Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 03:22:27 -0500
Reply-To: Jonathan Farrugia <jfarrugi@UMICH.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jonathan Farrugia <jfarrugi@UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Anybody up for the UK quick shift kit at about $55 plus
shipping?
In-Reply-To: <a05210601bc756ec45943@[172.20.22.138]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
i understand your point, as i have had many ideas taken from me and
employeed by others at my loss. but alas that is the way of the world we
live in, unless you are willing to patent your ideas/inventions then they
are fair game for any one to copy. my brother has been researching this
stuff for some time now as he is developing a product. there are a couple
of different philosophies/strategies for making a product without a
patent. the most used as i understand it is, that the person tries to
keep their product as low key as possible in the development stages. then
be the first to exploit the market and basically flood the market at the
lowest possible price to keep competition from tooling up to make the same
product.
i would imagine that thats sort of what berg did but, now they have
drastically begun raising the price and that invites competition. they
could have easily stayed their hand and there would have been no incentive
for competition since the vanagon short shift market is relatively small.
jonathan
On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, Joe Federici wrote:
> my point was, is that if someone takes the time to makes or design
> something it's wrong to just send it off to a shop and say copy this.
>
> I don't know the manufacture or if he spent time designing and
> testing it or maybe just copied it from another person. I've seen
> this type of thing done time and time again on internet list in the
> long run it really doesn't pay. I'm not worried about USA or going
> over seas to get it done. Yes I realize we all have vans that weren't
> made in the US.
>
> JFF
>
>
>
> > > So now people aren't happy with the price so they
> >> want to go over seas to find something cheaper.
> >>
> >> Well personally that sucks . .and I would ask anyone doing
> >> this to stop and think. Are you really saving money?
> >
> >
> >Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point. It is to "buy American" even at a
> >higher cost? If so, how does this position jibe with the fact that this
> >would just become one more foreign made part on a vehicle that already
> >consists of virtually 100% foreign made parts? After all, this is a
> >German van! Not to put down anyone who takes a protectionist economic
> >view (who am I to pass judgement), but I must admit that most people I
> >know who subscribe to that philosophy do drive American made cars. Such
> >a position would seem to be largely incompatible with Volkswagen
> >ownership (Ooh boy, I see a heck of an off-topic thread rearing its
> >ugly head.. :-)
> >
> >On the other hand, if you're suggesting that $55 plus
> >shipping/duty/brokerage might begin to approach the $100 cost of the
> >Berg part, which has known quality and can be bought one at a time by
> >individual listmembers as desired.... well, then that is an entirely
> >different issue. I suppose it would depend on the total delivered cost,
> >the inconvenience involved (for both group buy organizer and members),
> >and the reputation of the British made alternative.
> >
> >As I said, I'll check and see if I can provide a third alternative.
> >Actually I already sent out one inquiry. Frankly I wouldn't rate the
> >odds as being particularly high, but there's certainly no harm in
> >asking, and nothing to lose by giving it a week or so just in case...
> >
> >- Ron Salmon
> > The Bus Depot, Inc.
> > www.busdepot.com
> > (215) 234-VWVW
> >
> >_____________________________________________
> >Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
>
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