The pricing of the packages at the dealer level was the fault of the dealers, not Springfield. The package only cost $1.00 more than the regular package. I know there were some dealers who were taking the extra magazines out of the package and selling them separately, and others who jacked up the price another $75 or more. That's not good business, but again, it's not Springfield's fault that they do that.
If you've ever run a business, there is really no way to tell how much of a product you're going to need. You don't know if it's going to go over or not, so most companies play it conservative, because if the product doesn't sell, it cost "dollar value" sitting in a warehouse, gaining no profit. When the product isn't moving out the door, each day it sets costs more money. Having a larger demand than product ensures future business, which makes the business profitable. Without profits, there will be no business.
There are many examples of companies that manufactured large numbers of a certain product, only to have the product bomb. The Edsel is a great example of this.
I'm really not trying to defend Springfield, or it's business practices, but rather explain the realities of doing business in the total world environment, where companies are made or broken by making good judgement calls. In this case, maybe they should have gambled by filling a warehouse with these products prior to announcing them, but they didn't, and I'm sure there were sound reasons for doing so. Springfield really isn't a mega corporation. They are a rather small company that has done well. When I first started buying 1911's from them, they had one guy building them, and that was in the early 80's. They've done well and I wish them well, but they've only done well because they've made some good decisions. Picking up the HS 2000 and putting their name on it was a good decision.
On another note, those of you waiting for the promotional holster, it's no big deal. Mine will end up in the unused holster box, which I refer to as the "graveyard for holsters". However, the grip extension is a great idea, and matches the rest of the grip perfectly.
To those interested, it was originally designed by cutting off the bottom of an actual XD grip and placing it on a full size magazine. The problem was it was loose and fell off when the magazine was released from the gun, so they redesigned it to fit the magazine snugly and stay on when the magazine is dropped from the grip.
Hope this helps.
Fred
