Anyone know of or have one of these? Looks similar to yeti and rtic. They are pretty cheap and ship a lot sooner than rtic currently is.

http://kuercoolers.com

I like their "desert camo". I'd buy one of those if I were in the market and they had good reviews that I trusted.

The premium cooler market isn't that big. Some of these companies are going to go out of business sooner or later right?

That's what I've been thinking. Not only are there now multiple Yeti imitators but there's lots of other luxury cooler companies now. Maybe one day the prices will start to fall....doubtful

those in the link the OP posted are marked down to $124.99 right now. That might be as close as you're going to get.

I think all of the imitators are going to struggle. The Yeti founders are very entrepreneurial and they really market their product....that sells the product...that increases their cost. I go back to Flex Coat and their Dad as well the aluminum shallow water bay boats.

I never owned a Waterloo fishing rod but I was always amazed that every one wanted one. I think every guide on the Texas coast was giving a boat load. It was great marketing and that theme followed when they started Yeti.

I'm sure these companies will make a dent in their sales but their advertising is great. When you see one sitting around a truck on Jim Shockey's show or seeing Flip Pallot polling on one it's great marketing. That's hard to compete with.

I haven't seen our Brute guy post in a long time....I think they are Bison now. I have a couple of Brute's and they are really good. I have Icey-Tek, Engel and way to many Yeti's and they are all really good coolers. A good while back our Brute guy...I think...told us how much material in $ was in a certain size cooler. It was a lot higher than I would have thought.

To me if the cost of the coolers in the different company's is about the same and the marketing program of one company keeps their profit percentage higher than the others....they are going to keep on keeping on.

They market me. If I walked in Bass Pro and bells and whistles start going how and I get to pick a cooler from the five high ends they have lined up....I'll probably pick the Yeti even thou i've seen tests where the Engel is better and I have one and like it.

Plus I like Yeti's Simms caps.

I agree that their SG&A is probably higher. But their product cost going to be similar. Yeti might even have lower per unit costs because their production orders are going to be higher. The fact remains, when someone sees people buying $300 coolers, that guy might think, hey I'd be glad to make a little less.

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I'm holding out for the first sub $100 knockoff.

I may be waiting for a while.

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Not sure if you'll find that deal. I just found an offer for the 45 sized roto coolers offered at $50-$100 per unit (depending on order size) delivered to a Chinese port. So after buying, shipping to us, covering overhead, and some profit I'd figure you'll always see $100+.

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I think all of the imitators are going to struggle. The Yeti founders are very entrepreneurial and they really market their product....that sells the product...that increases their cost. I go back to Flex Coat and their Dad as well the aluminum shallow water bay boats.

I never owned a Waterloo fishing rod but I was always amazed that every one wanted one. I think every guide on the Texas coast was giving a boat load. It was great marketing and that theme followed when they started Yeti.

I'm sure these companies will make a dent in their sales but their advertising is great. When you see one sitting around a truck on Jim Shockey's show or seeing Flip Pallot polling on one it's great marketing. That's hard to compete with.

I haven't seen our Brute guy post in a long time....I think they are Bison now. I have a couple of Brute's and they are really good. I have Icey-Tek, Engel and way to many Yeti's and they are all really good coolers. A good while back our Brute guy...I think...told us how much material in $ was in a certain size cooler. It was a lot higher than I would have thought.

To me if the cost of the coolers in the different company's is about the same and the marketing program of one company keeps their profit percentage higher than the others....they are going to keep on keeping on.

They market me. If I walked in Bass Pro and bells and whistles start going how and I get to pick a cooler from the five high ends they have lined up....I'll probably pick the Yeti even thou i've seen tests where the Engel is better and I have one and like it.

Plus I like Yeti's Simms caps.

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Exactly how many coolers do you have?

I don't have as many as MFBarnes but I have more than I want to admit. I have two 85's on the front of an ATV trailer. I have a bigger one that I have used for extended trips in the truck. I have a small one that I once used inside the cab. I was given a Hopper and it's much better for that purpose.

We replaced the original coolers on our Shallow Sport. It's much nicer to be able to set up the boat, launch it and then work out of a wet slip and use it a couple of times a day for several days and not have to yo yo ice to it.



I won the first Brute in a DU raffle. I decided to put some rod holders on it. That worked great. I bought another and rigged it up for fly rod feather merchants like NW80 and Sean(damn it's hard to cast in this gulf coast wind)
The Brute is heavier, keeps things colder and due to weight and footprint it doesn't tip over....plus you can handle more rods. Great setup to take a couple guys wading in the airboat. If you have 5-6 people I use a bigger cooler.



I used a 25qt for this purpose for a long time but it had a tendency to tip over. I always had to place a soft sided tackle box etc next to it....I don't have to worry about the Brute.



