YouTube Transcript:
How to avoid the "pink tax" — the higher prices companies charge for products aimed at women

today is National equal payday women on
average earn just 84 percent of what
their male counterparts make but
products made for women cost more than
those made for men it's a phenomenon
that's been given a nice sounding name
the pink tax but the reality is
concerning Trey bodge is a smart
shopping expert at truetrade.com and she
joins us now to talk more about this
Trey good to see you
thanks so much for having me especially
for this topic yes indeed the three of
us women explain to us how companies
continue to get away with charging more
for women's products
right so this has been going on for a
long time and it's essentially when
products and services that are aimed
towards women cost more than comparable
products and services that are aimed
towards men and it might be as simple as
maybe a pink Razor on the Shelf versus a
blue Razor on the Shelf at your local
drugstore for example and that pink
Razor costs more and so it's it's really
important that we talk about this so
women can be more mindful when they shop
so my question is sort of like a
two-parter because I know that there was
a lot of talk about this in the 90s and
then I think a 2015 New York state in
particular did a study that you know
shocked everyone
um so what I want to get from you is
where are we finding what categories I
guess do we find the pink tax the most
because it seems like you know personal
products kind of like deodorant razors
that seems to be though those are the
worst offenders were we finding it the
the most and how do you avoid the pink
tax like do you just instead just buy a
men's razor and then
yeah so great question
um I do think to your point that the
personal care and grooming category to
me is the biggest offender but we also
see this in other categories we see this
in apparel we see this in services like
haircuts and dry cleaning so it does
sneak into other categories as well but
really where I would keep my eye on it
would be personal care because that's
the very worst and then how do you avoid
it
so I have a couple tips here so what we
are seeing right now which is really
nice are a lot of brands that are gender
neutral and so obviously if you're
buying a brand that's gender neutral
it's marketed towards men and women and
and non-binary folks and the price will
be more of a Level Playing Field so
that's something that I would do I would
also look at the fine print like compare
your unit prices on the Shelf you know
that pink Razor and that blue Razor if
they look like they're comparable
products and the pink one's more
expensive then just buy the blue one or
like socks for example men's socks are
so much more colorful these days but as
a woman you can certainly buy a pair of
men's socks if they're less expensive
than women's also comparison shop so if
you're shopping online go on Google
shopping for example and enter the item
that you're looking for you'll see where
it sold and for how much and then you
can make a much more informed purchase
and then you can also have a little bit
more control over how much you pay by
using a deal site so for example coupon
cabin who I work with they have many
deals and many of them are exclusive to
those retailers where you may be buying
those personal care products like Amazon
Target Ulta CVS and so that's another
way to have a little bit more control
over this pink tax issue
um California passed a law right Banning
this sort of pink the pink tax and I
think that New York probably has
something similar when you have these
sort of high population States doing
this are you hoping that they will be an
example or you know the companies will
just be too complicated for them to
charge more for the same product in
other states that there'll be a ripple
effect across the country and we'll get
some Equalization
yeah so I'm really glad to see these
bigger cities taking this step and I
think that this will of course have a
trickle-down effect as well and I think
the more we talk about it like in
conversations like this Brands who are
watching are thinking oh maybe I need to
do something about this maybe we need to
be better so I think it's having that
conversation and then that kind of
pressure from the bigger cities
trickling down I think will be really
helpful in the long run Trey as we've
mentioned today is equal payday how is
it that women still make less than men
when this pink tax illustrates that it's
more expensive to be a woman
oh my gosh I mean you mentioned earlier
you know women are making 84 cents on
the dollar compared to men and women of
color are making significantly less
black women and latinx women it is a
real problem and again we have to keep
talking about this so people realize how
wrong it is I mean imagine you're making
84 cents on the dollar or uh 64 cents on
the dollar like an African-American
woman make and then your products are
more expensive at the store it's just
not fair all around yeah that's the
biggest tax is the pay uh Trey uh thank
you so much thanks so much for having me