What is in a value?

What is a value?
A fair return or equivalent in goods, services, or money for something exchanged. 

When you go to let's say a dollar store, and you buy "value products" are you really getting a good value? I think not. Too often value has been associated with cheap or inexpensive. That has in essence devalued the word value. 

Words that come to mind: Cheap (generally both in cost and quality), watered down (soda, juice, cleaning products), flimsy, etc.

Think of 3 products you use every day and put them in order from 1 to 3. I would like you to organize them in such a way that priorities them in order of the importance of quality. Then find comparable "value brand" products and actually compare the two together. Are you getting a good value? Post your list in the comments section at the bottom I am interested in hearing some feedback.

When I hear an advertisement talking about value, the first thing that comes my mind is "what corner did they cut". Something I use every day, steel toe safety shoes. Generally I buy Keen because I know it's a good shoe, fits well, and made of high quality materials. I have purchased a Walmart brand boot before, Brahama I believe. Over all they felt cheap and they didn't hold up. I saved money in the short term, but spend more in the long term.

Sometimes you do have to buy what you can afford, but when it costs you more in the end, did you really save any money? Here is an example of a sale. Slight back story first to get a picture in your head. My wife used to work at a department store in the jewelry department. Depending on the day/week they ran sales on let's say gold jewelry. Sometimes it's buy one get one free, 50% select items, or buy one get one 50%. They both sound pretty good right? Wrong. When there is sometimes upwards of a 1000% mark-up both you have to pick the sale that best matches your budget. Side note, 50% off 1 item is the same as buy one get one free.

Before I end this some final words.

1) Reconsider buying bulk grocerys at Walmart unless you price checked it first, check out a "grocery store" such as Kroger, Shaws, Food Lion, etc. Grocery items tend to be more competitive.

2) If you shop for a family, or like to save money buy buying in bulk take a look at stores such as Costco, BJ's, SAMs Club. You end up spending more, but the savings in result tend to make it worth it. Last week I went and bought chicken at $1.75 per pound and I came home with 10+ pounds. 

Shop smart and keep your wallet happy.

~Daved1058

Facility Maintenance

Here is something everyone can relate to, but rarely does it ever become a topic of conversation, unless the situation was dire, to quote Kimberly from Rat Race "I'm prairie dogging it!" or unsanitary, lack of soap, paper towels, and/or toilet paper.

So, back to the topic at hand, facility maintence.   My work has since hired new contractor cleaning crews to clean all the restrooms, sounds great since at a prior meeting the bathrooms were substandard and needed more frequent maintence due to workforce and projected hiring.  All this was sounding pretty good.  I think most people can agree that public/work restrooms are rarely a pleasant experience and are utilized when issues of pressing urgency arise.

Every day sometime around 9:00am Monday through Friday they start doing the sweep through of the buildings presumably to clean them.  They wheel their little carts around with cleaning supplies, restocking supplies, and that trash can bungied to the front of the cart.  I assume they are cleaning in there.  Yet how in the course of maybe the next 1-3 hours every bathroom is in such disarray.  I am talking about paper towels over flowing out the cans, all the paper towels are gone, no toilet paper, or soap.  I work in a very low traffic area and I just don't get it.  In my building we have 2 gender specific bathrooms;  one "Men" and one "Ladies"; and we might have the foot traffic of +/- 100 people in my building per day, men out numbering the women 4:1.

Here is the math.  The contractors supply the bathrooms with EcoSoft® brand toilet paper(pro:100% recycled from...?, cons: sandpaper across rear, and single ply).  EcoSoft® has 1755 sheets per roll, 3 rolls per stall, and 2 stalls.  Gives us 5,265 sheets per stall and 10530 sheets in this 1 bathroom.  If my guesstimate(actualy a real word... speechless) is remotely close each of the 75 men who use this bathroom per day would need to use 140.4 sheets per day.  Depending on the brand you use at your house, that is about 1 roll per day of household toilet paper.  That is almost unfathomable.

Once we get closer to lunch time or later, about noon or so, people start getting creative from the lack of restroom supplies.  Kimwipes® for lack paper towels and toilet paper, general purpose cleaner(409, simple green, etc...) for lack of soap.

My point of view slightly changed while writing this article.  At first I was seriously leaning towards the thought of fire the contractors and hire new ones.  What if people really are using upwards of 150 sheets per person per day.  Either way I feel the bottom line is we need new contractors or more of them.  You just cant have bathrooms already out of stock with-in one hour of cleaning.  If there is no way around it, at-least maybe put extra supplies in the restrooms to be grabbed.  Sure people are going to steal a few rolls for them selves, but I feel that's better then flushing Kimwipes® or Techwipes® down the drain.

Plumbers cost a lot more then a roll of toilet paper, I have heard of up to $100/hour.  One source prices Ecosoft® 17990 at $2.16 per roll but you must buy a case of 36 rolls for $77.73.  For a price comparison Scott® 1000 is $0.73 per roll in a case of 27 rolls for $19.97 at your local Walmart.  Ecosoft® costs $0.0012 per sheet, single ply and feels like sandpaper, Scott® costs $0.0007 per sheet, also single ply, and in my opinion a tad softer with comparable "gripping power".  As a business man I'd rather have a few rolls of bathroom tissue or paper towels stolen then hire a plumber because of creative bathroom goers. 

Well now thats out of me.  Hope you enjoyed the read.

Daved1058