I'll stop there as I'm not about to go offshore this time of the year and elk season is over.

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They now have a maroon a&m cooler available, might have to pull the trigger on this one.

http://kuercoolers.com/products/kuer-20-quart-premium-cooler-texas-maroon

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They make a 65 (ish) quart one im in...

Anybody end up purchasing and receiving one of these? They are now offering the larger sizes in maroon.

One of my coworkers has a mom who is a Yeti dealer. IIRC, they make all of their stuff in the US except the cups. I think they moved the production of those to the Philippines. They seem to be really big on quality control. That, combined with their production locations, drives up their costs. I'm sure they make money hand over fist, but those coolers aren't cheap to produce. They also have a huge backlog of orders (on the order of months).

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That's what I've been thinking. Not only are there now multiple Yeti imitators but there's lots of other luxury cooler companies now. Maybe one day the prices will start to fall....doubtful

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I think Engel was in the high-end, roto-molded cooler game before Yeti. They just didn't figure to have a market among sportsmen.

I think it was Engel anyway, I can't remember the specific brand but I had a conversation a few years back with a transplant surgeon who couldn't believe the way Yeti had blown up as they had been using the other brand for years to transport organs & tissue for transplant surgeries. And in fact, even with the advent of Yeti they preferred the Engel over Yeti.

This tells me the number one thing Yeti did was market the hell out of themselves and hit upon the precisely correct marketing scheme. There's not one thing they make that's innovative comparable to other coolers or stainless steel tumblers. And I say this as a person who owns a couple Yeti coolers and multiple Ramblers in various sizes.

Yeti definitely makes a quality product and even if these other less expensive brands make something of identical quality for half the price I doubt the other brands will be overly successful in the long run because there's a psychology to the pricing. Lots of people will feel that they're paying for something better. An Rtic may be the same exact cooler as a Yeti in every single way but price but it loses some cachet thanks to that reduced price.

I know the Seiders boys a little bit and kudos to them for making a killing in their business.

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One of my coworkers has a mom who is a Yeti dealer. IIRC, they make all of their stuff in the US except the cups. I think they moved the production of those to the Philippines. They seem to be really big on quality control. That, combined with their production locations, drives up their costs. I'm sure they make money hand over fist, but those coolers aren't cheap to produce. They also have a huge backlog of orders (on the order of months).

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Per the Yeti FAQ's:

WHERE ARE YOUR COOLERS MANUFACTURED?

Our coolers are manufactured in the USA at facilities located in Iowa and Wisconsin as well as at a facility located in the Philippines. Want a YETI made in the USA? Call us at (512) 394-9384 and we'll make it happen.

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Yeti is going through some growth pains.
They have been really making it difficult on their dealers in the process.

They may be making them in the USA and Phillippines now, but they were making some in China, and the quality was causing them headaches. I was under the impression they got the issues worked out. Perhaps they just quite making them in China, but china got copies of the molds, so now there are lots of knock-offs.

RTIC being one of them .

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Pretty sure Yeti copied Engel.

Point being, the design and construction of these coolers isn't rocket science. There's only so much you can do with a cooler and much of that is predicated on weight and the quality of materials/manufacturing.

I've got to think the folks at Igloo and Coleman are kicking themselves for not recognizing the market opportunity that Yeti capitalized on.

Bump, anyone received theirs yet?

Not yet but it said they were backordered until February when I ordered. Hopefully thks didn't turn into anther RTIC thread.

I sent a support inquiry a few weeks ago hoping they would ship early, but they said they were still waiting on then to arrive. When I saw they are now backordered to 2/15, I reopened my ticket asking if that was just for new orders, or also existing orders. Have not heard back. Maybe I need to submit as a new ticket. I'm still curious how/why they charged my account before shipping product.

Finally received a tracking number. No estimated delivery date on UPS site, yet. This thing might be real after all...

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The premium cooler market isn't that big. Some of these companies are going to go out of business sooner or later right?

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What it tells me is Yeti has a huge margin. Other guys are finding out and thinking they'd be happy to give it a go at a lower margin.

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Yeti doesn't have a huge margin

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Yeti doesn't have a huge margin

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I find this very hard to believe. If they don't, they should.

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So they should make cheaper products with cheaper quality control like all of the new competition in the market? Not saying they don't have decent margins, but they aren't huge. It's not like they're fleecing everyone.

I was more discussing their coolers. Their accessories I'm sure are a different story

... and polyurethane spray foam in the middle.

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I was more discussing their coolers. Their accessories I'm sure are a different story

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Molded plastic and foam are not expensive at all once you pay for the mold.

I bet the small cooler costs less than $50 to make, all in.

They sell it for what? $280? Pretty high margin if you ask me.

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Way, way off.