So I Inquired with Yeti about the NRA issue.

[SamT1]

So I sent Yeti some mail about their issues and it kinda seems like this is being spun wrong. Here is the response I got:

We're writing in response to your recent email inquiry.

A few weeks ago, YETI notified the NRA Foundation, as well as a number of other organizations, that we were eliminating a group of outdated discounting programs. When we notified the NRA Foundation and the other organizations of this change, YETI explained that we were offering them an alternative customization program broadly available to consumers and organizations, including the NRA Foundation. These facts directly contradict the inaccurate statement the NRA-ILA distributed on April 20.

Further, the NRA-ILA stated in that same public communication that "[YETI has] declined to continue helping America's young people enjoy outdoor recreational activities." Nothing is further from the truth. YETI was founded more than 10 years ago with a passion for the outdoors, and over the course of our history we have actively and enthusiastically supported hunters, anglers and the broader outdoor community. We have been devoted to and will continue to directly support causes tied to our passion for the outdoors, including by working with many organizations that promote conservation and management of wildlife resources and habitat restoration. From our website to our film footage and from our social media posts to our ambassadors, YETI has always prominently featured hunters pursuing their passions. Moreover, YETI is unwavering in our belief in and commitment to the Constitution of the United States and its Second Amendment.

Thanks for reaching out to YETI.



I feel like it’s enough for me to keep mine. I use it daily and it’s been good equipment. Sounds like them and NRA may have some internal quarrels over money stuff. I hope the NRA isn’t trying to strong arm them.

 

[mokin]

Thanks for looking into this and posting the results.

Sounds like them and NRA may have some internal quarrels over money stuff. I hope the NRA isn’t trying to strong arm them.

I can see this being the case as well. I reckon there were some politics involved as well.....

 

[jdh]

Until the original memo is made public it is just a he said she said situation.

It is suspicious that it took yeti's e-mail to blow up and their phone system to go into melt down before they released this statement. Color me cynical.

 

[SamT1]

Thanks for looking into this and posting the results.



I can see this being the case as well. I reckon there were some politics involved as well.....

Yea we all know that 4-5 years ago yeti could probably donate a ton of stuff because they were banking. Today yeti has 10 or so competitors with most offering products of equal quality for anywhere from half to the same price. I can imagine they can’t afford to give the NRA or anyone else for that matter the same amount of support. Even God gets a percentage not a set amount!

It wouldn’t surprise me if they were in financial trouble and had to pull some programs to survive. You support your friends in good times and bunker down for the bad. I’d suspect yeti is having some hard times.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Yes, but the NRA lobbyist is spinning this saying that Yeti was refusing to sell to the NRA and that wasn't ever the issue. Of course they will sell to the NRA, but that doesn't mean that they will offer special promotional deals to the NRA or their members for being in the NRA anymore. This is being spun that Yeti isn't supporting the NRA and that is misrepresentative. Just because you don't give a discount doesn't mean you aren't supportive.

While the statement of the NRA's position wasn't made by the NRA itself, but by a Florida lobbyist for the NRA, the NRA is not contradicting the public statement.

Vendors giving discounts to the NRA have come and gone over the years without any repercussions. Now if a company drops out of the program, they are vilified for it.

 

[paulsj]

Yea we all know that 4-5 years ago yeti could probably donate a ton of stuff because they were banking. Today yeti has 10 or so competitors with most offering products of equal quality for anywhere from half to the same price. I can imagine they can’t afford to give the NRA or anyone else for that matter the same amount of support. Even God gets a percentage not a set amount!

It wouldn’t surprise me if they were in financial trouble and had to pull some programs to survive. You support your friends in good times and bunker down for the bad. I’d suspect yeti is having some hard times.

Ozark Trail at Walmart is good alternative and probably made at the same Chinese facility.

 

[ugaarguy]

It is suspicious that it took yeti's e-mail to blow up and their phone system to go into melt down before they released this statement. Color me cynical.

