Tender Corp & Kleen Kanteen; More Companies Refusing To Work w/ Smaller Retailers

Tender Corporation, the distributor of Adventure Medical Products, Ben’s, Easy Care First Aid, Genuine First Aid, SOL – Survive Outdoor Longer Brand, Quik Clot and a few other outdoor products is now on the list of suppliers that refuse to work with small businesses that are not Brick & Mortars. Their refusal to work with State Licensed retails simply because they do not hold a physical store front should be called into question. Companies like myself that work on average 47 Trade Shows a year do not have time to also work and run a Brick & Mortar Store front on top of organizing a store front. Now compare that too others like me all over the USA and you can get the big picture here and it is not just me here writing a small blog article. We already run several small, family owned business in rural area and test products and who better to showcase these products? We live in prime locations to actually test and showcase these product lines to the people who need to see these products! Also, in the world of the World Wide Web (WWW) the simple fact that just a few years ago business insiders stated the wave of the future stated more and more people will run business from their homes in the near future begs the question what would Tinder Corporation, Kleen Kanteen ad these others be afraid of? If I have the money to purchase the product and I am willing to do business with them, why not do business with a small family owned business? the same people who built your business thru You Tube Reviews and who beat the streets to get it in front of the consumer? Instead you alienate us and ush us aside for those so-called Big Box Contracts who don't care about you!

Millions of people today do business from their homes and people today actually build add-on’s to their homes to add space for their businesses and deserve the same respect and considerations as those with brick & mortar locations. We hold legitimate State Business License and pay taxes, so why shouldn’t we be allowed the same legal rights as others? According to company representatives from all these companies, they show favoritism and only sell to what can be described as Brick & Mortar stores. Any one that offers Web Based sales or Trade Show sales need not apply. Apparently, Kleen Kanteen Company also has the same policy of singling out business partners and only dealing with Brick & Mortar locations. Is this not unfair business practices? Isn’t this against Federal Trade Laws?

Most recently in the news is Water Filter Company – Sawyer Water Filers also refused to offer their products to the grassroots based sellers who aided in getting the company to where they are today.

Sawyer told EveryDay Preppers they show favoritism to local retailers but for some reason cannot provide a list of those so-called retailers on any type scale. In other words, they cater to big box and brick & mortar stores and refuse to provide a list of retailers because they single out and show trade favoritism over anyone else willing to sell their products for fear of being sued. What is it about these companies that they are so big for their britches they fail to realize how their companies grew so fast and who helped them get to where they are today? It was because of the efforts of the smaller business owners that took a chance on them to sell their products in the market place? Will these companies survive, not if they continue to single out and only cater to big box or brick and mortar? Do you think these retailers really care about the product and will put the time and effort into showcasing it and give them great shelf location space? No, they put it on the shelf and when the product doesn’t sell, they will be thrown out just like every other vendor! One Big Box, I will not name, has a history of bringing in product for several months and when it doesn’t sell they clearance it out and bring in something that will sell; this is just good business for them. One person we recently spoke too gave me a great analogy to talk about. Lets take Sawyer Water Filters for an “Example”… This is only an example of what could happen to any retailer catering to Brick & Mortar as well as Big Box that feels their products are not suitable for these smaller retailers. OK as the story goes, Sawyer started small and had product reviewers check out their product, they did so and their product started getting some minor interest in select communities. Shortly thereafter some small business picked up the product and sales continued to grow. Things progressed along to the point the internet sellers started picking up the product to either carry inventory or drop shipped their products. Now, this goes along for some time and marketing reps for certain brick & mortar and Big Box starts to pay attention to the sales and thinks…hey we might want this. Isn’t this the American Dream to be picked up by a super large retailer and get your product to the masses???

