My Faucets Is Moen! - A Discussion On Status Symbols

There is a regular guest on Howard Stern called King of All Blacks. He is the most self-centered superficial person in the world. He is a garbage man (now street sweeper) in NJ who wears $10k watches and drives $70k cars - in part due to his rich father.

The title of this thread is based on a now famous line he said during an argument on air once. He was trying to argue how rich and good his tastes in fine things are, and he said "My faucets is Moen!" as if the brand of faucets he uses in his house makes him a superior person.

I constantly hear the term "keeping up with the Joneses" - trying to one-up your neighbors and usually going into debt in the process.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it necessary for the economy for people to spend money on expensive things they dont really need? If everyone saved money instead, then deflation would kick in. Surely there's markets out there employing people to sell overpriced things to people who don't need it.

It's understood in business that there's two ways to make money. High profit and low volume or High volume and low profit. When it comes to the Moen Faucets and Rolex watches of the world, there is low volume by definition. This means there must be high profits involved per unit. Profits are a metric of value creation by the business.

Where does the value come from? It comes from the image of the item being exclusive and valuable. This value could take the form of a guy getting more female companionship because they see his wealthy status symbols and think he will be a good provider for them. The value could come from getting more business contracts because clients think you must be successful to have nice things. This value could simply be internalized and a feeling of intrinsic success. Clearly this value is real, otherwise people would not be willing to exchange large sums of cash for status symbols. The large profits are thus justified in the businesses creating these items.

How can we profit from this? Find out what the real status symbols are and where the real value lies. It may be the case that a $5k watch is actually worth $5k because it's a better watch. It may be the case that the $60k car drives better than the $20k car. Its up to you to figure out:

1) What items are purely status symbols and which are high-end quality?

2) How can you replace status symbols and still obtain the same life results - it could be that you have such a successful track record in business that you dont need the Rolex to impress a potential client. Or you did an additional internship, or took a class on influence or public speaking and this aura around you impresses the clients. Perhaps you learn something like The Mystery Method to help pick up girls, instead of relying on a fancy car or watch. There are ways to achieve the same goals that status symbols provide without using them directly.

Buy it for looks, buy it for life.

Not sure what mine are. But people DO buy things to impress other people; and to make others jealous. As Madonna says, we are living in a material world. How true it is.

With some things you get what you pay for. You buy stuff from a dollar store and you sometimes will be buying it again and again. You spend more money on something (which usually means a "name brand") and you expect quality to be better. It's give and take. You live and learn about what's worth paying the extra money for and what isn't.

To each their own.

The Luxury Institute rates Grohe as the top in bath fixtures, followed closely by Kohler and Hansgrohe. Moen didn't make the top five.

Having said that, all bath fixture manufacturers have their modest, less expensive lines and their ultra-pricey luxury lines. When you look at the exceptionally luxurious products, Moen doesn't even come close to fitting in.

moen actually is a good value brand -- decent prices for quality products

My toilets is Ferguson! BA-WOOOSH... now that's a man's flush!

I decided years ago that I would rather have money than look like I have money.

Alls my wimmens is moanin'.

Joey Boots smokes crack.

scottxmso said: NewToFatWalletUser said: misquote misquote misquote

Is that what you meant?

scottxmso, your misquote is poor form

until I read the post you were quoting I was confused

please leave people's original quotes in one piece

Our tire swings are brand new Pirellis!

DDD777 said: But really Brian, how do you make a Ho Moen?yu showz her dem benjamins yu gut and sez "Moen Ho!".

I personally think if you have money you don't need to flaunt it. But having said that it doesn't mean you can't drive a nice car or wear designer clothes. It means you look for deals and save! Like using fat wallet.. but to buy to impress is a waste of time and money. I personally don't care what my neighbor has or doesn't have. What I care about is having money in the bank and not worrying during a dowturn in the economy that I might lose my home or car.

It means your friend is hollow. He has no culture, no sense of self or is not comfortable being himself.

Who do big brand marketers go after? the young crowd thats not established that feels like they need status symbols to "say" something about themselves. The poor that maybe ashamed of their past or trying to escape their reality by feeling rich. the premium on brand is self expressive benefit. What does driving a Jaguar say about you? What does AX, CK, RL & Tommy on your clothes say about you?

Our parents have a lifetime of experience to say who they are. marketers are not going after fathers, trying to get them to buy fancy bling bling faucets, $200 Thomas Pink shirts or Hugo Boss pants.

Boycott on Cristal after they voiced their concern that hip hop/rap were adopting their brand.
http://gothamist.com/2006/06/16/jay_z_puts_the.php

Grizybaer said: What does AX, CK, RL & Tommy on your clothes say about you?

