Where to start. Let's go back to the beginning. Carpet cleaning as we know it started about 100 years ago. Over last century there has been a lot of progress in cleaning and restoring carpets. Quality of cleaning has gone up dramatically while quality of carpet has gone down dramatically. But that's a whole another story. For now we want to address industry copies & knock offs. Is it a copy or innovation?
Now knockoffs and copies have always been and always will be. That is the nature of man. There is an ancient proverb that says "there is nothing new under the sun". We all think mankind has come a long way and he has to a degree. However we can only take partial credit. In reality, we have done nothing but borrow or take from what is around us, the earth. Does that make man bad? I'm sure Mother Nature or a Creator doesn't mind unless we represent them incorrectly. How so?
If we claimed it as our own. You see knock offs or copy's are not a bad thing. Actually it has led to innovation. It keeps ones from having a monopoly. Yes some get patents but patents expire. Why? To avoid monopolies. To avoid stifling progress or new innovations. It also avoids price fixing. Stifling growth is anti-American and resembles more communistic and socialistic systems. Nice to be in a free America.
There are good things that come from copy's and knockoffs. Every single carpet cleaner in our industry has benefited from copy's over that last century. From glides, to cuffs, to wands, to rotary's, hoses, furn tools, chemicals, dehumidifiers, air movers, forums, groups, magazines, portables and even truckmounts. I could go on and on. The list is endless. And there is no end in sight.
However with the advent of the internet many have voiced their displeasure of copy's. In emotional rants with only half facts they run off emotional rants at anything or anyone. Sometimes they have partial info, or a misplaced allegiance to friends or even maybe paid (or receive for free) to promote a certain product. This actually works against or is counterproductive to our industry. Actually to each one of us. Imagine if this attitude prevailed.
We would all be driving Model Tโs. Cars are still cars but look how far innovation and technology has taken us. Many of us drive Japanese automobiles and love them. Why? yes they all copies of the original cars but have been refined. Also it made the American companies step up their game delivering higher quality cars to compete. Donโt get me wrong, I love a model T car but I sure would drive and on long distance trips. You see most people donโt mind knockoffs as long as they exceed quality and innovation.
So when you hear about knock copy's rather than get emotional, use rational thinking and realize, without them where would we be today? We would be paying 2-3 times prices for glides, rotaries, wands, hoses, cordless extraction tools and truckmounts. Or have an inferior product. Plus with a complete monopoly quality would stay the same or even go down and they could charge obscene prices. Who wants that?
You see. Everything in our industry is a knock off or a copy. I guess the proverb is true "there is nothing new under the sun". And aren't we glad. It truly has led to innovation and higher quality products for us all. It has also led to better pricing, availability and innovation. So when you hear of copy's, realize it may not be such a bad thing after all.
They have always been and always will be. Get used to it. Actually you probably are using several things that are copy's, because everything you have and use in our industry is a copy. That is a fact. So it must not be such a bad thing.
Small list knockoffs in our industry. Feel free to add to it:
1-Glides. We love them donโt we. But lets look at the history. They were invented by Ken Harris in Canada. Then Jeff Smith (former owner Green Glides) copied them.
Chem-Dry they invented something similar and tried to stop glides. They lost in court and now Mytee, https://shop.truckmountforums.com, TMF, Vinus wands and countless others make them.
2-Cuffs-***** invented threaded cuffs. Then Mytee Links copied them followed by Snap cuffs.
3-Rotary Extractors-Invented by the Rotovac Munson brothers with RX 20. Mytee made an extractor, then Hoss and Drimaster. Rotovac even made Rotovac XL.
4-Truckmounts-Les Judson invented the slide in and DD's. Big Re, Prochem, Hydramaster, SteamAction,Blueline and the list goes on. Direct drives to best knowledge were started by Butler, followed by Cleanco, Sapphire and White Magic. Been few others since then. Isn't it nice to have choices?
5-Industry magazines-John Downing started Cleanfax. Then came ICS and TMF Clean Informer
6-Wands-1st came the AW29 now there are over 20 knockoffs. Afterwards came S bend wands and over 25 companies copied them. Then Ti wands. Several companies are now making knock offs. Then the swivel. There are 3 versions now and another on the way.
7-Chemicals. 100โs knock offs here. Everyone has Slams, Pacs and Formulaโs. Now the rage is detergent based persprays that Les Judson made popular that is knocked off by internet cleaners. I could go on but it would take up pages. One thing I will say is every major and small chemical company I have visited has all their competitors top brands in their labs. Why? ;-)
8-Furniture tools-Spray & vac tools, list way too long. Then came Drimaster made 1st continuos flow tool. Sapphire and Rotovac and PMF have them now. Nice to have choices.
9-Forums & Groups- ICS started 1st one, followed by Cleanfax, the MB and then Truckmountforums. FB groups with TMF with several spins offs that the list keeps growing.
10-CET (Cordless extraction tools. Drag tools first, the the Zinger from 80โs then Zipper, CX 15 and Bonzer with more on horizon. Soon Mytee will release their mini zipper copy.
11-Door sealers. 1st came partial door guards then in late 80's and early 90's full guard doors, then seal doors and then courtesy door.
12-Schools-There have been many schools and niche schools in our industry even before IICRC got its start. Now we have ICRA and recently we built the only on hands full training diverse school at Truckmountforums. (Watch for our online school coming Feb 1st 2017!) And now there is the 1st online complete diverse training online school www.tmfacademy.com.
And lets not forget about trade shows. First came Connections followed by the Experience. The Mytee knocked it off with the ICE show. I'm sure more will follow. There are many small fests also.
