A friend and I have been working on developing a better pickle for either sale or simple personal use ( i dont like paying 12 bucks for a pickle ). We have actually put together something that is very similar in make and function but can be sold for exponentially cheaper and potentially let retailers sell it for less with less cost while making much more penny profit.
The question is, should be already feel guilty or is this simply the wrath of capitalism. Would you, the surf community chew us up for basically ripping an idea thats been around for 10 years and maybe trying to make money on it while saving sufers a few bucks ( i figure, many boards are VERY similar, many fins are VERY similar etc…)? It may sound silly, but im totally torn about this and would love to hear some feedback…
i thought that it was pretty common knowledge that the “pickle” was pantyhose filled with foam dust.
bought one once, thing works pretty good. i’ll never buy one again when i can make my own for almost
free…
as for the morality issue, that’s between you and yours…
“…for basicall ripping an idea”… sounds like you answered your own question right there.
Thanks for the feedback guys, the reality is eventhough the pickle is a very basic product that any one can make (as is) team chow still sells almost 12 thousand units a year based on D&B data, if i can offer a product that makes more money and lasts longer for less money even if its almost the same I will most likley give it a shot!
Marketing a new product to dethrone an established one will take some $ and time, but if you offer a superior product at a better price you will get there. Good luck.
You gonna send out free trials haha? I have a friend that goes through a pickle a month… you could sell to him in bulk.
as an out of work career CFO I have enough time and money (for now!) to play around a bit (being directly tied to venture capitalists helps too!). If we do produce we have spoken about heavily supporting an intial wave of free product. And oddly enough from the little market research we have done, although there is significant name recognition for the competition there is almost NO brand loyalty…at least we have that going for us. If it happens swaylocks will be the first to know!!!
Not really, since he’s a domestic producer looking to introduce a product to compete with one that is overpriced and has little or none of that intangible thing called “soul” that everyone likes to reference when the whole China things comes up.
sorry…I meant to respond…it’s basically PU foam dust in a green nylon mesh (so it looks like a pickle, sort of) and you use it to remove wax from your surfboard.
frankly, I’ve never used one, nor do I understand the how/why of it’s function, but there you have it.
Ha! I was having my suspicions, but thought maybe there was some secret I was missing out on… I’m pretty lame when it comes to worrying about taking wax off. For dings, I scrape then use a dirty rag w/alcohol… works ok, then I go to cleanish cloth and alch… so far so good… When I go to the tropics I just do the “in the sun” and dry grass clippings to soak it up… makes good fire starter to boot… Ha!
sadly i fear that once used they still end up destroying a little part of our planet by ending up in landfills, but at least they were reused before they got there.
The irony is i dont use a pickle, dont think they are that usefull and prefer to just throw a board in the sun and wipe down, and/or just pile wax on for multiple seasons untill its just gross. Im staring at a steve sebold fish from the 80s that I have not re waxed in 3 years and surf on a regular basis. But again the fact remains, they sell the crap out of them to someone somewhere who is willing to pay waaay too much for them.
The only real improvments we can vouch for currently are increased durability, therefore a better return on your purchase (this is significant, like twice as durable) and a price that is half of the competition.
I actually met with packaging people today to see if the costing modle is viable…time will tell, but I do very much appriciate everyones feedback!
At about the tenth of the cost, and the fact that the teeth on a wax comb is useful also, a wax comb seems like the death of the pickle. Why would anyone pay money for a pickle? Am I missing something?
ive only found them usefull for finish work when doing prep for repair or sale of a board, otherwise there are better options. I would put it with all of thoes other knick knacks that sell but are not that usefull, but as long as they sell someone will make them. Pet Rock anyone ?
