*MOVED*
FROM THE 440 SOURCE CRANK THREAD

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...ID=#Post5711770

hoping not to side track from this very informative thread....

If your in Sales....you have to argue this everyday..
...in my case its for the higher end product..

i think that people gravitate to the negative
(its a "programed response" ..or a ying yang/human nature.. thing..if you will.)
most have experienced the let down/Pain from poor goods or service...

they expect to be let down..
thats why its so hard to step up and pay MORE for quality..or higher quality(psychologically)

they feel they are gonna loose..so atleast they spent less...

so they spend less..and some how rationalise it to them self when the cheap part fails...and pain ensue's.
of course it fails...its the cheap part..
this re-enforces the fear. creates the programed response toNOT pay more for Quality.

I say..

pay more, get the better parts or service with out failure,realise satisfaction..feel no pain.
then life goes on. someone askes me what i paid..i cant even remember..

VRS

i cheap out..the part fails.
i feel the pain..and can recite every single issue and penny spent.
and i proceed to tell all my friends every chance i get..how painful it was.....




back to the program....
now pay attention....
cheapst

THE DOUBLE WAMMY

is paying more for the high end item..
or item marketed as the "high end item"

and still getting screw-ed...

thats enough to cause a gun fight...
cheapst

People don't like to feel like they OVERPAID and the perception is often (rightly or wrongly) that higher end stuff gets tagged with a proportionally Higher profit margin.

Were you ever told the price of something (anything) that just seems way overpriced and think (or say) "So does that include everybody's 401K for the month or what?"

I think a lot of people's logic is if they buy cheap it MAY fail but they're not in it for more than they're willing to risk in case it does hold up....A gambler's mentality.....when you buy expensive these days one almost has a pre-conceived notion that they can probably find it cheaper somewhere else and with decreased demand and tighter credit...people are more willing to shop around.

To me It's never been the price, it's always been the VALUE, I'll pay for quality but really only on things I know what they're intrinsically worth. EX: I don't know what a piece of jewelry is worth, but I have friends that do and i'll pay them a vig to make certain I don't get ripped off.

When credit's ez and free people get lax and are willing to pay the premium to have it NOW....but that sense of buying urgency is pretty much gone today, even in a lot of formerly very impulsive kids (and that's probably a GOOD thing).. But it is also deflationary because buyers are often right in thinking that if they wait the price will have to come down because the Merchant has overheads and bills that keep on coming whether they sell product or not so they have leverage to squeeze the margins.

Greed forms bubbles and bubbles are painful for everybody...eventually the economy will hit an equalibrium for a while until the bubble inevitably rises (and falls) again....it's human nature.

I once melted down on a poor unsuspecting counter person (they aint parts people) at Autozone. One of those days when you try to do two days worth of stuff in one afternoon, and it bit me in the a$$. Had to leave a Graduation party on the day of my wedding anniversary (mid July) to bring my race Truck home from a Sponsor requested display. Anyway halfway home in the middle of nowhere the temp gauge pegs on HOT... Real HOT. So I had to walk to find a phone, Call a buddy to come get me from 20 miles away, borrow his car, go to the store and buy a anniversary card, pick up my now melted down wife (left her at the Grad party) take her home cause she wasn't having anything I was offering. Then head off to Autozone (it was a Sunday) to get a new thermostat. After the barrage of questions Yr,Make,Model,2wd/4wd engine, they ask me "do you want the Good one for $3 of the better one for $3.50"...well that's when I lost it. I asked "why in gods name would I put a $.50 cheaper Chinese piece of crap in when I could buy a acceptable quality (Stant)?????" truly a rough day....well I then apologized, purchased the Stant thermo, went and fixed my stranded truck. Brought truck/trailer home and had a beer....never did give the anniversary card to the wife, My buddy gave it to me about a year later found it under the seat of his car. He told me he thought I was special too but I had spelled his name wrong. I don't always buy gold...but I don't always buy plastic either. I do always try to buy the quality needed for the job it has to do... its cheaper that way

when it comes to racing,i have found it is too expensive to buy cheap.
i'd rather wait and save up for a USA brand quality part,then to just go out and buy some inexpensive part to put a motor together.
theres nothing worse than getting a motor together only to find out after a few runs a pusrod bent or a lifter or rocker arm let loose.

