Readers Respond: Paint and primer in one

A manufacturer weighs in on the paint-and-primer-in-one trend. He asks: “Don’t customers deserve a clear message?” 

"After reading the above noted article, I am compelled to relay the truth as a manufacturer for honesty to independents and to keep industry media current on technology.

"The article says: 'Independent retailers were divided on the issue' of self-priming paint technology and messaging and let me say the sentiment has never been more pronounced! To keep pace with this marketing trend started by the big box, independents are forced to adopt this product. Unfortunately this pressures them to also relay the convoluted description of its performance to customers. With the influx of countless cleverly worded paint-and-primer products, understanding the difference between ‘One-Can’ paint and a ‘One-Coat’ paint is lost at the expense of retailer and customer time and money.

"A true, one-coat paint means exactly this: never a primer or second coat but a single application to achieve a finished result over any surface, prepared or unprepared. 

“ 'Big Paint' companies have been manipulating independents and customers through the toughest economy in generations. Paint-and-primer products abuse misdirection through the fantasy of a true ‘one-coat’ capability but rely on multiple coats for a finished result, which is no different to conventional paint. They simply retail for more money and are quietly generating a massive material and energy waste system that nobody is talking about. Every paint-and-primer or self-priming paint is a ‘one-can’ product and nothing more. Don’t customers deserve a clear message? 

"The true value in paint technology advancement today must be a product that cuts labor and material costs to the absolute minimum simultaneously preventing the maximum in wastes through raw material extraction, production and usage. Only this aligns with the economic and environmental objectives of today’s customer. When this reality is digested there is no going back for the unprecedented incentive is too great. It’s time to change the way the world thinks about paint by recalibrating its relationship with people.

"If we are to break this movement that carries a casual responsibility to customers and our natural resources, independents must lead the market and hold manufacturers accountable for the paint they produce and more importantly their messaging."

— Tony Margani                                                                                   

VP sales and marketing

EVOpaint