Before you get all teary-eyed over Garmin, remember that they are a Cayman Island company, so structured to avoid US taxes, are the leaders in establishing Minimum Advertised Pricing policies in the marine industry and have come out with a whole new way to force you to pay more for your electronics. Here's the new policy:
Minimum Retail Price (MRP) Policy
In an effort to protect the long-term interest of not only Garmin, but also all of our dealers, distributors and customers, we have unilaterally adopted a Retail Price Policy for the units marked on the following pages. Garmin believes that this Policy is necessary to ensure the preservation of the superior image of our brand and the value of our products, and to properly
establish the image and reputation of our products in the appropriate market segment.
Although resellers remain free to establish their own prices, Garmin will, without assuming any liability, cancel all orders and refuse to accept any new orders for MRP products from any dealer or distributor for a period of six (6) months, immediately following Garmin’s verification to its satisfaction that such dealer or their distributor, or any retailer or reseller that has purchased a MRP product from such dealer or distributor that has advertised, offered, or sold the product at a net retail sales price less than the above Suggested Retail Price established and announced by Garmin. At Garmin’s election, a second occurrence by a reseller will result in the indefinite discontinuation of any further MRP product transactions with the dealer or distributor.
Any discounting of the Suggested Retail Price for any MRP product - including, without limitation to advertising, offering or providing coupons, rebates, free accessories, or payment of sales tax for the customer - will be regarded as a violation of this Retail Price Policy.
Please keep in mind that Garmin’s unilateral Minimum Advertised Price Policy is still applicable to those products designated by Garmin in our price catalog or by Marketing Memo. Garmin will not discuss any conditions of acceptance related to this Policy, as it is non-negotiable and will not be altered for any dealer or distributor. In addition, Garmin neither solicits, nor will it accept, any assurance of compliance with this Policy. Nothing in this Policy shall constitute an agreement between Garmin and any dealer or on any subject including that the dealer or distributor will sell the MRP products at or above any particular price. For legal reasons, Garmin will not discuss its Retail Price Policy with any dealer or distributor. Accordingly, all Garmin
personnel and sales representatives have been specifically instructed not to discuss the Policy beyond the content of this statement with anyone outside of Garmin. Please do not attempt to discuss the Policy with Garmin personnel or sales representatives or communicate complaints or advice to Garmin personnel or sales representatives. Garmin will unilaterally determine whether the MRP products are being advertised, offered or sold at prices other than in compliance with the Garmin Retail Price Policy.
What that means is that you will be paying at least 30% more than you need to for those products covered under this product. I'm glad they are providing decent support for their products but they certainly don't have your best interests at heart, as far as I can tell.
