It would be great if Tractor dealers were open on Saturday.....

[gamble77]

Every single one of our stores is open 56 hours a week (with key employees putting MANY more hours than that in)...I got in this morning at 7:05 and I was the 5th person in! I will be at an auction this afternoon till well past 6:30, which puts me getting home around 8! I am not complaining about these hours...I enjoy my job, but you get the point...

It becomes a question of allowing employees to has a life outside of the company. Sure, we could be open longer but then you get into the idea of having to hire duplicate employees for the same position..which eventaully turns into having less skillfull people doing those task because pay usually decreases...I don't think anybody wants to see that play out.

 

[gfd_703]

We open at 7:00 AM and close at 5:30 PM Monday through Friday. On Saturday we stay until at least lunch and 3:00 or later during crop time.
Ther is not one Saturday I can remember that someone has not called to see what time we are going to close so they can do what ever it is they want to do and come buy right before we close. Usually the call at 2:50 to ask if we will stay as they are on the way and will be there by 3:15. We do but it gets old after a while. I am gone from home 12 hours a day 5 days a week and 7 hours on Saturday. Now I think 67 hours a week along with the after hours phone calls is enough for anyone. If the tractor business was like WalMart we could be open 24/7 but if you want people who know their stuff try to understand we have a life outside the dealership.

 

[Cyberroc]

I have a very demanding job where I often work 10-12 hour days M-F and I am also on call 24/7/365, so please don't take it the wrong way when I give my point of view...

That said - Even if the dealer is closed the entire weekend and would be willing to let me make an appointment for a Saturday or Sunday to come in (if at some point I will actually be purchasing a Tractor or implement from them) I feel it would be worth it for them and the same options should be available for service.

I don't expect any dealer to be open on weekends so I can get a filter or fluid as I would agree that it's not worth it for them (that's what TSC is for) and I would rather they keep the cost of my new Tractor down. This is what I would like to see from the dealer I purchase a large dollar item from (if they are not open on weekends).

Maybe some feel I am being unfair? I don't feel it's fair to expect me to take time off from my job, thus loosing/spending my $$, to spend money at your establishment. Why should we both lose money?

I understand both sides and just wanted to give my thoughts...

JMO

 

[wedge40]

I think it would be nice if they could just shift the schedule to Tuesday - Saturday.

Wedge

 

[dgl24087]

I think it would be nice if they could just shift the schedule to Tuesday - Saturday.

Wedge

And what happens to the guy that needs parts or service, or is off on Monday and wants to check out a piece of equipment? I'd almost be willing to bet that parts and supplies sales are higher on Monday than any other day, at least to the full-time farmers. There's no simple solution. The fact is that not everyone can/will be satisfied unless the dealers adopt box store hours, and then prices go up because it takes additional personnel to operate these additional hours. I don't see that sales would be enough to justify this. Think about how many parents spend their evenings after work and on weekends running around with their kids because of softball, baseball, soccer, football, scouts, etc. I'm sure that dealers set their hours based upon experiences with customer flow, as some have stated here, they've tried alternative hours and they haven't worked.

 

[wedge40]

And what happens to the guy that needs parts or service, or is off on Monday and wants to check out a piece of equipment? I'd almost be willing to bet that parts and supplies sales are higher on Monday than any other day, at least to the full-time farmers. There's no simple solution. The fact is that not everyone can/will be satisfied unless the dealers adopt box store hours, and then prices go up because it takes additional personnel to operate these additional hours. I don't see that sales would be enough to justify this. Think about how many parents spend their evenings after work and on weekends running around with their kids because of softball, baseball, soccer, football, scouts, etc. I'm sure that dealers set their hours based upon experiences with customer flow, as some have stated here, they've tried alternative hours and they haven't worked.

If he can make it to the dealer on MONDAY then he can make it there Tuesday, but there a many people who work 5 days a week and only have Saturdays to deal with tractor issues. I happen to be one of the lucky ones in that I have every other Friday off. If something needs attention then it waits till my day off.

