Author Topic: Have the Brunswick bowling ball buyers seen (Read 18361 times)

Nicanor · « **on:** March 13, 2009, 12:55:52 AM »

the break or cost savings that Brunswick has seen with its move to Mexico. In mexico you can have labor alone that is one quarter the labor rate herein the US and also all the laws and rules with regards to safety and enviornment is much less restrictive saving a lot of money.

Has any of that savings been passed on to us the consumer?

I don't think so.

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Nicanor (Ten On The Deck)

charlest · « **Reply #31 on:** March 13, 2009, 09:38:40 PM »

quote:
I never said I only buy American. I'm just against a US company leaving the US to go to a country to take advantage of low wages, low priced real estate and little care for the enviornment taking away jobs from US citizens and not even passing back some savings to the US comsumer. Thats way different then saying I only buy American.
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Nicanor (Ten On The Deck)

I agree. I wish there were some way an individual could make a difference in such a "war".

Someone brought up the issue of shirts. I've seen this for years. So many of the men's shirts we buy are made in China, Sri Lankaa, Viet Nam, India, etc. They vary in price from $10 to $35. They vary in content from 50%/50% cotton polyester to 100% cotton. The same shirt made in the US costs $85 - $250.

How many of you are going out of your way and digging WAY DEEP into your personal check book to buy that "plain" cotton/polyester shirt for $150 vs the $15 one you can get in Wal-Mart, Cabela's, K-Mart, J.C. Penney's, Sears, Macy's, Land's End, LL Bean, Eddie Bauer's etc.

Honestly, how many?
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

JessN16 · « **Reply #32 on:** March 13, 2009, 09:48:59 PM »

quote:
What's the difference? Just because Brunswick was the first to move production outside the U.S. it doesn't mean they'll be the last. How can we know such a thing?

Lane,

You're right, we don't know if/when other companies will move. I'm not anti-Brunswick. I just bought a Sidewinder and like it. Them moving out of the country won't stop me from buying their stuff.

Do I have to like it? No. And the reason I don't like it is the same reason I have a bad taste in my mouth for other companies in other industries -- I can't stand the PR B.S. that comes along with the decision. Just tell me the truth already. Don't flip out a press release filled with B.S., tell me why you're really doing what you do.

There are a lot of small towns in my home state that have been devastated by the flight of textile and timber to other countries. In some cases, unavoidable. In others, those companies moved product lines that had no real foreign competition -- they did it just to make 25 percent margin rather than 20 percent margin, but blamed it on other factors, and that I have a problem with.

Brunswick's bowling ball operations didn't need to go out of the country. Not only did they have no foreign competition, there are a bunch of other domestic companies apparently making a go of things right now without having to resort to such a move. But once one goes, it becomes easier for the second one to go, and the third.

That's why I said I would figure Brunswick's decision was triggered by what was going on in other areas of the company. It had to be. The next most plausible explanation is that Brunswick mismanaged its bowling business so badly that it couldn't make a profit.

I know of one VERY high-volume shop that, the day the decision to leave for Mexico was announced, quit pushing Brunswick stuff after years of doing so and began pushing other lines. I wonder how many other shops across the country did the same thing, and whether that meant Brunswick didn't reap the expected financial reward of moving operations after all.

We live in a free market economy and obviously, Brunswick is free to do what it wants. They won't ask my permission and don't need it. But I don't have to like it.

Jess

Nicanor · « **Reply #33 on:** March 13, 2009, 09:50:12 PM »

Sleepy La Beef, Now thats funny.

Jeff,

I know its not a perfect world and we will find deals where and when we can, but as I mentioned in the other post, would I even consider buying the shirt for $85 if the company closed shop in the US moved the company to China and still charged us the $85.