It means you cannot afford Georgio or Galliano.

Grizybaer said: not all white people are war mongering idiots who dont want health care.

What does this have to do with the topic of people buying things to impress others?

I've noticed this especially with people in my age group. (22-27). I'm 24, people buy the latest new electronics gear, after getting a job and working not even a year they will be buying a $40k-$50k car and just showing off... Often times I laugh inside..

2 years ago I bought myself a nice used BMW 3-series. I got a good deal ($17K), paying less than 6-cylinder/leather Camry/Accords were going for. More importantly, it had what I wanted (manual, RWD), and not what I didn't (OMG huge, isolated driving experience).

Long story short, the one factor that almost kept me from buying the car I wanted was the badge. Too many nice premium brands have been utterly ruined (IMHO) by the attitudes of some of the people who buy. When I'm asked what I drive, I now respond: "A compact 4-door sedan." Technically correct.

It's sad that I almost don't like being seen driving my car because of this conspicuous consumption BS.

HumDoHamaraDo said: Mixed feelings about Moen, we have them and their lifetime warranty is great. Will replace all tarnished products for free. However, replacements cartridges are expensive and difficult to replace.Replacement cartridges for what? We have Moen and Kohler faucets and sinks throughout (until I saw this thread, it never even occurred to me that it was a symbol of anything, as we selected them based on the looks and technical characteristics rather than the brand) and the manufacturers have always paid for the replacement cartridges in the faucets.

In fact, that's one of the things that I like about these manufacturers -- they have 800 #'s staffed with people who know their product lines inside and out and are available to speak with you 6 days a week with very long business hours. If something breaks, they overnight replacement parts to you right away at no charge. That's exactly the way consumer support should work.

tripleB said:
1) What items are purely status symbols and which are high-end quality?

I think higher prices buy you higher quality up to a certain point and then you get very quickly diminishing returns on your buck. (lower value for the money) That's usually the line where they bump status symbol and egos to make the sales since quality alone does not command the prices asked. Moen's probably actually on the side of decent value for the money. They're decent quality without breaking the bank. Style is not anything special and I wouldn't put any status symbol to that brand. I'd notice Grohe fixtures maybe at someone's house but also depends on how it fits their bathroom in the first place. Great fixtures that totally clash with design = fail regardless of price tag.

2) How can you replace status symbols and still obtain the same life results?

Funny answer would be get cheap knock offs from China?

Seriously, I think the bottom line is probably to stick to quality of the product. A high quality product without the status symbol price tag is gonna do the trick most of the times. If it doesn't, what is it saying about your business partner's values of not recognizing your own price vs. quality decisions? It may depend on the business obviously (since some have long traditions of brand adoption which may be hard to break). But for watches for example, you can either go with Rolex or instead pick a chronometer grade (say any ETA 2892.A2) watch and you'll have the same time-keeping quality for a fraction of the price of the Rolex.

rigor said: why would you buy a used high maintenance german car? you a mechanic? you either end up with dogged out off-lease vehicles (everyone dogs out lease cars) or a loaner stripper model. Just get an old morris minor and watch out for piano'sWe've had this discussion with you before. For whatever reason, you are convinced that you are saving money leasing luxury/semi-luxury cars even though such an assertion is contradicted by the facts. For instance, you previously posted that you had leased a 2002 BMW 330ci coupe triple black all options but navigation for $587/month with tax on a 39 month lease, which means that you paid almost $23K for it over the term of that lease.

A mint condition 3 year old BMW 330Ci coupe triple black with all options but navigation with 40K-45K miles (I actually buy these cars with much lower mileage) goes for about $22K-$25K (depending on how you buy them) and no sales tax in your state. Over the next 3 years the depreciation on this car would average $2.5K/year. The maintenance and repair costs would be $0 for the first year (you just get everything done under BMW's full maintenance and repair warranty before it runs out). After that, even assuming an insane $800/year in repair and maintenance costs (you'd have to get pretty unlucky to have them that high), you are looking at the ownership cost over the next 3 year period of about $9K, which includes depreciation, repairs and maintenance.

So, you paid about $23K for your car over the term of the lease. If you had purchased the same exact car at the lease return point and kept it for the same exact number of months and drove the exact same number of miles, with a fairly conservative estimate your ownership cost would have been a whopping $13-$14K lower. To be sure, this isn't exactly a novel concept -- the ownership costs of a new car will always be far higher than the ownership costs of a slightly used car and there are certainly plenty of intangible benefits to owning a new car. Hence, I am in no way suggesting that all people should only buy used cars. It is just asinine to suggest that you are saving money leasing a brand new BMW versus buying it slightly used when in reality it is costing you tens of thousands of dollars if you do it regularly.