|
There must have been a fork in the road I didn't
take. Either that or I missed something. At any rate, I'm having
difficulty figuring out what happened.
My husband says it's because we were raised during the
"war" years. That is the second world war, not Vietnam. Times
were different then. We had shortages of almost
everything in America. Still, we were very grateful they
were not fighting the war here.
We rationed lots of things. They distributed booklets of stamps to American families.
Stamps for meat, sugar, butter, gasoline, tires - and something else we take for granted -
shoes. If your allotted stamps for the month were gone, you couldn't buy anything
requiring stamps!
We saved string. We saved tin foil. Lucky folks, who even had bacon, saved the
rendered fat and turned it in for use in the war effort. Anyone who could raised their own
veggies. They called those gardens "Victory Gardens."
Growing up in that era, people took care of whatever
they owned. Because frankly, no one knew when you might
have another. If ever.
That attitude of taking care of one's 'stuff' was (and still is) ingrained in those of us
who experienced it. Pride and tradition ran strong in America, but the time we lived in and
through added a special embroidery.
Here is an example. Back then, if you bought a bamboo fly rod it came with two tip
sections. Why? Because it was likely that a person might break a tip. The other tip was
the spare. What happened? If you broke one, you probably figured out how you did it and
avoided doing it again. (Just in case you wondered, I still see very old fly rods that have
both tips. Sometimes one tip is a little shorter 'tho.)
Oops!
No intelligent, reasonable fisherman would expect the rod maker to give out a new
rod because you broke yours. When a person bought a bamboo rod, the purchase price
included both tips.
So what happened? Have we become (or at least some of us) a throw-away society?
Are we all so wealthy we can afford to treat our stuff like junk? Has our upbringing
changed so much we do not value things we spent hard-earned money to buy? Has
someone sold us a bill of goods? If so, who is the culprit?
Remember the first time you saw an advert for a "guaranteed" fly rod? Did it have a
photo of a guilty-looking puppy sitting by a chewed grip of a fly rod? Maybe it was a
paragraph or two in a catalogue from a prominent fly rod company?
Leaving out brand names, here is the story. A "back-east" company, whose major
sales were via catalogues, offered a free replacement for your broken rod. For your
lifetime.
The CEO of the company made the decision. All of his staff advised against it. He
informed them it was his company, and he would do what he wanted. Did this executive
install this guarantee for the great and noble good of his customers? Nope. His company
was aware of the inroads some of his west coast competitors were making on his rod
sales.
It was a sales gimmick.
How It Worked
How could he afford to offer "free replacements?" First, most of his customers were
people who had not only lived through the second world war, but through the first world
war as well. Second, most of the company's sales were from their wonderful catalogue.
They made the total retail profit.
So what happened? For several years, nothing bad! Their sales increased. Percentage
wise, the number of rods that came back for replacements were no higher than the old
number sent back for repair. Sometimes the replacement cost was less than the cost of
skilled labor required to repair the rod.
Now Leap Forward A Few Years
More and more rod manufacturers are on the scene. Some with very excellent
products, innovative technology and improvement in materials that greatly affect the
action and castability of the rods.
A couple of the new rod manufacturers used the improved technology, although they
had no part in the development costs. Then to compete with the marketing and sales of
the big 'back-east' company, they offered a bulletproof guarantee. Bust a rod, run over it,
slam the trunk lid on it, whatever, you get a new one free.
One after another, rod manufactures fell for the marketing hype running through the
industry. One holdout has now offered, for a modest fee, to "register" a rod purchased
before 1996 or 1997 You then get a guarantee.
What You Really Get
The bulletproof guarantee has done more to devalue the previously cherished fly rod
(and fly fishing) than all the anti-fishing folks in PETA could possibly have hoped. Instead
of fly rods being cleaned, polished, and treasured, it is just chuck it anywhere. What the
heck, it if breaks, no sweat. Get a new one FREE. Magic word that is, FREE!
What most companies did to cover the replacement of the trashed rods was to raise
the price of new fly rods. About 20%. Put plainly, you pay for a new replacement rod when
you buy a rod. Even if you never use the guarantee.
Manufacturers did not, however, count on the magic word, FREE. Nor did they
expect the number of broken rods they are getting back. Rumor is that more than one
company is in financial shock because of the unexpected return volume. Maybe the
people that bought their rods weren't alive during the war years.
So in this condition, how much innovating will they do? How many new rods will they
unveil? Will they work at making the rods lighter, stronger, with better action? Don't
count on it. Instead the emphasis is on adding more fiberglass to rods to reduce
breakage. Who cares if the rod is heavier and less powerful?
So You Pay Your Money and Make Your Choice
A few rod companies decided not to offer unconditional guarantees. These companies
felt the buyers will suffer in the long term. They also know it will cost them, not in money
for replacements, but in devaluation of their product if they went to the bulletproof
guarantee. If that isn't enough, they don't want to take a chance of losing the focus on
producing the very best product they can.
If you love a particular action of a rod, fish it, and do break it, any reputable
manufacturer will repair the rod for a minimal (if any) charge. Who pays for someone
else's carelessness if the rod you buy is one of the bulletproof ones? You do - in advance.
But then I don't buy service contracts on appliances either. Somewhere in this
country is an old Westinghouse frig with the round thing on top, still running. They built in
the quality. They didn't need a bulletproof guarantee. ~ The LadyFisher
If you would like to comment on this or any other article please feel free to
post your views on the FAOL Bulletin Board!
|
