wrote in message
ups.com...
Arch - I remember this guy well. He was indeed a very nice guy,
someone just trying to make a living. But talk about getting crushed
by "the machine". The way he told the story was that he worked a deal
with Crown (about when they were just getting going here in the US) to
sell tools. He sold out of his shed, and he was the marketer,
merchandising, invoicing, shipping and web master for the enterprise.
He sunk a fair amount of money into the project, apparently a lot of
his savings.

The Brand was not Crown, but Hamlet. He apparently violated some sort of
company minimum pricing policy or territory assignment and was cut off.
CSUSA was supposed to have had some market protection, which didn't outlast
the conflict by much, as now Packard sells both the brand and some "Packard"
tools that look remarkably similar.

The guy that sold Crown was a Canadian.