I'm equally cynical. The email they sent the OP is a copy and paste of their press release. I've emailed them asking for clarification on if they believe the 2A only applies to hunting, or if they support the right to individual self defense with firearms. We'll see how or if they respond.

 

[Tirod]

I will venture to say that one common source of Chinese made red dots also makes the top two major brands. It is a global economy but that doesn't mean one product is exactly equivalent to another, any more than a Kelly Springfield tire is exactly equal to a Michelin coming from the same plant.

Products are manufactured with a tiered recipe of parts and features which may not be apples to apples comparisons. On the other hand, 2X the price doesn't mean 2X the performance, as those who compare S&W to Taurus revolvers seem to claim. I have both brands of product and they both work equally well at being bullet launchers.

Goes to Yeti positions itself as a high end product with a high entry fee for social recognition purposes. Since they do that then social issues get wrapped into their marketing and social decisions vis a vis discounts etc with social organizations come with it.

BTW good ol Bubba does a nice job with thermal cups and it's my #1 fav at the present time. Stainless vacuum insulated drinking cups are a commodity. So are coolers - playing social recognition points with style and hats is a consumer game. When someone makes a vacuum insulated 20 gallon cooler they will get my attention. Otherwise like many of us it's whichever we grab off the pile of coolers in the garage that fits our immediate need.

 

[ugaarguy]

Yes, but the NRA lobbyist is spinning this saying that Yeti was refusing to sell to the NRA and that wasn't ever the issue.

You don't know that with certainty. Right now we have two contradicting statements from the involved organizations. One looks a lot like damage control.

 

[Walkalong]

Interested to see their response on the 2nd Amendment.

 

[Steve S.]

The market is flooded with knock-off brands that perform incrementally well and are overpriced; Yeti is waaaaaaay overpriced for the incremental benefit. Yeti is a profit center and like any other business, will follow the money. In turn, if the NRA thought it could have more paying memberships as an anti-gun organization, then that is the direction it would go. Businesses do not have any principles other than profit - that is the sole purpose of their existence.

 

[danez71]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/2...as-unwavering-belief-in-second-amendment.html

Yeti calls NRA claims 'inaccurate' says it has 'unwavering' belief in Second Amendment

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I think the NRA should hire the Yeti sales and marketing team. Selling coolers for $300+ is one thing, bestowing a feeling of status on the buyer is simply amazing.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

You don't know that with certainty. Right now we have two contradicting statements from the involved organizations. One looks a lot like damage control.

Fair enough, but of the two, the NRA's position is the one that makes the least sense, but you are right about them appearing to do damage control. After others pulled out their promotional discount programs, the NRA seems to be seeking publicity revenge on those that follow, in this case, Yeti.

Over the years, vendors have come and gone from the NRA and it wasn't a newsworthy deal. That the NRA opened up on Yeti like they did comes across as a revenge tactic. The notion that Yeti should be ashamed for not dealing with the NRA and that Yeti is not helping out the nation's youth (because apparently the only way to help out the nation's youth is by dealing through the NRA) is just preposterous. The NRA statement calls Yeti unsportsmanlike, but the NRA statement comes across like a spoiled child who isn't getting his/her way. After all, a good sport would not do what the NRA did, right?

 

[Zendude]

It’s the new normal. Many companies don’t want to get involved in controversial political issues if their products have a widespread appeal.

 

[Elkins45]

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/yeti-nra-business-ties/

People are shooting their Yeti coolers filled with tannerite. Don't they realize Yeti already has their money and now they just have to go buy a new cooler? And what makes it worse is that apparently they are doing it in reaction to what was NRA fake news and hand-waiving. Sometimes gun owners are their own worst enemies.

FWIW, I was never going to buy a $300 cooler anyway.

 

[ugaarguy]

Fair enough, but of the two, the NRA's position is the one that makes the least sense, but you are right about them appearing to do damage control. After others pulled out their promotional discount programs, the NRA seems to be seeking publicity revenge on those that follow, in this case, Yeti.

