Arizona iced tea is still 99 cents.
Steam.
Meh, having experienced their deny and defend customer service, I’m not impressed. If there is no way to escalate an issue beyond someone who refuses to pull their head out of their own ass long enough to see an issue objectively, you’re stuck and there’s no recourse.
Only partially and only to certain customers
Saddleback Leather springs to mind. Their stuff is expensive but they have a 100 year warranty and their tag line is "They'll fight over it when you're dead". I have a couple of their bags, belts, and wallets. I don't expect to ever need to replace them.
First thing I bought from them was a briefcase back in 2011. About three years after I bought it one of the steel D-Rings for the strap failed and they paid courier fees for me to return the briefcase from the UK, replaced the part, cleaned the bag up, and sent it back, no questions asked.
Full disclosure: 1) they're an American company which might put some off buying in the current climate and 2) the founder is a devout Christian which might put others off but none of their products have ever tried to make me a believer so I'm ok with it.
Costco, Bosch
Agreed with Costco… and used to agree with Bosch… until seeing this recent video.
When I go into a Costco, I take a minute to look at the board showing the pictures names of long-time employees. At my local one, they have about 15 people who have been working there for over 30 years.
Met a woman who had been a Costco employee for 25 years. In addition to everything else, she got 6 weeks of paid holidays a year. How many other retail employers come anywhere close to that?
The only quality Bosch product I've used is windscreen wipers. Every other tool or appliance has been pretty average in terms of quality.
Dean's Beans coffee. The owner was an amazing guy, fair trade, all that. When he stepped down, he handed ownership to the employees.
Chapman's ice cream! They have continuously been in the best interest of their employees and local communities. During COVID, they made sure that all their employees kept their jobs and even raised their wages. The company even went as far as to buy several deep freezers to store to COVID vaccines, because the town where their factory is located has a lot of elderly people and wanted to ensure their protection from the virus.
They will always be one of the few brands that I am completely loyal to.
They have also announced that if they have to reduce or stop production because of the current tariffs, they will continue to pay all of their employees.
All of their ice cream is also made in nut free factories, so that people with nut allergies can safely eat it. I'm not sure, but that may be the only ice cream that makes such a guarantee.
In France, we have this : https://cestquilepatron.com/
The concept is that customers are asked questions to make a new product that satisfies them. For example, they want to sell apples. They will ask in what country they should buy them, how well the farmer should be paid, what size… and you see in real time how it affects the price. Then, the product will be sold in supermarkets at that price
There is also mutual insurance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_insurance
Los Pollos Hermanos where customer satisfaction is guaranteed
My second cousin's boyfriend worked for them doing overnight shipping. Loved the company so much, he started working at the main branch in Mexico. Left in the middle of the night though. Also left his kid and girlfriend. The owner was really cool though. Felt so bad he gave her $15k for the trouble.
Dischord Records.
Fugazi record label.
Record/CD prices are capped low to cover production and distribution costs.
Personal contact and service, with real people, when ordering.
Live show prices were capped at $5.
A focus on real connection between artists and fans, rather than extracting maximum profit using music as a vehicle.
Live shows were excellent.
Mailbox.org They could go all the way and become "cool and cloud" but decided not to.
Haix While their customer service is not what it used to be they are still more than decent to a point it hurts their sales.
With my last one I am not 100% convinced: Mikrotik. While their stuff I great and cheap for what it does, I also had one really lacking support experience with them (they forgot to pack the rack ears for a switch and neither the vendor nor they could somehow get me ones. Another premium partner of them helped me for free and since then will always get my business). But in total they are still the good guys I think.
LEGO comes to mind. Not cheap, but definitely knows how to keep a healthy and active relationship with their customers.
@MemmingenFan923@feddit.org can confirm. My son bought a set that was missing on of the bags. Filled out a form and uploaded a picture of the box + what he had built so far and the remaining bags. 48 hours later, we had the missing bag and he was back to building.
So many other brands wouldn't even respond to something like that. You'd have to take it back to where you bought it for a refund, buy another set and start the build again.
Lego customer service understands that their product is more than colored plastic.
I loved them as a kid and just bought a 3 in 1 kit for my Granddaughters Easter basket. She is nutty balls over Legos. That company has secured multi-generational love.
If you do the math as time has gone on the average set has gotten far more complex and used more pieces. If you look at the prices from a the perspective of price per individual Lego piece I am pretty sure they have pretty much stayed the same price the entire time. I watched a YouTube video essay about it like a year ago so it's probably still true today.
Lego quality is still good but has noticeably degraded over the years.
