shopsmith shipping

[joshh]

I strongly doubt that shopsmith will ever offer any REAL discounts on anything (products, accessories, shipping, etc.) My impression is they have a new-age bean counter who was tought to look at everything on a "per line" basis. Each line in their finance book is designed to yield the most profit for that line instead of total. By maximing each line, you gain short-term profits at the loss of repeat business (or even the first sale to begin with).

Another example of this is car dealerships' parts & service departments. Any dealer owned by a large corporation, think AutoNation et al, have all switched to "matrix pricing." Labor was $89/hr for a 1 hour job, $95/hr for a 2 hour job, $101/hr for a 3 hour job, and so on. We were told to say, "the larger hour jobs require more specialized/expensive techs and the labor rate reflects that." If that was the case, there would be different labor rates depending on the type of work. Instead, the customer got swindled.

Parts are also scaled in price. Car manufacturers set their MSRP for vehicles, parts, service, etc. but the dealerships are private franchises who can charge whatever they want. Fuses, for example, were 12¢ MSRP but marked up to $9.35 each. $3 bulbs were marked up $30.

The worst offense of all are "shop charges" equal to 10% of labor up to $20. So basically any job more than an oil change sees a $20 fraudulent charge. We were told to say that covers "shop towels, supplies, etc." but the techs had to buy those items themselves. If we removed the charge, we were instantly fired.

What do you think happens to a customer when they take an estimate or a paid invoice to another dealer who didn't matrix price? That's right...the customer is gone FOREVER believing they got ripped off...which they did.


IMHO, Shopsmith has started down this path... I will always try to support shopsmith first, but they are starting price themselves out of the market on basic things (nuts, bolts, shipping, etc).

[WmZiggy]

That's right...the customer is gone FOREVER believing they got ripped off...which they did. IMHO, Shopsmith has started down this path... I will always try to support shopsmith first, but they are starting price themselves out of the market on basic things (nuts, bolts, shipping, etc).

I am in agreement with you on all your points. I used to buy my trucks from one dealer in Fargo. I would get a new one every couple of years, and I always had a verbal agreement that I wouldn't haggle price and they better not ever screw me. Worked for years, then things started to change. They got rid of my usual mechanic and started hiring lower wage workers. On a rear axle grease job they used the wrong grease and 1000 miles later the gears on my 4x4 were shot. Of course I didn't know they used the wrong grease and paid $800 to have it fixed. Then I ran into my old mechanic who told me what they did, including trashing all the paperwork so I couldn't prove anything.

Well I chewed on what to do for a week then pulled in one afternoon and pointed to a new truck on the lot and told the salesman to get it prepped and the wife and I would pick it up in a day or two. I can still see his jaw moving asking if I wanted to test drive it, and so forth. "No", I told him, "just get it ready and I will be in to sign the papers". Two days later the Mrs and I pulled in and sat down in the sales office. Just as I was to sign the papers, I looked at him and told him I had a hand cramp and couldn't sign them. I then gave him chapter and verse. I thought he was going to crap his pants. We got up and left the dealership as I reminded him of our verbal contact, "don't screw me, and I won't screw with you". And, it really felt good.

By the time I got home the phone was ringing. They acknowledged what they did to me and said they would give me the cost of the gear job in my trade-in. I hung-up on him. This game went on for several days until the amount they offered for my 87 on trade was to good to pass-up. The 94 I bought I had until this Fall when I sold it to my neighbor for $2000. It had 180,000 miles on it and going strong. That dealership went out of business a month after I picked-up my 94.

Screwing your customers never works, in the long run. Being a bean counter never works in the long run. And sooner or later "the people" will figure out where they have been wronged. It's not a business model for success.

[sawwood]

Yeah, I would support SS as well, but their pricing leaves a lot to be desired!!! With 1 million SS sold, so they say, there are plenty of SS out there on the used market. I don't know how SS stay's in business selling new Mark V's at $3000+ when you can easily pickup a nice used one for $1000 or less from craiglist. They build them so well that a well maintained SS seems like it will last forever?

