Author Topic: stihl is now on my $@%*list  (Read 1295 times)

geronimotwo

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,796
stihl is now on my $@%*list
« on: July 06, 2013, 06:46:44 AM »
I have a friend who has run the authorized stihl dealership and a small engine repair shop in our small town for over 25 years.   recently we've had a new ace store open.  unfortunately, they are a part of a small chain who's home store is 60 miles north of here and are also a stihl dealer.  typically stihl will not give dealerships to two stores in a small area, but because they're technically a dealer over an hour from here they get a loophole and can sell in all their stores.  they also have a higher profile storefront with more foot traffic and get better pricing because of the quantity they sell.  my friend no longer has a stihl dealership.    [ar15]
make the world idiot proof.....and you will have a world full of idiots. -g2

Kingcreek

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,556
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2013, 09:05:22 AM »
Similar thing happened to the guy I traded with and used for service. A chain farm supply store added Stihl and essentially put him out of business and then dropped Stihl for yardman and huskivarna and had high school kids setting them up and doing the service. Now I drive 45 minutes to get parts and repair.
What we have here is failure to communicate.

Tallpine

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 23,172
  • Grumpy Old Grandpa
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2013, 09:34:25 AM »
The day of the "saw shop" seems to be over  =(

I remember back when the Ace in Gunnison started selling Stihl.  They had a big event with a rep there trying to show their "service technician" how to put a chain on a saw  :facepalm:

The local saw shop guy was really pissed about it but then he was pissed about most everything.  If he had spent half as much time actually working on stuff as he did complaining that he didn't have enough time to work on stuff then he could have got a lot more done.
Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward toward the light; but the laden traveller may never reach the end of it.  - Ursula Le Guin

zxcvbob

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12,296
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2013, 10:10:25 AM »
Maybe that's why Echo has fixed pricing on their saws; you go to Home Depot or order online from Bailey's or go to a little full-service low-volume local Echo dealer, the price is the same.  Exactly the same.  It's annoying to me as the cheapskate buyer, but it makes a lot of sense to keep your technicians in business.
"It's good, though..."

charby

  • Necromancer
  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 29,295
  • APS's Resident Sikh/Muslim
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2013, 10:13:01 AM »
The day of the "saw shop" seems to be over  =(

Seems like the same for marine engines also.
Iowa- 88% more livable that the rest of the US

Uranus is a gas giant.

Team 444: Member# 536

cordex

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,735
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2013, 10:47:31 AM »
they also have a higher profile storefront with more foot traffic and get better pricing because of the quantity they sell.  my friend no longer has a stihl dealership.    [ar15]
No offense to your friend, but how was it in Stihl's best interest to work with someone who has less traffic and fewer sales to the exclusion of a more profitable shop?

I get that a smaller, more specialized business might offer better service, have more knowledge to share and so forth, but from Stihl's perspective they were working with someone who lacked the location, customer base and resources to serve the market even after 25 years of holding exclusive dealership privileges.

Tallpine

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 23,172
  • Grumpy Old Grandpa
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2013, 11:03:09 AM »
No offense to your friend, but how was it in Stihl's best interest to work with someone who has less traffic and fewer sales to the exclusion of a more profitable shop?

I get that a smaller, more specialized business might offer better service, have more knowledge to share and so forth, but from Stihl's perspective they were working with someone who lacked the location, customer base and resources to serve the market even after 25 years of holding exclusive dealership privileges.

Long ago and far away, Stihl and Husky would only sell through businesses that maintained a shop and QUALIFIED service persons.

Then about twenty something years ago they started selling through hardware stores, etc.  I think they required that the store have a 2x2 foot workbench and someone who could mount a bar and chain, plus a few parts bins.

Gradually the professional saw shop owners/mechanics either gave up or retired, after working on saws that somebody else had sold.  That plus all the environazi devastation of the logging industry and the shift to mechanized harvesting which has mostly made the chainsaw an occasional tool.

These days anybody who runs saws for a living needs to be their own mechanic because even the average saw hand knows way more about chainsaws than the so called "service technicians" at Ace, etc.

Which reminds me that one of these days I need to make a big order of spare parts from Bailey's, since my stash has just about been used up.  Just trying to get a new rim drive sprocket from a Stihl store was a semi-major deal since I had always used Oregon parts (been a long time since I bought anything but a powerhead).  The guy apparently didn't know what he was even looking at, but Ladypine finally got him to go back through the bins and find the same thing with a Stihl brand name on it.  ;/
Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward toward the light; but the laden traveller may never reach the end of it.  - Ursula Le Guin

zxcvbob

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12,296
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2013, 11:46:50 AM »
Quote
after working on saws that somebody else had sold

You say that like it's a bad thing.  A good small engine shops can make a lot of money fixing saws and lawnmowers that Ace Hardware and Home Depot sell but won't service.  (There's 2 really good ones just out of town, one on the east side and one on the west, and they actually refer work to each other) The service backlog is a close to a month, and he can still sell a few saws as kind of a side business.

A small shop cannot compete with Walmart, so he shouldn't try.  Focus the business on what one can do that Walmart can't -- service and custom work -- everything else is a distraction.  You want a 19" hoop bar for your saw for cutting pulpwood?  Good luck finding that *anywhere*, the old guy who has been in business for 30 years is your only chance.

Dammit, I started preachin' again.   ;/
"It's good, though..."

geronimotwo

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,796
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2013, 01:36:01 PM »
No offense to your friend, but how was it in Stihl's best interest to work with someone who has less traffic and fewer sales to the exclusion of a more profitable shop?

I get that a smaller, more specialized business might offer better service, have more knowledge to share and so forth, but from Stihl's perspective they were working with someone who lacked the location, customer base and resources to serve the market even after 25 years of holding exclusive dealership privileges.

just a nail in the coffin for another independent business owner.  he still provides service, and an alternative brand,  but if you think getting stabbed in the back doesn't hurt you haven't been there. 
make the world idiot proof.....and you will have a world full of idiots. -g2

just Warren

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 5,234
  • My DJ name is Heavy Cream.
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2013, 03:34:38 PM »
Hmm, you can spell both @#!& and list with the letters S T I H L. 
Member in Good Standing of the Spontaneous Order of the Invisible Hand.

cordex

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,735
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2013, 07:41:01 PM »
If you think getting stabbed in the back doesn't hurt you haven't been there. 
I do get that, but I also see the perspective of Stihl. Hope your friend finds success with his other products and services.

geronimotwo

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,796
Re: stihl is now on my $@%*list
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2013, 05:19:10 PM »
thanks for the good wishes, i'll pass them on. 
make the world idiot proof.....and you will have a world full of idiots. -g2