Have you heard of the “pink tax”?
My friend, Kayla, recently told me about it and it shocked me. The Today Show did a special segment on it this past week and it was eye opening.
I’m not surprised that women spend more on upscale items such as clothing, purses and make up. Just last week I posted about how women tend to overspend on beauty items. However, I had no idea that women are charged more for items that have the same exact ingredients as men’s items. It’s appalling! I’m fine spending a little more for Chanel products, but I don’t like the idea of paying more for generic body wash and deodorant. Women are routinely charged more than men for the same items and services such as toiletries, dry cleaning and cars. Here are some of the examples from The Today Show.
- Women pay more than $1400 a year just for buying women’s products!
- Shaving gel- 10 cent more for women’s version
- Shampoo- $1 more
- Deodorant- $1 more
- Dry cleaning- twice as much for the same kind of shirt because the press isn’t the right size for women’s shirts.
- Cars- $200 more on average
So, what’s the reasoning behind the extra charges? Some women’s products contain different ingredients. That’s fine. I’m okay paying more for girlier scents and such. But some items are exactly the same! Brands know women will pay more, and we do!
[bctt tweet=”Brands know women will pay more, and we do!”]
I don’t think we can expect brands to change their prices just because of this segment on the Today Show, but there are some things you can do to save money. Here are my favorite tips on how to avoid the “pink tax”:
1. Buy men’s razors and shaving cream
2. Skip shaving cream and use conditioner or coconut oil
3. Compare your favorite products to men’s products and buy ones that have similar ingredients
4. Skip the girly shampoo/ body wash and opt for Dr. Bronner’s Castile Liquid Soap
5. Be assertive at the dry cleaners and ask for a better deal. They may rather keep you as a customer instead of losing you.
6. Be assertive when buying a car. Be prepared to shop around and stick to your amount.
7. Buy online through Amazon or Drugstore.com. Both offer great deals.
What do you think of the “pink tax”? Have you seen this before? I’m noticing it everywhere now! Just a quick walk through Target and I can see how often women are charged more than men. It’s crazy. Don’t even get me started on vitamins. Why are women’s vitamins more expensive? I don’t get it.
Great share my daughter told me about this the other day I was shocked!
Thanks!
I’m not sure why anyone would be shocked, I don’t condone the practice but companies are in business to make MONEY after all and women are, by far, the ones who shop the most so it makes sense that those companies would want to squeeze as much money from them as possible (in the context of them trying to make money, not the moral implication). Despite their ads, Dove isn’t your friend and the local hospital isn’t family either! Don’t forget that all large companies have vast marketing teams who use tons of market research to invent products and claims (all natural! gluten-free water!) to get us to pay a premium for things that we don’t need. How about that flower vase included in the redesigned Volkswagen Beetle?
I agree that the report won’t change a thing, but we can all be smarter shoppers and question why, exactly, we use certain products and not others. I’m a big fan of questioning everything in life, actually… doctors, politicians, etc. You should never assume that a company/professional/individual has your best interests at heart, even though they tell you they do.
So, for instance, why would you even use shaving cream? Soap works great. Shampoo or conditioner work great. I personally don’t even use anything most of the time! Today’s razors have come such a long way that their quadruple (!) blades can give you a close shave by themselves. I just thoroughly wet the area and go for it. If you have sensitive skin, then use skin lotion or conditioner afterwards. I absolutely use my (almost free) husband’s razors when I run out of my (almost free) razors.
I blogged recently about how I read an article that explained that the Dove Beauty Bar is just a chunk of grease packaged as a bar of soap so women buy it intending to use it as soap, but far from cleaning your skin of dirt and impurities, it just leave a layer of stuff on top of the stuff it didn’t clean. I absolutely agree. Wash yourself with real soap (like your feet after you’ve walked barefoot) and try the Dove bar and you’ll absolutely see the difference. I have stopped using body wash because of that and reverted to soap. I had fallen to the marketing tricks too! I am a sucker for nicely scented products, but like you when you spend extra money on Chanel, I am aware that I am paying a premium and when I do buy them, I don’t care. So I do have Bath & Body Works bubble bath although I could make my own, or not use any, etc.
I’m not saying that no woman should *ever* use such products if she feels like it, I’m not saying that it’s everyone’s responsibility to be an aware shopper. Read labels, question everything and make your decisions with your eye wide open instead of believing the hype or blindly doing something because that’s the way you’ve been shown and you’ve always done it that way.
And, by the way, men are not immune to those marketing tricks. Free ladies’ night, anyone? Do you really think that the bars eat up the cost of free drinks given to women? Guess who ends up paying for those? Again… keep your eyes open, be a savvy consumer, whether you’re a woman or a man :)
I’m not even sure why I was shocked! I guess I expected it for fancy things but not the everyday stuff like deodorant. That’s really interesting about Dove! It makes me love my Dr. Bronners even more!
I used men’s deodorant all through boot camp, simply because I liked the smell between than the minimal women’s selection at the post exchange. I never thought about carrying that habit over into civilian life, but next time I need to purchase something like that I’m going to compare against men’s prices and go with the better deal!
The men’s stuff does smell good!
I never really thought about this before, but it makes total sense. Women do most of the spending for the household, so companies of course are going to target them differently. I’ll be more aware in the future! Thanks for writing about this.