Shopsmith Thickness Planers Are Back!

[BuckeyeDennis]

Given their small production volumes, I'd bet that Shopsmith's manufacturing cost is more than the retail price of a DW735.

I have a Pro Planer, and I love it. But I scored it off Craigslist for $225, including casters and extra blades. The more typical $400-$500 used price is, I'm guessing, largely determined by competition from the DW735 and similar machines.

To compete on price, Shopsmith would have to manufacture and sell planers in quantities comparable to the DW735. Do you guys think that the ShopSmith brand is still (or could be again) strong enough to make that a realistic possibility? One successful mass-market product could go a long way toward reestablishing Shopsmith as a major player in the industry.

The Pro Planer is a good candidate to be that product. There's nothing "Shopsmithy" about it, in the naysayer/compromise-machine sense. It's a big, solid, high-performance, stand-alone machine. Built like a tank, as Cincinnati said.

[dusty]

and if I have 1800 to spend on a planer, I might even be looking at one of the combination 12" jointer/planer machines or a 15" planer.

I know most (If Not all) of the competitors are made off shore now but it is precisely these kinds of price differences that prevent US manufacturing from competing. I'll pay extra for quality and/or made in USA (These are not always the same) but 2-3 times is a bit excessive IMHO.

I would suggest that you must go at least one or two steps deeper into the pricing structure to arrive at the root cause for "high prices".

Could it be the price of labor or the cost of insurance or the need for lawyers, etc that have driven the prices up to these levels?

My grand kids, straight out of school, are making more per pay check than I did when I bought my surface planer and I had over twenty years in the labor market at that time.

DeWalt - made in the USA NO MORE.

[charlese]

Agree, Dusty! We (most of us) tend to think of prices as we think they should be based on the stuff we bought in the past. For example, I no longer buy candy bars since the price went above 5 cents. Also, they are smaller than the old nickel ones. I no longer go to movies since the price went above 25 cents.

Yes, my grandson got a starting salary larger than my ending salary upon graduation from engineering school. He and his wife are finding it difficult to buy a house in the vicinity they want. So his prices are relatively in the same ratio as mine when I graduated.

A SS thickness planer too expensive for me? Yes, but so is a lot of other stuff.

Too expensive for people like my grandson? Probably not! But he's to frugal anyway.

[rcplaneguy]

The pricing helps with resale value. Glad I inherited mine...

[WmZiggy]

I have a SS Pro Planer that I purchased in 86 or so. I thought I paid $700 to $800 for it back then - seemed like a lot and it was. I love mine and have never had a problem with it. However, $1800 is just over the top when compared to the competition. Grizzly makes a 20" planer for less money than this: http://www.grizzly.com/products/category/490000

[Ed in Tampa]

Agree, Dusty! We (most of us) tend to think of prices as we think they should be based on the stuff we bought in the past. For example, I no longer buy candy bars since the price went above 5 cents. Also, they are smaller than the old nickel ones. I no longer go to movies since the price went above 25 cents.

Yes, my grandson got a starting salary larger than my ending salary upon graduation from engineering school. He and his wife are finding it difficult to buy a house in the vicinity they want. So his prices are relatively in the same ratio as mine when I graduated.

A SS thickness planer too expensive for me? Yes, but so is a lot of other stuff.

Too expensive for people like my grandson? Probably not! But he's to frugal anyway.

Charles
I would agree with your analogy if all planers cost $1800 as most candy bars today are priced identically. But that is not the case. Dewalt Delta and many others make planers equal to or superior to Shopsmith for a lot less. Why can they do it?

Some one said quantity. I remember a few years ago Dewalt almost went out of business. But they are back in the game. How did they do it. By offering $1800 planers when others were selling their planers for $300 and $400 or did the offer a planer that was better than the competition for nearly the same price as the competition?

As for inflation, I could have a million dollars a year income and I still wouldn't spend $1800 for a plane when I could buy of equal ability for $600.

[charlese]

Ah So, ED! Maybe that's why I drive a DeWalt thickness planer.

Lots of ways to think about stuff. Actually, the DeWalt 735 was too expensive for me when it was $500, but close enough to make me watch all the ads. All this time I was drooling. Then one day as I sat at the breakfast table reading the newspaper, saw that Lowe's had a tool sale for all tools at 20% off.

Went to the local store and being not sure of what I had read - asked if the sale applied to the DeWalt 735. WoW! Got it for $400. Been a happy camper ever since.

[Ed in Tampa]

Ah So, ED! Maybe that's why I drive a DeWalt thickness planer.

Lots of ways to think about stuff. Actually, the DeWalt 735 was too expensive for me when it was $500, but close enough to make me watch all the ads. All this time I was drooling. Then one day as I sat at the breakfast table reading the newspaper, saw that Lowe's had a tool sale for all tools at 20% off.

Went to the local store and being not sure of what I had read - asked if the sale applied to the DeWalt 735. WoW! Got it for $400. Been a happy camper ever since.

I believe when I saw the plane at Woodcraft shortly after Dewalt introduced it the price was near $400 that was about 20 years ago.
Since then the price has increased to what others have said it to be.

It was like the Dewalt Router combo PK618 it had a retail from of $280 but sold everywhere for $180 when it first came out. Then it moved up to $230-$280 range and stayed there for years. It is now back down to the $219 price and on sale usually for $180.

What Dewalt did was get the tools into the hands of users and then let them sell the tool to others by word of mouth. Go to almost any router site and you will hear them singing the praises of the Dewalt PK618 router. And that sells routers.

What SS seems to do is bring out machines at starling prices and expect people to jump on them. Think where SS would be today if the Power Pro was introduced at the price it should have been $800. It still would have given SS a VERY nice profit and they would of have been in the hands of people that influence other people into buying stuff.

[SDSSmith]

I find it silly that you pay Shopsmith that much for either version of the planer and then ask you to pay an extra $37 for the dust chute.

[WmZiggy]

I just got the SS Holiday catalog and spotted the additional price for the dust chute. They want almost $40 for a piece of plastic. Why not include it with the planer? I just can't believe SS marketing is so stupid, but they prove it every day.