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Don't know if that's true or not NI. All I can say is that I have 2 GOSMs (a regular and a big block) and I bought them both at Walmart. One here in Canada and one in Washington State. Haven't had any problem with either.
The ones I have looked at seem to be a lesser quality than my Big Block. Not sure if it was because they were the smaller GOSM models or because of Wally World or some of each.
Wal-Mart has and will push and push it's suppliers to be cheaper and cheaper until all you are buying is throw away junk. Therefore, sounds like an excellent place to not buy a GOSM, or much of anything else for that matter, to me.