RTIC equal to Yeti...not so fast

ksmyrl

I can't wait for my RTIC 65 to be delivered just in time for Thanksgiving and a nice fishing trip. Thanks to @SGH I ordered early. But, I went into my local dealer today to get some Yeti Ramblers as gifts for my kid's soccer coach...no dice, they were out. I ran next door to Dicks Sporting goods, OUT. I called three more stores and found some at the ACE near work. I bought 2 of the last 4 on the shelf. They said that "Yeti was running out and they hope to have more on the shelves in late February". Say huh??? No ramblers for sale during the holiday season? Somebody at Yeti is getting fired over this I bet. Unless sales really have outpaced the forecasts by that much.

RTIC if you are out there listening, we need more drink ware, stat.

SGH

ksmyrl said:

RTIC if you are out there listening, we need more drink ware, stat.

Give it time my friend. I'm sure that they will start producing them. 

stompbox

Thread title is confusing. Thought this would be a rtic bashing thread.....  but it is a yeti bashing thread?  So confused. 

SGH

stompbox said:

Thought this would be a rtic bashing thread.....  

Bashing is not allowed on the forum

4Runner

SGH said:

ksmyrl said:

RTIC if you are out there listening, we need more drink ware, stat.

Give it time my friend. I'm sure that they will start producing them. 

They need time to steal the engineering specs.  

SGH

4Runner said:

They need time to steal the engineering specs.  

I think the key word is "improve" not steal. 

4Runner

SGH said:

4Runner said:

They need time to steal the engineering specs.  

I think the key word is "improve" not steal. 

Tomato potato.  How about copy?   They are clearly coping.  They do improve the price point...that's to be expected from a copy of course as I would think their R&D and marketing must be a fraction.  I guess the courts will decide if they are stealing or not.  

nolaegghead

He who controls supply relative to demand, also controls price.   That's one reason they're so damn expensive.  Another is they don't really have much competition.

SGH

4Runner said:
I guess the courts will decide if they are stealing or not.  

Im pretty sure that the court battle is over. That was the reason for the delayed shipping. Yeti was crying and complaining again that someone else was making a rotomolded cooler. Looks like all ended well as RTIC is now shipping. 

bgebrent

I'm pretty sure my RTIC 45 held my brined turkey until I wanted to cook it. Great cooler!  Thank you my friend @SGH.

SGH

bgebrent said:

 Thank you my friend @SGH.

My pleasure brother. Check out my song I'm writing for RTIC. The first verse is posted on the thread Yeti made it into a country song. 

4Runner

SGH said:

4Runner said:
I guess the courts will decide if they are stealing or not.  

Im pretty sure that the court battle is over. That was the reason for the delayed shipping. Yeti was crying and complaining again that someone else was making a rotomolded cooler. Looks like all ended well as RTIC is now shipping. 

Not sure but it could be going. Also, nothing wrong with a company for crying and complaining about a copy cat. I posted this before, at least RTIC could have done is used different colors and changed the look a bit and tried to be slightly different.  But given their ads they clearly want to look and feel like a Yeti in every way but cost. Still, just doesn't seem right.  Again, don't care about the technology and roto crap as I assume that is a free for all...just can't get past the copy paste of the look and the ads of ,"hey, we are just as good as our competitor we copied"... "Come preorder and we will ship your cooler in the coming months". Just me I guess

SGH

@4Runner
I understand what you are saying to a degree about copying. But with that said, look back through history. If you applied the same logic to everyone we would only have Ford automobiles, John Deere Tractors, Apple IPhones. The list just goes on and on. It's true of every product out there. Someone made it first. And I understand brand loyalty as well. I happen to be very partial to John Deere and Apple. But I don't think that John Deere should be the only manufacturer of heavy equipment nor Apple the only manufacturer of smartphones. Any way you look at it, any tractor made is somehow a copy, same with a smartphone. Most of us had never even heard the term smartphone until Apple released the original IPhone. Every smartphone made since its original release is basically a copy of a original idea. It does seem like a bad deal when someone rips off someone else's idea. But this is not new at all. Look at medicine, once something new comes out, eventually a generic (copy) comes down the pike. Its just the way that it is. For the record, I own a few Yeti products. It's good stuff but over priced. Because of Yeti, we now have even higher quality products on the market. Competition usually increases quality and lower prices. And that's a good thing. If Yeti lowers prices, this will be a direct result of all the competition coming to market as of late. Competition is usually a win for the consumer. As such, I welcome it. 

nolaegghead

Free market economy, right?  Patents and trademarks are REGULATION of intellectual property.  And we all know, the idealistic mantra is REGULATION IS BAD, M'KAY.  This is sarcasm, if you don't know.

