Any new reports on Shopsmith

[paulmcohen]

Just a thought: What if SS had released Rick's new DVD and sent everyone an e-mail saying it was now available and the price was ONLY 37.95 and for a limited time could be ordered with FREE shipping. Would we all be saying 'wow, what a deal and FREE shipping too!!!'

Shopsmith is not a charity, if I decide to give them my refund check (which I only plan on spending on goods made in the USA), I expect value in return. When I see Netflix making money selling all the DVD's I want to rent for $5 a month including shipping this bothers me.

If Shopsmith was keeping the $37.95 it might not feel as bad but FedEx is making most if not all of the shipping charge. My wife runs a small internet business and she charges shipping for all purchase but the postage charge is exactly what it costs her. If you want fast delivery you pay (up to $20) for FedEx to come to our house and pick it up you get it tomorrow, if you want slightly slower delivery you wait until she drives down to the post office (about once a week) and she ships Priority Mail for <$3. If you want something in between you can pay $8-$9 and she will drive to the post office for you. If you are in no hurry she puts it in the mailbox and you pay <$1. The point is the customer has the choice, with Shopsmith we have no choice and FedEx is rarely the cheapest carrier.

When she buys supplies, shipping dominates the cost of the items and when she makes a decision of where to purchase shipping matter. Sometime when she places an order she asked for "faster" shipping and agrees to pay for the extra drive to the post office, many times she finds a few $1's in the package with a note saying "I was going to the Post Office anyway, enjoy." These are vendors she remembers and does business with again.

[friscomike]

Howdy,

Just a note about downloading DVD's, a regular definition DVD is around 5 gigabytes in size; most software downloads are far smaller.

As I recall from Rick's class, he mentioned High Defnition equipment and video were on the horizon. A High Definition blu-ray DVD can reach 32gigabytes in size (over six times the size of a regular DVD). What this means is that you'll need FIOS or at least 10mb download speed to make this option viable. That said, it looks like Amazon, Apple, etc are doing just that - making video download common place. Not sure how many are high def, though. Wonder how many wood workers have high speed connections, other than the folks on the forum .

Best Regards,
mike

[paulmcohen]

I don't download movies but as part of my job I regularly download multi-gigabyte files. I have also been involved in testing download speeds all over the world and it is becoming commonplace to not consider 1 gigabyte downloads unacceptable. I am not sure I agree today but the trend will continue.

[ryanbp01]

As had been discussed in previous threads, downloading onto DVDs is not advised/permitted, even for personal use. For example I received private message from Nick that stated the reasons for this, reasons that I consider valid from Shopsmith's point of view. For example, while you may be appreciative of that burned CD/DVD you downloaded, the creator receives nothing, zip, nada, zero for their work. So if you are even thinking about such an enterprise, it could result in a cesation of further releases. To quote Nick: "Don't screw the pooch".

BPR

[chrispitude]

Mailing a DVD in a padded envelope via USPS Media Mail is maybe a buck. If Shopsmith charged $2 shipping for their DVDs, I'd most likely buy. This would remove a significant barrier to DVD impulse buys.

- Chris

[pinkiewerewolf]

Good Morning Tim,
yes the Kitchen Cabinetry will include all the things you asked about. I will be starting with material selection, making cutout lists and constructing an upper and base cabinet. The upper will have glass doors, base cabinet with raised or flat panels and dovetail drawers. As far as the release date, that's a hard one considering that I am on the road 2/3rds of the time teaching the Traveling Academy. All filming has to be done working with my Shopsmith schedule. April or May would be my guess. Just keep an eye out for an e-mail that will notify everyones of it's availability.
Thanks for your support,
Rick Davis
Traveling Academy Instructor:D

I am anticipating this like a kid at Christmas. I have a kitchen remodel to tackle in the next year and I'll be needing help with all of these areas.
Thanks Rick!
P.S. the first video is great!

On another note, I'm taking a business class and selected Shopsmith as one of my stocks to follow, which has me thinking about buying some stock. What better way to be part of the team?

[paulmcohen]

As had been discussed in previous threads, downloading onto DVDs is not advised/permitted, even for personal use. For example I received private message from Nick that stated the reasons for this, reasons that I consider valid from Shopsmith's point of view. For example, while you may be appreciative of that burned CD/DVD you downloaded, the creator receives nothing, zip, nada, zero for their work. So if you are even thinking about such an enterprise, it could result in a cessation of further releases. To quote Nick: "Don't screw the pooch".

BPR

I was talking about purchasing the DVD from Shopsmith possibly in iTUNE's DRM format. Legal, protected, not copyable... This is the way companies are moving away from physical media. Today Shopsmith pays to make the DVD, I pay to ship the DVD and I assume Rick makes some money, with electronic download more money goes to Shopsmith and less to FedEx and a DVD replicator.

