"Bradford R. Crain" wrote: >>>>>When I bought my paddling jacket, there was a choice of blue or orange, the jackets being identical otherwise. I wanted the blue one, but the salesperson said if I took the orange one, they would give me a $50 discount. Without using a calculator, I took the orange one. Years later, I finally figured out their strategy...they wanted to keep me alive so that I would come back and buy some more stuff.<<<<<<<<< Sorry to disillusion you Brad, but if the shop really cared about you they probably wouldn't carry the blue color at all. Or maybe just keep a few blue ones around so they could say that they could sell you a blue like the next shop down the street but would prefer not to because you would be much safer wearing orange. Back when I worked for Early Winters in the late 1970's they came out with some pile garments (this was about when pile garments first came out). The color choice was blue or orange and we had made an equal number of each color. They had so many orange ones left by the time the next catalog came out (6 month's later so they could raise prices again as inflation raged on and wiped out their profit if they didn't) the marketing genius thought he had the solution. In the earlier catalog a blue jacket was featured. So, having the faith in advertising that he had, he decided to feature the orange garments in all the new catalog pictures. All that did was mean was that Early Winters sold a lot less of those garments in either color until the next catalog came out six month later and the mistake could be corrected. So I suspect the paddling shop was willing to give you that $50 discount because that was the only way they could unload that orange turkey (before it became an obsolete model and worth even less). I'm not a fanatic about PFD use and always hated to have to wear one when I raced because overheating was often an issue for me. I once made the mistake of racing in one without a T-shirt under it on a hot day (when wearing a PFD had been required by the race organizers). Big mistake! It rubbed my nipples so raw on the nylon that they still seem overly sensitive to friction over 25 years later. I have no problem with any group requiring much of anything they want of those that want to join them. Nobody is forcing me to join there group. I'll strongly oppose any law that enforces compliance on behavior that doesn't harm others though. I'd prefer those I paddle with wear PFD's and might even ask them to wear one so any picture I might take with them anywhere in the photo would be saleable if I wanted to sell it. One paddler I paddled on the Northwest coast of Vancouver Island with didn't wear a PFD but this same paddler had previously paddled the entire outer coast between Seattle and Glacier Bay (much of it solo) so I figured he had earned the right make up his own mind about paddling related things. As he was a semi-professional photographer (and has at least two Sea Kayaker magazine covers to his credit) he did relate to my photo/model argument but his PFD was so ratty (and to add insult to injury, a faded orange too) that a photo with him in it wouldn't likely to be used by anyone anyhow. These days you couldn't easily edit a PFD deficient paddler right out of the picture. At least if they were in the background. One of his pictures from our trip was the first photo (and the only one I know of) that Sea Kayaker ever altered. It was a great photo of the third paddler in our trio surfing straight at the camera, but the paddler's face was too shaded and dark so Sea Kayaker wasn't going to use it. I suggested they could selectively lighten just the paddlers face in the print they would make from the slide and they did. I was in that picture frame too but you can't see me because I was completely obscured by the wave the subject was surfing. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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