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Was at my JD dealer i get parts from today. Parts guy told me instead of 2 days for parts they are lucky to get them in 2 weeks and sometimes 3. Their commercial customers and having fits he said.

This is probably why I am seeing so many of the local JD customers in my shop. Many of the parts I once brought from the local dealer are now source from other distributors. Especially the Kawasaki and Tuff Torq parts are source otherwise at a much lower price too.

So far the only distributor I having parts problems with currently is my normal Briggs distributor so I having to find others that have the parts in stock. Having $35K in parts is proving to be good for my business.

Seeing some parts backordered with MTD, Generac, and Earthquake. For the most part they are running 2-4 weeks on some items, but are slowly coming in. At this point I am telling my customer with Briggs and parts backorder I may never see their part. Have a pressure washer part from September. A camshaft from April and another from June. A carb from April, which as of right now is showing September delivery. Everything else is showing Pending.

This is why sometimes it is worth paying more and just pass the additional cost along. Just last month Briggs back ordered the governors I needed but I found them at Partstree; of course cost more but the customer would waist in gras by now if I didn't do it. Now he broke his other mower too and I just most of it ready now as the governors came in. Still had to put in an aftermarket 793880 camshaft. Now i just go to gt in the belt retainer I removed Monday for his other operating mower. That should be in Wednesday as I waiting to get through Saturday's run before ordering parts.

At least I am finally through the Hustler Fastrak Honda GXV620 today but had to modify the oil pressure warning system from the idiot light that failed to kill the engine upon lost of oil pressure.

Don't know if you guys with shops or work at shops are busy but i sure am but i don't have star's 35k of inventory.

For quite some time the local mower shops have been sending people to me because they know I keep a large inventory .
Got stuff that has been on back order for over a year
B & S Aust is by far the worst as there are parts they don't have but Jacks seemed to be able to order them from B & S USA without much trouble.
I rather fear that B & S in particular is using Covid as an excuse to purge the market of old equipment so they can sell lots of new stuff where there is a greater profit.
We have just finished out financial year and all of the aftermarket parts suppliers have had their best year ever .
BE interesting to see what Oregon , Rotary , Stens & Prime Line post a the end of your financial year .

@bertsmobile1 The thing is if Briggs keeps playing games with parts backorders the dealers won't even order or floorplan anything with Briggs engines. So even if they purge the old stuff from the market, People won't want to buy the new stuff either.

ILENGINE said:

@bertsmobile1 The thing is if Briggs keeps playing games with parts backorders the dealers won't even order or floorplan anything with Briggs engines. So even if they purge the old stuff from the market, People won't want to buy the new stuff either.

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Franchise dealers don't have much choice they can only order in what the manufacturer has in their catalogue.
What I have seen is a lot more mower shops with house branded cheap Chinese mowers & ride ons.
Most mower shops here are franchised dealers so will only carry 2 or 3 brands
Stihl Shops now carry Honda and Cub Cadet .
Deere dealers also carry Stihl ( seems a better mix )
Not many freehold shops who can carry what they like any more.

Not hard when the customer walks in the door with a 10 year old tiller to tell them parts are NLA but I can sell you this nice new one with 4 ground speeds & 3 blade speeds .
Or can't get bits for your old technology alternator style generator but I can sell you this nice new inverter style that puts out more electricity for the same amount of fuel & is quieter to boot.
Remember the under 50's are the throw away , got to be better if it is new generation.
Getting them to think about costs 2 weeks away is a problem let alone 10 years down the track.
The best value mowers available down here are the Greenfields & Coxes with cone or disc drives .They will run forever and use standard V belts so dirt cheap to run.
But they cost 30% more than hydro powered Deere or Husqvarna that will need a new $ 2000 transmission in 5 years .
The funny bit ( well tragic really ) is when I advise some one to buy a used one, they complain that the price of a 5 year old used one is more than the price of a brand new Toro.
When I suggest that might be because they are substantially better and will run for longer & cost far less over time I get looked at like I have 3 heads, they just can not understand the concept of quality and longivity costing more than glossy paint.

To me with Briggs being owned now by a financial investment company they are just being milk dry and the financial company will just dump them. All they care about is making money now and don't care about the long term investment their customers.

Anyway business here has died off so if it just a supply and demand problem it should clear up when companies like mine are no longer ordering new parts. Plus i am switching business model too to where I am not stocking as many parts as I did in the past. That's why my inventory is down to $35K instead of the S50K I had in stock 4 years ago.

My current inventory


I deal with A&I which was Sunbelt at one time. They switch their freight policy two years ago to where it is not feasible to order under $200 in parts anymore. I place one order for $192 and got hit with $46 in freight charges. I have gone from ordering over $4000 in parts yearly from them to just $400 this year. And now they are complaining they are over stress on orders so much so they cant keep up with the orders. So my solution is to give them a break and not order any parts for the foreseeable future from them. Now Gardner is starting to add a surcharge of 1.5% (starts Aug 1st) to my orders just because I pay by a credit card at the time of my orders. I reckon RBI is going get most of my orders now. RBI is higher but at least they don't have a back door price hike going into effect.

Don't know about US freight rates but down here freight & warehousing can represent better than 60% of the invoice price and if the invoice price only has a 35% mark up then you are in trouble.
RGS do not give any free freight on after market parts .
Masport ( Stens distributor ) go free for orders over $ 50 . but I expect that will not last much longer as the previous distributor went freight free over $ 150
JacMax used to be free freight over $ 200 .
Stihl used to give 1 free delivery per month
B & S are free over $ 2000 so no use for parts orders.
MTD add a "picking fee" to their orders

BEcause I have been too ill to do much physical work for the past 18 months my inventory is running down so I can make larger orders
Every one has increased their prices to the point that most now do not publish a price list so it can be changed real time on a daily basis.

So far stens is still reasonable on shipping but lots of common stuff backordered.

@bertsmobile1 The box stores will still carry the Briggs engine equipment but the retail dealers will limit their inventory with Briggs equipped equipment and will choose alternative engine manufacturers if possible.

@StarTech I totally agree that the investment group that purchased Briggs is just milking them for what they can get and will discard them at some point in the near future.

Have they sold or started to redevelop the Wisconsin properties ?
I suspect that was all they were after.
Then sell the Chinese factories to the Chinese partners and the brand to whoever in India wants to own it .

bertsmobile1 said:

Have they sold or started to redevelop the Wisconsin properties ?
I suspect that was all they were after.
Then sell the Chinese factories to the Chinese partners and the brand to whoever in India wants to own it .

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Why not they have already pretty well turned things over to China and India now anyways. This whole industry is going downhill faster than ever. It will be the third industry I have work in that gone to heck in a hand basket. Just hoping to make it another three years then I go part time and enjoy what time I got left.

I was buying belts from A&I (formerly Sunbelt) where the last few years all their belts were coming out of India and was constantly short. I finally got fed up with having to return nearly every belt because they were 1-3" short and I just quit buying them. Plus I can't trust Stens to send the correct size belts either as I got here sitting on the desk a belt that is 1" too long.

My A&I regional salesman showed up this week after 5 yrs and was wondering why my purchases had dropped so much. I gave him an ear full of all the problems I had over the last few years with A&I. He appeared to listen but probably nothing will change for the better.

My A&I regional salesman showed up this week after 5 yrs and was wondering why my purchases had dropped so much.

Translation
" why am i not making money off you."