now this interesting, Lifetime Products 55 QUART HIGH PERFORMANCE COOLER

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
$100 and made in usa? how can that be? others are 3-4 times the cost and made in china? are they really made in usa?

They are made in Clearfield, Utah. I believe they even employ some of the at-risk students through the Job Corps training program that my father-in-law manages.
 

REDONE

[s]hard[/s]MEDIUM Core!
I'm still perfectly satisfied with my 20 year old Igloo and dry ice, but I've been keeping my eyes open on a Rotomolded cooler. I also think it's ridiculous that Yeti charges $400 for Chinese cooler and puts a big honkin' "Designed in TEXAS!!!!" sticker on it like it matters. Chris Jansen sings about them like it's an American Icon ("it could buy me a boat...").
Meanwhile, I've noticed that some of the Cabela's, Walmart, and now this Lifetime (I recognize the name from folding plastic tables) are made in the US at a fraction of the cost. If they're really made in Utah, and especially if they employ at risk youth, that's worth a hunnit bones!

EDITED because I thought that song I referenced was by Luke Bryant, but it was Chris Jansen. I like the song, but not Yeti coolers.
 
Last edited:

comptiger5000

Adventurer
I have a feeling the high cost of the Yeti is due to a few things: they weren't common yet when those came out, so they could charge a lot and people would pay it. Plus, I'm sure the production cost was higher (anywhere) early on than it is now. And depending on what the costs are in production (machinery vs people and such) it may not actually be much cheaper to make them in China anyway. Just a matter of where the facilities to do it are available if you don't want to set up a new one.
 

john61ct

Adventurer
Market innovator gets higher margins in the early stages.

That degrades as commodification arrives to the product category.

A reputation for higher quality may help stretch things out.
 

jjoel

New member
I also just ordered the lifetime cooler from wally world.com $101 and will be on my front porch in ~1 week. Another thing to point out is that this is the perfect (maximum) size to check in as a bag on southwest airlines. We're flying to Denver in June and driving to Yellowstone with grandparents and kids. I'll be checking this in and stocking it up with groceries for our road trip. It's literally like 1/2" away from the maximum length + width + height limitation.
 

dman93

Adventurer
Bulky, fairly light things like coolers, which also don’t have many parts that need manual assembly, may not be much cheaper to make in China, and ship over the ocean. Aside from everything else, there’s a 4-8 week lag time while the units are on the boat, not being sold, and potentially depreciating if a competitor reduced their pricing, or plastics prices dropped on the world markets. Made in China is not a solution to every cost problem.
 

Series1Rangie

Adventurer
I have only used mine briefly at a kids birthday party. Is this the mall crawler equivalent of using a cooler?

Anyway worked fine, but when I carried it downstairs a few days later to drain and dry it out, I was lazy and only used one handle. It leaked water out of the top seal. Haven't looked into it more but thought I would share my experiences so far.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Papadave418

New member
I just took mine (Walmart $97) on the Mojave Road for 4 days and 3 nights. I filled it with food, one gallon bottle of drinking water that I froze, packed a 20lb bag of ice in there and it worked great! My friend had his Yeti of the same size and our ice looked the same, and I spent $303 less. My trip was 150 miles of off road, desert weather about 80 degrees, and in and out of it everyday. I even left a few items and on the 5th day at home I had a few ice cubes still floating and water cold enough to make my hands uncomfortable really quick.
 

Attachments

  • F4652587-1859-4B5E-92EC-9794EB370E45.jpeg
    F4652587-1859-4B5E-92EC-9794EB370E45.jpeg
    1.8 MB · Views: 59

mbstonegate

New member
I don't think anyone's mentioned that this is an IGBC Certified Bear-Resistant Product. That's a deal clincher for me at a $100. Oddly enough not listed as a feature on their website. But the IGBC cert is shown in the product pictures and it is listed on the IGBC certified products list.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,534
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top