Why Does John Deere Offer A 300x LOADER?

[keeney]

Off topic, but just curious regarding: " Our local hospital now has five older 4000 series tractors, and is starting to replace them with leased 3000 series machines. "

Why does a hospital need so many tractors?

- Rick

 

[jcmseven]

They have a lot of acreage and parking lots to maintain. They have all of them going most all the time, especially in summer. I think they will be at four though this year.

John M

 

[Hib]

I'm a newbie here on this site, but not so with Deere & Co. since I recently retired from the Waterloo plant with over 32 yrs service. I wouldn't have a clue to anyones personal preference as to choice of loaders, but I have an idea ?? about their product lines. Over the past decade or so, Deere has been very high on having a product on the lot that fits the potential buyers needs or wants within a day or twos distance from any location. (Now if this is working in the real world may be debatable). Their reasoning is: do not lose a sale to any of the competitors because a product is not readily available. So after all this rambling, my guess is there must be a market because of demand. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[daTeacha]

Speaking as a guy who has been trying to decide what tractr\or to get for quite a while now, I think the market is filled with people who make their purchase decision based on little detail differences (other than color!) between machines. If someone has price as a big consideration, the option of having a cheaper loader available might make or break a sale.

It also gives the buyer a chance to feel that JD will build a tractor just for him, sort of like a tailored suit, instead of just picking one off the lot. In my shopping around, that's one thing JD seems willing to do that others don't seem eager about. You can "build your own" on the website, specify tires, hydro valves, tranny, etc. By comparison, other brands seem about half as flexible.

 

[keeney]

Buyers self qualify what model they can afford based on price. Then, they add accessories. A lot of buyers then add a little more than they originally budgeted.

John Deere sells the upgraded loader for a few hunderd more because in a lot of cases, it gets them a few hundred more dollars while still getting the customer in the door and serious about the purchase based on the availability of the lower price. Its basically a bait and switch thing.

I bet they don't cost more than a few dollars difference in cost to build. With about the same amount of labor and machining, the only difference would be the amount of steel. At 50 cents per pound, the two loaders certainly don't have a a 800 pound = $400 difference in weight.

- Rick

 

[JasonMac]

It's more than just the price of metal you are buying. It has bigger hydraulic cylinders, and has bucket linkages, which gives it better breakout force, and complete dump-turnover capabilaties. More lift height, breakout force, and liftcapacity. so no, you aren't just paying for the extra metal it takes to extend the forearms. More to it than that.