Shoutout to the hardware store guy who saved me $40 on paint

I was at Ace Hardware in Portland last month picking out paint for my living room. I had this expensive brand in my cart, like $55 a gallon. This older employee walks by, sees what I'm holding, and just says "you know the store brand is the same paint right?" I thought he was just trying to upsell me on something else. But he walked me over to the generic shelf and showed me the exact same sheen and color codes. Said the factory that makes the fancy stuff makes their house brand too, just in different cans. I saved about $40 total on two gallons and the paint went on perfect, no issues at all. Has anyone else gotten tips like that from store employees that actually worked out?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_owens9d ago

...and that's exactly what happened to me but with car oil at AutoZone once. Guy straight up told me the house brand oil meets the same specs as Mobil 1 and showed me the certification marks on the back. Saved me about 30 bucks on my oil change and the engine's been running fine for three years now.

the_sean9d ago

That 30 bucks savings adds up QUICKLY over three years though, I can't argue with that. But I've seen this whole "same specs" thing blow up in people's faces way more often than it works out. Those certification marks usually just mean it passes the bare minimum, not that it actually holds up the same over 5,000 miles or whatever. Mobil 1 and other name brands spend serious money on additive packages that keep your engine clean and protect against sludge, and the house brand stuff skimps on that. You might not notice a difference for years, but when you do it's usually a repair bill way bigger than that 30 bucks.