Helmet strap fraying

It's a similar reason to why we almost buy the store-brand equivalent
when doing our grocery shopping - 90% of the time it's made by the same
mob who do the premium product, but packaged in cheap-arse looking
packaging to generate an illusion of quality differentiation. People
don't want to be thought to be tight arses, so they buy the premium
product wherever possible, not realising that the extra cost is pretty
much pure profit for the stores based on nothing more than fancy wrapping.

On those rare occasions where there actually is a difference in
superiority to match the price, then we'll buy the premium product. But
otherwise, we save about $20-$30+ per fortnight on our shopping.

Companies (including helmet manufacturers as well as supermarkets) are
well aware that the average consumer is not like us, and prefers to make
their purchasing decisions based on ego rather than value. So they
happily pander to that desire by producing all manner of fancy-looking
add-ons for very little extra cost and then marking them up enormously
because it 'looks' like a more expensive (and therefore higher
quality???) product.

 

The most comfortable helmet I've ever owned/wore was my old $250 Zeus
flip-front! I bought a new helmet when I got my new bike, because the
Zeus was 6 years old and had been knocked around a fair bit over the
years (including losing the air-vent cover thingy on the top), and I
went with a $400 Nolan this time. The only reason I went with the Nolan
instead of another Zeus (which are now under $200) is because the Nolan
came with an anti-fog insert and also had an additional external
sunvisor (which is important when you wear glasses and don't have
prescription sunnies) - but it was still the next cheapest available did
the job. The Nolan actually only cost about $300 anyway, as I bought it
at the same time as the bike and got a good discount.

As for issues of fit/comfort, I've always had problems finding hats etc
that fit properly due to the shape of my head. But I had no such
problems at all with the Zeus or Nolan helmets, neither of which cost
anywhere near $1000.

 

Pity the narrow minded individuals like yourself who choose to judge
people on the contents of their shopping trolley. Some people buy the
name brand Australian made products in preference to the home brand
(cheaper) imports which may be equivalent in quality, but offer little
or no additional benefit to the local economy nor the flowon benefits
that the whole community enjoys as a result of that.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

well after all that talk there seem to be two practical suggestions

the helmet is a few years old so warrantee is not an option

it probably didn't cost me $1K, but it was still a lot of money. I had a
Shoei which cost about the same but didn't give me this problem dspite
lasting a lot longer, and yes, I suppose that (perhaps naively) I expect
to get a bit more quality when I spend more money. I know it's a market
economy, but I reckon most ppl would think this is not unreasonable.

sorry I haven't got back earlier, I appreciate all the suggestions/ideas

cheers
Steve

 

That's an interesting interpretation of what I said, but too bad it
bears no resemblance to the truth! I was making no judgement at all
about any individuals, irrespective of which products they purchase.
What I was doing, however, was making a simple but factual observation
about the basic psychology of shoppers which is used by manufacturers
and shops to increase their profits. But hey, if you think you know more
about this than economics and social experts, then go right ahead and
keep making erroneous judgements and assumptions...

 

I think your newsreader truncated your post. Your citations of
economics and social experts appears to have been omitted.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

If only we were all as perfect as you Nev, the world would be a
different place. Too bad we'll just have to keep living in this one
then, hey?

 

I'm wondering what your point actually is, given that I specifically
referred to home brand products made by the SAME manufacturer on the
SAME production lines as the premium products? If two products come off
the same production line right here in Australia, how can one be local
and the other an import? And yet that's what you're arguing for anyway.

oh well, at least no one can ever accuse you of being intelligent!

 

Hey, I gave a personal opinion, and you refuted that with a claim that
the "experts" disagreed with my personal opinion. I think it's
perfectly reasonable for me to ask for some evidence of the "expert
opinion" that you are citing. Of course, you can keep dodging the issue
if you want. This was your 3Ord post on the issue so based on past form
I'm expecting the insults and name calling to start any time now.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

Look at that, right on cue. Damien's 4th post and the personal insults
have begun. Thanks for not disappointing.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

Your assumption that manufacturers use identical ingredients to produce
similar products, where one product carries their name and reputation
and the alternative is a cheaper third party product, is probably flawed.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

hmmm...says the person whose own contribution to this part of the thread
began with "pity the narrow minded individuals like yourself..."

So it's okay for Nev to get stuck into others with personal insults, but
it's not okay for others to defend themselves against him? yep, that
sounds like Nev, alright.

 

Actually Nev, in many cases it's pretty much spot on and far from an
assumption at all. Of course, there are also many examples of products
where various ingredients are substituted for cheaper (but not
necessarily always inferior) alternatives in order to obtain the
necessary price difference.

The main point though is that in most cases, irrespective of whatever
the ingredients may be, the major factor in determining prices (between
home and premium brand products made by the same manufacturer) is the
packaging. Your view that one Australian company makes the premium
product while another international company makes the house product is
so delightfully naive as to be one of the funniest things you've come up
with in quite some time, I must say.

You might want to look up "differential pricing" before you try to make
any more fatally flawed contributions to this discussion. When you do,
you will find that it is basically defined as being when companies
artificially create product differentiation through a variety of
strategies (such as using extraordinarily plain and unattractive
packaging for a house product, and fancy prestige packaging for a
premium product that is otherwise identical or very close to) in order
to broaden their market penetration and thus maximise profits. Which has
been my point since the start.

Of course, I'm not expecting you will do this, as it will force you to
admit that I was right and you were wrong, so I'll just wait for another
personal attack instead, since that's pretty much all you're on here for
anyway.

 

While you've got your marketing textbooks open you might want to keep
perusing down the page to the part where it talks about what you do
when you're supplying to a competitor for retail sale.

JL
(hint it's not the same when Coles are making the retail margins as
when you are)

 

I'm just talking from personal experience when I've had to decide
between two products, one with a brand name and "Product of Australia"
on the label and another with a house brand label and "Product of
Thailand" or "Product of China" on the label, but of course if you wish
to pretend that I made that up for your amusement then that's your
prerogative.

So it's the manufacturer who determines what the packaging on the goods
they're creating for house brand customers will be, and not the house
brand itself who determines what their product packaging will be? Do
you think the marketers of home brand product don't want their products
to look cheaper on the shelf. Interesting.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

Nev, you are either incredibly stupid, or a troll. Or both, probably.
Neither option warrants wasting any more time trying to explain the
bleeding obvious to you though, given your inability to grasp it thus far.

 

You're the one around here who self-confesses to being a troll after
arguing the absurd PoV. No need to try to pin that one on me.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

No, I did know that - I just took the (incredibly naive and rather
stupid) risk of assuming that maybe I'd catch him in a rare moment of
rationality.

 

Thought you'd already given up on this thread... just had to squeeze in
a few more personal insults too prop up your arguments eh. Well done.

Nev..
'07 XB12X

 

My argument stands on its own, and despite your delusions remains
solidly upright and true. These latter comments are just a couple of
cheap shots at your expense, no more or less.