Thats a pretty good deal. I guess HD is charging 24.95 to recoup future losses down the road. If those saws held up real good its a winner for HD but those saw aren't known to last very long.
HD has done something else that surprized me. Back in Feb we got 30 inches of snow here in Va. I always said I would never own a snowthrower but after all that shoveling my mind changed. I got online and looked around at the various brands and did alittle reading. Seems the Airens suppose to be one of the better brands of snowthrowers. I started checking prices and found they vary greatly depending on where you buy them from. While searching various web sites I got a e-mail ad from HD featuring Airens snowthrowers of all things right when I was in the mood for one.
I checked out several different models and decided on a 30incher with a 342cc motor and heated handles. I check several sites and the prices varied as much as 500.00-600.00 for the same model. I wrote down the model of the one I wanted and went back to the HD ad and low and behold there was the exact same model I had decided on. It was 1599.95, which was way lower than anyone else.
I hopped onto the HD webiste and brought up the snowthrowers and while looking at them a box appeared on my screen asking if I wanted to talk to a outdoor power equipmemt rep. I clicked yes. This person asks how can I help and blah blah blah. Then they go if you order today we will give you a promotion code that will save you 10%. I was like dayummmm so I took the offer and ordered the machine. Free delivery, now over 700.00 less than a few other sites I had priced with that 10% off promotion code they tossed in.
Two weeks the local Airens dealer calls me and says we have a snowthrower to be delievered to you. I go huh. They say didn't you order one from HD, I go yes, they go that order went to Airens, they contacted us to make the delivery and we will be your servicing dealer for that machine. I was like okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. So it worked out pretty good for everyone I guess. They showed up with the machine, gave me a demo, a card to call if I have any problems. So HD made a few pennies, Ariens made a few pennies, the local dealer made a few pennies and me, I made out like a bandit saving over 700.00 verses some others and having a servicing dealer about 30 minutes away. Best of all that Airens dealer is also a Stihl dealer so we will get along real good. The bad part is its warm in VA now and that snowthrower is in my way already, grrrrrrr..
The wacked out prices you found were likely the result of greedy dealers gouging. There ain't much lower than you can go than gouging people during an emergency. At that point, it's not about business it's about people needing help. 
