The pan I have was purchased from Academy Sports for $4.99. According to what I observed, they are shipped 12 to a box, stacked nested, without much packing material. I had to go through a whole stack to find a decent one. It had two labels on the bottom, one of which was a UPC bar code with the same prefix as other Brinkmann labeled items in the store, the other was a model number label that coincides with the number listed on the Brinkmann website.
On Bass Pro's website, the pan is listed as "Brinkmann’s® Porcelain-Coated Charcoal Pan" (note trademark). Otherwise, it should say something like "Porcelain-Coated Charcoal Pan for Brinkmann" if it is not manufactured by Brinkmann. So, if Bass Pro is shipping a knock off and passing it off as authentic Brinkmann, they are guilty of false advertising. I very much doubt this, as they go so far as to denote (with a yellow star symbol) items which are their own brands.
Update: Out of curiosity, I phoned Brinkmann customer service to inquire about this, and had a lengthy conversation with a knowledgeable-sounding rep. Good thing, too -- I was on hold 30 minutes. He said the pans at Academy and Bass Pro were the same as those supplied directly by Brinkmann, and the reasons for the price discrepancy were two-fold. One, the big box stores, as distributors, are buying multiple pallet quantities at a time, and secondly, Brinkmann has non-compete agreements with its distributors. He could not speak to why the pans I saw at Academy were in such poor condition, but said he would pass the info up the line.
My guess, since I also have an old Brinkmann smoker (circa 1983), with a pan that I consider better made than the one I got from Academy, is that the quality of the pan has changed since Tom and I obtained our original ones.