I second this one. LEGO is really well made, the sets are well designed, and the instructions are some of the best you’ll ever see in any build-it-yourself product of any kind.
Chewy dog food will send you flowers and a refund if you pet died.
I called their customer support, and a person answered. Like, right away. I was caught completely off guard. They resolved my issue in under a minute.
My sleepy brain was reading this as if your pet dies from eating their pet food.
Still applies
Haven't done extensive research on it, but the lifetime guarantee on Darn Tough socks has made me their loyal fan and I recommend them to others too. I feel like they stand behind their product I stead of trying to constantly find new ways to nickel and dime me.
Another one is an Italian winemaker, Podere Pradarolo (https://www.poderepradarolo.com/). They make table wines, are not ashamed of it, don't try to position themselves as premium wine producers, and the owner refuses to raise the prices beyond the bare minimum that allows him to keep operating. They're not in it for profit, and it shows in their wines - they are fantastic for what they are and I always have a couple bottles at home.
I wish Darn Tough accommodate international markets more readily. I had 1 imported years ago via proxy and it was honestly magical. Not swelteringly warm at all in a tropical country. For refer6im used to wearing jeans in this climate so it's nothing out of the ordinary for me. Too bad I blew a hole at one of the toe area and never really bothered to try for their warranty after reading their policy back then.
Sounds awesome. Can that be purchased in the states?
The wine? No idea since I'm in Japan, but they do export uite a lot, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's at least one or two importers in the US. Not sure about the price though, with all the psychotic tariffs being applied and taken back and reapplied seemingly every week...
There is a local employee owned hardware store near me that will go out of their way to make you a deal. No idea how they do it, plenty of employees around to ask questions and some of the best prices around.
Patagonia is solid. Osprey (packs) recently sold to a conglomerate but I have an old pack I can send in soon to test their "we will repair it no matter what" guarantee.
That Osprey news is new to me. That's a shame. Hopefully they don't go to shit fast.
I love Patagonia. They'll repair anything even if you're not the original owner., they use sustainable and recycled materials and they've used their profits to protect huge areas of land.
Inherently all brands care about profit as they need money to function but I get what you mean.
I'm generally not one for brand loyalty but if you need a motorcycle you really can't go wrong with any Yamaha and if you need a knife Benchmade has been unbelievably good to me even when I send it ones with snapped off tips years after purchase to get repaired/replaced.
For the prices Benchmade is asking for their wares they better damn well have a great after sales lol
I'm not in the US though so paying that much extra for a warranty that they'll most likely not cover is moot personally
Agree on Yamaha bikes though. They are aplenty here in my country along with Honda. Can go anywhere to get parts and repairs
Yeah that's fair. Benchmade is definitely only worth it if you live in the US....
I was gonna say all the Japanese bikes are worth it (and they mostly are) but I have ran into some stinkers from Kawasaki and Suzuki in my life very rarely though. Honda has never done anything wrong to me I just don't really care for red lol
Needing money to function isn't profit, those are operating costs... Profit is the money leftover after all costs to make and manufacture something has been paid.
-> more than profit
Literally none. Where they vary is in how maliciously they'll engage with consumers for a quick buck, and within that spectrum some are definitely better than others, but every single one of them draws the line at profit.
The wording can be improved, I think “maximising profit” would fix it. Which is obviously what OP meant as we all understand it.
Thinking of Paul Newman’s salad dressings and spaghetti sauces. The company donates all their profits to charity.
I’m sure there are other companies/products like this. I’d love to know what they are.
I would say any company that offers (and honors) a lifelong warranty defies this.
I agree but to me some brands cross a line making then especially horrible. I don't generally boycott products because I would never be able to buy anything if I tried to stick with GOOD companies. But some are so bad I do avoid them.
Tesla Walmart Monsanto ( they were bought by Bayer) Just to name a few of the top of my head. Obviously there is no shortage of truly terrible companies.
Well yeah, without it there would be no business …
That's the point. OP is chasing a unicorn.
I thought few minutes abou this question. And honestly were wasn't a brand that i can recommend without any reservations.
Feddit.org technically meets the criteria. Along with many other Lemmy servers.
But as far as brands that sell consumer goods, it's slim pickings. Most of them end up going out of business and/or getting bought up by investors/competitors.
Probably a very niche answer, but Korbel winery in California has gone above and beyond to help me out on several occasions, and real people actually answer the phone when you call customer service. I don’t know anything about their owner or politics, but I’ve had nothing but outstanding experiences with them.
Oddly, I got some of the best customer service in my life from Union Scale; the company who makes the office chair I bought from Staples.
