Load Of Crap

[VERN-O 0]

Here is the biggest load of crap.....I've been fed in a while

 

I purchased a few hen necks back in 2008 from Bass Pro (since they squeezed every local fly shop in a 30 mile radius out of business)....they were $5 (ok quality= ok price)........I was using them for some experimental home dyeing. Fast forward to 2010.....I go back to buy another and they want $17 (insert a long chain of curse words). I was sure it was a mistake and went online and discovered the same thing. At this point I'm so annoyed that I barely see straight. I then email a complaint to Bass Pro, and this is the biggest load of crap (IMHO) response:

 

"Thank you for your patience. Several years ago when the Asian Bird flu was all over the media, lowered priced hen necks that came from overseas became very difficult to bring into the country and most tying material suppliers quit selling them all together. In the past we had some hen necks that we retailed for $4.99 but we have been unable to get these since June of 2008.

 

These particular hen necks come from the US and we first started selling them in November of 2008 for $16.99."

 

 

I am all for buying American.......but I feel like I'm being spoonfed a load of turd

 

 

[oatka 0]

whether it's bird flu or "the economy" I think a lot of business saw a widely acceptable excuse to raise prices, even if they didn't really have to.

 

I can't wait until this summer when my 8 year old son puts up his first lemonade stand that he's been planning for a while. I'll advise him to charge at least $1 for what use to be a 25 cent cup, and have him tell customers "it's the economy." cha-ching! my son will be rich, and I can live off him!

[ChuckingFluff 0]

Like most large businesses they come into an area and drop the prices to the floor to drive the competition out. Now that everyone is gone they can now charge what they want. On a positive note this also opens the market again to competition.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

whether it's bird flu or "the economy" I think a lot of business saw a widely acceptable excuse to raise prices, even if they didn't really have to.

Good point and that is a sad reality, I remember milk prices jumping up because they said with the cost of fuel, their operations including delivery were increased. The funny/sad thing is that when fuel prices fluctuate and lower, that milk is still the same price.

As for the flu thing, that could be a reality and as everyone that shops at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, etc. can attest to, things made in other countries are much cheaper. Look in the fly catalogs at "Chinese Cock Necks", they retail for under $10; you should be able to find an on-line store that has hen necks for less than $17.

Orvis picked up a couple of my flies and they can retail them cheaper than I can wholesale them for and that is when I tie them myself and try to equate my price based on what I think I should make per hour. We here in the U.S. have a higher cost of living and anything we labor for will cost the consumer many more times the amount than 3rd world producers.

 

Kirk

[Dart 0]

whether it's bird flu or "the economy" I think a lot of business saw a widely acceptable excuse to raise prices, even if they didn't really have to.

Good point and that is a sad reality, I remember milk prices jumping up because they said with the cost of fuel, their operations including delivery were increased. The funny/sad thing is that when fuel prices fluctuate and lower, that milk is still the same price.

As for the flu thing, that could be a reality and as everyone that shops at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, etc. can attest to, things made in other countries are much cheaper. Look in the fly catalogs at "Chinese Cock Necks", they retail for under $10; you should be able to find an on-line store that has hen necks for less than $17.

Orvis picked up a couple of my flies and they can retail them cheaper than I can wholesale them for and that is when I tie them myself and try to equate my price based on what I think I should make per hour. We here in the U.S. have a higher cost of living and anything we labor for will cost the consumer many more times the amount than 3rd world producers.

 

Kirk

OT: Kirk, I'm glad to see you over here posting now. Ron has shown me some pics of your poppers and you do impressive work! Good to have you joining us.

 

 

[agn54 0]

I think this has more to do with the chicken farmers raising their prices than Bass Pro jacking up their prices arbitrarily. I recently raised a similar frustration over the sudden massive price increase of Whiting American Saddle from $12.75 to over $19, and that price increase came from Stockard, who I trust as a company and am certain are not simply price gauging. Moreover, the price increase I found at Stockard was the same at shops all over the net. On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if the big chains were inflating their prices arbitrarily.

[c-denby 0]

This is one of the many reasons I don't consistently shop at Bass Pro or Cabela's... Whether it be radically changing prices or HUGE drops in product quality. And then dont get me started on their "Customer Service" or "Product Knowledge".... I would rather pay higher prices and support my local shops ,than to have to deal with Bass Pro... Even if the prices are drastically different.. Although, within a few months I'm sure that "great price", won't be so Great..

 

 

Sorry If my rant makes no sense.. I Have bad blood when it comes to past experiences with Bass Pro and Cabela type stores..

 

Chris

[halcyon 0]

VERN O,

The story you got from Bass Pro is most likely both accurate and true. After the bird pandemic got big play in the news the US gov't. required all bird and bird part importation to be treated via US Customs certified operations and have a whole load of documentation with them. All of this just added costs and fees to the imported products. So those importers that were still able to do business had drastically increased costs. Many simply quit bringing in that type of material. In the US many producers of poultry were selling the guts/feathers byproduct to people that would clean/sort/package and sell the feathers. This was especially true for white turkey tail feathers so prized for dyeing and tying steelhead and salmon flies. To protect themselves from potential litigation over bird flu the poultry producers now simply burn all of that byproduct and this material is practically none existent in the market anymore. Just my 2 cents.

