A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
Cranfield wrote:Shimano and other major Manufacturers are hardly going to tool up, just to make sub standard versions of reels.
True there not going to tool up to make a cheaper reel, but they may have dies and stamps that are at the end of there life cycle (falling out of tolerance) and they make a run with that machine for walmart...They can do the same with the internal parts as well....bearings for an example, they may buy a batch of lesser bearings.
There was a good show on 60 minutes or one of them shows about how walmart is not good for America, their business tactics are good for profit, but not for the American economy...
I still don't think "named" Manufacturers of any product are going to permit their brand to be sold as substandard, without it being marked accordingly.
They sell at top price in other outlets and wouild not want their brand compromised.
What normally happens is that the product is branded as "own label", that is to say that if WalMart sold WalMart fishing reels, they may be substandard Okumas.
Retailers like WalMart will always benefit and grow, as long as the consumer wants good products at cheap prices.
We have a similar Retailer called Tesco, that gets criticised the same as WalMart, but their car parks are always full and there are queues at the tills.
The subject of Wal-Mart is a favorite of some in my department at school. It seems like a semester can't go by without a debate on the pros and cons of Wal-Mart. I think there is truth to both sides. With the buying power Wal-Mart has they can pretty much make or break a smaller sized company by whether or not they carry the company's product. If Wal-Mart goes to Remington or Abu Garcia and says we want to carry your product but we need to sell it for $20 less than the M.S.R.P. elsewhere, they have enough purchasing power to get what they want. Using a number from Wal-Mart they say they have around 2,500 stores in the U.S. So say each store stocks 10 or 20 rifles, thats anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 rifles. I don't know much about manufacturing but if a manufacturer can sell a guaranteed pot of rifles and only deal with one retailer rather than 2,500 small retailers at 10 guns a piece they'd have a hard time turning down the large order. I don't think it would really require much re-tooling just using cheaper wood on the stock or leaving something off like the diamond engraving on the stock or a blued finish on the barrel, they are still made the same just not finished quite as nice.
The reels may use washers and gears of a cheaper metal but could still be stamped by the same dyes. I'm not saying this is exactly what happens but it seems reasonable to me and from my understanding of the matter quite likely. Also the main reason Wal-Mart sells cheap is they don't pay to store or warehouse their merchandise. All of Wal-Marts stock is in Semi-Trailers running around the country, they have a very sophisticated model of inventorying and moving their merchandise so they save cost in that way. If I'm wrong or if someone has more information let me know as I find America's love/hate relationship with Wal-Mart quite fascinating.
littlered16 wrote:I'm looking at getting a Stradic 4000. Its $20 cheaper at walmart than Bass Pro Shops. Any theories why? Some people think it may be lower quality. Also, any opinions about Bass Pro brand rods. They have a combo with the Stradic and a 7'6" inshore rod for $180. Separately they are $240.
Thanks
I KNOW THE SYMETRE IS AS GOOD FOR A LOT LESS MONEY.
Don't type in caps often but I was trying to yell.
T Smith wrote:I find America's love/hate relationship with Wal-Mart quite fascinating.
So do I.
And as I type this Crawfordville is in the throes of what Wally can and will do.
As to the reel manufacturing. I would think a company (like Shimano)has a whole lot at stake in terms of customer loyalty. I finally left Penn after they went graphite & haven't been back since they saw the error of their ways.
yea, you don't see too many shimano's in Wally World either. I think anything in the locked glass is the exact same you would get anywhere else, but the combos out on the racks always seem iffy to me.
littlered16 wrote:I'm looking at getting a Stradic 4000. Its $20 cheaper at walmart than Bass Pro Shops. Any theories why? Some people think it may be lower quality. Also, any opinions about Bass Pro brand rods. They have a combo with the Stradic and a 7'6" inshore rod for $180. Separately they are $240.
Thanks
Is that You "Red"???
Personally, I say buy it from Crums, or Bass Pro. I've never had any problems with Bass Pro, personally. Crums has a huge stock of the more popular brands, and their family owned. If you have a problem they will work with you. (Yea walmart does too, but I just don't like buying guns or reels their.)
