Just got around reading this and really enjoyed it. I definitely have some mixed feelings on this part of the interview.
"For example, I still feel that shop decks are making Tum Yeto smaller and smaller. People don’t see how the shop blank or the random local company that has 50 boards for sale will mean there aren’t gonna be any more demos coming through town or your favorite pro isn’t going to get paid by the board company in the future."
So in theory that's great and all, but at the store I work for if I want to buy Tumyeto decks they typically go for $34-$36. They usually don't carry enough product or move fast enough for me to do a large enough order that will get free shipping. So if the store is going to pay $36 for a deck and then pay another 2-3$ per deck shipped where is my profit margin left? Buy a deck for $39 and sell it for $55? Anyone who owns a business knows you aren't paying bills on that.
Then there is shop decks and local brands. I can order 100 shop decks at $16 a pop that locals love and sell them for $40 at a great margin. Local brands typically sell for $30 and will drop off for free shipping and contribute way more to the local skate scene then big brands do on the east coast. I'm not sure what the right answer is and I would love to see them sell more decks and be able to pay there riders, but Sinclair isn't looking at it from a shops perspective.