What's Husqvarna doing?

[rocketnorton]

3 dealers around here an hour or closer sell/stock both... up to 660/1 on stihl side, 576 on husky side + consumables... my guess would be demand or lack of... big population base & wood here... home owner stuff helps keep the doors open...

 

[moody]

You have to remember that nobody gets these saws for free. The dealers pay for the inventory and if they can't sell it they lose money. Don't cook a meal you can't eat is the way they refer to it around here. Husqvarna dealer 10 minutes from my house carries everything up to a 395. He also sells a lot of saws. Most Stihl dealers don't stock above the 362 around here and keep a 660 on hand. Location plays a role if logging isn't prominent or tree services aren't busy don't expect much.

 

[tlandrum]

I stock everything from home owner saws up to the 395. I have over 150 bars in stock ,over 150 chains. parts yep I keep a few,accessories yeah I gots them too. im in a small hole in the wall town and id bet money I stock more saws than the other dealers within a 100 miles of me. i also have every model of jonsered too. the only saws I don't keep on hand are top handles. but I can have them in next day.

 

[labdad]

I have a good Husky dealer close to my house, doesn't stock a lot of saws but stocks a lot of parts. Good guy to deal with and can get any thing you need. One of the main local Stihl dealers changed hands and when they did they took the dealership away and gave to RK. The new guy is PO'ed but picked up Echo and I think will make a go of it.

 

[Ndigity26]

My local Husky dealer has everything from a 435 to a brand new 3120 powerhead on the shelf ready to go. He is also a dealer for many other things: trailers, tractors, atvs, sleds, etc but only carries Husqvarna saws and hand held equipment. It always surprises me what he has out back when I go looking for parts.

Now that's an avatar. Just saying.

 

[fuzz1500]

I stock everything from home owner saws up to the 395. I have over 150 bars in stock ,over 150 chains. parts yep I keep a few,accessories yeah I gots them too. im in a small hole in the wall town and id bet money I stock more saws than the other dealers within a 100 miles of me. i also have every model of jonsered too. the only saws I don't keep on hand are top handles. but I can have them in next day.

Very cool...and very good to know !!

 

[rocketnorton]

I stock everything from home owner saws up to the 395. I have over 150 bars in stock ,over 150 chains. parts yep I keep a few,accessories yeah I gots them too. im in a small hole in the wall town and id bet money I stock more saws than the other dealers within a 100 miles of me. i also have every model of jonsered too. the only saws I don't keep on hand are top handles. but I can have them in next day.

there is a shop like yours here, an expensive boat [ferry] ride away... id like to deal with them if I was closer. imo, just from what I see here, yer rep precedes you, no doubt helping your business in your "hole in the wall" town... if I was closer....

 

[AKDoug]

>"There is a very limited market for professional saws in Alaska."<
Im surprised to hear you say this? I was thinking that Alaska would be where everyone would own a saw, if nothing else for heat.

In the central part of Alaska (we'll leave out the rain forest, south east part), you have two major cities that make up half the population of Alaska. In both, wood heat is severely restricted and very little wood is used there. In most of the smaller towns wood heat is prevalent, but not the single largest source of heat.

In rural areas, including where I live, heating oil dominates. One of the reasons heating oil dominates is the fact that if you want to insure your home the cheapest insurance you can get doesn't allow wood heat in any shape or form. For my house, I would save a thousand dollars a year by heating with wood, but my insurance would go up $1500. Lack of rural fire departments is the big reason on this.

The other issue is that living in a rural area means having a job that either takes you away from home for days at a time, or long commutes. Trying to keep your house warm enough when it's -25F out all day can be a real pain if you're not home to feed the stove. I happen to heat my 12,000 sqft store with 30 cords a year by an OWB, but I heat my house with heating oil. An OWB wouldn't work for me as I'm home less than I am at work.

On top of this, we have nearly 10% of our population that lives where there are NO trees available for heat.

In my area, many folks buy their wood. Our trees are slow growing and it's difficult to find a source of trees. The guys that are in the business of providing firewood follow road builders and developers around, gathering up what wood they can.

Now, we are left with a small piece of the original pie of 700,000 Alaskans, most of which would be well served with a basic homeowners saw. In reality, it's pretty easy to cut 10 cords a year with an MS290. I have customers that are still doing it with their original 029's. Our trees average less than 16", the majority of firewood being in the 12" or less range. The NEED for pro saws is pretty small. Gov't contracts with parks & rec, the Alaska Railroad, etc... are where most of the pro saws are sold.

