Boycott Normark Products

[Pissed _off]

Been fishing for nearly 30 years and when rapala was a good product hand crafted evenly priced..Since Normark of Minneapolis has gotten there hands involved holly ##### what a mess...##### Minnesotans........ So try spending your money on the other products lets make them bring their price down....

[Not pissed off]

So what's your beef? You didn't mention anything specific except perhaps price. Ever heard of "what the market will bear"? My guess is Rapalas are more expensive because people are willing to pay for the best. And by the way, I believe they are the best. And so do lots of others.

Your complaint and your suggestion of boycott was LAME.

[Gary Gray]

Lures in general are all going up in price. This is brought on by bigger demands, which is created by more people using the product. Normark/Storm is a Great co. and will continue to make the same lures as before, with the exception of a few, but those are usually replaced with new idea's. The more the demand, the more employee's to do the job, and the cost of all of this is passed down the line to the market. You have to remember, what did you make for wages 10 yrs ago, well, these lures companies have been around for a lot longer, and as the cost goes up, so has your wages. Everything no days, has gone up in price, we just have to face the fact, if we enjoy the sport, we have to pay the price.

[ITS MY MONEY]

WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE OF (YO-ZURI) GIVE ME A BREAK!! RAPALA AND NORMARK HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR YEARS AND PRODUCE !!!! GREAT REPUTATION ALSO. LETS SEE,TOURNAMENTS SPONSORED BY THEM, T.V. SHOWS, WEB-SITES GET WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS. ITS CALLED THE COST OF BUSINESS. EVEN THE TECHNOLOGY IS BETTER.I AM SURE YOU ARE NOT FISHING IN A BOAT 20 OR 30 YEARS OLD BECAUSE THE COST OF A NEW ONE IS TO HIGH. DO YOU HAVE A TROLLING MOTOR, NEWER OUTBOARD, GPS, FISHFINDER (NOT A FLASHER) ETC. TIMES HAVE CHANGED AND SO HAS FISHING AND THE INDUSTRY!!!! LET THOSE THAT WANT CERTAIN PRODUCTS BY THEM!! ITS OUR MONEY AND OUR OPINION.IF YOU WATCH THIS SITE THERE IS ALOT OF WISDOM AND SHARING OF KNOWLEDGE!!! LETS KEEP IT THAT WAY. FISHING IS FUN LETS.BY THE WAY NOBODY IS FORCING YOU OR ANYONE ELSE TO BY ANTHING. THE EQUIPMENT IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE FISHERMAN. I HOPE YOU ARE NOT THE TYPE OF PERSON OR NEIGHBOR THAT YELLS AT PEOPLE EVERYTIME THEY STEP ON YOUR LAWN!! LIGHTEN UP AND ENJOY LIFE LIKE THE REST OF US DO ON THIS WEB-SITE

[AquaMan]

Can't say your post has much merit and I take particuar offence to your remark about Minesotans. What is your point and further more, what do Minesotans have to do with your rage?

Ease up there, dude!

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[john mannerino]

Nobody is twisting your arm to buy them,if there out of your price range,go to the bargin basket at wallmart and buy something else.you get what you pay for in this world.John

[Nice annonymous Rant]

Well P' O'd I guess that means you gotta Boycott Walleye Central. Or did you not see their logo everywhere on this site? Maybe your opiniobn would gain more credibilty if you took your head out of your backside and alsop left your name on your post. And yes I would have left my name if you would have left yours.

[ufda]

Another example of someone who has no idea what they are talking about. First of all, Normark started in Minn. It has to be 30 years ago that they brought the Rapala to the public, (actually it was 1959) so if it hadn't been for them, Lauri and Risto and their family would still be unknown in the U.S. I remember when Ray Ostrom started getting involved out of his boat store in So. Minneapolis. Anyway, if you want to know the real story instead of listening to someone who simply wants to rant, go to the Normark website and go to www.Normark.com/makeFrmCompany.asp and you can read their entire history. Very interesting. By the way, I am not involved in the firm in any way. I don't even own their stock. I'm just tired of guys who practice on themselves to become proctologists.
ufda

[Fuzzy]

I'm with you. There are other brands to swtich if price becomes a major decision factor on a crankbait. Besides the prices are still fair. Don't get your bunnies in a bramble over it - you've seen more outrageous things in those 30 years I'm sure.

[cnoevil]

Facts are always good, and those are the facts as I know them.

For me, personally, some of my biggest and bestest fish have been landed on raps...and (unless you tie lousy knots) they last an awful long time. [And if you buy floating raps, they still last a long time cuz you can retrieve them after tying the lousy knots.]

