Husky vs Stihl

[seesaw]

I apologize in advance but, I need to vent.
It's obvious that both lines have their strong saws. Looking at it from a dealer stand point...they both have their issues. I have a hard time accepting that a company that has spent 40 some-odd million on advertising and a Nascar sponsorship last year, has the stones to expect their dealers and customers to pay for it. Husky thinks they know your(dealers) businesses better than you do. They tell you that you should be a "total source" dealer. This means you are strong-armed into carrying their S@#$ in order to get their quality products. Why they insist that a saw house needs inferior lawn and garden equipment is beyond me. Of course if you think, maybe, you might know your business a bit better than Husky does, you can cherry pick your products. Their response is to cut your discount on parts to ridiculously low numbers. Keep in mind, all this is going on while they move their products into the "box" stores like Sears, Lowe's and Farm & Fleet (upper midwest). Maybe you guys don't want the backyard warriors money and choose to focus on the pro cutters. Whatever the case may be, that choice should be made by the dealer, not by the vendor. Say goodbye to those dollars boys because Husky has sold you out. They have forgotten who got them where they are.....the OPE dealer.
Stihl, on the other hand has managed to stay out of the box stores for the time being but, continues to over extend dealers and shove product down their throats. In the meantime, they stack up dealers all around you so everyone has to play "price limbo" in order to sell a saw. It's getting to the point that it costs more to dust your inventory than it pays in profit. This isn't as much of a problem for the large dealers because they can make it up with volume. It squeezes the smaller dealer. It seems that these manufacturers who are beholden to their stock holders will stop at nothing. Even if it means turning on the guys(dealers) who "brung 'em to the dance".
Thank you for the stress relief and good luck out there.

 

[Methoss084]

I hear you my brother!.. Don't you just love Huskys excuse for a lawn tractor ie; LT125 & LT 130. can you say AYP! ???? Sears crap~! And they want you to keep them stocked to the rafters!
Now if we want to sell a saw, we have to carry their sad excuse for a tractor too. I didn't see a lawnmower in this years Stihl product line up!

 

[Walkerized]

I hear you guys. We had 1 month ago in a 20 minute drive from my shop
1 stihl/husky dealer
1 stihl dealer
1 husky dealer
Mw 1 husky dealer.
As of a month ago stihl made the other single husky dealer a stihl dealer
The area im in has a population of approx 125 thousand people. you want to talk about price gouging. We mainly deal with contract fallers so we are not to bad
Yes husky has some junk but all in all it is in the top 3 of all round dealerships to have i believe.
Being total source crown dealer and receiving a nice 2% credit on our annual purches at the end of the year sure was nice.
Easy on the tractors thay have 1 good tractor as i see it 1542xp with the kawasaki and thats about it.
We also have a Home Depot in town and they only rent Husky cutoff saws so far.

John W

 

[tony marks]

i sympathise totally with your point. a comment. some people have seen me complain about my dependable small engine mechanics, retireing an being replaced by people who just know how to read a manual.
over 2 yrs ago i was talkin w one of the older guys.
i was debating about mabe trying something other than stihl.
he mentioned then that one thing to think about was that u would never see stihl in the discount centers. SO HE KNEW SOMETHING THEN ,and like i say that was over two yrs ago.
i dont see him over there anymore an thats also a shame.
later now

 

[HUSKYMAN]

You just wait on the box store thing. If it takes off and Husky sells more saws then Stihl and becomes "the Worlds number one chainsaw" then ole Andy will be calling Home Depot faster then he reaches for his Geritol

 

[Harley]

Two things.

If Husky pulls ahead of Stihl in overall sales, it won't be just because thay went into the box stores.

Second thing is, go to the Stihl usa site and insert my zip code into the dealer finder.
18938

You can do the same with the husky site.

Its forteen to seven in favor of Stihl, within about 18 miles.

 

[eyolf]

I'm no longer involved in the OPE industry, but everywhere I hear all kinds of people complain that the big-box stores carry only junk. People are selfish, mostly...wanting a new stihl or Husky for about $20, brand new. Then when joe average consumer hasn't purched anything from the lawnmower shop for 10 years, he has the temerity to demand the guy drop everything to fix his cheap plastic chainsaw.

That's part of why I'm no longer involved in the industry. I buy Jonsered chain saws because I like 'em, but I had to get my latest one over the 'net, because my Jonsered dealer was forced to decide between Jonsy and Husky, forced to tie up $$$ he doesn't want to in Husky lawnmopers (I spelled that like wanted to).

Jonsered and Husky are joined at the hip nowadays...Johnny lamb-Bear's 2171 is really a Husky 372 in a pretty dress.Why would Husky demand that of my local guy? Hell, one of the Jonsy distributors shares office space with Husky America in Charlotte, N. Carolina.

Has anyone seen the new Dolmar line?
here's a pic: http://www.dolmar.com/Prod/0260e.htm
Anyone out there know a dolmar dealer?

 

[Cicero]

SeeSaw, thanks for the support.