Well that is just 12 areas. If you can think of others feel free to add one or two.
Rob Allen
Truckmountforums
Sent from my iPhone using TMF Forums
Now knockoffs and copies have always been and always will be. That is the nature of man. There is an ancient proverb that says "there is nothing new under the sun". We all think mankind has come a long way and he has to a degree. However we can only take partial credit. In reality, we have done nothing but borrow or take from what is around us, the earth. Does that make man bad? I'm sure Mother Nature or a Creator doesn't mind unless we represent them incorrectly. How so?
If we claimed it as our own. You see knock offs or copy's are not a bad thing. Actually it has led to innovation. It keeps ones from having a monopoly. Yes some get patents but patents expire. Why? To avoid monopolies. To avoid stifling progress or new innovations. It also avoids price fixing. Stifling growth is anti-American and resembles more communistic and socialistic systems. Nice to be in a free America.
There are good things that come from copy's and knockoffs. Every single carpet cleaner in our industry has benefited from copy's over that last century. From glides, to cuffs, to wands, to rotary's, hoses, furn tools, chemicals, dehumidifiers, air movers, forums, groups, magazines, portables and even truckmounts. I could go on and on. The list is endless. And there is no end in sight.
However with the advent of the internet many have voiced their displeasure of copy's. In emotional rants with only half facts they run off emotional rants at anything or anyone. Sometimes they have partial info, or a misplaced allegiance to friends or even maybe paid (or receive for free) to promote a certain product. This actually works against or is counterproductive to our industry. Actually to each one of us. Imagine if this attitude prevailed.
We would all be driving Model Tโs. Cars are still cars but look how far innovation and technology has taken us. Many of us drive Japanese automobiles and love them. Why? yes they all copies of the original cars but have been refined. Also it made the American companies step up their game delivering higher quality cars to compete. Donโt get me wrong, I love a model T car but I sure would drive and on long distance trips. You see most people donโt mind knockoffs as long as they exceed quality and innovation.
So when you hear about knock copy's rather than get emotional, use rational thinking and realize, without them where would we be today? We would be paying 2-3 times prices for glides, rotaries, wands, hoses, cordless extraction tools and truckmounts. Or have an inferior product. Plus with a complete monopoly quality would stay the same or even go down and they could charge obscene prices. Who wants that?
You see. Everything in our industry is a knock off or a copy. I guess the proverb is true "there is nothing new under the sun". And aren't we glad. It truly has led to innovation and higher quality products for us all. It has also led to better pricing, availability and innovation. So when you hear of copy's, realize it may not be such a bad thing after all.
They have always been and always will be. Get used to it. Actually you probably are using several things that are copy's, because everything you have and use in our industry is a copy. That is a fact. So it must not be such a bad thing.
Small list knockoffs in our industry. Feel free to add to it:
1-Glides. We love them donโt we. But lets look at the history. They were invented by Ken Harris in Canada. Then Jeff Smith (former owner Green Glides) copied them.
Chem-Dry they invented something similar and tried to stop glides. They lost in court and now Mytee, https://shop.truckmountforums.com, TMF, Vinus wands and countless others make them.
2-Cuffs-***** invented threaded cuffs. Then Mytee Links copied them followed by Snap cuffs.
3-Rotary Extractors-Invented by the Rotovac Munson brothers with RX 20. Mytee made an extractor, then Hoss and Drimaster. Rotovac even made Rotovac XL.
4-Truckmounts-Les Judson invented the slide in and DD's. Big Re, Prochem, Hydramaster, SteamAction,Blueline and the list goes on. Direct drives to best knowledge were started by Butler, followed by Cleanco, Sapphire and White Magic. Been few others since then. Isn't it nice to have choices?
5-Industry magazines-John Downing started Cleanfax. Then came ICS and TMF Clean Informer
6-Wands-1st came the AW29 now there are over 20 knockoffs. Afterwards came S bend wands and over 25 companies copied them. Then Ti wands. Several companies are now making knock offs. Then the swivel. There are 3 versions now and another on the way.
7-Chemicals. 100โs knock offs here. Everyone has Slams, Pacs and Formulaโs. Now the rage is detergent based persprays that Les Judson made popular that is knocked off by internet cleaners. I could go on but it would take up pages. One thing I will say is every major and small chemical company I have visited has all their competitors top brands in their labs. Why? ;-)
8-Furniture tools-Spray & vac tools, list way too long. Then came Drimaster made 1st continuos flow tool. Sapphire and Rotovac and PMF have them now. Nice to have choices.
9-Forums & Groups- ICS started 1st one, followed by Cleanfax, the MB and then Truckmountforums. FB groups with TMF with several spins offs that the list keeps growing.
10-CET (Cordless extraction tools. Drag tools first, the the Zinger from 80โs then Zipper, CX 15 and Bonzer with more on horizon. Soon Mytee will release their mini zipper copy.
11-Door sealers. 1st came partial door guards then in late 80's and early 90's full guard doors, then seal doors and then courtesy door.
12-Schools-There have been many schools and niche schools in our industry even before IICRC got its start. Now we have ICRA and recently we built the only on hands full training diverse school at Truckmountforums. (Watch for our online school coming Feb 1st 2017!) And now there is the 1st online complete diverse training online school www.tmfacademy.com.
And lets not forget about trade shows. First came Connections followed by the Experience. The Mytee knocked it off with the ICE show. I'm sure more will follow. There are many small fests also.
Well that is just 12 areas. If you can think of others feel free to add one or two.
Rob Allen
Truckmountforums
Sent from my iPhone using TMF Forums