Just out of curiosity, is there a full moon, or are people just cranky in general. Wow...to get so ticked off over someone's product is...wow. Are you going to rip on how much your boat cost next? Or your car? Or your beverage of choice? Geeze, look how much it costs to go to a movie. Consumer choice, I guess. Fortunately you have the choice to buy or not. Mine is to stick with Raps!

[Ron]

Pissed_off,

I have some real honeys in my tackle box that I will give you a great deal on. My Raps aren't for sale.

Ron

[WAeyes]

Yea thats it, I'm gonna stop using my most productive baits because you want me to hop on your silly bandwagon- not happening man! My Rap baits are still under $5.00. What's your beef?

[jimbo2]

If you come around me this summer, you can change your name from pissed off to PISSED ON!!!!
go away, and play nice.

[C/B]

With thousands of $$$ in boat/motor who would cry-baby over the price of baits?You remind me of friend who complains about the price of a dozen minnows as he sits at the bar sucking down beers at $2.50 each.Prices on fishing equipment are a bargain!I paid $30-40 for a rod or reel in 1966 that no way was as good as todays $30-40 rod or reel.Boycot Rapala?I could as I have enough Shad Raps to last me a lifetime and I paid for each and every one!

[eric]

And after that maybe we should boycott worms .

[Frank from TBay]

Saw an interesting program, I think it was fishing with Joe Bucher. He went to Finland for fishing and while there did a tour of the Rapala plant. I was amazed at the quality control,the tank testing and the care that went into the product. I have a good selection of Raps and I appreciate them more now having seen the program.
Good Fishing: Frank

[Minnesota]

Can you be specific about why you are angered by the price of the new Rapala lures? I would like to better understand where you are coming from. You would not be angry if you did not care about their products. So, you must use them. I was a little sirprised when I saw the price at first too. For years Shad Raps have been productive and inexpensive at the same time. I am not sure how many other companies have tried to copy the design over the years but you can bet there has been plenty. Now, Normark has designed a crank that is similar in design to the Cotton Cordell Walleye Diver(so has Storm by the way) and they are asking a higher price for it. This seems to anger you. Why would you begrudge their testing the point of economic diminishing returns like any smart company would do? Maybe you should wait and see how well they work or wait for the prices to come down before becoming angry. I will probably try a few and stick mostly with my divers and Shad Raps etc.. this year myself. Maybe you should do the same and show a little respect for a company that has meant so much to the fishing industry.

Minnesota

[Tackleman]

PO'd, there are many good points in these replies. As well there are many other reasons lures/tackle may cost more these days, how about the excise tax, 10% of every $1.00 in profit goes to that tax, plus try making them in America! We Americans demand good pay for a days work, from top to bottom. Advertising costs, labor, packaging, shipping, everything that gets the product to the consumer costs more these days, so give the poor tackle manufacturer their dues for bringing a good (most of them) product to the market. If you see all the companies going down in flames these days it is not because most of them can't sell a few lures, it's because it cost too much to produce small item (price wise) lures and keep them visible. The only viable companies on the market these days are either garage companies, or the big companies with varied products lines.
From one who knows.

[BD]

Ron; I don't agree with PO'd but my Raps were retired to the wife's rummage sale. It was in the paper. You could have stopped by.

"An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of rivers doing nothing because his wife won't let him do it at home." --- Irish saying

[River_eye]

You have about as much credibility as the person who started this thread. Accusing sombody of an anonomous rant and then doing one your self?

River eye

[vetspet(ind)]

hope you don't come to my clinic...we are pretty steep...but we have nearly all the toys to insure your pet is in good shape before we do surgery...we have most all the diagnostics to find out what ails "duke" when he is sick and you want answers...i'm looking at an ultrasound...telemedicine unit that costs 55,000 dollars...thats a lot of bucks for a small guy to spend...but... my clients demand it...so i gotta charge when they come in...steve...i do feel guilty at the bills sometimes but i like doing high quality stuff...everything is expensive these days if you want quality service and merchandise...my vote goes to normark...

[EyeBoy]

VP;
What a medical career, your patient can't tell you where it hurts, or how bad. Keep takin care of them critters.
ON-PLANE!!!TOM

[Chad]

It seems to me that the reason we even have Rapala's available is because of the Normark Company. Before they started a distributing co in MN the only place you could get them was in Finland. So, I could care less what the cost is. If the lure works better then anything else I will pay for it.

[srj]

hey pissed-off, have you noticed the price of fuels lately? maybe you should shut your heat off, turn off the lights, retire your wheels AND sell any raps you have sitting around. a cane pole, some twine and a bucks worth of cheap hooks might be a good investment for you. good luck.

[Wild Bill]

Mr.Pissed Off,boycott anything you want.That`s your right as a consumer.

