GhettoHardware.com - News
What is Premium?
I have noticed a trend lately... everything, everywhere is now "premium". I remember premium gasoline, fancy restauraunts and a small handful of premium foods (fresh french bread for example) from my youth, but that's about it.
Today, I drink premium juices (7$/half gallon vs 1$ for the frozen concentrate), choose from a variety of premium breads (3$ for a ciabatta from a local bakery vs 50 cents for the grocery-brand white spongy crap), surf the web on a premier connection while watching a variety of television that shares in it's luxury. I can enjoy premium local beer and make my own on occasion with ingredients bought from a local homebrew shop which specializes in premium ingredients. If that's not all, I share the road with a plethora of premium cars ($$$) on my way to see the cups from the coffehouses (where customers daily order their "personalized" double white chocolate mocha with space in the top of the cup to add additional cream, just to make sure they are different from the person behind them in line who wears the same clothes from banana republic, drives a Jetta of the same color to the same job where they fight to climb a ladder that never ends....) overflowing out of garbage cans near the cities premium apartment complexes.
Is the idea of premium products a fad or has it been around forever. To be clear, premium is really a middle-tier of products. The products that really are the best are a whole different ball game in most cases. A shop like Starbucks exudes the appearance of a premium product, when there are clearly better local establishments that have better products. Sure, it's consistent, but so is wonder bread. Sure it's good, but so are many cheaper things in life like the bleacher seats at the ball game, where the people around you are more intersting than the game itself.
I guess, the fact is, that it works. I keep myself thinking I'm special with premium foods and juices, while somebody else forks out 1,000$/year for their daily latte. Maybe I just need to hop on the bandwagon and laugh my way to the bank too.
Maybe I was just sheltered from this premium world by my parents and by the east coast suburbs, but I don't think that's the real story.
Today, I drink premium juices (7$/half gallon vs 1$ for the frozen concentrate), choose from a variety of premium breads (3$ for a ciabatta from a local bakery vs 50 cents for the grocery-brand white spongy crap), surf the web on a premier connection while watching a variety of television that shares in it's luxury. I can enjoy premium local beer and make my own on occasion with ingredients bought from a local homebrew shop which specializes in premium ingredients. If that's not all, I share the road with a plethora of premium cars ($$$) on my way to see the cups from the coffehouses (where customers daily order their "personalized" double white chocolate mocha with space in the top of the cup to add additional cream, just to make sure they are different from the person behind them in line who wears the same clothes from banana republic, drives a Jetta of the same color to the same job where they fight to climb a ladder that never ends....) overflowing out of garbage cans near the cities premium apartment complexes.
Is the idea of premium products a fad or has it been around forever. To be clear, premium is really a middle-tier of products. The products that really are the best are a whole different ball game in most cases. A shop like Starbucks exudes the appearance of a premium product, when there are clearly better local establishments that have better products. Sure, it's consistent, but so is wonder bread. Sure it's good, but so are many cheaper things in life like the bleacher seats at the ball game, where the people around you are more intersting than the game itself.
I guess, the fact is, that it works. I keep myself thinking I'm special with premium foods and juices, while somebody else forks out 1,000$/year for their daily latte. Maybe I just need to hop on the bandwagon and laugh my way to the bank too.
Maybe I was just sheltered from this premium world by my parents and by the east coast suburbs, but I don't think that's the real story.
0 Comments
GhettoHardware News 
GhettoHardware Articles
Technology
Lifestyle
Social Networking
Webmail Access
Seattle