Is there a Kawasaki Engine Shortage in the states ?

[Hammermechanicman]

I got screwed by a couple vendors that say they have it and when you order they create the ups label but doesn't show shipped for weeks. Had a colorful conversation with one then did a credid card charge back. I always buy with the credit card or PayPal. They have always sided with me.
Have a friend who is an engineer and his company can't ship multi million dollar machines because they can't get the saftey labels. 5 cent labels holding up millions of dollars in sales.

 

[StarTech]

Just doesn't sense sometimes does it? But it happens all the time even before the mess we are now in. It is just more pronounced now.

 

[txmowman]

Kawasaki is fairing better, for engine availability, than other small engine manufacturers, in my opinion. A lot of mower manufacturers are having issues turning out product as well. It is not just an engine issue.

 

[georgPru2]

I just waited over a month for a part for a 20+ year old snapper RER. Had a snapper label on the part inside a B&S box.

B&S owns snapper,murray,simplicity,and John Deere.And they where in bankruptcy court,last i heard.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

You sure about them owning John Deere?

 

[StarTech]

Unless they been sold to Briggs in the last year JD are not owned by Briggs.

Extract from TodaysMower.com

 

[bertsmobile1]

Fair Trading did over a scammer last year that claimed they could get anything .
If they could get it then fine but if they could not then,,,
You paid and they shipped an empty carton with a label printed using heat sensitive ink that faded away in a couple of days on labels where the glue dried out & fell off .
They traced them through the paper used for the faded labels found in the bottom of mail bags .
Funny enough it was not a news story that I remember and was included in an interview regarding internet scamming .

 

[bertsmobile1]

theres some interesting info u provide here i recently ordered some seals for pressure washer and minor briggs engine part online and both seemed to ship but then just stop . no further tracking available i was fully refunded but it put a dent in some of my scheduling of repairing the items . does this sound sorta like the situation u describe above?

No
Drop Shipping is a process used by a lot of bulky goods retailers where they have the floor stock to show you the item and when you buy one they order it from the factory after you pay them and the item is then shipped directly from the factory to you so they never see it.
Share trading through a broker is done the same way .
For on line retailers all they need is a photo of the object and here in lies the problem.
I can scour the web, download every product catalogue on the planet , drop the images into Photoshop which can now rotate the image so it looks different , change the colour so it looks real etc, just enough so the new image will not raise flags when compared to the original one.
I then sell all of this stuff I don't have to on line shoppers regardless of weather I can get it or not.
If I can not get it , all I have to do is stall you for long enough to hide the money where it can not be retrieved then vanish .
Laws are changing down here so on line retailers have to show what they have in stock and what they are going to order in.
Right now the only indication for the customer is lines like "ships in X days "

 

[StarTech]

This is why I order from certain vendors depend what they are showing in stock. But even then when they are just one or two items you are better off calling in the order. At least three of my distributors keeps an accurate inventory numbers posted. And this really help in knowing when items are coming in.

And I agree that the online vendors should show what is in stock and what is not.

Now of course even shop that have inventory control systems keeping of the stock need to verify that we actually have an item when we get down to one or two items. Personally I still recovering a software bug introduce back in 2020 into my accounting software. When it occurred I went from having 27,000 USD in inventory to 750,000. I have since got it back down to under 35,000 but there will still be items that I don't have especially those without bin numbers. A lot the remaining errors is item I brought and sold without ever physicaly putting them in a stock bin.

 

[7394]

Just got word, production with some box store brands bought 580 thousand Vanguard engines to replace the kawi engines for now.