When Bike Bandit ships you a 17" tire instead of an 18"

[LongRanger_imp]

Since the retailers are relying on the distributor's inventory system to represent products they have available for sale, it makes me wonder why the distributors themselves don't create their own retail website and sell directly to consumers, bypassing their on-line retailers and keeping the full margin. I suppose if they did that, they'd lose all of their on-line and bricks-and-mortar retailers, which would kill their distribution model.