"Since March 26, 2011, sixteen Costco locations in the west have been identified as stocking and heavily discounting selected Simms and Sage products. The products appear to be limited to three varying models of popular Sage Z-Axis fly rod and Simms G4 Pro Stockingfoot waders. The knee-jerk reaction Is to wonder if Simms and Sage sold direct to Costco. But, in the words of ESPN College Game Day commentator Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friends.” It turns out that neither company sold anything to Costco. In fact, they appear to have been victimized. In an exclusive phone interview for this article, Marc Bale, long-time director of sales for Sage/Farbank Enterprises, stated: “We are aware of the products impacted and the Costco stores participating in selling our goods. It is factual to say that we have pinpointed the issue with a freight-forwarder that transferred the goods to Costco. The freight-forwarder has since gone AWOL. We continue to investigate.” According to Mr. Bale, Sage did not sell direct to Costco, nor had any plans to do so. It appears the vigilante freight forwarder double-crossed Sage without their permission."
