board building business truths..or why not to buy your board from costco/walmart

"idiots with no real experience in board building decided to sell us all out because they werent satisfied with making 100% mark up on clothing alone , so for an extra margin on boards its a wipeout for an industry ... but thats life , so no point going on , because things have changed ...
on the other hand its enevitable , as the whole world has gone global and it was only a matter of time before the surfboard industry suffered the same fate as most other industries have gone through ...
the surfboard industry is very different tho , it relies on people who know what there doing , to get crew on the right board for there skill level and just get crew on decent equipment ...
as the surfing industry has gone more global , the consumer ultimatly loses ,,, yes the price goes down , but the service goes down further ... so now you have more surfers with proportionatly less knowledgable people to guide them ...
since ive been on the goldy , im shocked at how many crew are just plane riding the wrong boards ... i see 10 brands in a shop and you would swear they have all come off the same machine .. youve got some of the worlds best surfers and they couldnt tell you the first thing about design and what works and why ... because so many of the crew with the knowledge have been sold out for cheap imports ... so now you have gifted individuals , with a lifetime of design knowledge , pushing wheelbarrows on building sites and mowing lawns .... while mass produced boards are being pushed out of multichained retail outlets on the uneducated consumer by some 20 year old just parroting off the sales pitch given by the brand manager ... but the blame can be spread all round ... these crew pushing wheelbarrows , also had other options .. if you want to remain a cottage industry and do the same thing in the same way everyday , it will catch up with you eventually ...
from what im seeing now , it can only get worse ... there is no room for more shapers to come through the ranks and learn design skills , so you will have less and less crew who actually understand whats going on ...
so whos to blame for that ??? basically everyone involved in profiteering at the expense of real service .... this includes both retailers and labels for encouraging cheaper imports and mass produced boards , plus board builders who wanted to keep producing cheap rubbish to keep people coming back for disposable surfboards ...
its a run away train now ... just find a safe corner and hope its not to painful when it finnally stops , if it ever does ... no point crying ,,, coz its happening , no point blaming anyone , coz its happening ... " - bert burger, gold coast, oz(from swaylocks surfboard design forum)