[backhertz]

I spoke with a customer service person yesterday and when I asked about status, I was told this was something they are not permitted to discuss. But I am interested in trying to help and have ordered 10 times during the past month for items on special or on an overstock sale. My spousal unit happened to see Shopsmith covering the credit card statement yesterday.... A quick tap dance and I was able to quickly make the statement disappear. But then there are the other things I have won on Ebay or Craigs list which I either pick up or come in the mail. The things I'm getting off of these two sites are in excellent condition, and cost peanuts. People are making small fortunes buy/selling used Shopsmiths. Perhaps this could be another thing the company might consider. A buy back program and then offering a factory refurb program which would be like a new car dealer that also sells used cars. Used cars are typically where they make the most profit. I see page after page on Ebay where a person disassembled a Mark V and next to every item is a bid which when added up, is a handsome figure. Another idea is something I've seen happen at other companies where the employees mass together and buy it. Nobody usually knows better how to run or operate a company than those people who depend on a weekly check. Shopsmith has a good name, a good reputation, and most of all, it's an American company-one of the few left with a manufacturing capability. Shopsmith has been a word in my family since 1987 (much longer for others) when my father purchased his system which was handed down to me. Why? Well, because of quality, simplicity to use, and people hate to throw them out because of their expense. I'm just a person who is preparing to build a wood shop and equip it as cheap as I can. As a result, I spent a little over $1600 of which 2/3rds was spent at Shopsmith. And with $600, I've bought two used Shopsmiths, a stand-alone scroll saw, and an almost new DC3300. Shopsmith is competing with Ebay and Craig's List and losing terribly. I just hope the company is able to withstand these hard times. But to do so they must incorporate one word: flexibility. Flexibility is the key to air superiority, a famous general once said. Well, it can be applied towards anything. In addition, a very, very successful industrial engineer I know said that with every company he was hired as a consultant, the first thing he did was talk with every employee on the floor in order to hear what they had to say. In 99% of the time, their recommendations were incorporated in his recommendations, the result? Turning red back to blue. Right now things are really tough, but so what? this should be only serving as a motivating tool for innovation and putting the thinking caps on to to figure out a way to make people buy Shopsmith- sort of like why people buy Harley Davidson. Instead of potato-potato-potato sounds, we should hear the sound of a Shopsmith speed dial being turned. My wife sure knows the sound as I watch the Saw Dust Sessions...she hates it. lol

[pinkiewerewolf]

If Shopsmith had Long sleeve T-Shirts and Ball Caps. I'd be buying/wearing them. (remember I'm bald, I need the protection and I go through hats like nobody's business):D
That is better than free advertising, it is advertising that "we" pay Shopsmith to wear.
Plus they have a great Logo. Cool name...Shopsmith. (I remember my Pop Culture class from last semester)
Make it recognizable to the masses. Put shopsmith.com on it and people will know where to go to get the product.
Backhertz you are correct Shopsmith's quality and the fact that we can buy used units and parts from EBay is hurting Shopmith to a degree, but to many consumers 4K is more than they are willing to part with for an initial purchase. One way that CL and Craig's list are helping Shopsmith is typical to my situation. I have bought two used units, one off CL and another off EBay. Now I need to outfit them to suit me and this includes the SPTs that came with them. Outfitting parts will come from Shopsmith. When you are trying to upgrade a Shopsmith you don't want to do it with parts that someone else has gotten the use out of, you want new parts. Especially the wear parts. Soon, I'll be upgrading my band saw's table and internal parts, and upgrading to a 520. SS will be getting a sizable amount of money from that. So, it can benefit SS in ways.
I know Shopsmith will finance a purchase of a new Mark V. (or at least they used to). On some projects a guy finds that he could use a SPT but doesn't have $600 laying about. I for one, would be willing to finance a purchase of that amount but I have a hard time giving the interest to Visa/MC. I'd rather give it to Shopsmith or my local bank.
Attractive financing in the 9% range would get people to use SS over Visa/MC.
Just a few things this consumer has noticed. & believe me...I'm a consumer.

[osx-addict]

John...

I'm with you on pretty much most of what you say.. I was able to (I believe) date my machine to being an 83' model and I've already made my first order w/ SS on Monday for a bit over $100 (excluding shipping).. I KNOW it will not be my last.. I'd love to upgrade mine to the 520 model but don't have the spare change right now to do it. However, I'm hoping that the little odds-n-ends I bought will help keep the company going and I know there will be other odds-n-ends purchased in the coming months.. I just don't know what they are yet. I believe you're correct though that they need to be flexible.. I don't know what sort of typical age the SS is marketted to but I'd guess it's not the 20 somethings.. I'm in my mid 40's and am just getting into this hobby. I saw an ad on (portland) Craigslist last night that goes something like this :

My husband says there isn't enough room in the garage for his bike and my Shopsmith, so the Shopsmith has to go

That tells me that at lease SOME women even use these things -- very cool! I'm pretty sure many WW companies can't say that.. Anyway.. just my $0.02 worth..