91–100 of 211 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I replaced buying Coke with tap water, but with a special additive. Incredibly cheap. But it just tastes better than Coke, like why would I buy Coke now that I have water with that additive, Coke just tastes heavy and fattening now.
why not name the additive? I for one would like to know
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Vitamins used to be priced according to manufacturing cost. Slowly, the low-cost vitamins have been up-priced to match the expensive ones. Vitamin C is about $10/Kg in bulk, but about $100/Kg at a US drugstore. How does one even know if the Vitamin C is Vitamin C? There is no government agency that confirms supplements and vitamins are what they say they are, nor are there penalties. The only thing I have heard of i…
>How does one even know if the Vitamin C is Vitamin C? Good question. For the last few years I've subscribed to Consumer Lab. They have a rigorous testing program for vitamins and supplements. https://www.consumerlab.com/about/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US is very bad at ensuring our food supply is what it claims to be.... you have to trust companies, basically.
Sounds like a pretty clever startup idea. Consumer Reports, but for everything. Then a seal that manufacturers can put on their product that certifies the assay of ingredients. Does a Coke actually have 120 calories? Is a Vitamin actually what it says? Is the bottle actually recycled? Consumer Reports is often opinion based with some quantitative data and they don’t review everything. Is you olive oil actually from I…
> Buffett cautioned Huggins to never sacrifice quality for profit. Funny how that's the complete opposite of another celebrated investor: Jorge Paulo Leman from Brazil's 3G Capital Partners (Heinz, Popeye's, Anheuser-Busch, Tim Horton's, Bugger King, etc). Their game is to buy brands with very strong customer loyalty and slash costs (and quality). In the long run they'll destroy the brand but until then will make eno…
What that company did to Tim Horton’s was basically an act of war against Canada.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
not very many people can afford to do their own research... lab tests for everything you buy?
This is literally how all construction materials are vetted and it works great. Underwriters Laboratories. If it were feasible to sue retailers for damages due to fraudulent vitamins, approximately 0% of supplements sold would be fake. The problem is there isn’t adequate scientific evidence to back the efficacy of any of these supplement which is why they aren’t regulated in the first place.
While I would agree that good evidence is generally lacking on supplements, that’s different than “is the product as advertised”. Just because vitamin C isn’t a miracle drug wouldn’t justify selling sugar pills as vitamin C.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. Sure you can. If you're the dominant player, you can pay or buy out new entrants. Happens all the time in generic drugs.[1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight...
It happens with a lot of stuff. Chocolate candy bars in gas station kiosks are always the same 5 brands. Anybody _could_ make chocolate bars, but the big players make deals to control retail, so you don't get a choice of other candy bars, in the situation you'd typically buy one. If I control the conditions under which you buy something, I can control what you are going to buy.
> Buffett cautioned Huggins to never sacrifice quality for profit. Funny how that's the complete opposite of another celebrated investor: Jorge Paulo Leman from Brazil's 3G Capital Partners (Heinz, Popeye's, Anheuser-Busch, Tim Horton's, Bugger King, etc). Their game is to buy brands with very strong customer loyalty and slash costs (and quality). In the long run they'll destroy the brand but until then will make eno…
When were Popeye's or BK "quality" brands? I don't remember them getting any worse since RBI bought them.
Interestingly Berkshire has never tried to develop any "synergies" whatsoever between its businesses, other than perhaps Dilly Bars at corporate events.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US is very bad at ensuring our food supply is what it claims to be.... you have to trust companies, basically.
Sounds like a pretty clever startup idea. Consumer Reports, but for everything. Then a seal that manufacturers can put on their product that certifies the assay of ingredients. Does a Coke actually have 120 calories? Is a Vitamin actually what it says? Is the bottle actually recycled? Consumer Reports is often opinion based with some quantitative data and they don’t review everything. Is you olive oil actually from I…
Trust in the marketplace is a very valuable asset, one that cannot be bought. It has to be cultivated and maintained over many, many years, and having the government do that makes perfect sense as it is a societal benefit.