Could it be that these particular balls were not received as well as Columbia had planned on and are trying valiantly to cut their loses on this "series" of the high performance line? I'm in the Northwest which is generally a Columbia stronghold. I've seen very few of these Action balls being used. The bully's, the Actions, what's next?
They have now introduced and completed a quad of these balls, wonder if this a harbinger of a "NEW" series of balls to be released? Successes: Track with the Machines, AMF with the Radars. Mother ship might just readily turnover these balls at a large discount with something lurking over the horizon in the Columbia high performance line. They are, remember, sponsoring the PBA and need high end ball recognition.
One other thought: Obviously this is an Action Promotion that is being promoted by someone, several Internet retailers have similar deals. Could it be that certain Distributors have also offered a really good deal to the larger Internet resellers, such as, 60-180 days no pay dating, commision for a sale, or even the resellers inventory funded and owned by the distributor? Temporary Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)? Or even good old fashioned "consignment of inventory".
I wonder if some of these Internet retail companies are themselves quasi distributors with genuine inventory warehouses and direct pallet shipments from Columbia.... thus the big discounts - the long deal. As most purchasing agents realize, anyone can offer and promise the long deal. Nothing is sacred, distribution lines are crossed, all the time. Who the heck knows who really owns what business, partnerships, etc. Deals are made.
Edited on 11/21/2006 9:40 AM