We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this special announcement!
As many of you know, yesterday two of the largest U.S. retailers in marine hardware (Big Evil Empire and Not-So-Big/Not-So-Evil Empire) announced their consolidation plans. This led to a brief panic amongst value-conscious sailors (Rebels) who feared that the end of their Rebellion against high prices and indifference might be near...
Not to worry. This consolidation of the establishment forces into the newly formed Grossly Big and Evil Empire (hereafter referred to simply as "Evil", "Evil Empire" or "EE" for short) will not affect the Cause. As FDR once said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" (or something like that).
SailNet will not buckle to the power of the EE. SailNet will continue to offer refuge to those in the Rebellion. SailNet will strive to offer fair and honest pricing without gimmicks, Free Shipping to bring the products you need to your door, 24x7 convenience without the hassle of pesky salespeople who know everything about ski ropes and nothing about halyards, a Call Center staffed with people who are there to help when you need it, No Sales Tax (except SC) AND the ONLY Major Site on the Internet devoted exclusively to SAILING!
It's a big challenge. It would be easier to sell out and go with the flow... buckle to conventional wisdom and ride the coattails of the EE by abandoning our principles and settling for living in Evil's shadow... But, we figure there's no future in that. We didn't start this business to be conventional, to maintain the status quo. We've been on a quest to build something better, something that satisfies the special needs we have as sailors, something that didn't treat sailing and sailors as an afterthought. The EE may be out to make boating more fun, but SailNet is out to make SAILING more ACCESSIBLE and AFFORDABLE. "Why stop now?" pretty much sums it up...
So, we're going forward with no major changes. No deviation from the rhumb
line we'd already set. The winds may blow, the seas may churn, Evil may be everywhere... but you can count on us. We're exactly who and what we say we are. And, we're here to stay!
Regards,
Sam & Cheryl Boyle
Co-Founders
