Jack's Small Engines now a Northern Tool Company

[Industrial Toys]

NOTHING will be outstanding anymore when Northern Tool gets through with it.

We had a wonderful and unique Aikenhead Hardware Store or a few stores. Home Depot bought it to eliminate and destroy anything that was good about it, forever.

 

[MoKelly]

I went to Horrible Fright store needed shop rags. Needed to pee too. Clerk say restroom not fer de public.
OK,
You know dem oil drain cans dey sell fer under vehicle lift?

I didn't buy rags either.

Ha. You made me laugh. Good story.

MoKelly

 

[Oaktree]

Consolidation in the motorcycle accessory business has been on going for a few years now. There are only a few of the big guys now. Pricing varies only a little between websites/catalogues.

Not good for the consumer. However, it has been a benefit to local dealers as now their pricing is on par with the internet sites in a lot of cases.

I've only used Jack's once, was pleased with the price and promptness of delivery. Don't need to use them often, but hope that doesn't change. I have no experience with Northern Tool.

As far as motorcycle accessories go, ditto for snowmobile/ATV parts. Needed a part for my ATV the other day, every on-line merchant's price was exactly the same, and when you factor in shipping I might as well have gone to the dealer. One sneaky thing with the OHRV vendors is that despite different business names and web addresses, many of them resolved to the same parent company.

 

[oldballs]

I too, have used Northern Hydraulics years ago....mostly in the 70's - 90's. Also have used Jacks several times....both with good results.

However, I recently needed some skid shoes for my 21 year old "North Star" snowblower. I happened on to a parts site called FIX i.e. www.fix.com.. Their service was exact and outstanding.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Byrdnyrd]

I’ve bought a lot of Stuff from Jack’s over the years, great shop!!

I stopped buying from Northern Hydraulic when I could get the same cheap Crap at HF!

it’s getting harder and harder to get QUALITY products! I don’t care about price!!

Old Guy Rant Mode <OFF>

 

[Diggin It]

One sneaky thing with the OHRV vendors is that despite different business names and web addresses, many of them resolved to the same parent company.

Every company everywhere is owned by one of two conglomerates, World Wide Widget Corporation or Spacely's Sprockets. And they're fixin' to merge.

 

[MoKelly]

Every company everywhere is owned by one of two conglomerates, World Wide Widget Corporation or Spacely's Sprockets. And they're fixin' to merge.

Will George be the CEO?

MoKelly

 

[ArlyA]

Northern Hydraulic has migrated there business model more towards HF style, but they are still better and I will stop in there to look.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I hope it goes well with Jack's. But I doubt that it will.

At one time I was an avid NT customer. Bought a $3K lawn mower from them about 15 years ago. Second set of mower blades I stopped in to buy I discovered that they doubled the price for the same mower blades! (Which wasn't cheap to start with.) I asked how they could justify doubling the price - their response was that "corporate had told them they had to increase profits, and so they did just that".

That, of course, was foolhardy. They not only lost a sale right then, but also ended up losing a long-standing customer. Back then NT carried both quality goods but cheap ones as well. Now it's mostly the low quality stuff. (IMHO naturally.)

 

[MossRoad]

...

That, of course, was foolhardy. They not only lost a sale right then, but also ended up losing a long-standing customer. ...

Yeah, you'd think so. However, all large companies have algorithms that predict how many customers they will lose if they raise prices VS how much profit they will make on the higher costs of their goods or services. They adjust accordingly.

It's a goofy logic and it figures out eventually when the company will no longer be profitable, so they can plan for closure/new ventures. It benefits the owners of the company. The workers are just assets to be depreciated until no longer profitable to maintain.