Yes I want good QC on all hooks I buy, just like you said, unless you meant otherwise. Sorry, not trying to be an arse. I want QC on all my hooks, period. But if i can't have it I will take best of the ones I can afford and go out and catch fish.

The last time I bought hooks I had a 1/250 defect rate buying them 500 to 1,000 at a time. This was on VMC, Mustad and EC. The batch I bought a couple days ago were far from the QC of the hooks that I bought 4 years ago. Thankfully I only have 50 of each.

As for price comparable in bulk, you show me where and I will buy Owner and Gami's. Even if Owner and Gami are within 50% of these prices I will buy them simply for the QC. No joke, no being a smart arse, seriously, show me and I will switch.
1000 Mustad 3/0 Octopus $79.05
1000 EC #1 Octopus Lazer sharp $59.50
1000 VMC 3/0 Octopus $72.68
1000 Matzuo 3/0 Octopus $79.05
Compared to 1000 Gamakatsu 3/0 Octopus $421.50, 5x times higher, from the same site for all of them.
Owner I can't say for certain but best I found was $527 per 1,000 3/0 octopus which is only 6.7x more but likely can find them cheaper from a bulk supplier so more likely close to the same price as Gami.

But to some I guess there is nothing I can say:
My pole is $42 so I can't catch as many fish as they can on your $350 pole even though I feel a 2 inch bull head sucking on the bait.
My reel was $43 so I can't catch as many fish as they can with their $200 reel even though it was $150 2 years ago.
I pay $10 for 1650 yards of line so I can't catch as many fish as they can with their $24 330 yard line even though I can land 30#+ fish on twelve pound test with it.

Oh well, I will pay my prices and still have fun catching fish that actualy cost less than buying them at the store. I will sacrifice having to go through and throw away 1:10 hooks for the pirce I pay. I just wanted to bitch about the fall in QC in as little as 4 years. Maybe my emails to the companies will make a difference, maybe not.