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Nicanor (Ten On The Deck)

nocarey · « **Reply #34 on:** March 13, 2009, 10:34:07 PM »

Today it seems as though foreign made products are so common that people have simply given up at being outraged about them. It used to be that people tried to buy American made, but I think that most of us know now that this is a futile effort, and that in many cases its not possible to find an American made product of a certain type. In any major store that you go to today in America you may find that as many as 90% of the products are not made in America. Just go to Wal-Mart or Home Depot and walk down the isles and look at the labels to see where the products are made. You will find that virtually everything you look at is made in some third world country.

Krakken · « **Reply #35 on:** March 14, 2009, 08:34:49 AM »

How about the crappy quality of the Mexican made Brunswick balls? I know a staffer that has an ultimate inferno that was made in USA and they love it. Same ball made in Mexico is terrible, and it isn't the layout or surface as they are very similar.

Also why did Brunswick have to go back and re-do all the balls they released at the beginning of this season? Staffers were ready to jump ship. One of the ladies in fact did walk away from her contract and go with Storm/Roto as a free agent.

I also heard they are having a lot of trouble making the viz a ball line down there too.
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ROTO GRIP, There is NO Substitute
Slow Feet, Soft hand = Lots of strikes

leftyinsnellville · « **Reply #36 on:** March 14, 2009, 09:27:32 AM »

Imports are not a problem for me, if the country the imports are coming from has the same basic rules as the United States regarding the treatment of their workers.

If a company from Europe can come to the United States and compete, more power to them. Europeans make reasonable wages and have benefits that equal or exceed the benefits U.S. workers receive.

As far as China, Mexico, or any other country that doesn't have a decent minimum wage and does not have laws in place which guaratee basic benefits, I think we should cut off trade with them completely. We may lose the ability to import to those countries but as our trade defecit with those countries is so high I would venture to guess that the benefits would outweigh the cost.

Edited on 3/14/2009 9:28 AM

DON DRAPER · « **Reply #37 on:** March 14, 2009, 10:59:47 AM »

if the quality of brunswick balls from mexico is so crappy then why hasn't there been anything wrong with the ones i've purchased ? there have been several former brunswick employees post messages on this site and their response to the mexican move have been the same------if they hadn't made the move the bowling ball division would have had to go out of business. they have no reason to lie or make that up....after all, they don't work for brunswick anymore, do they ?

as far as buying a product simply because it's made in this country...that's illogical. i've stated this before. i have several watches made in switzerland. these are high quality, high dollar models. why should i give them up for an inferior product just because it's made it this country ?

Nicanor · « **Reply #38 on:** March 14, 2009, 02:05:22 PM »

Greg,

I don't know if you read my post, but my orginal post was not about just buying American and my original post did not talk about the quality of the Brunswick bowling balls made in Mexico. It was not even about whether or not it made sense for Brunswick to make their bowling balls in Mexico to stay above water.

My post was that Brunswick made the move laying off many workers here in the US so they could go down to Mexico and save tons of money on labor, no enviornment control and the tax structure is much less using old technology and giving no break back to the US consumer. Thier prices are right up there with the rest of the big companies that are still here in the US.

Please stay on point.

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Nicanor (Ten On The Deck)

Krakken · « **Reply #39 on:** March 14, 2009, 02:22:53 PM »

Nic he was probably referring to my post on the crappy quality and I still stand by it. Maybe it is just coincidence that the Bruns ball I bought that was made in mexico but I also wanted to get a viz a ball and was told the mexican factory was having a lot of trouble producing the 16lb balls.

Brunswick moved because they couldn't deal wit hthe union at their plant.

Unions are killing american business.
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ROTO GRIP, There is NO Substitute
Slow Feet, Soft hand = Lots of strikes

charlest · « **Reply #40 on:** March 14, 2009, 02:23:28 PM »

quote:
Sleepy La Beef, Now thats funny.

Jeff,

I know its not a perfect world and we will find deals where and when we can, but as I mentioned in the other post, would I even consider buying the shirt for $85 if the company closed shop in the US moved the company to China and still charged us the $85.

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Nicanor (Ten On The Deck)

Oh, I agree with you on that point, Barry.

