Simple economics really - if two products are made from the same materials and manufactured by the same people using almost entirely the same processes, why should one cost 30% more? If Newbery's grading is consistent across the ranges, then the only differences between a Krakatoa (say) and a Kudos2 are the shape and the pressing. Shape is a matter of personal preference rather than measurable performance benefits (I'm sure someone will disagree with that), and although I'm not intimately familiar with the pressing process I doubt very highly that there's a big cost/time difference between different methods!
As for the palm leather analogy - this doesn't work at all! Cheap gloves don't have expensive leather palms because expensive leather is expensive (ie. not cheap), so gloves with expensive leather must retail at a higher price for the manufacturer to make a profit. Similarly with outsourcing manufacture abroad, companies in any sector don't just do that for the fun of it.
Pressing one way or another (almost certainly) doesn't cost any extra, so logically the bat should not cost more (or at least not a lot more), and as it doesn't cost any more to press a bat well rather than badly you would assume any bat company would aim to press every bat as well as possible. The willow grading would still lead to a price rise across a range. The extra cost and 'superior pressing' claims to me implies two things - either Newbury are deliberately making some bats to a lower standard, or they are simply trying to squeeze extra money out of customers with a new range, or both! This doesn't make me dead keen to go out and buy one of their bats.
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Topic: Newbery Visit on October 9th - time for more pre-orders! :-) (Read 36765 times)