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Author Topic:   Model Years on Mercury Outboards

WhalerAce posted 11-01-2008 09:25 PM ET (US)
Yes, I know you think you know what I'm going to say. How many times have we gone over this? But . . .
I was at the Bass Pro Shops here in Destin tonight, where we will be staying the next three weeks. Anyhow, I was looking at all of the Mercury Outboards for sale here, and noticed that each of them had a price sticker on them. Why, I wondered, are two identical Mercury 25 HP Outboards $500 different? Then I noticed that the first line on each sticker was a Model Year Designation. They have '07, '08, and '09 Models, along with the Model designations displayed. That was why one identical model was more than the other.
I know what Jim keeps posting about model years, but how can Bass Pro Shops display model years?
Thanks,
--- WhalerAce
hauptjm posted 11-01-2008 11:13 PM ET (US)
"Old habits" and all that!
jimh posted 11-02-2008 09:35 AM ET (US)
Mercury Marine outboard motors have "product years." Mercury Marine makes reference to "product years" in their internal communications with their dealers. For example, they send memorandum to their dealers and talk about "2009 PY" motors.
Mercury Marine also tracks their motors by year for compliance with the EPA regulations for sale of marine spark ignition motors. They tell the EPA about their motors each year.
The only place that Mercury Marine has stopped using designators for their motors by year is with the retail customer. To the retail customer there is no such thing as a model year. To understand how this works to the advantage of the customer, read Mercury Marine's explanation from
http://www.mercurymarine.com/serviceandwarranty/outboardfaqs/mye.php
Here is an excerpt:
"Eliminating the "model year" designation results in a host of benefits for consumers of our products and for the dealers who represent Mercury Marine."
I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to extract from that publication all of the benefits for the consumer that occur as a result.
WhalerAce posted 11-02-2008 09:46 AM ET (US)
Jim,
I had already read all of that from your previous postings. My point is, with the RETAIL customer at BPS, they are still going by YEAR-designation. They did not really say that was a Product Year on the tag.
I believe that this PY stuff is a bunch of crap, and is only there to fool the retail customer. My point was that they are still loosely trying to show that one engine is "newer" than the other or "the latest" one.
--- WhalerAce
BlueMax posted 11-02-2008 09:47 AM ET (US)
1) Sales through Overt Advertising - Displaying the year of manufacture just takes some of the common questions out of the way for the buyer and salesperson alike (you know people are going to ask "what year is it" or why there is a $500 difference between two similar models). When spending that amount of money, many folks will consider model years as a tipping point for a sale and are unwittingly willing to shell out an extra $500 for the 'newer' version of the same exact thing.
2) Sales through Soft-Sell Advertising - think 'new and improved' ('newer' to some folks also implies 'improved'). Not everybody reads ContinuousWave (Ahh, the poor unwashed of the boating community); they still want to know when the engine was built so that they can get the 'newest' and therefore 'better' product.
3) Sales through 'Subliminal' Advertising - To be honest, if I had a choice of two identically rigged, same-year Montauk 170's sitting side-by-side I when I was shopping for my Whaler, I would have purchased the boat that had a 'newer' month on the engine data plate simply because it was 'newer'. Example - the engine data plate on my 2007 170 Montauk states that the engine was built in August 2006 - given a choice, I would have purchased the boat that had 'September 2006' for whatever subconscious reason - and, actually, I still would.
So, in effect - the reasons they advertise engine years when the manufacturer may not - 1) Answer the customer's obvious question right up front and 2) ... da-da-da-da - Sales!

Tohsgib posted 11-05-2008 11:25 AM ET (US)
How much were they Ace?

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Author	Topic: Model Years on Mercury Outboards
WhalerAce	posted 11-01-2008 09:25 PM ET (US) Yes, I know you think you know what I'm going to say. How many times have we gone over this? But . . . I was at the Bass Pro Shops here in Destin tonight, where we will be staying the next three weeks. Anyhow, I was looking at all of the Mercury Outboards for sale here, and noticed that each of them had a price sticker on them. Why, I wondered, are two identical Mercury 25 HP Outboards $500 different? Then I noticed that the first line on each sticker was a Model Year Designation. They have '07, '08, and '09 Models, along with the Model designations displayed. That was why one identical model was more than the other. I know what Jim keeps posting about model years, but how can Bass Pro Shops display model years? Thanks, --- WhalerAce
hauptjm	posted 11-01-2008 11:13 PM ET (US) "Old habits" and all that!
jimh	posted 11-02-2008 09:35 AM ET (US) Mercury Marine outboard motors have "product years." Mercury Marine makes reference to "product years" in their internal communications with their dealers. For example, they send memorandum to their dealers and talk about "2009 PY" motors. Mercury Marine also tracks their motors by year for compliance with the EPA regulations for sale of marine spark ignition motors. They tell the EPA about their motors each year. The only place that Mercury Marine has stopped using designators for their motors by year is with the retail customer. To the retail customer there is no such thing as a model year. To understand how this works to the advantage of the customer, read Mercury Marine's explanation from http://www.mercurymarine.com/serviceandwarranty/outboardfaqs/mye.php Here is an excerpt: "Eliminating the "model year" designation results in a host of benefits for consumers of our products and for the dealers who represent Mercury Marine." I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to extract from that publication all of the benefits for the consumer that occur as a result.
WhalerAce	posted 11-02-2008 09:46 AM ET (US) Jim, I had already read all of that from your previous postings. My point is, with the RETAIL customer at BPS, they are still going by YEAR-designation. They did not really say that was a Product Year on the tag. I believe that this PY stuff is a bunch of crap, and is only there to fool the retail customer. My point was that they are still loosely trying to show that one engine is "newer" than the other or "the latest" one. --- WhalerAce
BlueMax	posted 11-02-2008 09:47 AM ET (US) 1) Sales through Overt Advertising - Displaying the year of manufacture just takes some of the common questions out of the way for the buyer and salesperson alike (you know people are going to ask "what year is it" or why there is a $500 difference between two similar models). When spending that amount of money, many folks will consider model years as a tipping point for a sale and are unwittingly willing to shell out an extra $500 for the 'newer' version of the same exact thing. 2) Sales through Soft-Sell Advertising - think 'new and improved' ('newer' to some folks also implies 'improved'). Not everybody reads ContinuousWave (Ahh, the poor unwashed of the boating community); they still want to know when the engine was built so that they can get the 'newest' and therefore 'better' product. 3) Sales through 'Subliminal' Advertising - To be honest, if I had a choice of two identically rigged, same-year Montauk 170's sitting side-by-side I when I was shopping for my Whaler, I would have purchased the boat that had a 'newer' month on the engine data plate simply because it was 'newer'. Example - the engine data plate on my 2007 170 Montauk states that the engine was built in August 2006 - given a choice, I would have purchased the boat that had 'September 2006' for whatever subconscious reason - and, actually, I still would. So, in effect - the reasons they advertise engine years when the manufacturer may not - 1) Answer the customer's obvious question right up front and 2) ... da-da-da-da - Sales!
Tohsgib	posted 11-05-2008 11:25 AM ET (US) How much were they Ace?