The Count
Addicted to ArboristSite
check the calendar..it done hit the 21st century and stuff. Dealers? You mean the guys who charge near 100% markup on all the parts you might need, those guys, and even then they never have half the stuff in stock and have to order it? I buy truck stuff, farm equipment stuff and small engine stuff..bulk of it today I get online. easier shopping, better selection, more choices, delivered to my door, and usually loads cheaper.
We gots that internet thinggee today, if stuff has to be ordered..eliminate the middleman. Ain't hardly a durn thing you can't get off the net today. Are "dealers" really all that necessary anymore? Or put it this way, haven't we shifted to online dealers more than some local people.
A lot of us live where there aren't a lot of dealers for this or that, or it is a long drive with fuel over three clams a gallon now and going up. Time/expense/hassle, go drop 6 bucks fuel plus wear and tear on your ride plus an hour and a half time to go buy a ten or 20 buck part? Or order online and get it in a few days delivered? Adds up over the year the more you can eliminate all that driving and paying big markups.
And sometimes the "dealers" don't even know what they have access to. Example: I wanted a super splitter. I could have ordered it online and had it delivered, but instead I stopped my local ACE independent and asked him to order it through his channels. told him I would give him some feedback on the purchase. He had never heard of them, but I got my axe. Loved it, went back, told him it was outstanding, he should stock a few, they would sell. So, every time I go back there..same tired old mexican no carbon steel mauls with a kinda sorta edge like experience on them..no fiskars. He didn't care, he didn't care about customer feedback or maybe making a better quality sale to other people.
Dealers are highly overrated for most purposes anymore. Real useful in the pre internet days, as in last century. Times change. Labor, hire the dealers to do your mechanical work? At 60-80 bucks an hour? DO. NOT. WANT. Even if it is some job I never did before, for that sorta loot...I'll muddle through somehow, put the cash towards any specialty tools instead..ordered online.
long post!
I kinda agree with you; I went asking about Husky 359 and the dealer had only two saws: 353 and 240; He tried to sell me the 353 as being better. I know; unbelievable.
however, some dealers buying bulks, get discount and that can be alot; thus you might get a product from a dealer from the same price they advertise on the internet. thus avoiding any mistakes knowing what you buy.