Now the Big Box retailer comes knocking on their door. They want the product but under certain conditions. Sawyer agrees and sell’s out and signs an agreement where they now are limited to only sell to big box or select retailers. This goes on for a little time and Sawyer has to hire more help, build bigger plants and they think they have to do all of this to meet up with demand of Big Box all over the country. The quick dollar seems great at the moment. Now, sales drop off because now Sawyer will not let the Product Reviews check out their products and the word gets out that forgot about the little person that helped them get started. They also stop selling to the small retailers (non brick & mortar) and now they are no longer in the public eye and no one see’s their product on a regular basis. Example: Sawyer – Several years ago Sawyer Water Filters was all over the Internet and YouTube and it was all the rage. Today, most people have never heard of Sawyer and there may be other companies out there now making a better product than Sawyer and they are getting the attention. Most people know you have to keep moving forward or you will see your competitor pass you by. As technology continues to grow, so should you are you will be left behind. Has this happened to Sawyer? Time will tell. Getting back to the story, Brick & Mortar / Big Box buys thousands of units and throws it on the shelf, no more internet talks, no more first person promotion of the product can be seen on social media, YouTube, Twitter or any web site. Sales start to drop off for big box. What is Big Box to do, they stop purchasing the quantities they once had. No more orders are coming in and Sawyer has to first, lay people off, 2nd shut down plants which affects not only the industry but also people’s lives.

Now what does Sawyer do? They may possibly be locked into a contract with Big Box, but big box doesn’t fulfill their end of the deal but they have more lawyers than Sawyer and they know it; they will win if it came down to a court battle.

Now Sawyer has made the ultimate mistake and has been locked into an agreement they cannot get out of and they cannot do anything about it. They have burned so many bridges, so will one give them a second chance. The people that purchased their products are now looking into other products and Sawyer has also upset the Product Review Community all for a quick dollar.

Another company that appears to have been either created by Adventure Medical, Rebranded just ironic that they have the exact same color scheme as Adventure Medical is SOL- Survive Outdoor Longer who is distributed thru Adventure Medical who also refuses to sell to anyone outside of the Brick & Mortar World. They are they best camping and survivalist gear for the consumer we have found. While there may be some more expensive gear, this gear is tailored for the average consumer in mind and it is ironic that they do not want someone like us to be able to continue to bring it forward to the mainstream consumer as we see more people on a week bases face to face than any brick & mortar. Example: We see on average 2,500-3000 people at a Trade show and the majority of those at a show walk past my booth where I have the opportunity to actually talk to them. That combined with an average of 47 shows. OK, now let’s say that is at a Brick & Mortar and I have a local store in mind, it is in the back corner of the hunting & Fishing / Camping section; no sales person back there and it is stuck on the shelf where no one can tell someone anything about their personal experience about the product. You tell me what has a better chance of selling???

Maybe if companies like Sawyer, Tender Corporations, Kleen Kanteen, SOL would look at the big picture, they would realize the sinking ship they have aligned themselves with in and do something about it before it is too late. Best option is not to alienate any group willing to offer and sell your product if they are above board from the beginning and willing to sell your product. Keep in mind, the use of Sawyer was just an example, there are many others we are sure that fit this story line, but we know firsthand that Tender Corporation, Sawyer and Kleen Kanteen have written us that they only work with retailers that have Brick & Mortar and they have no interest in working with other retailers but yet when you Goggle their products you find them all over Amazon and Ebay. Tender & Sawyer cannot even provide a list of local retailers in your community in which they sell too. How do they anticipate to sell products if they cannot provide a list of authorized places to buyers? What are they hiding and why is this list not public knowledge? Is this not against Trade Laws Local & Federal?

My main question is: Is it worth to continue to support large corporations that do not support small family owned business that help them get their start? The same people who they now spit on and sit in their Ivory Towers and look down on. People talk about Do Not shop at WalMart but every weekend you see your neighbor that you spend last week talking too in the yard complaining about WalMart too and their they are shopping at WalMart. You have to start sometime don't you? Will you continue to support them? When???

For the record: I am not condoning one or the other, I am just throwing it out there that we hear it every week, that people say it will not make a difference, why not. Why will it not make a difference? When a group of common minded people stick together for a common goal, anything is possible. Isn't that how and why the USA was founded??? Who else can now be added to the list of wholesalers only catering to Brick & Mortar / Big Box?

If you know of any, please pass it along to us in the comment section. Just food for thought