[redietz 0]

Bass Pro still has to compete with on-line shops, and the only way it's going to do so is via price. I suspect they'd much rather be selling $5.00 hen necks if they could get them.

[VERN-O 0]

AND NOW WE MIGHT BE GETTING SOMEWHERE........I usually only shop at Ass Pro when in a pinch......I still think they're a way off base in the price

see follow up below

 

 

Debi, I appreciate the quick responses. I have to say I am very dissapointed. I did some comparative pricing and here is what I found:

 

Orvis Keough $6.95

 

 

Wapsi $5.00

 

 

Metz $15.50 to $9.00

I can assure you that the Wapsi and Keough brands are comparable in quality if not superior to the Bass Pro offerings. Both Whiting Farms and Metz offer a price similar to that of the $17 range and I can testify that the quality of these is far superior to anything Bass Pro has to offer. I do not want to dwell on this, but your pricing is way out of line and I can not believe I'm being fed a generic statement about Bird Flu being the cause in price increase. I can not help but feel that Bass Pro has

squeezed out local competition and is now price gouging it's customers. LeVern

 

 

LeVern,

 

Thank you for the additional information. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but sincerely appreciate you taking time to contact us with your comments. We appreciate all feedback as it helps us improve our services for our customers. Please contact us again if you require further assistance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LeVern,

 

Here is an update from our buyer.

 

"I did not work for Bass Pro Shops when we quit ordering the lower priced necks, but I did work for one our major competitors, so although I don’t know for sure, I think I can make an educated guess as to what happened.

Regardless of whose name is on the package there are only a couple of sources for quality fly tying feathers, and we get ours from the same places everyone else does. These hen necks were coming from Wapsi and if I remember correctly, in late 2007 or early 2008 they told me they were not going to be able to ship any more. The reason I was given was that they could not get them into the country due to import restrictions put on feathers because of the bird flu.

If this is what happened we would have flagged them to not be reordered. Since the bird flu scare seems to have gone away, these necks may be available now and we simply have not placed any orders for them. I am checking with Wapsi on availability for the lower price hen necks. If they are available our retail price is $4.99. These are the same Keough hen necks that Caddis Fly sells for $5 and Orvis sells for $6.95.

I know that our customers have many places they can buy fly tying material and if our pricing is not competitive they will shop with someone else. The hen necks we sell for $16.99 are not the same product as what our competitors are selling for $5-7 and we pay substantially more than $5 for them."

 

If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to contact us again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSzymczyk 0]

Interesting. IMO a large part of the pricing issue is that Fly Fishermen have just blindly led themselves down the path that this is an "expensive" sport. LOTS of folks are happy to pay the $17. Look around and see the $750 rods, $400 reels, $70 lines, for a four-weight to catch 10" trout with. Look in the past 12 or so years at the explosion of jewelry store hooks. We and our ancestors caught the hell out of fish for decades using good old Mustad "standard" hooks among others. Then all of a sudden, because of advertising and Guide pressure, most of us wanted to believe that those kinds of hooks were just not good anymore. Why?

 

To some degree, we have met the enemy, and they are us.

[Fred H. 0]

We have to make a choice .Continue to let Corperations munipulate us or become informed consumers. This goes far beyond flytying . But for this conversation , lets stick with fly tying.We as a group can have power beyond belief if we band together. I would not know the difference between a $ 5 or a 50$ cape or neck.But I know tyers that do. I do not need 1,000 of the same style and size hook but I could use a couple of hundred.We have the power thru this community of tyers here, to buy in bulk and save.And we have the combined knowledge of commercial and recreational tyers to shop smart.

Just a thought.

Fred

[VERN-O 0]

Fred if you had a bass Pro hen neck and a Whiting Hen Neck in each hand I am certain you would be able to tell the $5 one from the $16.....trust me!!!!!!!!!!

 

It would interesting to have a fly tiers voice that had a say into what products enter the market and pricing margins...a Fly Tying Czar

[Jeremy Parker 0]

I got so fed up I'm now growing some of my own feathers by keeping birds.

 

Surprisingly I have some good capes and saddles and a bonus I get to eat the bird too!

 

I'm in Canada and the supplies are even less up here?? I've tried to order from U.S. and such and they add huge add ons like permit fees$60.00+ dollars (US funds too!) oh and minimum orders of 200.00 to 500.00.

 

Hooks, i get them through US retail cheaper then I do here in My own country (import taxes is the normal excuse )

 

Don't get me started :ripped: :ripped: :ripped:

 

 

Jeremy

[neoFLYte 0]

I've yet to find a hobby that didn't eventually get pricey. I almost always start out "on the cheap" and as I get more into whatever it is, I start buying more tools/gadgets - because I love tools and gadgets - and (real or imagined) better materials.

 

I much prefer to buy from places - not just tying stuff - where they know what they are talking about, willing to share information, and actually do a good job of convincing me that they appreciate my business. For whatever reason, that usually means I pay more, and I'm OK with that.

 

As to the thousand dollar rods and eight hundred dollar reels... I've seen them, but I'm not quite sure what to make of them. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot usually comes to mind.