too much choice

[mira]

It's the fact that the number of choices just keeps expanding as well, adding to each product some unique but completely redundant selling point... new shampoos to fix 'new' problems, tissues with air pumped into them (??), frozen pre-cooked baked potatoes, creams to alleviate the 'seven signs of aging', scented toilet paper with aloe vera... sometimes I have a slight out-of-body experience and I'm looking down on myself watching such advertisements and feel like I've stepped into a chapter of Brave New World or 1984.

[jlroussin]

Jemima I go to Aldi's too. It reminds me of the simple grocery stores from when I was a kid. When I go to the big store, I take a store list with me, and that keeps me focused.

I can remember being in a huge grocery store looking for my husband's specific toothpaste request. I almost pulled my hair out. Not only were there like 10 different brands, but Colgate alone made like 30 different types and flavors of toothpaste!! It is just too much. Oftentimes less is more.

[CathyA]

What's funny is I'll bet alot of the different brands are the same thing, made in the same factory, with just different packaging.

[creaker]

Whole Foods (the big box ones) are a bit overwhelming for me because of all the choices. I think that would change, though, if I shopped there more often. My regular store is much easier because I know what's there and I already know what I want. Whole Foods presents a kazillion possibilities I haven't tried or even considered yet.

There are some smaller Whole Foods in my area and those are much easier to navigate.

[pinkytoe]

DH is in the wholesale grocery business so I sometimes peruse the trade magazines to see what is new out there. After a while, one wonders how many more hot sauces and jellies can be offered up to the public. Yet, year after year, there are more new ones. DH has people calling on him all week bringing samples of their latest creations - mostly clones of something that already exists.

[Lainey]

I think JaneV touched on this, how people are either "satisfisers" (sp?) or "maximizers." I'm happy to look at a menu long enough to find something I want, and then order it. I don't agonize over this stuff, ever.
A friend is the opposite: it's as if she's being asked to order her last meal, and she has to memorize the menu and ask questions and then things are still never 100% right. She's getting worse now that she's over 50. It's making dining out less enjoyable because I know it's going to take forever to get our order in, and there will still be "issues" - soda had to be returned because it was "not fizzy enough" was the last one....sheesh.

Yes, there's lots of options, but it's just a meal, or a tube of toothpaste, or a type of lotion - just pick one and then live the rest of your life ..!

[mira]

What's funny is I'll bet alot of the different brands are the same thing, made in the same factory, with just different packaging.

Oh, definitely. Have you ever seen the film Food Inc.? I think they mention this in it - something like 40% of all products in a grocery store are manufactured in only a handful of places. It's just bizarre.

[Mrs-M]

One of the reasons (I believe) I'm sooo old-fashioned and traditional in my ways and love all things vintage and retro, is because everything in those days was so simple and easy and uncomplicated.

[jp1]

Personally I must be a satisfier. I can look at a menu with 100 options and if number 3 sounds great i close the menu and I'm ready to order. Unless the waiter takes another 10 minutes to come back to the table. Then I get bored waiting and I may start looking again and that can throw off my decision.

In the grocery store I only buy a few prepackaged things and they are things I've bought for years and like. Everything else is just basic staple type stuff. So I can run in, go around the periphery to the 'real' food like veggies, meat, cheese, and then be done without thinking twice about any of my purchases. I hate shopping so my general goal is to get what I need and get out. I prefer to shop at the same store repeatedly so that I don't have to 'look' for the stuff I want. I know where it all is because I buy the same things over and over.

My biggest shopping frustration is toothpaste. I don't want fancy whitening or tartar control or blahblahblahblahblah. I just want basic mint flavored toothpaste. I don't need it in a fancy pump container or anything else. Just a plain tube of toothpaste. When did toothpaste get so complicated? My dentist always says that my home hygiene is great. Regardless of what toothpaste I use. So I don't think that it really matters what I use. And frankly, I don't even know what I use. I always buy whatever is plainest looking and cheapest.

[treehugger]

Personally I must be a satisfier. I can look at a menu with 100 options and if number 3 sounds great i close the menu and I'm ready to order.

This is me, too. This has been an interesting discussion to read because I am baffled by complaints about "too much choice." Personally, I like choices and I am also a decisive person, so it never occurred to me to be bothered this sort of thing. That said, it's always good to read others' perspectives and to realize that people's brains work in different ways. I understand the opposite view a little better now. Thanks!

Kara