ws. I've always felt YETI was gouging the public ... I just can not fathom that it takes that much money to make a cooler.
It's not gouging. It's making money off people who will pay $350 or more for a cooler when they could get something less expensive that will work.
The first time Terminator came out with the titanium spinnerbait it was, I believe, priced at $9.99 or $10.99. Fishermen freaked out. TEN BUCKS for a spinnerbait? NO WAY!!! Terminator was based in Oklahoma, got some old pro anglers to promote the baits, spent a bunch of marketing, had some nice designs on their packaging, made some deals to get good placement in stores, spent money on advertising, took media folks fishing for stories and TV shows, did all the right things with marketing and promotion ... and the anglers bought 'em.
Terminator still is in business and their founder did pretty well with the company.
Now, some will say "Ha, I ain't paying 10 bucks for a spinnerbait!" and yet they did. Other companies saw this and went "Holy crap, we could do this, too." and started increasing prices on jigs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and such. Part of it was the increase in petroleum costs (production) and part of it was because the market -- the anglers with money -- would buy them WILLINGLY at those prices. Just like with boats ... $60,000 for a bass boat? SIXTY THOUSAND for a bass boat or Deep-V hull Lund? And yet they buy them. Along with $350 rods, $2,000 sonar units and on and on.
Companies will price goods at what the market will pay. It doesn't matter about the cost of production for a Yeti cooler or Coca-Cola soda. If it costs $100 to make a cooler or 82 cents for a soda, they can charge $350 or $1.50 and get it.
Did y'all get some KY or Vaseline with your cooler pre-orders?