[Viking Guy]

That big Vikings play-off loss has really taken its toll--alot of grumpy people lately. I bet he is another disgruntled Vikings fan who is just venting on anything else that makes him unhappy. Get over it, they won't be any better next year. My best fishing has always come with a Rapala on the other end of my line. If they are not hitting on Raps you may as well go home and get caught up on your other stuff. There is not another lure that is a better value for the dollar. Would like to see more colors, but what I do have has been like dynamite.

[Surgen]

I think people are being a little hard on PO'd. He makes a point that he doesn't articulate very well. I've read many posts on this site about the poor quality hooks that Rapala puts on their lures and I'm sure many of them were written by people who hammered PO'd. I'm just making the point that people on WC don't always have great things to say about Rapala and it seems like you're just trying to tear somebody's head off.

I work for an OEM of dairy equipment and I can honestly say that my best guess of the parent cost of production for the average Rapala is probaly around 45 to 50 cents each. When you consider the cost of material, tooling, labor and fixed overhead to make them, you can bet Rapala doesn't have much into these lures. I'm sure they have a considerable amount into marketing, but their budget for research and development can be pretty small. How many new sytles do they put out each year 2, 3? With their relatively small product offering, they can't have very high product line maintenance costs, either.

You can hammer me back on this, but there is an price elasticity of demand for everything and Rapala is, obviously, trying to find out what that point is. From the sounds of the comments made on this thread, its a long way off. I don't really know about you guys, but I would bet that you scour the clearance rack at Wal-Mart, Fleet, Gander, Cabela's just like me to find a deal on Raps. For some people, I'm sure that $5 isn't a lot of money when you lose 5-6 lures every time out, but it bites into me. I can see his point on this because there were plenty of comments last spring about fuel prices and boycotts. By the way, I bought 200 Rapalas last summer for less than $2.75 each. I'll still use Rapalas and I have a bunch, but you can bet I'm always looking for a suitable replacment. I'm sure that will next to impossible. Just my .02

Surgen

[Art/co]

FYI
My last batch of rattlin shad raps were made in Ireland...go figure????

[Art/Co]

2.75 each...looks like someone was shopping EBAY? By the way Mr. Boycott should check out the one (1) pearl shad rap for 12.75 plus shipping if he thinks these lures cost too much, switch to a different lure.

[Paul]

The only thing i'm upset about is the changes to storm regarding colors and lures offered. I will still use their lures but started using more of other lures such as ripsticks so keep experimenting and you will find other productive lures. I'm going to try some flatfish this year old bait never tried but some oldtimers I fish with said he and his old man use to use them all the time when lake was clear in late sixties and had great sucess.

[curt quesnell]

i grew up in that neighborhood...and remember very well
peering in the big windows of ostroms store on lake street.
cris craft boats if i remember right.....my dad got one
of those first rapalas (not the first box but within a year
or so).....i cant speak for anyone but me, but normark has
done pretty well by me....

anyway you opened up memory lane for me....

curt quesnell

[Backwater Eddy]

Boycott Normark, Naaaaa, don't think so, but I do think they may need to spend some cash on research into a better material for lips on some lure's.

That is my main complaint, as is they could stop messing with the line so darn much, like changing and dropping popular colors, what's up with that? Marketing is driveing that game as I see it.

Husky classic, gone too, poor choice I think?

But they are the lure to beat, it is hard to do that too.

BE
@
Backwater Guiding....><ND>

[vetspet(ind)]

flatfish have been fairly hot for king salmon for me the last few yrs...chrome....had one with pink polka dots that i snagged off the bottom...used it and caught a lot of kings on that lure until the bottom reclaimed it....#4 i think was the size...steve

[RapHead]

I've got an old #5 Perch Deep Diver that I've changed the hooks out on twice and it's got so many tooth marks in it when you pull it out of the water it looks like a sprinkler. The flag will fly at half mast when I finally lose it.

[laughing]

It looks like Pissed Off caught all of you better than your Raps catch fish. Its sorta like a post where someone says "Lund Sucks!" - Hook line and sinker - nice work P-O'd...

[Kevin L.]

PO'd,

Does one understand that you would like the prices to be as low as they were twenty years ago? Do you really expect that these products will not go up in price? You do actually get what you pay for in most product lines. Perhaps it's like that with Raps too.

I'll keep buying my Raps, right along with the other brands, as long as they keep catching fish. Price is an issue but it's not out of line, IMHO.

Kevin L.

[Or........................]

Could it be that "you" are "pissed off" and since you didn't get the response you wanted to hear, you thought you would try to cover up the stupid and ridiculous post you thought was going to get everyone to agree with you? Yes, it is amazing I'm on to your bullsh#t!