Wedge

 

[dgl24087]

If he can make it to the dealer on MONDAY then he can make it there Tuesday, but there a many people who work 5 days a week and only have Saturdays to deal with tractor issues. I happen to be one of the lucky ones in that I have every other Friday off. If something needs attention then it waits till my day off.

Wedge

With that logic, then if a guy can get there on Saturday, he can get there on Friday, or Monday, or . . . . The point I was making, as having grown up in a farming community, is that the majority of the farmers would go to their dealers on Monday afternoons, because they typically did not cut any hay on Saturdays, and anything cut Monday morning would be curing in the afternoon, and require little or no attention that couldn't be delayed for a couple of hours. There is no perfect solution, regardless of what anyone thinks is the right way to operate a business.

 

[redneckford]

Wedge40---- TSC has designed their marketing stragey to target Weekend Warriors. They price their items 30-35% higher than most tractor dealers and feed stores. Many of the younger generation what to be seen at such places SO THAT they can bragg about how MUCH they paid for those boots or tires. Dealerships have to maintain staff all day all week and most of their customers want and need service and knowledge. Many TSC stores bring in help after 5 and on Weekends. Most tractor dealerships are individually owned and do not have the free sources of capital that stock market companies have. Those large companies pay no interest just dividends on stock "IF" they make a profit. They do not care about cutting someone's hours from 40 to 30 to 20 hours a week as market conditions dictate. Most Tractor Dealerships have long time relationships with their employees and pay them full time even if market conditions warrant a cut in hours. That is called decencey over profit. Many stock market companies (Big Box Stores) have a few full time employees' and alot of part time employees that receive no health benefits or retirement benefits. They change these employees often and no one gets proficent at their job unless they are able to stick it out for several months working less than full time. Mr. Sam was a very smart man----he fiqured out how to do more for less and spend less time doing it. Many longtime employees are well rewarded by the increase in stock prices even if they work for less per hour. However I caution each and everyone of them to not forget what happen to the Enron employees that had all their personel wealth tied up in Enron Stock. What goes up must come down that is the capitalist system. As the market changes so will the tractor dealerships. It is sad to say after this generation of Dealership owners are gone most marketing strageies will change to look like the Big Box stores in order to compete for business and profit.(Most of these old Dealership owners respect their employees and place their well being ahead of the all mighty DOLLAR!!!!!)

 

[Cyberroc]

Give it time, many who have enough weekend interest are catching on and while I still stick with my previous statements on the subject...

I also believe that the early Tractor Dealership movement started off catering more to farmers and years later add in commercial applications such as development and landscaping (to name a couple). Since most of these areas utilize their equipment mainly during the week, if issues were present or if tractors/parts were needed, it was part of the job to go have it serviced or obtain tractors/parts during the week. As such and as some have stated there was not quite the demand to be open on the weekend.

Now add in the at home user movement that may only be able to use their tractor after business hours and on weekends And this has brought about more demand for dealers being open during that time And some dealers are responding, however I can't blame most dealers that have tractor and related sales as their primary offerings for not being open when the majority of their business is still not yet driven by needing them to be open during those times.

On the other hand there are dealers that have enough weekend interest to do seasonal weekend runs or even steady half-Saturdays. These will be the dealers that also see the business of the early home user movement and yes 10 years is early when it comes to this type of thinking.

 

[artfull dodger]

We are open till 2 on saturdays at the Kubota dealership where I work, with one mechanic till noon or 1pm Last weekend it was totaly dead, phone wasnt even ringing. Most folks I talk to like being able to shop sundays without sales staff breathing down their neck. We are open till 5:30 in the evening with the repair shop staffed till 5pm. Most traffic seems to be during the daytime, most folks seem to take a half day from work or a long lunch when making a large purchase like a tractor or ZTR. Cheers Mike