This wasn't pulling out of a member discount program. This was a discontinuation of providing a discount to the NRA Foundation which directly helped with fund raising. You're also correct that the NRA's statement doesn't make sense, IF Yeti's response is true. This vast contradiction in the statements of the two organizations leads me to think there's more to the story than either side is telling us.

 

[chicharrones]

There is way too much political based knee jerk reaction going on these days.

I have to deal with it at work for different reasons, but the knee jerk decisions that get made cost us all kinds of frustration and time.

If people could just sit back, mull over what they think happened, and communicate with the vendor before believing the hot headed representative that leads to making that knee jerk decision . . .

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/yeti-nra-business-ties/

People are shooting their Yeti coolers filled with tannerite. Don't they realize Yeti already has their money and now they just have to go buy a new cooler? And what makes it worse is that apparently they are doing it in reaction to what was NRA fake news and hand-waiving. Sometimes gun owners are their own worst enemies.

FWIW, I was never going to buy a $300 cooler anyway.

What would happen if Tannerite dropped their NRA discount?

 

[Hokkmike]

As a voter at the bottom of the political food chain I will avoid buying YETI products until I get some real information that explains to my satisfaction exactly what is going on. Benefit of doubt, I this case, goes to the NRA.

 

[Hokkmike]

There is way too much political based knee jerk reaction going on these days.

I have to deal with it at work for different reasons, but the knee jerk decisions that get made cost us all kinds of frustration and time.

If people could just sit back, mull over what they think happened, and communicate with the vendor before believing the hot headed representative that leads to making that knee jerk decision . . .

So, one side is "vendor" and the other "the hot headed representative"?

 

[doubleh]

I think it's pretty simple. Yeti wanted to give a smaller or no more discount and the NRA wouldn't accept the deal. Yeti is seriously overpriced compared to the rest of the market and doesn't have a better product than many of their competitors. I received one of the Yeti cups as a Christmas present. I bought an Ozark Trail cup for one fourth the cost and did a side by side comparison of how well they held ice just out of curiosity. No difference at all in the performance of the two. This year I received an Rtic brand cup of the same size. It's priced considerably less than the YETI and gives the same performance. It does have one thing over both the others. It will hold an entire 32 oz. drink while the other two won't.

 

[chicharrones]

So, one side is "vendor" and the other "the hot headed representative"?

Relating it to my work situation, but it sure is possible if the NRA's Lobbyist Marion Hammer is going off the word of someone else without researching it herself.

Full disclosure, I'm not a premium cooler owner and I have zero reason to defend Yeti. I grew up with Igloo and the plain Igloos I have do fine for what I need.

 

[ugaarguy]

I think it's pretty simple. Yeti wanted to give a smaller or no more discount and the NRA wouldn't accept the deal.

If it was that simple the NRA wouldn't have issued the statement they did, or Yeti would have said that directly in their response. Instead, we have a pair of statements that are leading to more questions than answers. I think the prudent thing to do is to wait for more information.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

This wasn't pulling out of a member discount program. This was a discontinuation of providing a discount to the NRA Foundation which directly helped with fund raising. You're also correct that the NRA's statement doesn't make sense, IF Yeti's response is true. This vast contradiction in the statements of the two organizations leads me to think there's more to the story than either side is telling us.

I don't recall that Yeti ever had to provide anything to the NRA as obviously there is no contract that is current or the NRA would have been crying about breech of contract. If what Yeti was doing was benevolent to the NRA programs, then the attempt at shaming is pretty stupid. That would be an indicator of being very ungrateful for all of the help Yeti provided in the past. When a group like the NRA resorts to logical fallacies such as appeals to emotion (Big bad Yeti not longer supports the poor children of the world) then you know that the NRA isn't really dealing with the actual issue any more. I am glad you agree that their statement doesn't make sense. You think maybe they are trying to hide some critical shortcomings on their part by attacking in such a manner?