SwampCollie

I don't know about him, but yes that isEXACTLY what I am saying. See my post above.



That I highly doubt... at least as far as the firearms are concerned... I don't know about tools or appliances.

I do fully suspect that you will often find lower quality grades of wood (or should I say basic grades)... I don't think that Remington is going to do wal-mart any favors when it comes to product... it will be to standard, that is for sure... but don't expect anything above and beyond... of course you knew that when you walked into wal-mart in the first place.

You are going to have to use some business common sense here..... but the reason behind this lies in simple economics and business practices. Wal-Mart is what my professors in college used to call 'The 800 Pound Gorrila'... you'll remember the proverb that the 800# Gorilla can sit wherever he likes.

Wal-Mart's buyers will go to Remington or whatever company and say..... 'I'll take 5 million units of X product at Y price or I won't take a damn one.' Remington has the job of first finding out if it is even feasable... and then to deliever said product. No MAJOR (and I mean that by volume)company is going to say no to Wal-mart when they want to buy THAT MUCH product...

So, Remington or any company for that matter, has basically three choices...

1) it can reject wal-marts proposal outright and basically say no to a potentially HUGE HUGE profit (wal-mart isn't exactly going under in these tough economic times you know),this isn't really an option, because to ignore the cash cow that wal-mart often is... you wouldn't be in business or have a job at said business very long if you turned away potential new customers

2) it can offer wal-mart an inferior or 'rejected' model at a much reduced price (often under a differnet brand name as to not undercut its own QC standards... (ie Dewalt and Black and Decker, or ICS Elites and ICS Bowhunters), understand that it is of course in line with some standards of quality control... but they are much much looser... and all firearms have to meet a LOT of standards before they are sold to consumers or...

3) it can design a new, lower price point, model specifcally for box stores.... such as the 770.... or 710.... or the Stevens Model 200... Stoegers model 2000... etc etc.... and open itself up to a totally new, lower margin but higher volume sector of the market.

That doesn't mean that its inferior from a function standpoint... but it is made from 'inferior' materials and to much less rigorous standards than mainline or high end goods are. You cannot really expect to be getting all the quality of a custom shop 700 when you buy a 770 for $394 and change can you? Remington would go bust! No company (not even wal-mart) expects their suppliers to sell to them at a loss... thats just not how business works.

PS: And for what its worth... yes... I work in the outdoors, archery and firearms industry for a living... and we do pretty well I think.