Pricing, Crossbows and Costs of Different Things

This past weekend, we spent a few minutes thinking about “cost.” It began with travel to Penn State University to attend a graduation ceremony. After checking the internet, we found a nice room for $99.00. We called the same hotel directly to ask a few questions and they mentioned they had a “Special Graduation Room Rate” for this weekend. Well that sounded even better until the young lady said the special rate was $132.00 — same room. Yes – a bit deceptive. That is 33% higher for the same product. We could only laugh and the young lady did as well. The internet is a great tool for information sharing and we felt good about our $99 purchase.

A graduation ceremony can be a long affair as a few hundred students are called to the stage one after the other — and really, most family attendees have travelled a long way only to hear one name called and see that student walk, get a handshake and rightfully smile. There was plenty of free time to think about the economics of education. College is an expensive proposition. Again, the wheels began to turn and we noted the student we came to support graduated in 3.5 years vs. a national average of 4.7 years to receive a Bachelors Degree. The cost of moving slower vs graduating earlier cost 34 % more. (That difference could buy a lot of Kodabows.) We felt good a second time. What does this have to do with crossbows? When we make and sell crossbows at Kodabow, we look at value in an unconventional manner. We dig deep. In the past week, we spoke with a consumer who had purchased a competitive crossbow only to give up on that product and buy a Kodabow. It was an extreme case. After the 5th time his crossbow failed and after numerous replacements, he just totally gave up on his initial choice and bought a Kodabow. Initially, he placed a lot of value on this first bow and the warranty that came with it but he became flat “worn out” shipping his bow back and forth and dealing with customer service and it all became worthless. It was a 100% loss. Same for the man who bought a crossbow that came with a cheap scope that required replacement before he could confidently head to the woods. Another gent stopped by and described how he had just spent $100.00 to replace his cables and strings on another relatively newly purchased brand and that math calculation showed about a 15% cost penalty if he could have avoided that event. In today’s economy, value is very important. There is also a lot of misinformation and a consumer needs to be smart. At Kodabow, we think we measure up and we will always give you straight answers and not be deceptive. Many of our customers are serious hunters and hardworking people who do not toss their discretionary income around casually. Buying a Kodabow is a big decision. We appreciate that viewpoint because we look at value the same way and believe the long term cost of Kodabow ownership is low. We know crossbows are complex products and things can go awry from time to time …… but we will also tell you that we make a maximum effort to deliver honest to goodness value without cutting any corners and we hope that if you handle a Kodabow, own a Kodabow, shoot a Kodabow or ever visit with us, you can clearly see the value in our product. We feel good about that – third time in a weekend.

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