Depends what parts you are talking about. If it is expensive like a crank, sometimes , I think, some people would rather pay a little, and get a little use out of it. Fully knowing they bought cheaper, but didn't think they would get a long life out of it. Just long enough to have fun. Instead of paying $2000 for a better crank, they'd rather go the $399 route and just buy 4 or 5 of them when they need another. Unfortunately, it'll cost a lot more fixing the carnage if it goes boom. Different perspectives. I see it everyday with the the wires. Fortunately, I respect both perspectives. These are hard times for folks, trying to afford to do what they love. It's ok to buy what and when you can afford it.

Well a higher price doesn't always mean that the parts or service is better. There some Mopar engine builders who charge a lot but their customer service is really poor for example.

There are lots of examples where the cheap stuff is junk and shouldn't be used at all but sometimes some of the cheap stuff works just fine.

With paying more I expect more. (That includes the 401K and the pension fund of those that are actually producing the product) but if I don't get more it is very easy to suggest people buy elsewhere. Thanks to Al G's internet?

Well I know I paid 900 dollars on a lightened scat crank for my 408 and now I have to put heavy metal in it... Not upset, just stating the fact that usually when you pay more, you really end up paying more...
At least this crank's a one piece unit rather than that eagle one I had before. A perfect example of pay the price twice now and have an engine that continues to run for years. Or go half priced and now it's sitting on a stand waiting for me to finish overbuilding it.

God is definitely trying to teach me patience I think.

I for one think it's great to have a cheaper or less price ave.Take the cheap water pump housings and pumps.Yes it was great for Mopar to make them years ago.We all ran them forever.I put a cheap housing and pump on a motor 2 years ago.It now has 30,000 miles with 0 problems.Was it smart to spend half the money than the Mopar part?I think so.Donot get me wrong I spend $950 to a $1000 on a converter in a heart beat.I know people that will buy the Mopar water pump housing and then buy the $199 TCI converter.The thing is to know when to be a tight a$$ and when to spring for good parts.

Good point. There are a bunch of places where a person can save money but a few places where the expensive stuff should be used. One of my favorite examples is people who buy the cheapest rocker arms they can find. That usually has a bad ending.

Sometimes you pay more and end up with the same level of quality(good or bad) as the cheap stuff. We've all been there. Also depends on your intended use as well IMO. For a drag only car versus a street car that sees a few track runs a year and a little street flogging, which do you think is more likely to be able to get away with the cheaper engine guts? Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. However that assumes the cheap stuff doesn't need $$$ invested into it to make it usable, as what BG's thread is about.

Quote:

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Good point. There are a bunch of places where a person can save money but a few places where the expensive stuff should be used. One of my favorite examples is people who buy the cheapest rocker arms they can find. That usually has a bad ending.

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I've read too many horror stories of crapped out asian made roller rockers. But wasn't it one of the domestic mfr's that had an issue with their rocker adjusters crapping out? Anyone's product can have problems. Whenever you plunk $ down on motor parts you are taking a gamble. You just hope the cards are stacked in your favor.

I spent a lot of money on my engine (or a lot for me).... Callies crank, Oliver rods etc. Only 'used' part was the block.
I haven't even driven the car in 6 months, been spending as much time as possible taking the kids fishing out on the boat.
There's times I sit there and think 'wow, for the amount I use the car, I could have gone the 'cheap' route and saved thousands'....

But then again, the rare times I do drive it, and get on it, especially at the strip, I never have to think twice about something in the engine letting go. For me, it's piece of mind. Plus, at the time, I had the funds to do it right. If I had to do it again right now, I'd have to go a cheaper route, and I'd always be worried about it.

Quality-
There is hardly anything in the world taht some men cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.
It is unwise to pay too much, but it is more unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - It can't be done.
If you deal witht he lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you take. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
John Ruskin 1819-1900

I maintain facilities nationwide for a large insurace company. This is the most true blub I've ever read and it hangs in my cube here at work as a reminder.

You are given the options of Fast, Good and Cheap, and told to pick any two. Here Fast refers to the time required to deliver the product, Good is the quality of the final product, and Cheap refers to the total cost of designing and building the product. This triangle reflects the fact that the three properties of a project are interrelated, and it is not possible to optimise all three – one will always suffer. In other words you have three options:

Design something quickly and to a high standard, but then it will not be cheap.
Design something quickly and cheaply, but it will not be of high quality.
Design something with high quality and cheaply, but it will take a long time.

I don't like cheap ,for me , cheap means poor
quality. I prefer inexpensive, and fast service
You usually get what you pay for ,. I've
had customers of mine go with cheap companies, in
the tow industry, and come to find out the hard way,
they should have been paying more