Should you get Advil or the CVS version?
A recent study, from economists at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and the University of Chicago, found that smart people tend to buy generic brands. Nine times out of ten, pharmacists and doctors will buy the generic version of aspirin, rather than brand names like Bayer. Although the average consumer buys name brands 26% of the time, pharmacists only buy brand names about 9% of the time. And this doesn’t only stand for medication. Most professionals, as well as college educated individuals, tend to buy generic brands. For example, professional chefs almost always go for the store brand sugar, salt, and baking powder instead of the name brand ingredients.
Doing this can save significant amounts of money. The study estimates that Americans are wasting about $44 billion a year on name brands, while store brands cost on average about half the price of national brands. Even just switching to a normal CVS version of Advil can save you about $5.
So, next time you find yourself at the grocery store or pharmacy, think twice before buying the name brand. The generic probably works just as well and is significantly cheaper!