SGH

nolaegghead said:

This is sarcasm

One of my favorites

SGH

@nolaegghead I have been working on verse 2 of my Yeti song. Would you be willing to look at it and offer your thoughts and some constructive criticism? 

SGH

Yeti, smeti

SGH

@nolaegghead - Are you ignoring me?????

nolaegghead

"I find it very very easy to be true...
That Yeti made a fool out of you.....

They robbed you with a smile on their face....
Now you are feeling like a discrace....

They are laughing all the way to the bank.....
Because you bought their raggedy high priced ice tank.....

RTIC came along and kicked their a$$....
But it's to late, Yeti already has got your cash......"

Although hindsight begets a most painful regret
The Yeti emblem is totally a chick magnet

SGH

@nolaegghead We should have been song writers my friend. 

SGH

nolaegghead said:

Free market economy, right?  Patents and trademarks are REGULATION of intellectual property.  And we all know, the idealistic mantra is REGULATION IS BAD, M'KAY.  This is sarcasm, if you don't know.

I know it's sarcasm my friend. But I think in Yetis case it's what's referred to as "Inventors Dilemma". This is where the inventor of a product starts loosing out to competitors that are coming into the game with equal or often times better products at a reduced cost. Be they a direct or indirect copy of the original product. You see it with just about everything, from smart phones to medicine and everything in between. We see it very often in the oil industry. Again, the upshot of it is that more often than not, it forces the inventor to lower their price and/or increase quality themselves. This is a win win for the consumer. On one hand I can see the argument that it's not fair to the inventor. On the other hand when there is only one manufacturer of a particular product, usually the consumer gets gouged. There is no denying that Yeti took full advantage of this. Case in point, I paid 379.99 for a 55 quart Yeti (that's not even 55 quarts) and 200.00 for a 65 quart RTIC (Yeti a$$ kicker) that has thicker side walls, a thicker lid, and a thicker bottom. Looking at it in a practical sense the RTIC should cost more. First they are a new manufacturer (start up cost) second you are getting more material and insulation, and third they are paying to ship it. All this and yet it's almost half price of a comparable size Yeti that has been on the market for many years. I'm not belittling Yeti in any way. Just stating the obvious that they gouged the crap out of consumers when the ball was in their court. With all the new manufactures getting into the game, Yeti will either lower prices or raise the bar again in the cooler industry if they want to maintain the lions share. Either way it will be a good thing for the consumer. 

HeavyG

I think with Yeti part of their pricing strategy is the thought that "if it costs more it must be better".

A surprising number of folks "buy" in to that notion. 

Lit

The academy by my house the other day had a couple hundred on the shelf.

MelSharples

@ksmyrl try Mori Luggage, they carry all the Yeti products and no one thinks to look there so they usually have them in stock.  I bought a 30oz at the Mall of Georgia store and the shelf was full.

fishlessman

cabelas online shows them in stock

Photo Egg

HeavyG said:

I think with Yeti part of their pricing strategy is the thought that "if it costs more it must be better".

A surprising number of folks "buy" in to that notion. 

and some people just blow hot air

4Runner

But at least tractors are different colors and have different design facets.  Apple brought the product to market and was much different from the initial discovery that was not market worthy.  Those are all different.  This is closer to buying a Rolex from China minus the brand name.  

fishlessman

4Runner said:

But at least tractors are different colors and have different design facets.  Apple brought the product to market and was much different from the initial discovery that was not market worthy.  Those are all different.  This is closer to buying a Rolex from China minus the brand name.  

to get a usa made yeti you have to call and order it direct from yeti, they have 3 plants, ones in the phillipines, my bet is most are made there and it would be hard to say made or assembled there

SGH

@fishlessman
Did you see my Yeti song on the other thread? If so, what did you think? 

fishlessman

if rtic has a customer comment section you should send it in

SGH

fishlessman said:

if rtic has a customer comment section you should send it in

You know I am brother. They may make me their spokesman after hearing my song