As a distribution sales rep in the pet supplies / aquatics categories I can say with 100% certainty that this is NOT any reason for drop in production quality. If BRS needs to make up margin from lost sales last year, they will most likely be out of business soon. Last year (2020) was a BOOM for the aquatics industry, the market had pretty much been stagnant for a couple years and trending down slightly.
With BRS being a niche market within the aquatics industry, production and shipment issues can hurt them even more than other companies. But remember when they gave away $100k worth of product within a week toward the end of last year? They were probably coming up on the end of their fiscal year and needed some tax write offs to offset the capital sitting in the bank. Companies don't just give away $100k worth of inventory because they want to and take a loss on those items, there's always a reason behind it.
This guy gets it!