Angling Trade: “Costco Playing Dirty”

Writing for Angling Trade, Steve Schweitzer and Kirk Deeter reported yesterday that several Costco locations in the U.S. west have stocked and heavily discounted selected Simms and Sage products — including the popular Sage Z-Axis fly rod and Simms G4 Pro Stockingfoot waders — and that Sage and Simms appear to have been victimized by unethical purchasers.

“Costco has played this hand before. The pattern: they target hot ticket items and ask the manufacturer to buy direct (with a clear message they will deep discount the item). If the manufacturer denies selling to Costco, then Costco seeks and buys sizeable inventory from third parties – dealers or shipping agents at wholesale prices, legally.”