THE TRUE COST OF KNOCKOFFS - Via Overland Journal

I thought this was a worthy post to ponder with so man people building Overland and Off-Road Rigs, that sometimes we only care about the saving of a dollar, rather than the actual cost of a dollar saved in the long run.



THE TRUE COST OF KNOCKOFFS

As an overlander, I am always surprised to see knockoff products bolted to the side of a vehicle that is destined for the backcountry. That small amount of money the purchaser saved will ultimately leave them stranded and cost the industry they love dearly. Per the 2018 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the global counterfeit business represents as much as $461 bil- lion in lost revenue to the original intellectual property owners. In our market, it is not just blatant infractions, but also companies that push the infringement right to the edge to avoid lawsuits.

At Overland Journal, some of our primary concerns are the safety of our readers and the overall health of the overland community. There are a shocking num- ber of safety or recovery products that are copied on a regular basis, but without the due diligence and testing required to ensure performance and durabil- ity. One of the more glaring categories is the traction board segment, where companies have outright stolen MaxTrax designs or made a veiled attempt at revi- sion. I have seen products like that crack and fail in

the field under other travelers’ vehicles time and again. In the case of recovery gear, it is essential to know the product’s source and only purchase from reputable re- sellers. That $199 winch may seem like a great bargain at the time, but it will likely fail the owner when called upon. We also see it with cooler companies, the most egregious knockoffs being com- panies like RTIC making products nearly identical to Yeti’s, then proudly touting their lower cost as an advantage.

The other significant cost of knockoffs is the loss of invention. As counterfeits come to market more quickly, this gives the innovator less opportunity to recoup research and design costs that the thief nev- er needed to pay for. It also reduces available R&D funding for cutting-edge companies, and we suffer yet again as consumers. Of course a knockoff is cheaper, as the company never paid for the cost of designing and testing the product, and those lapses in experience and testing always show up once used in the field. It is the responsibility of the consumer to do their best not to support this blatant form of theft. Even as a media company, we have been taken advantage of by other entities stealing our intellectual property without per- mission or even attribution. In the end, we all have the responsibility to avoid purchasing products that are a copy of the original, for obvious ethical reasons, but also because of the true cost of a knockoff failing in the field: serious injury to yourself or others—or a very costly tow bill if you are lucky.

Scott Brady Left:Buying an inferior or knock- off product always has a price, as an attendee at a muddy event discovered.

 

Another douche worried about how other people spend their money, while judging them. That’s all I see here.





Edit. Not you OP, I’m referring to Scott the overlander.

 

and

 

Gotta have that newest cheap, POS, Chinese made knockoff.

 

https://media.giphy.com/media/GKliD9i20iP8k/giphy.gif

 

Had a pair of knock of AirWalks from K mart when I was a kid. Didn't even know they was knock offs until I saw the same pattern AirWalks in a store.

 

Damn straight, container ships are not getting any smaller.

 

Cliff notes overlanding is stupid.

 

Got some ED meds from Canada before, can't be any better or worse than that stuff they sell at the gas station.

 

Not gonna bash the message but does anyone else find the use of hyphens suspect? Unnecessary? Random?

 

None of this matters. You know why? Cause the guy that only buys actual bottom of the barrel knockoffs (not just here and there, but always, and the low price but crap quality items) is the same guy that spouts all the bullshit about buy American, support the little guy.

The real issue is figuring out what products at the premo prices are actually worth a damn and which ones are only marginally better than the mass produced copies.

 

Although some of the examples given in the article poorly describe the issue, there is value in getting good quality products.

 

What uh.....what's happening here

 

glad i can entertain.

 

Have not seen that one. I may have to acquire one of those ass cannons for myself.

 

Wonder how many free Maxtrax and Yeti tumblers the author got for writing that article.

Capitalism - how does it work?

LOL

 

There is a difference between a knock off and a counterfeit.
A knockoff is an alternative product in a market that is similar to the market leader. You can say every car is a knockoff of Carl Benz invention in 1885. And that in itself is a knockoff of a horse drawn buggy.
A counterfeit is a fraudulent attempt to pass something off as the genuine product. If someone else was making bright orange traction boards and using the Maxx Trax logo on them and selling them as Maxx Trax then that is a counterfeit.
Knock offs promote competition in the market. Yeti (I'll get back to them later) are not the only ones who are allowed to make coolers. They are not the first. Nor will they be the last. Instead they decide to deliver a "premium" product and compete on that basis since they saw little supply in that area. Warn aren't the only ones who can build a winch for the same reason.
Knock offs do not stifle innovation. If you have a truly genuinely innovative product you can protect it with a patent.. That's why they exist. Look at factor 55. That is a truly innovative product and they have a patent on it and thus no knockoffs as of yet. Once the patent expires it surly will be replicated and then consumers will have the option to choose which route they would like to go and the competition will force factor 55 to create another new innovative product to stay relevant or to significantly improve upon existing products.
There may be safety issues factored into some of this equipment. But at the Sametime there are huge legal hurdles to overcome in that sense. If you rate a product for XYZ capacity it it fails below the set specification, it opens them up for litigation. No company wants to have that target on their back so even the lower quality brands are acceptable to use at their specified capacities. Now if you were to decide to exceed these capacities on your own will, that is where more reputable manufacturers may benefit because their safety factors may be higher.
Now back to yeti. Yeti coolers are absolutely nothing special. There are coolers that can hold ice almost as long, just as tough and cost a fraction of the price. Yeti is charging so much due to branding, not necessarily performance. They are selling you on the idea that you're cool for having a yeti. It's like beats headphones (which suck, literally ask anyone in the audio industry) or supreme clothing (regular old t-shirt with a logo slapped on it). RTIC can sell a very similar product for much less because they're simply not Yeti and not selling the name. It's amazing to see how much branding and brand image could drive purchase decisions over actual product performance. You can save a lot of money if you stop paying for cool factor.

Edit: curious if anyone is actually going to read this.

 

gonna have to ASk OP

We could probably get a group buy. Whos down for an ass cannon?

 

some of us shop for items that dont have a retardedly inflated price... like maxtrax you can spend $350 for a pair.. or you can go on Amazon and buy a pair of lookalikes/copies that may do the job, but for $250 less... sorry but if the $80 treadboards will get me out of a hole/mess.. ill use them.. and those $350 boards can suck it.. havent made up my mind yet... but I will get something... soon..