[Rhodes22-list] general boat's complaint (continued)

[stan]

Rose and I want to thank you all for indulging GB in the use of your forum on an issue that is so basic to GB.

We want to thank those that take issue with our position but attempt to be evenhanded.  (If academically interested, we can provide exhibits and witnesses that prove the accuracy of our facts.)

We are empathetic with those who chafe at this sort of thing and remain silent - in our younger days we probably would have done the same.   It was not until 50 that we adopted our tribe's slogan of  "never again" and took on anyone who wronged us:  A policeman.  A lawyer.  a station wagon full of nuns (just kidding about the station wagon), a giant corporation to docketing at the US Supreme Court.   We prevailed in all these pro se actions simply because we do not complain unless the facts and logic are solidly on our side - but we digress.

And, in particular, we want to thank those who understand the logical side of our position and offered suggestions.


Re the issue of the Loyalty/Royalty program:   Its reasoning seems so correct that it is hard to comprehend dissent.  Those thinking us crazy for such radical thinking have to sit in this chair for just one day.   Interestingly, dissenters enjoy products from many segments of industry who have already worked out such support programs, yet these dissenters seem to be drawing their own grandfather clause line as to which industries should not be entitled to residuals on their efforts.   Those in this group have but to request and we will expand on the good sense of this program.   It has been emotionally gratifying seeing former members of the "You must be crazy" society, when, becoming members of the "List" family, seeing the light and converting.

Re the issue of the 50 years creating a unique product now having others take bites of its parts for their unilateral gain, if not resolved, will come home to bite us all.   ( When I walked out of the hallowed halls of ole PU I vowed not to go into business because I could not stand the ethics I saw, and assumed, had to go with that territory.  But it was pre-ordained; I ended up spending most of my life a driving capitalist.   And it has been a blast, for me and my partner of 60 years - because we made the making of money our secondary goal.   (The effects of that kind of religious fervor has surprisingly turned out to be rough on our opponents.)   There are ways we can go to stop the taking of free bites of the profitable parts side of GB's business::

When we sold Venture Sailboats (Macgregor), dealers could buy sails elsewhere and make an additional profit on Roger's creation at Roger's expense.  Roger, who graduated at the top of his class at Stamford, simply raised the price of his boat and included sails.  Being the tough business man he is, he did it without notice and dealers had to eat their sail inventories they bought elsewhere.  We are slow learners but could price Rhodes sales to include a part an outside seller has latched onto.    Or,

We could simply be unresponsive to boat owners who purchase parts, unique to the Rhodes design, from others in competition with GB or who fail to honor agreements with GB.   We inherently do not like this retaliatory type of solution, but it is a solution.   Or

We could simply close shop and that would close the market for unauthorized parts vendors.   This "cutting off ones nose" solution is not our choice.  However, not taking on rogue suppliers, eating away at the life cash flow of the company, makes it an inevitable solution.

 
In an effort to avoid any of the above solutions, based on the thinking of List members in this particular complaint of GB vs. Art C, we have some proposals that we will present to the List next week for your appreciated feedback.  The pro bono time we are having to devote to the problems and questions of private sale Rhodes is becoming so overwhelming (and we hate to be mean spirited enough to tell them where to go) that we just can't seem to manage all of this issue in one sitting.

ss