Old school cabinets are back

[shanert75]

Hey group, new member here. Former QS 10 owner, now shopping around for a 21rbs.  Talking to a dealer that has one on order with "limited edition" cabinets. Their understanding is they are the older all aluminum style, but won't know for certain until it arrives.  Good news!

[thudd3r]

can you get the "limited edition" roof too?  (rofl)

[mj74]

Probably trying to get rid of old stock.

[djmiller]

Not getting rid of old stock.  They are coming back by popular demand.  Started in the 21's and the 6.8 and 8.6 truck campers.  Will be an optional upgrade replacing the dark cascade cabinets.

[admin]

Its great to hear they will still be available...too bad they are an optional upgrade. I think most would rather see it the other way around.

[charliem]

[quote timestamp="1469583122" source="/post/23417/thread" author="@admin"]Its great to hear they will still be available...too bad they are an optional upgrade. I think most would rather see it the other way around.[/quote][font size="3"]Sean,

The standard marketing approach: First you delete something as a cost saving with no reduction in price; then you add it back as an extra cost option and raise the price further. Am I too cynical?  :-/
[/font]

[admin]

[quote timestamp="1469583122" source="/post/23417/thread" author="@admin"]Its great to hear they will still be available...too bad they are an optional upgrade. I think most would rather see it the other way around.

[font size="3"]Sean,

The standard marketing approach: First you delete something as a cost saving with no reduction in price; then you add it back as an extra cost option and raise the price further. Am I too cynical?  :-/
[/font][/quote]

Some marketing associate is trying to figure out how you got your hands on their play book right now
Maybe the the roof will be available as an aluminum upgrade in the future as well. Ha

[drdave]

[font size="3"]Sean,

The standard marketing approach: First you delete something as a cost saving with no reduction in price; then you add it back as an extra cost option and raise the price further. Am I too cynical?  :-/  
[/font]

Some marketing associate is trying to figure out how you got your hands on their play book right now
Maybe the the roof will be available as an aluminum upgrade in the future as well. Ha

Don't forget this will be followed by a dual axle upgrade on the 14 and 16 foot models.

[charliem]

Maybe the the roof will be available as an aluminum upgrade in the future as well. Ha  

[font size="3"]That only comes with the upgraded slider windows and warm plywood floor  :-[  [/font]

[pinstriper]

Some marketing associate is trying to figure out how you got your hands on their play book right now
Maybe the the roof will be available as an aluminum upgrade in the future as well. Ha

Don't forget this will be followed by a dual axle upgrade on the 14 and 16 foot models.

Factory guy said the 16's are supposed to be tandem axle standard. I'll bet he's rechecking right now.

FWIW they pretty explicitly came out and said a lot of the changes made right after the acquisition are being rethought.

[drdave]

[quote timestamp="1469585500" author="@pinstriper" source="/post/23426/thread"]

Don't forget this will be followed by a dual axle upgrade on the 14 and 16 foot models.

Factory guy said the 16's are supposed to be tandem axle standard. I'll bet he's rechecking right now.

FWIW they pretty explicitly came out and said a lot of the changes made right after the acquisition are being rethought.[/quote]Maybe, just maybe, a small part of that is due to this forum?   

[pinstriper]

The message was pretty much straight up:

LL was poor at manufacturing efficiencies and quality control. They did a poor job of managing their dealer network and other marketing. The first thing that happened was the manufacturing wonks got hold of stuff and started making decisions without the marketing discipline. ie. they worked at doing things the way they knew how to do it based on their other brands, rather than what this product should be. They (marketing anyway) do NOT want to be a commodity item because that means they compete on price, and the freight cost alone puts them at a disadvantage everywhere but their home region.

They had everyone fill out a survey which was heavy on the "how to make it better" questions. What were the deciding factors in the purchase, what would we like to have seen different, etc.

Back of the napkin calculation, they spent somewhere near $10k on this weekend (includes a $200 service credit for everyone at the local OR dealer which of course most will go unredeemed but still shows a level of commitment).

We shall see.

[craigd]

It seems that the old company was listening to the people on this site. I bought the last year that they were still considered Livin-Lite pre Thor. Most of the issues that have been discussed here had been corrected on the 2015 model I have. The ones they didn't correct were pretty easy for me to fix, thanks to all the info on this board. I am still very happy that I have an all aluminum 2 axle 14DBS. This is my 4th Trailer and by far the best one.

[drdave]

[quote source="/post/23445/thread" author="@pinstriper" timestamp="1469630819"]The message was pretty much straight up:

LL was poor at manufacturing efficiencies and quality control. They did a poor job of managing their dealer network and other marketing. The first thing that happened was the manufacturing wonks got hold of stuff and started making decisions without the marketing discipline. ie. they worked at doing things the way they knew how to do it based on their other brands, rather than what this product should be. They (marketing anyway) do NOT want to be a commodity item because that means they compete on price, and the freight cost alone puts them at a disadvantage everywhere but their home region.

They had everyone fill out a survey which was heavy on the "how to make it better" questions. What were the deciding factors in the purchase, what would we like to have seen different, etc.

Back of the napkin calculation, they spent somewhere near $10k on this weekend (includes a $200 service credit for everyone at the local OR dealer which of course most will go unredeemed but still shows a level of commitment).

We shall see.[/quote]Thanks Pinstriper! Good to know.... last fall at the Hershey RV show they seemed like were still feeling things out in sort of a try to appeal to everyone research mode.   Glad to hear they are starting to understand their market.          

[djmiller]

The aluminum cabinets cost more than the wood obviously.  When it is all said and done that option probably will be an additional cost. In the past however we have done things such as upgrading from the lightweight countertops to solid surface.  Solid Surface is now standard and has been for a while but there was no increase price increase. That change was much more expensive than switching back to aluminum cabinets. The same goes for adding 2.7mm raw Azdel under the .040 aluminum skin - again no cost passed on. - We are partially able to do this by being more efficient and by leveraging the buying power of being associated with Thor.