Re: How Stupid Do They Think We Are?????
To DIY's and others, like us who participate in forums like this, "ready-to-use" anti-freeze at a higher price obviously seems ridiculous. Today, a vast majority of people simply don't have a use for it and rarely buy it. Some new vehicles have warning devices to indicate a "low coolant level" and its people who need to respond to instances like this that make up the market for ready-to-use products. <br /><br />In no way would I try to justify the higher price the manufacturer in this case is charging. We can only hope that all of them don't move in this direction, and then discontinue the 'concentrated' variety.<br /><br />But in fairness to the manufacturer, only a small portion of the cost of a gallon of anti-freeze is the liquid itself. First, only about half of the retail price actually goes to the producer, and labor, over-head, packaging and distribution eat up half of that. The long and short of it is this.....both products cost damn near the same amount to produce and distribute. And believe it or not, unless the new ready-to-use version, that requires additional manufacturing steps to prepare, sells enough units to achieve a reasonable economy of scale,...it could cost more to produce. I'm confident that market dynamics will ultimately prevail !!<br /><br />For folks like me that use 8-10 gallons of anti-freeze a year, and buy 5 at a time when the price is right, I'd hate to see the "concentrated' version go out of vogue. But, why didn't the "concentrated" versions of windshield washer fluid ever catch on?....because a large enough group of buyers doesn't want to dink around mixing concoctions in the dead of winter! Besides, how does the average 'Joe' make a 50/50 antifreeze mix in the parking lot after walking out of WalMart, to satisfy the "Low Coolant Lvel" warning on his dash or the dirt strieked shieldshield awaiting washer fluid? Here's my contribution to higher margin, value-added products....sell every gallon of full strength anti-freeze with an empty one gallon jug, for an additional $10.00! Does Walmart have frost-free sillcocks?
<br />I agree ,it is kinda sad.
