Vanguard carb backorder saga continues.

[StarTech]

My shop was already outgrown before I moved into it. About half of my parts are stored in my home. I want to build another building too but as you costs are prohibitive even me doing all the building.

Here I am a $55/hr plus tax. Parts are sold per OEM price files except outside the distributors. Even then most are only mark-up 35% max with parts from JD usually at 20% which allows me to be 10% above parts cost [not counting shc] when I sell to seniors. Most understand that I must pay shipping to get the parts. Sometimes the parts actually sold at a loss if shc is high. I do tend buy extra when I get a deal on parts or use a different OEM part when they are the same part but at a lower cost. Procuring parts can be a challenge that pays off in the long run.

Its that way when I can buy Husqvarna parts for a newer Snapper mower instead going through Briggs and paying them their markup. That one thing about my accounting system inventory setup that helps keeps me profitable and competitive. I could be making more profit using the OEM part numbers but I am little more honest than that give the customer better price while I make a decent profit.

Here is an example of one item that JD actually (acquired) cheaper on than the other OEMs. Now of course Oregon was .02 more each but I had other JD parts I needed so I order a dozen of them and save the separate shipping charges. JD was $1.30 vs the Briggs price of $5.21 for the same part.

BTW if I had brought the Briggs part at $5.21 which I am supposed to sell them at $5.79 so I would lose money if order is below the minimum free shipping order size. The last time I order Briggs parts below the minimum free ship the order was $192 but that came in with a $45 shipping charge. OUCH!!! I didn't even break even on that order.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I don't lose money on parts. Whatever the part cost including any shipping plus my modest markup is what i charge. I don't have any price sheets. If i can use a Stens oil filter it is one price. If you want the same filter labeled OEM John Deere for $12 more doesn't matter to me. I make about the same either way. I have a few OEM only customers and that is fine. I just bought a JD fuel filter for $10 that is identical to my Stens one for $3. Both are labeled made in Israel.

 

[StarTech]

Mentioning fuel filters is an example of one that I buy for JD mowers. JD's AM1160304 is $4.80 but the same exact filter including labeling on the filter from A&I is only $1.73 so the customer would not know the difference but I do which makes a difference to me so I can sell it between 2.66 and 3.40 and still make a profit.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I have just bought my next 10 years worth of fuel filters directly from the factory in China for 95¢ .
Down side is had to order 200 of each type and will need to test them before use .
Down here B & S require you to do an initial order of around $ 20,000 ( aus) , this number keeps on changing a little .
I am then supposed to keep $ 30,000 in inventory which must include complete engines and there is a minimum order value as well plus a minimum annual spend.
Thus it was not worth my while to even think about it and that was before I had to go 1000 km to Melbourne to do the B & S trade course at a $ 3,000 course fee plus annual updates and of course add hotel bills to that.
Kohler were similar .
Stihl impose minimum order values on their dealers & only allow 1 free delivery a month. MTD is the same .

While a lot of workshops consider these regulations oppressive, it is needed because repair franchise shops no longer carry any inventory because it reduces the value of the capital tied up in the business and accountants pay themselves bonuses according to the profit to capital ratio .(US business school invention )
Thus the lower the inventory value the higher the apparent profit
However that makes it really hard for the warehouse to keep up supply and shifts costs to the warehouse.
Now warehouse management theory ( also out of US universities ) turns them into logistics centers with bins that are repurposed on a daily basis and parts only ordered in as needed so when they run out, they allow backorders to accumulate till they have reached a percentage of a minimum order from the factory before they are ordered so when they come in around 1/2 of the order gets shipped that day and they can hold a larger number of sock lines in a smaller space .

This is all based on the assumption that they are monopoly suppliers and the demand is inelastic, both of which are wrong ( like most assumptions in economics )

IT is all about greed and making some one else do all the work so you can maximumize your profit .
One of the few benefits of Covid is it has caused some suppliers to have a big rethink about this method because they ended up having nothing to sell
Picking packing despatching & invoicing all cost money to the point that warehouses have worked out what super market style hardwear shops knew decades ago that single item picks & sales cost more than they make so now you have to buy small items in multi packs.
Rotary have minimum order sizes, usually around 20 to 50 , Stens have started to cotton on & are increasing the lines of multi item "trade packs " .

Kohler worked this out a while back so now use the same fasteners ( different lengths ) regardess of weather a thinner bolt would be strong enough.
B & S OTOH still have not worked that out so you still need 11 different tools to strip one of their engines .

As for Illengine's problem, I gave up trying to get the correct carb a long while ago if they were difficult to obtain & fit a "wrong" carb .
Usually this means having to bend some custom control rods but in the long run that ended up being quicker & cheaper than spending hours trying to find an obscure part

 

[ILENGINE]

As for Illengine's problem, I gave up trying to get the correct carb a long while ago if they were difficult to obtain & fit a "wrong" carb .
Usually this means having to bend some custom control rods but in the long run that ended up being quicker & cheaper than spending hours trying to find an obscure part

In my case what make this more complicated is the engine fuel shutoff and engine kill switch are incorporated into the carb.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

In my case what make this more complicated is the engine fuel shutoff and engine kill switch are incorporated into the carb.

Have you contacted PartsTree, they show that carb as shipping in 1 business day.. which from my experience means they have it in stock... Wouldn't hurt.
But i imagine if Briggs can't get to your repair center, parts stores won't get it either.

 

[ILENGINE]

Have you contacted PartsTree, they show that carb as shipping in 1 business day.. which from my experience means they have it in stock... Wouldn't hurt.
But i imagine if Briggs can't get to your repair center, parts stores won't get it either.

May call them Monday and find out.

 

[bertsmobile1]

In my case what make this more complicated is the engine fuel shutoff and engine kill switch are incorporated into the carb.

OK,
That will make it a bit more of a challenge.
Victa did that on their commercial 160 cc engines back in the 60's & 70's
I work around that by making up a bracket to take a Honda micro switch .

 

[StarTech]

The schools that I have gone to have been basically a waste of time for me. I usually ended up learning very little that I didn't know before I went to service schools. Usually because I have already been working on the machine for a couple years or more before going to training class.

Having to stock inventory can bite the repair shops in the backside too as we get stuck with parts that no longer moves as things change in our customer base. I still got a batch of electric starters from 2009. Fast moving items I usually keep extra stock just for the convenience of just placing restocking orders to meet the free ship levels. As for screws the last few years I have been buying them in bulk from supplier outside the equipment OEMs. I just can't justify paying $4 for a $0.50 screw. I just ordered the replacement screws for the MTD 710-0599 1/4-20X1/2 flange head screw that if I ordered them through MTD would be 1.99 ea. but though my source I got 50 for 0.16 ea. and I go through a lot of them. Now of course they probably cost more down under.

Bert this is basically what IL is looking at. I take it they are so poorly made that they had incorporate a kill switch in the fuel shut assembly just make sure the operator shuts the fuel flow off when they are not using the engine.

 

[ILENGINE]

@StarTech the original broken carb is a Nikki. I suspect the replacement carb that is unobtanium is a Ruixing.