I have the luxury that Stihl has protected my interest and given me some consideration for area. It is unfortunate that your distributor is like that. Intermountain is great. Bigger shops have a little better chance I agree. We have that advatage that we are one of the big shops. It was not always that way, our sales are 10X what the were five years ago. The wonderful thing about a free market is that a small shop can get bigger...it is how you play your cards. Your best bet is to support Stihl and Honda and other manufactures that protect your interest, treat your customer right and even work with other dealers from time to time. We work with other dealers. I let some smaller shops piggyback some orders on to ours that way they can secure a lower price and increase their profits. It would be difficult to do with a shop only 20mins from you but find a guy a little further. Beat the manufactures up for their best deal. Combine three shops orders for aftermarket items and find out who will give you the best deal. All or nothing. They do it to us wanting us to stock junk we'll never sell. Husq sold us out, no questions, dont feel I owe them anything.

I had distributor..Medart...sold to a landscaper direct in my area. They told me they were a "national account" I know these guys and they are no national account. So I figured that they bought about 2K worth of product. When the salesman came by I told them that I would not order anything from them, that I have always bought OEM filters ect, and their policy sucks. Untill I get an apology and my fair profit from the sale he will get no orders from me. That has not happened, I order approx 20-25K per year from them. No more. It is good to get it off your chest. Good Luck and Good Selling.

 

[Tony Snyder]

Right

I'm with you. I think you've pretty well hit the nail on the head.

I believe less mainstream brands will start to take market share because of this. I mean brands like Solo, Tanaka, Shindaiwa, Jonsereds, Olympyc,Dolmar and others. They have a good opportunity in timing if they take advantage of it.

 

[tundraotto]

gotta like the jonsered i do hope they get a bigger piece of the market pie.

 

[tree monkey]

we've been a pro shop for a log time mid 70s started out with lombard of all things, but it gave us a start. now sell stihl husky jons poulan pro efco. had pioneer and partner, that's how we ended up with poulan. haven't sold a poulan in 4 years. we can get dolmer but don't stock them. jons tryed the box store thig here. it realy hurt our jons sales, and hasn't been the same since. it gave them a bad name because of the service. i heard once that thay had 200 saws pipiled up to be repaired and no trained mechanic. one guy said his saw was there for warranty work, hasen't got it back yet . it's been there a year. thats bad service. most of our repair work is same day or next day.never over 10 days.this 385 thing with the boot is killing us. we're out of loner saws. husky wants the dealers to stock more than thay do.i don't have a favorite saw or saw brand. i feel one is as good as the other(stihl husky jons) but push stihl because of there loyalty. all our distributers know we own our shop. if we can't sell it we don't want it. thats that. we sell chainsaws not lawnmowers. we know saws, and take pride in it.

i'm 36 been working on engines since i could pick up a wrench. had a saw in my hands at age 12. no scars yet, knock on wood. i could make alot more money doing something else, but liking what i do and being good at it means more to me than money. i spend 70 hours a week in the shop, and someone always wants me to stay open late after he stops at the bar and doesn't bother bringing me a beer. if someone is going to spend some money i'll stay open, otherwise don't waste my time.

john w, when you sell a modified saw do you have the customer sign a waiver? i worry about someone getting hurt with a saw if i modified it. people seu just for sneezing here.

well i can't type and this has taken me over an hour to do so if anybody wants to talk more you can call me. 715 286 2689

later scott

 

[tundraotto]

this carb boot thing on the 385 seems to keep coming up - some say its a disaster some say it has not occurred - all are chainsaw dealers - whats the lowdown? is this happening? and if so how was it corrected?

 

[tree monkey]

when the 371s came out thay had a batch of bad crankshafts. most of them ended up in michigan. maybe this is the same type of thing.


later scott

 

[tundraotto]

michigan? what about the intake boots on the 385!!!

 

[seesaw]

I'm leaning toward the less mainstream lines as well. There are still problems with this philosophy though. You still have Jonsered and Husky joined at the hip by Electrolux bond. On paper (which I know doesn't really do each individual saw it's due justice) the Jonny's just don't seem to be competitive. I do like their turbo air though. Plus, you have the failed box store thing. Dolmar lacks on paper as well, on most saws. They're making the Makita now so we're back to the box store thing. Olympic has always been a red-headed step child and is now making the John Deere. Solo has made tremendous headway in the top handle, 51cc and 90cc pro market. Let's not forget that the green and puke yellow Poulans are made down in Louisiana. Hmm....what else is made down there? Any orange coming out of that factory? Don't know much about the Efco saws. I do know I have no fondness for Tilton Equip. or any distrib. who sells out the back door. Enough rambling.
Thanks again for letting me vent. You people should get paid for this kind of therapy. I think you've put 5 years back on my life.

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Tree monkey is the only person I have heard say he had problems on the 385. Gypo have you gotten to use yours much yet?

 

[Dennis]

I have personally seen a few cases of the 385 boot cracking...but as I posted on a nother thread...it seems that I can catch it before they go out the door, by simply pulling off the top covers and literally probing the boot with a screwdriver on the seams, if they are going to give, they seem to then...if they do I change them...if not, they havent given me a problem...That is the only things I have seen that I didnt like about the 385, but its curable, and the saw itself is fantastic!! I will keep pushing them

 

[tony marks]

adressing the husky -stihl deal . all the dealers around hear that have either ,have both. a wall full of each.this must not be the case in other areas.we recently had a stihl dealer go to jonsonred i believe. he said he was just having too much trouble getting older saw pts .his words . later now

 

[confused]

I walked through my dealer today and never really noticed how much overhead he really has, wow. Anyways he has to carry the husky lawn "ornaments" tractors too and he really isnt all that happy about it either but what can ya do he says. Well i guess you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

To all saw dealers good luck and keep up the good fight and may all your sales be profitable.