Originally Posted By: ackleymanAmazing how lack of warranty can Kill a company.
Bean counters are killing all companies that are on the stock exchange, they have to make the numbers look good, no matter what...
The alternative is to get things made with cheaper labor, then more attention to detail can be given along with better materials.
In the late 60's, Wrangler and Lee jeans cost $38-$42 per pair, made in America with good American grown cotton, spun and dyed in America. Demand for cheap products along with the fact that cost of goods on the retail level was about to outstrip the target market's ability to purchase.
Cheap sells, the average guy only wants so much quality, everything is disposable goods.
If Remington, Ruger, and Winchester had come out with a true custom line of rifles with trued actions and top grade barrels, many of the top name brands would never have been able to survive the first two years of a start up, such as Kimber, Montana, and so on and so forth.
Each of these companies should have old fashion ethics that would allow their best and loyal customers to get the best of the best of their product brand in a custom form. Quarterly Bonus, meeting projected budget, eliminating the need of skilled employees along with their benefits, is the mentality that drives most of all the major arms makers. Now thow in Union pay and benefits, and it becomes an impossibility to grow and maintain a company.
It is really amazing that there are any arms makers left in America. Our hunger for cheap guns that are price point driven, is like the hunger of a starving man that only takes 5 minutes to eat a full meal.
Obviously, I have been very lucky with Remington in that I have not have to try and get them to belly up to the bar on a warranty issue. I did have a problem with Ruger last year, and I did get it resolved. The barrel was unscrewed from the action, and the threads stripped in the action. Ruger has no warranty on a re barrel, and it says right in the warranty that they do not make their rifles to be re barreled. When I got hold of the right person, they replaced the entire rifle with a much better rifle, Way To Go Ruger! It was like pulling teeth to get through to the right person. The new 6.5 Creeed from Ruger is one heck of a shooter to say the least, unbelievable is more like it.
As a CEO looks to his bottom line and has to report to the Board of Directors, they are under tremendous pressure to keep doing things better. They are forced to play the market in order to determine what the public will buy. A best friend was President of PMC when it was located in Henderson, Nv. PMC closed the door in the Henderson facility, and had to re organize under a very different marketing.
Remington has started making their own buttoned barrels in Alabama, and they are the very best I have ever seen come from Remington, they are slick as a hound's tooth, and copper foul very little. Everyone that I have seen has been an incredible shooter.
Ever wonder why you see all these guns with plastic all over them? It is cheap, and people keep buying it. Want to see a serious shooter in a Remington rifle, try a wood stock CDL or a LSS, they will amaze you. These guns cost more.
Dealers do not want guns that set on the shelf, they want a 100% inventory turn per month or better, price is the only thing that will get them to that point. New gun owners look at cheap, and that is it.
Just imagine if a rifle had a target attached to the trigger guard with XYZ ammo that showed what the rifle shot like, the additional cost would have to be passed on to the buyer. I doubt that buyers are smart enough to value such a target and pay the up charge.
I was in a popular guns store last week, a new laminated Stainless Sako 85 was $1385, high quality gun. I asked the manager how long that gun had been sitting as it was in 260 Remington. He said it had been there a while....go figure...few indeed want quality. They want cheap, then [beeep] when it is not top quality.
Gun companies can not run their business like we think they should. Ruger fills orders based on how Master distributers place their orders to them, then Ruger makes a run of those specific models. Some models are not produced for up to 2 years, as I was told. This is how Ruger has prospered and done so well, and my hat is off to them. I have no idea how Remington does business or schedules production. Several things about the way Remington does business has always baffled me.
Some years ago, a Vise president of Remington went to work for Savage. Savage really took off after that person went to work for them, obviously this person has been a person with a set of balls and a vision for what shooters really want. It is not very often you ever hear of anyone bitching about Savage, is it? Wonder why? Savage may be THE most accurate out of the gun on the market today that is made in America. Yet, many shooters consider Savage as Obama Trash. I have been guilty of that very thing in the past...sorry to say.
One thing for sure, if you want a quality gun, pull out your credit card and order a custom gun from the custom gun makers on this site...best money you will ever spend. Quality and pride of work will be evident. That custom barrel will also exhibit the characteristics of shooting multiple bullets, with a variety of powders with little load development. Again, most had rather turn into one of those limp wristed types than pay for a great custom barrel on a rifle. Being cheap is what drives the market, then the company joins Tasco in the graveyard where dead companies go.
We as shooters, are not all that smart with our money, but it sure teases our ego to feel like we got a deal(cheap price).
Tikka rifles seem to be an exception in plastic this and that. Many Tika owners want a better stock, and hate those plastic magazines and bolt shrouds. BUT, Tikka's are very good shooters.
It is evident that many shooters have been wounded buy a company(Remington) that they loved and respected. Turning out a POS gun, then following that up with a POS Warranty Dept is madness.
I will forward this post to Remington's New Product Development Dept.
I completely agree with this post. I will also add that I once had a Brand new Ruger Mini-14 completely explode. It was my poor judgement that I was shooting gunshow reloads by a company called MIWALL. I called Ruger, explained to them all the circumstances. They replaced it with a brand new Mini-14, even though they and I both knew they weren't at fault.
That was customer service and the type of thing that builds brand loyalty. These things don't happen often and the cost is minimal to such a huge company. The reputation of customer service though pays off big time. You can bet that people talk and I've told the Ruger story as often as the bad stories from Remington. The reputation Remington has earned over the last decade is costing them millions in lost sales and has made them a shadow of the company they should be. It's too bad the bean counters can't quantify this.
