Eisboch wrote:
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.


Hard to believe that a slight difference in ingredients
affected the profit margin that much when so much of the
cost of goods sold is labor & overhead.

OTOH a *lot* of people in this world are penny wise & pound
foolish (more below).

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.


The only problem I've ver had with Sears is some bonehead
tool managers refusing to replace Craftsman tools. In one
case, another department manager straightened him out, in a
nother case I just shrugged and left the tool laying on the
counter and told my credit card company that I had returned
it & the store was being jerks about a refund... they gave
me credit back for it (and I assume shorted Sears for it).


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.


I've noticed this too, but then most shoppers will buy a
cheaper item even if it's obviously shoddy. In fact there
have been a lot of studies on this. The two conflicting
irrational market behaviors, both very common, are buying
cheap crap and complaining that it doesn't work (often
followed by buying another of the same); and buying
expensive "show-off" goods as a display of pretended wealth
(such goods are often shoddy, too, but the buyer doesn't
know any better and has been persuaded by expensive
advertising campaigns).

DSK