, how many of these companies are actually contributing to the true, "going green" statement. Is, "going green" just a way for companies to make more money off of making people feel good about purchasing their products because they feel as though they are contributing to the movement? Or are these companies actually making an effort?

   In a report that the USA Today posted, it said that not only are many companies going green to help the environment but they are also going green to save money for themselves as well. Companies such as, SunPower, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Patagonia, Ikea, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, UPS, Yahoo and others are using green practices in their work sites, in product development and packaging, in energy-saving data centers and other technology.

  This means that many of the companies save money on heating and cooling systems as well as transportation of employees. By allowing telecommunication conferencing, employees do not have to waste money as well as gas; flying internationally and nationally to conference to colleagues and co- workers.

   In the end I am sure that many companies are using this "going green" idea as a cover to make extra money but it is interesting to see how companies and consumers alike can feel better about their efforts for a greener environment.

How many companies do you think are actually "going green"?

Why is Camp-co Successful?

For those of you that are not familiar with this convenience store it is located in Keene, NH on Winchester street. This store sells everything from drinks to specialty tobacco. Which is not out of the ordinary for such an establishment.As i was passing by this convenience store on my way to class i started to wonder how much marketing was done to make this establishment so successful. After belaboring the idea in my head the best conclusion that I came to was, the owner had to do next to nothing to market this business due to the location.
The location for such an establishment is perfect, because it is set no more than 100 feet from two dorm buildings one of which being a freshmen dorm. I believe that this allows the business to market itself, just by the location alone. Throughout the years this store has been a common landmark that most any college student can refer to.
Which brings me to my next point and that is the power of word of mouth. Word of mouth in my opinion is by far the  best form of advertising and marketing for a business. That is if all goes "according to plan". I say this, because you can't force your customers to speak highly of your business, it happens on its own within outside conversations of individuals. I feel as though this is what happened to Camp-co. Seeing as how it is based feet for campus and at least three dorm buildings, it allows college students the convenience of referring to it as a landmark, using it for an establishment to find a quick fix of chocolate or ice cream when all other establishments are too far away, or closed at that time. Thus, allowing for the power of word of mouth to spread. This is a perpetual form or advertising and each year since it is based steps away from a freshmen dorm, they have a new student body to tap into.
I feel as though Camp-co would not be nearly successful as it is today if they were to be in a different location. It would be just another store based on a long common street that is used for commuters.

Do you feel as though the location makes Camp-co or is it something else?