Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry chappel
Something you should know about tires from the club stores. They are not the same as you get from the tire store. They are made to the club specifications with up to 4/32 less tread than the ones from a tire source hence the cheaper price. Only way around this is to compare product numbers. If by chance they are selling first run tires the price will be comparable to other vendors. I am knowledgeable in this regard as I have 25 years in the automotive service and tire industry.
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That is actually the case with a lot of large retailers. I was in the golf business for 35 years. I worked for Dick's Sporting Goods for a short while and was surprised to find that most of the major manufacturers make products specifically for big box stores. In fact sometimes, the manufacturer will simply license their name to a store and the store will have products made in China with the manufacturers name on it. Any time you see "So and so's Exclusive" you are not getting the same product that you would buy elsewhere.
I had a client that owned a small engine store. He sold lawn mowers, snow blowers and other similar equipment. He said that the same thing was true for lawn care products that you find in places like Home Depot and Lowes. Many are made to less stringent specifications than products you can buy at your Mom and Pop lawn care store where products like Toro and Jacobsen are the real deal.
It's the case in every industry. Part of the problem is that these chain stores buy so much that they can dictate the terms of sales to the manufacturers. Many manufacturers would go under if not for the business generated by big box chain stores. The manufacturers also cannot afford to sell to these stores at the prices that they demand to they either make product with less quality for exclusive distribution by a particular store or they sell their name to the store so that they can have products made under that name.
That Taylor Made driver that you just bought at Dick's is probably not a Taylor Made driver at all. It's most likely a piece of junk with the Taylor Made name stamped on it and Dick's made 75% profit margin on it.