It seems to me that people are always drawn to the big name brand stores that call themselves “cheaper”. Throughout the years we have all become smarter consumers (with the help of the internet!), and we have so many choices on where to purchase just about anything. But does cheaper mean better? Exactly how educated and informed are you when it comes to buying pool chemicals? Some shoppers seem to be steering away from any store that claims it is a “specialty” store. The word specialty denotes more expensive, right? Wrong! Specialty might mean that what you buy in that particular store is a little more expensive and it might not. Take chemicals for your pool or spa for example. You might think, well, I have to stop by Walmart to pick up some things, I’ll just grab a couple of bags of shock while I am there. So you go into the store, get your items and then go to select your shock, and oh no! There are several types of shock to choose from! Which one do you choose? You look around to see if there is a person in a red vest anywhere around to help you, and there isn’t. So you go and look for him/her, and lead them back to where the pool supplies are and ask them which type of shock you should use for your pool. He stares at you blankly, and asks you, ” Well, what do you usually use”? Ha Ha. Funny. If you had known that, you would have just picked it up and gone! “Let me go and get my manager” he says. The manager finally makes his way over to you and again you propose the question. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know the answer either so he bumbles out some sort of response, hands you what he thinks you should use, and off you go, wondering if it is the right thing or not. What does it matter you ask yourself, it’s “cheap”. And there you have the story of “cheaper”.
Now, if you had gone into a specialty store, let’a say like Admiral Pools, that ONLY deals in pools and spas and asked the same question, you would have heard this: “What type of pool do you have? Is it a vinyl lined pool? Is it a concrete pool? Is it a painted pool? Do you need this shock just for your weekly oxidation of the pool water, or are you experiencing cloudiness or some sort of algae, or do you need it to boost the chlorine level in the water? Did you bring a water sample in from your pool today? “Water Sample”? you ask. “Yes, here at Admiral Pools we offer FREE water testing from state of the art equipment. After testing your water, we give you a “cook book” print out that tells you exactly step by step how to regulate your pool water. You go home, follow the instructions, and you’re done! The test results tell you exactly how much of each chemical you need to add to your pool water, so there’s no guessing as to what you need. You would then be offered and sold the exact correct chemical that would offer you the benefit you are desiring. You would leave the store feeling confident because the person that just helped you has been trained in the art of pool water chemistry, and you would love the results! You go home, follow the instructions, and you’re done! Now that’s a specialty store my friend. Cheaper? I think that if you really compare, you would agree that the pricing is not that much more, and in some cases, it’s the same.
What about the ingredients in the package you are buying? There are differences. Cheaper chemicals mean more ingredients in the mix that don’t really do anything for your pool water, but fill up the bag and allow the big store to sell it for less. At Admiral Pools you get the purest form of chemicals, with less inert ingredients , so that you will get more benefit in the results. This is just a very small example of what you can expect from a “specialty” store like Admiral Pools. Now that you are more educated and informed, what was this information “worth” to you, and…. would you consider going BACK to the big cheap store to ask what type of chlorine to use!?
