U-Line Drive

U-Line (undercounter fridges) has appointed new distributors to replace Freed  (taken over by BSH, see May).  U-Line has appointed Kimball for CO and UT, Sunwest for AZ, NM and southern NV, and Milestone for TX, LA, and southern MS.  
For Kimball and Milestone, U-Line ousted its chief rival Marvel (undercounter fridges), but not just oust, no siree, a serious ass whooping has been handed out here.  And you just, I mean, you just sit down right there, and let me just tell you what happened here, and be careful not slip on the blood.  
Marvel is owned by AGA (never "off" ranges), which also owns Northland (deer sized fridges).  Milestone carried all three of AGA's brands, and Kimball carried AGA and Marvel.  These distributors took on U-Line, and dumped Marvel because in our analysis, they totaled up the possible AGA reactions:

• pissed off English-accented phone calls
• no more AGA wall plaques
• awkward silences, sour expressions, and cryptic murmurings in upcoming distributor meetings
• the chance, or maybe even the threat, that AGA would pull out all its brands

They added all this up + the headache associated with any line changes, and still decided to go with U-Line.  It says much about the power, the personality, and the cahones of just about everybody involved.