John Deere's poor dealership decision making IMO.

[Cletusdeere]

My small dealer in central Oklahoma was the greatest to me a small family owned business just like me. They would bend over backwards for me and I did not mind paying for that. Loaned me equipment when mine was in their shop. Then they got bought out by a big corporate dealer. Now I know 3 people in the store in my town. Parts are not getting here on time and when you want to trade in a machine its like a auto dealer. I hate that. But in the end JD will feel it. Farmers around me have gone to kubota. There are 2 other dealerships of other brands within 3 miles.

 

[swines]

People who complain about the price of parts have no idea of the money the manufacturer has tied up with parts sitting in warehouses on shelves. I can go into my dealer and get a part for a 25-year-old piece of equipment. That part has been sitting on a shelf since the piece of equipment was replaced with a new model and the parts all changed. If you don't understand the cost of money, you should take the time to learn about the costs to have money tied up in a static asset. Yeah, parts are expensive. One of the reasons is having them sit on a shelf for and an undetermined amount of time is a COST. I've never found the Deere parts to be excessive in comparison to other brands of tractors.

My Ford and New Holland parts were expensive, and hardly a bargain compared to the same type of parts from Deere. I get the idea that some of you think manufacturers are really charities hiding behind agricultural equipment. I never complain about parts' cost if I can get the piece of equipment functional. It's far more expensive to have the equipment sitting unused than to pay the parts' cost. For parts needing to be ordered, I've never waited for more than five days to get the part, in most cases, the wait has been 2-3 days. That kind of parts service COSTS MONEY to setup and maintain.

As for Deere running dealers out of business, AGCO does exactly the same thing. My local Deere dealer was a Hesston dealer for years. Then AGCO bought Hesston. He sold about two million dollars a year in Hesston equipment - AGCO told him that wasn't good enough, and closed his Hesston dealership. Now, the nearest Hesston dealer is 250 miles away. I'm sure you can figure out - no one buys Hesston equipment where I live as there is no longer a local dealer.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

People who complain about the price of parts have no idea of the money the manufacturer has tied up with parts sitting in warehouses on shelves. I can go into my dealer and get a part for a 25-year-old piece of equipment. That part has been sitting on a shelf since the piece of equipment was replaced with a new model and the parts all changed. If you don't understand the cost of money, you should take the time to learn about the costs to have money tied up in a static asset. Yeah, parts are expensive. One of the reasons is having them sit on a shelf for and an undetermined amount of time is a COST. I've never found the Deere parts to be excessive in comparison to other brands of tractors.

My Ford and New Holland parts were expensive, and hardly a bargain compared to the same type of parts from Deere. I get the idea that some of you think manufacturers are really charities hiding behind agricultural equipment. I never complain about parts' cost if I can get the piece of equipment functional. It's far more expensive to have the equipment sitting unused than to pay the parts' cost. For parts needing to be ordered, I've never waited for more than five days to get the part, in most cases, the wait has been 2-3 days. That kind of parts service COSTS MONEY to setup and maintain.

As for Deere running dealers out of business, AGCO does exactly the same thing. My local Deere dealer was a Hesston dealer for years. Then AGCO bought Hesston. He sold about two million dollars a year in Hesston equipment - AGCO told him that wasn't good enough, and closed his Hesston dealership. Now, the nearest Hesston dealer is 250 miles away. I'm sure you can figure out - no one buys Hesston equipment where I live as there is no longer a local dealer.

Yes, and the price of the parts goes up with the years they sit on the shelf. You can still buy heads for old popping johnnys I hear, but I hear they aren't cheap. As I would expect.

 

[two_bit_score]

Yes, and the price of the parts goes up with the years they sit on the shelf. You can still buy heads for old popping johnnys I hear, but I hear they aren't cheap. As I would expect.

But it’s worth being able to get them when needed!

 

[Ken]

But it’s worth being able to get them when needed!

In Feb.2008 purchased a JD 4520 power reverser and the Rotary cutter MX6 to keep the fence rows clean.
Attached to the tractor in May and made maybe 1/4th mule of fence row clearing when the bottom fell out
of the cutter. and needing a shaft none to be purchased and no future in getting one to repair.
also wanted about 1100 bucks for another gearbox. so purchased a Bush hog brand and have used it without problems no need to guess who will be getting the purchase on the next cutter.

Also have not read all of the postings so may have been covered.
maybe not all parts are in stock for a quick repair.

 

[JWR]

In Feb.2008 purchased a JD 4520 power reverser and the Rotary cutter MX6 to keep the fence rows clean.
Attached to the tractor in May and made maybe 1/4th mule of fence row clearing when the bottom fell out
of the cutter. and needing a shaft none to be purchased and no future in getting one to repair.
also wanted about 1100 bucks for another gearbox. so purchased a Bush hog brand and have used it without problems no need to guess who will be getting the purchase on the next cutter.

Also have not read all of the postings so may have been covered.
maybe not all parts are in stock for a quick repair.

I owned and used an MX6 for 10 years. Eventually the stump jumper and attached blades came off and sailed thru the grass a couple hundred feet or so. This happened 3 times until I FINALLY found out the problem: JD has a torque spec on that stump jumper (and the blades too) that you simply cannot obtain with normal tools. In the ballpark of over 600ft-lbs. and no king nut with cotter key in case it tries to come loose. I used a 6 foot cheater pipe and busted a socket or handle I forget which. Finally put enough torque on it that it never came off again until I sold the MX6 a year or two after that. Anyway, that is the problem. The MX6 was a very good hog otherwise. Great blades that must have been the hardest steel in history.

 

[5030]

Need to upgrade your tool collection and get a quality impact wrench and sockets. My 1/2" drive IR Thundergun makes 1200 fppt pounds of tightening torque and 1400 in reverse.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

What's disturbing is that any TBNer at all would support the corporatocracy over a small/family business. They say you know obscene when you see it. I've seen it on this thread.

:laughing:....If you think this thread is obscene you should check out the one I started about 2 weeks ago.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I think I made that assumption when I posted my comment to begin with in post # 64. I gotta agree Mr. Diggin It ... but then the TBNers are a bit more diverse than one would have thought.

And a bit more stupid than one would have thought :2cents:

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I don't know, or need to know, what his costs of doing business are. It is a reasonable assumption on my part/our part that whatever his costs of doing business he covers them in 3 primary ways: 1) income on sales and 2) Income in the shop on service and 3) Income on parts. I have to figure that as a business man he sets his pricing in all 3 areas to cover his costs and some profit. He owns the business, he sets the prices, I complain whenever it seems high to me. But that's a side issue which I probably erred in mentioning.

THE main point of this entire discussion is that JD shoving small individual dealers out of their dealership, as they obviously are and have been for years, is harmful to the customers, harmful to the remote rural areas and nasty for those hard working dealers. My point. That's where I came in at post #64.

I completely agree with you and the OP. Consolidating all the local dealerships under one umbrella is no good for anyone other than JD. It's the death of customer service. All it does is create unnecessary bureaucracy and runs off all the good sales people and veterans in the industry that are worth their salt. What you're left with is incompetent, lazy, low information morons that don't even know what size engine is under the hood of their biggest selling tractor (SMH)