In a world dominated by companies shouting out loud or in print about who has the lowest prices, it can be easy to get caught up in the price wars. There are many situations where the cheapest offering just as good as the name brand or more expensive one. However, the consequences of choosing cost over quality can be pretty serious in some cases. Here are a few areas you should consider quality over cost on:
Tattoos
A good rule of thumb is that anything permanent shouldn’t be done by the cheapest service offered. The visibility of tattoos and permanence make this one a double-whammy. A quick internet search for the term “Tattoo Fails” will be all the convincing you need not to go cheap on this one.
Car Repairs
The biggest concern here is safety. How would you feel if you dropped your car off and saw the mechanic looking up an online video on “How to replace the brakes on a 2012 Chevy Malibu”? The amount of time spent driving your vehicle each day adds up to way more than you think. The Association for Safe International Road Travel estimates 1.3 million people die in car accidents every year. Making sure the person who is working on your car knows what they’re doing could literally save your life.
Dental Treatments
Very few people look forward to going to the dentist. Because of this their search for a dentist often ends with the one that is cheapest and easiest to find. But if you don’t like going to the dentist, why would you want to have to go back several times to fix the same thing. This is exactly what happens if you go for the quick, cheap fix.
Dr. Martin Abelar, DDS, leading San Diego dentist says,
“You wouldn’t believe how much of the work I do is actually fixing the work people had done by other dentists offering cheap, corner-cutting procedures. Your mouth is not an area you want to trust to the lowest bidder. In fact, it usually costs more in the long run because you end up needing the same work done multiple times because the quality of the work matched the price.”
Mattresses and Shoes
These may seem like two weird things to pair together, but the reasoning for not being cheap when purchasing either is the same. You are going to use them every single day. Your comfort, relative to their use can have an impact on your physical health which in turn can affect your mood. If your back or feet are aching, you will be grumpy, less productive and it could cost you tons of money to treat the sometimes permanent health problems associated with them.
Of course, this list could go on-and-on. I think everyone probably has a few stories about how going cheap ended very badly for them. Avoid making those mistakes if you can and think through the things that have lasting impacts on your life. Be sure to stick with quality over cost where your health, safety, and appearance are concerned.