With respect to Brunswick, possibly it's that they are making up in bowling euipment profit, for the losses in boating and billiards by the Mexico move. So you won't see any reduced prices in bowling balls. Also the distributors could have just sucked up the additional profit that Brunswick charged at the wholsale level. Remember at retail, we see the markup over what the distributors charge the pro shop!

Like the United States, and especially my good ole state of NJ, there are no spending savings at all ANYWHERE. They, politicians and accountants, only look for places to raise more taxes, when conditions arise, such as we see nowadays.
The politicians favorite "pork barrels" remain overflowing for their "friends" and relatives. Only the un-politically connected citizen suffers. Until unemployment reaches 40% or so, it will remain this way.

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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

Edited on 3/14/2009 2:25 PM

DON DRAPER · « **Reply #41 on:** March 14, 2009, 09:53:44 PM »

could justrico, billy o, or verbs please elaborate on the necessity of moving the bowling ball production to mexico ?

burly · « **Reply #42 on:** March 14, 2009, 10:11:58 PM »

what does the united states produce?

quote:
quote:
How can the United States compete with that? Easy, increase the import tax to an amount that off sets the cost of labor. Make it more profitable to manufacture in the United States rather than out of the country.

Good idea but then, that country, would increase import taxes for the goods from us to them as well. Just as the unions want more money, then the cost of a car goes up. It's a circle. Some savings may well have been eaten up on shipping back to the uS, hard to say.

Not arguing about cheaper labor/cost to make a ball should have seen a small drop in US prices but it seems to always line to pockets of the top brass, seems to me.
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az guy aka: R & L Bowlers Pro
rlbowlerspro@cox.net

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check my profile for my stats

Atochabsh · « **Reply #43 on:** March 15, 2009, 07:11:56 AM »

quote:
I dunno, I just got the Max Zone drilled for $99.95 from my pro shop. Well under the 175+ that other balls cost. Don't look at the company, look at the pro shops!

That's cheaper then i can buy if for from my distrubutor. It is NOT the pro shops that are marking these balls from this particular manufacter up. The Mexican discount is not going to us.

The problem is that the Mexican made balls take longer to drill due to having to find the true CG and weights. You have to a lot of work at the beginning before you even map the ball to make sure you have the correct specs. We've seen a big drop in purchasing Brunswicks in general since they moved to Mexico.

I know probably a lot of shops don't bother, but if you want it legal or want to take it to Nationals then you have to go through the extra work.

Erin

DON DRAPER · « **Reply #44 on:** March 15, 2009, 08:44:31 AM »

maybe you should try a different distributor or online pro shop. i've bought plenty of brunswick equipment since the move to mexico and haven't seen any quality control issues. the pro shop i go to is the busiest in the metro kansas city area. he gets most of his stuff from grand prix in st. louis but also gets some from anchorman sales in liberty. the equipment i've got from buddiesproshop.com and bowling.com has also been ok.

Nicanor · « **Reply #45 on:** March 15, 2009, 10:24:19 AM »

I'm sorry but you can find deals out there, that I know. But a majority of new Brunswick bowling balls on the market are at the same or similar price as Storm and Ebonite. When the NMad Maxx first came out, it was up there, now you can find a deal, maybe so, I wouldn't doubt it. But the new Twisted Fury pearl is approximately $135 at most internet websites. And they are still using old technology. I'm not even talking about poor quality. I don't know because I don't have any newer Brunswick bowling balls.

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Nicanor (Ten On The Deck)

Author Topic: Have the Brunswick bowling ball buyers seen (Read 18361 times)

Nicanor

Have the Brunswick bowling ball buyers seen

charlest

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JessN16

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Nicanor

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nocarey

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Krakken

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leftyinsnellville

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DON DRAPER

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Nicanor

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Krakken

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charlest

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DON DRAPER

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burly

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Atochabsh

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DON DRAPER

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Nicanor

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