Shopsmith Forums

JPG wrote: Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:15 am MY concern is why they do this sort of thing at all - overstock. . . . . .why does it exist?

Supply and demand. The higher quantity of an item Shopsmith buys from a vendor, the lower the price is on each individual item.
Similar to buying just a few washers from your local hardware store which might cost you say 12 cents each.
Or buy 100 of those same washers from somewhere like Fastenal for a few dollars, and the actual price per unit ends up being 2 cents each.

We all know Shopsmith is hurting financially, and has been for years now. Let's look at the facts. The scroll saw is no longer available new from Shopsmith. The Sawdust Sessions are no longer available for viewing on their website. They are constantly have sales specials trying desperately to move inventory and keep cash flow going. The PowerPro has been a headache from day one for Shopsmith. It's a great concept, with many happy owners, but it's service record is checkered with issues. The Shopsmith planer; would you pay over $1,500 for a new planer that mounts on the Mark V?

I'm sure there are other key points I'm forgetting at the moment. I own several Shopsmith products and Mark V's, and whole heartedly support Shopsmith through and through. But it's hard to ignore the facts. I don't know boys; I hate to even say it, but could this be the beginning of the end...?

Chad wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2021 12:19 am
We all know Shopsmith is hurting financially, and has been for years now. Let's look at the facts. The scroll saw is no longer available new from Shopsmith. The Sawdust Sessions are no longer available for viewing on their website. They are constantly have sales specials trying desperately to move inventory and keep cash flow going. The PowerPro has been a headache from day one for Shopsmith. It's a great concept, with many happy owners, but it's service record is checkered with issues. The Shopsmith planer; would you pay over $1,500 for a new planer that mounts on the Mark V?

I'm sure there are other key points I'm forgetting at the moment. I own several Shopsmith products and Mark V's, and whole heartedly support Shopsmith through and through. But it's hard to ignore the facts. I don't know boys; I hate to even say it, but could this be the beginning of the end...?

That’s what I was thinking when I discovered the Sawdust Sessions were no longer there, and learned of this sales special on a bunch of random parts. Oh, that, and the fact that after I purchased some bags for my DC-3300 last week and had a very difficult time mounting them, I discovered that they were for the DC-330L. I had to stretch all around the top of the bag to get it to fit. It works, but it’s a little small. Was this a quality control issue?

Feels like inventory sell-off to me. All this has me a little scared that we may lose this great educational and support venue and pushed me to spend a little time this morning looking into what it would take to host a phpBB forum. I know most of us would hate to lose the rich store of ShopSmith history and knowledge. I know that phpBB has its flaws, but it works. My company used it for an internal configuration knowledgebase 15 years ago, and I used to help manage it, so I know it’s fairly easy. If something were to happen to ShopSmith (like closing) I would hope that someone on this forum has some level of relationship with the company and could facilitate a discussion about taking over, or migrating the forum data so it’s not lost. I sure hope this is not what is coming, but if it is I would hate for us to not to have some discussion about how to keep the forums alive.

I enjoy the forum and have since 2006 but what is there about the forum that is so valuable.

With all of the gripping that goes on here it makes me wonder.

Besides, has Shopsmith not already transitioned their marketing efforts to FB.

Didn't the Sawdust Sessions website go offline temporarily about a year ago? My memory isn't perfect, but I thought this topic came up last year when the Sawdust Sessions went offline, but then they came back. Possibly website server maintenance, but I don't think we ever knew the reason. Just wondering if something similar is happening this time as well? I know the video quality isn't great in them because of tech at the time, but I don't know what I would do if they disappear along with this forum. I don't have an eidetic memory and there are some great tips in both for maintenance, repair, etc. I dislike FB, but did you see that Shopsmith started spamming the owner's group there recently with all these ads of products they are selling? There is a Shopsmith sales group as well as a customer service group, but for some reason they started spamming the owner's group with odds & ends from the warehouse they want to get rid of...

RFGuy wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:10 am Didn't the Sawdust Sessions website go offline temporarily about a year ago? My memory isn't perfect, but I thought this topic came up last year when the Sawdust Sessions went offline, but then they came back. Possibly website server maintenance, but I don't think we ever knew the reason. Just wondering if something similar is happening this time as well? I know the video quality isn't great in them because of tech at the time, but I don't know what I would do if they disappear along with this forum. I don't have an eidetic memory and there are some great tips in both for maintenance, repair, etc. I dislike FB, but did you see that Shopsmith started spamming the owner's group there recently with all these ads of products they are selling? There is a Shopsmith sales group as well as a customer service group, but for some reason they started spamming the owner's group with odds & ends from the warehouse they want to get rid of...

I check in with the FB sites occasionally but I have not seen what you are referring to....spamming the owner's group. I'm going there right now. to see.

Majones1 wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2021 1:49 am ... Oh, that, and the fact that after I purchased some bags for my DC-3300 last week and had a very difficult time mounting them, I discovered that they were for the DC-330L. I had to stretch all around the top of the bag to get it to fit. It works, but it’s a little small. Was this a quality control issue?
...

It could be any one of several issues. They sell both types of bags. I'd say contact Customer Service and determine which it was in this case. Let them make it right. Tell them what PN you ordered, what PN was on the package you received, and what part actually appears to be in the package and why you think so. They can't fix it if no one tells them it's broke.

I've had several experiences where the package does not contain the correct parts or some parts were not made correctly. Usually, but not always, on a package containing multiple parts. I felt this was a significant issue, I'm one customer but for me over 50% of my orders in 2020 weren't right. It was bad enough that I eventually brought it to the attention of SS management. When problems like this are excessive it ends up costing all of us.

- David