"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:

Sears used to be famous for this years ago. Super advertised deal on
something but when you showed up to buy it, "it" was out of stock. Then
the pressure was on to buy the better, higher priced item instead.

Way before WalMart was even thought of.

Eisboch


Not being a Wal-Mart shopper, I don't have this first-hand, but I have
read reports over the years that a number of the "name brand" products
sold in Wal-Mart are made specifically for the store, and built to sell at
a lower price point than similar name-brand products found in other
stores. I suspect this would be true mainly of manufactured items. In
other words, the "Samsung" 19" monitor you find at Wal-Mart is not the
same product as the "Samsung" 19" monitor you find at a reputable computer
store, even though the model numbers look very similar.


Maybe. Radio Shack used to do that; specifiying design and manufacture
criteria to a major manufacturer, then selling them as an "Archer" or "Radio
Shack" model. I am told that most were made with cheaper components, (i.e.
10% tolerance resistors instead of 5%, etc.), that seems to be borne out by
the inferior performance and lifespan of the products.

Sears used to - and still does- the same thing I guess, selling a washer or
whatever as a "Kenmore" that was actually made by Maytag or GE. Seems like
Kenmore appliances are a lot better quality than the Radio Shack clones
though. It's only been in the past 10 years or so that both Sears and Radio
Shack have been offering name brand products in addition to their own.

Other retailers do similar things. I was in the market for a set of JBL
speakers a couple of years ago and a friend told me they sold them at Best
Buy in West Palm. I didn't believe it, so off I went, only to discover that
the JBLs at Best Buy, although genuine JBLs, were all low end plastic crap,
not the Studio Monitors I was looking for.

Eisboch