Same goes for all the accessories and parts. My SS was missing almost all the extra parts. But with a lot of patience I was able to find all the parts I needed at 1/4 to 1/2 the price on ebay vs what SS charges. Shipping charges were about the same or less and even better when I won multiple auctions from the same seller with combined shipping! Most sellers, all in my case, were shipping my items out super fast using USPS with tracking!! I will admit that ebay can get kind of cutthroat at times with to many people bidding things up to overpriced, for ebay. Yeah, it can be a lot of work, but most of the parts I needed/acquired were in very good/ like new condition it just seems like a no brainier, EBAY!!!!

So I'm not sure I get SS continued business plan, but grateful for what they have done and hopefully they will be around for awhile longer.......

[sawwood]

Many of the items that we buy today are getting more costly without us even being aware. Tricky packaging (I consider it deceptive advertising) is making it possible.

By reducing the volume of the content while maintaining the package size, we are tricked into paying more and don't even know it.

Your so right dusty!! Less volume for the same price!!! Kind of a catch 22, raise the price or reduce the volume. So they reduce the volume and hope people don't notice it.....
ice cream - half gallon now 1.75 quarts
cheez-its - 16oz now 13.7oz
kellogs raisin bran - 20oz now 18.7, 25oz now 23.5oz

[sawwood]

A couple years later - I was a "paper boy". The weekly news paper, delivered daily to your front door, cost $1.10. That included the Saturday and Sunday editions - both of which were stuffed with business fliers.

Yeah, I remember back in the mid 70's delivering the AJC (Atlanta Journal/Constitution) here in a suburb of Atlanta, when the daily paper cost .05 and the Sunday paper was .25!!!! Then they raised it to .10 for the daily and .50 for the Sunday. Raised it again to .25 for the daily and 1.00 for the Sunday. Now the paper cost .50 for the daily and 2.00 for the Sunday!!!! To top it all off the paper is smaller in size (smaller print/save paper) and content (less advertising/classified ads). Now with declining subscribers, increased printing and delivery cost they are pushing the digital (online) edition. The end of the "printed" newspaper?

[ChrisNeilan]

Your so right dusty!! Less volume for the same price!!! Kind of a catch 22, raise the price or reduce the volume. So they reduce the volume and hope people don't notice it.....
ice cream - half gallon now 1.75 quarts
cheez-its - 16oz now 13.7oz
kellogs raisin bran - 20oz now 18.7, 25oz now 23.5oz

Kind of like cereal boxes. Look at what you get today vs just a few years ago!

[onevw]

Credit Shopsmith Inc.

I had ordered some stuff and one item was backordered for some time but 2 items were shipped within one week.

On the third week I called and cancelled the backorder. She said no problem but the full shipping for all three was charged when they shipped the two parts.

The backorder part was not charged for the part when the two parts were shipped. So she said she would have issue a credit for shipping of the 3 part. so i got a 4.00 credit.

Rick

[swampgator]

Ordered last Wednesday 3 bandsaw blades from Shopsmith. Needed a resaw and a couple of small blades and about the same price from Shopsmith as Highland Woodworking or couple other places. Shopsmith sent notice via email that they had shipped my order on Friday. Tracking number was a FEDEX which was a hyperlink that I clicked on. That link took me to a login/username window on FedEx site. Not going to have another username with password to remember. So now can't see where the package is or when it is going to be delivered.

When I ship something from USPS, tracking number can be input by either sender or receiver and traced with no problems. I still get superior service from USPS than the other two yahoos. I can send packages to family all over the southeast and USPS gets the package to the target destination in 2 to 3 days while UPS comes close by adding a day with more expense. And, with USPS, the package doesn't get shipped around all over before it gets to the target destination. For example: ordered a wheel chair part from Knoxville, TN to be delivered in Pensacola, FL. Item was shipped from Knoxville, sent to Atlanta, GA, then to Nashville, TN, back to Atlanta, down to Montgomery and then to Mobile, over to Crestview, FL and delivered from 50+ miles away to Pensacola. It should have had warrior stickers on each stop.

Just wanted you to be aware that to trace your packages from anyone using FedEx, you now have to log in to view the latest status of your item.

[beeg]

Just wanted you to be aware that to trace your packages from anyone using FedEx, you now have to log in to view the latest status of your item.

That must be a VERY RECENT change, because I didn't have to sign in to track a couple weeks ago.

[ChrisNeilan]

Just tracked one without having to log on.