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winch steals


94extreme
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Good lookin out on prices .. I would buy one if it wouldnt cost me over a Grand to put it on my 2001 Pathy :o The only winch mount for my ride is a ARB Bull Bar which costs over a grand ! :oops:

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Nice find on the winch price...in Canada at Sam's Club you could get a cheap winch for like $300, I forget the name of them though.

Saw those here at Sam's, they are 8k electrics. Was tempted to buy one, buy the wife shot that down :o

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Why is this one so much cheaper? With the $60 instant rebate that's $389 for a 9000# winch.

milemarker_e9000_b.jpg

 

 

I'd like a winch, but also am discouraged by the cost of a bumper to be able to hold the winch.

thats a mile marker winch.. nothing wrong with them. the hydraulic version is used on military rigs

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Well... shoot. I saw an ad someplace and now I can't remember where...

 

In a nutshell, it showed the "low end" mile marker right next to the "thing" sold by Harbor Freight.

They were virtually identical! Both made in China, both had same claimed power ratings and stats, the only difference was the HF version had even cheasier switches and parts. But cosmetically, just a color change.

 

Wait - it was in an article in one of the 4-wheeler rags last month, or a couple months ago and they published pictures and specs on a couple dozen winches.

 

The moral: Mile Marker DOES design and make some darned good winches.

But some Harvard School of Business grad also convinced them to "private label" some imported stuff as well.

 

So let the buyer beware! DO YOUR RESEARCH!

 

If it looks too good to be true, well, duhh, you know the rest...

Edited by mws
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Yeah, I saw that too and was wondering about that. So the concensus there would be Mile Marker is rebranding the HF import cheapo, not HF getting ahold of the Mile Marker unit? That sucks. I love Harbor Freight for cheap basic tools and stuff that will usually get the job done, but I don't think so when it comes to my limbs or life.

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I honestly don't know the exact details... but I think the most likely scenario (based on so many past stories I've heard, read about, or been personally involved in):

 

1) Mile Marker is a quality designer and manufacturer of products.

2) They hired an edjukated sales/marketing manager from Haaaahvad.

3) Said manager tells them what they REALLY need is a really low cost entry level product to boost sales and make them all millionaires.

4) Mile Marker designers comes up a lower cost design that, if built just right, could just meet customer needs.

5) Marketing manager hires old college buddy outsourcing consultant (aka shyster) who charges Mile Marker an exorbitant sum to find a low cost offshore manufacturer that "can produce the product to unbelievable high quality standards for even less than the materials cost".

6) Said manager takes cash from buddy/shyster and locks Mile Marker into a 5 million piece contract. Gets massive bonus. Leaves company before truth can come out....

7) Shyster gives contract to some import company, who contracts with some Chinese exporter, who contracts with some sweatshop in rural China employing sub-slave condition child labor (gotta keep that 3 layers of deniability!

8) After the 20th submission of crappy first article samples that STILL fail to meet minimum requirements are submitted to Mile Marker, the designers are brow beaten by management to approve it so they can start selling them as they have invested way too much money with no return.

9) Sweat shop starts production, randomly substituting in crappy sub standard components and hires even less trained (and probably sexually abused) child labor.

10) Mile Marker realizes they are stuck with 5 million pieces of junk they are embarrassed to put their name on, but they gotta get rid of it because their cash flow is hemorhaging red... so they reluctantly keep selling it. Keep cutting price. Hire a bunch of customer service persons to deal with complaints. Struggle to survive. Realize they've learned a lot, and hope the business can possibly survive to never repeat the same stupid and obvious mistake.

11) Sweat shop keeps building the same stuff and offer to any and all bidders, because afterall, the contracts, patents, non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality agreements and gentlemen's agreements they made with Mile Marker do NOT have any legally binding effect in China. SUCKERS!!!!!

12) Harbor Freight buys and sells with their name on it.

 

And that, boys and girls, is "modern business".

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Oh, I forgot the best part:

 

Because of the massive financial losses, Mile Marker ends up laying off almost all of their workers. Instead of their middle class jobs with benefits, they all pray for part time work at Wal-Mart (or even more ironically, Harbor Freight) for minimum wages and no benefits.

 

In the background, Bush assures the US all is well because those persons ARE still employed and his employment numbers show all is good. Amuse him and don't point out that the way he has the labor department manipulate the data to consider those two jobs to be equal is a complete crock.

 

Oh, and only 10 service people died today in a misrepresented invasion and hopeless war.

 

Man, reality so bites.

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