Stuff Products.......

Hmm...IIRC they were involved in some sort of lawsuit...the details of which were on their site so I can't refresh my memory. In searching for the info, I did find these two interesting tidbits, this post and this quote from an online retailer of Stuf "Created by a bunch of car fanatics, Stuf Products only makes a small group of products and in small batches. That way they can really concentrate on the quality." Does that mean they only bought a small batch of product from Hi-Lustre at a time? :rolleyes: I do seem to recall that the lawsuit had something to do with Mother's and perhaps something to do with the advertising connection hinted at in the link I provided.



EDIT: Ah, the beauty of Google! Page is cached here PS the Mousetrap Advertising website is down also.
 
I was given some samples about 2 years ago, but have not gotten to them yet. The stuff I got is not the same on the Hi-Lustre website, the car wash is kinda a yellow/clear color, the liquid wax is a tan color and smells of banana's. Are these collector item's now? LOL
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Hmm...IIRC they were involved in some sort of lawsuit...the details of which were on their site so I can't refresh my memory. In searching for the info, I did find these two interesting tidbits, this post and this quote from an online retailer of Stuf "Created by a bunch of car fanatics, Stuf Products only makes a small group of products and in small batches. That way they can really concentrate on the quality." Does that mean they only bought a small batch of product from Hi-Lustre at a time? :rolleyes: I do seem to recall that the lawsuit had something to do with Mother's and perhaps something to do with the advertising connection hinted at in the link I provided.



EDIT: Ah, the beauty of Google! Page is cached here PS the Mousetrap Advertising website is down also.
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I would have to guess they lost the lawsuit.
 
DETAILKING said:
I would have to guess they lost the lawsuit.
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I think they actually "won" the suit, but didn't receive any compensation, so it still ended up being costly to them. Don't remember the details, though. It was just some "light reading" for me at the time. :ignore
 
I got some of their samples a while back. I can't even remember how. I've never got around to using them. This company never did get a ton of press on the forums.
 
Ha, and Stuf was charging in the neighborhood 2-4 times the Hi-Lustre prices. I guess the Stuf containers must be real expensive.



Those product descriptions seem quite similar to those of some other popular product lines....hmmm.
 
How does one tell who manufactures their own products? This harks back to DavidB's soliloquy about what defines a product or a manufacturer, and I think you're opening up Pandora's box again.
 
wannafbody said:
well, that shows that sometimes the best choice is to stick with brands that manufacture their own products.
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I could really care less who manufacutrers a product. If the product works, it's at a price I'm comfortable paying and the company gives me quality service, then I'll use it. :waxing:



Wasn't waxgirl on here as a Stuf rep or owner? Wonder if she's still around and be willing to shed some light on the subject.
 
As of this posting, her last time on Autopia was 3/13/06. She has Stuf listed as her website as well. Not listed as banned. :nixweiss:
 
I think some people get confused about how private labeling works. Just because company X makes the products for company Y doesn't mean they are the same products being sold between the two. Almost all places that do private labeling also do custom blending. That means I could have a product blended to match my specifications and only I sell that product, even the blender doesn't sell it. They might be similar but maybe one has more carnuba or maybe one has more fillers and so on and so on. This is why you see so many similar products but not necessarily the EXACT same thing.
 
Toll processing vs private labeling



Being in the industry, what was described above I refer to as "toll processing." In this case the customer formulates a product but has no manufacturing capability to produce it, so has another company do the processing. A good example of this is in in the beer industry. Microbrews will go to the larger producers that have spare capacity and they will brew their recipe. This is more expensive than private labeling because company X has to make company Y's product, and unless they are buying a ton of it, the cost will be high.



Private labeling, I define as a product with a different label on it. To be cost effective, the packaging, and formulation is very similar, if not, the same. You see this a lot in the chemicals industry with various sectors. When I worked at a manufacturing facility that made adhesive construction sealants, well, they would package them in cheap cardboard tubes to sell at home depot for 4 dollars, and then put the same stuff in silk screened aluminum tubes for contractors that cost 9 dollars, and then put the SAME STUFF in marine application packaging and charge 15 dollars because it was a niche application and industry.



Private labeling is the cheapest and easiest way to get in the game. You basically start with a product that already exists and market it as your own. Most of the tweaks that are done, are not active ingredients, and do not change the performance of the product.



Large volume retailers will probably have the facility do all the packaging for them. Small volume retailers will probably buy the product in bulk, perhaps tweak it with some additives (mostly color and scent, as to disguise the product), and do their own packaging (typically by hand, as packaing equipment is expensive and very customized).



....and it's not a surprise that it cost's more, every "middle" man is taking a piece of the pie.....the producer, the vendor, the distributor, and the retailer.



Hope this helps.....



Now, with regards to STUFF and the updates they had on their website, it seems that the lawsuit had nothing to do with this, but had to do with a marketing dispute of some sort.
 
DETAILKING said:
This is done a lot in the beer industry. Microbrews will go to the larger producers that have spare capacity and they will brew their recipe.
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Most if not all the micro's I know of do their own brewing, in there own facilities. The one's that you are probably thinking of are owned in some way with the big three, period. Stone, Rougue, Anderson Valley, AleSmith, Three Floyd's, Sierra Neveda, Anchor, Avery, North Coast, Deschutes, New Belgium, Bear Republic, Dogfish Head, Victory, Ommegang plus many many hundred's of other's I can think of, have there own facilities for brewing. Even here in UT I've been to them, and my friends in other states go to them. Microbrewery's/craft beer is made in small batches that's why it is a micro/craft beer. Even Samuel Adams a micro company that can compete in a way with the big three does there own brewing, I dought that someone brew's for them. List me some names of microbrewery's that have the big three brew for them, or anyone for that matter. Also, post the question/answer over at beeradvocate.com and see what your response will be, the people over there know their stuff. I'm not saying it does not happen, but it's very uncommon, you might be thinking of distributing. Please post this question over at the above website. I just might do it instead and see what happens.
 
John Styrnol said:
Most if not all the micro's I know of do their own brewing, in there own facilities. The one's that you are probably thinking of are owned in some way with the big three, period. Stone, Rougue, Anderson Valley, AleSmith, Three Floyd's, Sierra Neveda, Anchor, Avery, North Coast, Deschutes, New Belgium, Bear Republic, Dogfish Head, Victory, Ommegang plus many many hundred's of other's I can think of, have there own facilities for brewing. Even here in UT I've been to them, and my friends in other states go to them. Microbrewery's/craft beer is made in small batches that's why it is a micro/craft beer. Even Samuel Adams a micro company that can compete in a way with the big three does there own brewing, I dought that someone brew's for them. List me some names of microbrewery's that have the big three brew for them, or anyone for that matter. Also, post the question/answer over at beeradvocate.com and see what your response will be, the people over there know their stuff. I'm not saying it does not happen, but it's very uncommon, you might be thinking of distributing. Please post this question over at the above website. I just might do it instead and see what happens.
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The micro brew beer analogy may not be completly correct, but it's point is pretty accurate. No reason to make this into a beer brawl as it has nothing to do with a car detailing forum. :chuckle:
 
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