A few quick thoughts on sales, supply and demand, etc.
First, I'm not a union fan. They had their time and place and I appreciate what they did for this country. Unions are needed in China right now, not in the US.
I come from an engineering background (computer and IT) and am now in sales. It is very common practice for a company to enter a market with stupid low prices. Customers jump ship because obviously the previous supplier is over-priced. The fact is that most suppliers in almost any industry have very low profit margins. If a new entry has a lower price it is because you are getting less. I challenge anyone to show me an example where this isn't the case. Dell is a prime example of a company that has done this. Note the huge lawsuit against them for shipping millions of known bad units
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/projectfailures/dell-lawsuit-pattern-of-deceit/10165.
Often times a supplier such as a auto paint shop will show a car that they have done as an example of their work. The problem is that the show car is not an honest representation of their typical work. It is an anomoly showing only what their highest capabilities are, not what you are going to get.
Additionally suppliers use other methods to hide cheaper materials/labor/processes such as low quality paint that will degrade faster, or other shortcuts that initially look great but quickly fall apart.
So, the bottom line is:
Quality - Service - Price
Pick any two becuase you can't have all three.
These are simple laws of a (mostly) free market economy.
Getting off high horse now.
