junk@ur-tut.UUCP (Jan Vandenbrande) (02/26/86)
.... A friend of mine (who has a friend working in a plant where stereo equipment is made) claims the following: Each finished article is checked against a reference (what ever that actually may be) in the factory. If the article is superior to the refernce it gets a good grade (A), if it just about matches the refernce (+/- some tolerance) it gets a passing grade (P), and those who are below the standard a failing grade. The friend claims that the stereo components with grade A go to the "fine" stores, the ones with a passing grade to the discount stores. What happens to those that failed he did not want to elaborate. I assume that they fix them up and than sell "em. Unfortunately when you buy an item from a "good" store you are not guaranteed a prime specimen. I don't know how true this is, but it seems quite plausible. Naturally, the consumer will not have any notion of what quality he is getting (based on price alone). May be the "better" manufactures have such high standards that what ever they sell will always be a prime specimen. Jan.
schley@mmm.UUCP (Steve Schley) (03/06/86)
In article <400@ur-tut.UUCP> junk@ur-tut.UUCP (Jan Vandenbrande) writes: >.... > A friend of mine (who has a friend working in a plant where > stereo equipment is made) claims the following: > Each finished article is checked against a reference (what ever that > actually may be) in the factory. If the article is superior > to the refernce it gets a good grade (A), if it just about matches > the refernce (+/- some tolerance) it gets a passing grade (P), and > those who are below the standard a failing grade. > > The friend claims that the stereo components with grade A go to > the "fine" stores, the ones with a passing grade to the discount > stores. What happens to those that failed he did not want to > elaborate. I assume that they fix them up and than sell "em. > I find this very hard to believe. I have been acquainted with some local manufacturers of audio equipment (Magnepan, Audio Research, DLK, SoundMates/Janszen), and I have never experienced anything like this. What I have seen is this: Some manufacturers have better quality control, and all their products are high quality, whereas other manufacturers have poorer quality control, and an individual product's quality is governed more by chance. I cannot fathom a manufacturer allowing their quality to drop while at the same time instituting a "selection" process at the end. It's more difficult to do what you suggest than to get control of the quality process. I think that your friend is having a bit of fun with you. I am glad that you didn't post the name of the manufacturer; ugly rumors are dreadfully hard to stop once they've been started. By the way, there is something known in the retailing business as B-goods. These, as I understand it, are products that were returned by purchasers under warranty, and have been "factory refurbished", whatever that might mean. They are (in my experience) clearly labeled as B-goods and command stiff pricing reductions over the standard fare. -- Steve Schley ihnp4!mmm!schley