Not much income up there either.

We are ranked 14th in the nation in per capita income. Money for saws isn't the issue. The need for saws is.

 

[rmh3481]

I hear you guys. Every picture I ever see of Alaska is always showing tons of forest.

 

[Jacob J.]

>"There is a very limited market for professional saws in Alaska."<
Im surprised to hear you say this? I was thinking that Alaska would be where everyone would own a saw, if nothing else for heat.

The timber in interior Alaska is pretty small. Black Spruce rarely gets much bigger than around 10" in diameter in most areas. There are strips of hardwoods but people rarely cut the hardwoods. Big saws aren't really needed.

SE Alaska is big timber country but it's isolated and logging there has been on the decline for years.

 

[sunfish]

Plenty of Huskys in stock around here and closer than a big box store for me.
Just found another dealer an hour away that stock XPs'.
4 Husky dealers, 6 Stihl dealers within a one hour drive.
1 box store just over one hour drive...

 

[bryanr2]

I stock everything from home owner saws up to the 395. I have over 150 bars in stock ,over 150 chains. parts yep I keep a few,accessories yeah I gots them too. im in a small hole in the wall town and id bet money I stock more saws than the other dealers within a 100 miles of me. i also have every model of jonsered too. the only saws I don't keep on hand are top handles. but I can have them in next day.

Even though your in a hole in the wall town- you have a very dedicated buying market place right here on AS. Some of us buy strictly Husq/ Jonsered. I dont know much about Oliver Springs and Wartburg but Id venture to say- you are probably the biggest shop in the area?

 

[Canthook Coasty]

NJ is full of Stihl dealers that know very little about what they sell. I have to cross the border into PA for a full Husky shop, but the guy is great and is the first shop guy I've met that I can't out-speak with my own saw knowledge.

Have you tried the good folks at Rental Country? They seem pretty knowable about saws.

 

[Canthook Coasty]

In the central part of Alaska (we'll leave out the rain forest, south east part), you have two major cities that make up half the population of Alaska. In both, wood heat is severely restricted and very little wood is used there. In most of the smaller towns wood heat is prevalent, but not the single largest source of heat.

In rural areas, including where I live, heating oil dominates. One of the reasons heating oil dominates is the fact that if you want to insure your home the cheapest insurance you can get doesn't allow wood heat in any shape or form. For my house, I would save a thousand dollars a year by heating with wood, but my insurance would go up $1500. Lack of rural fire departments is the big reason on this.

The other issue is that living in a rural area means having a job that either takes you away from home for days at a time, or long commutes. Trying to keep your house warm enough when it's -25F out all day can be a real pain if you're not home to feed the stove. I happen to heat my 12,000 sqft store with 30 cords a year by an OWB, but I heat my house with heating oil. An OWB wouldn't work for me as I'm home less than I am at work.

On top of this, we have nearly 10% of our population that lives where there are NO trees available for heat.

In my area, many folks buy their wood. Our trees are slow growing and it's difficult to find a source of trees. The guys that are in the business of providing firewood follow road builders and developers around, gathering up what wood they can.

Now, we are left with a small piece of the original pie of 700,000 Alaskans, most of which would be well served with a basic homeowners saw. In reality, it's pretty easy to cut 10 cords a year with an MS290. I have customers that are still doing it with their original 029's. Our trees average less than 16", the majority of firewood being in the 12" or less range. The NEED for pro saws is pretty small. Gov't contracts with parks & rec, the Alaska Railroad, etc... are where most of the pro saws are sold.

We are ranked 14th in the nation in per capita income. Money for saws isn't the issue. The need for saws is.

You got that right about slow growth in parts of Alaska. On Dutch Harbor there is a “forest” of Sitka spruce planted by the Russians two hundred years ago. The trees are all under 40 feet tall and around 12-16 inches in diameter.

 

[indiansprings]

Husky makes some great saws, but it appears that the corporation continues to struggle, missed their profit projection by 23%, they yet again are playing musical chairs in the top corporate positions, another CEO has stepped down. They have not figured out that selling to the box stores is not a profitable business, you operate on razor thin margins and the returns kill you as well as the payment terms. If you read the lastest Bloomberg report the motorcycle venture was a fiasco. The corporate powers (imho) do not protect the brand image very well, they'll stick it on about anything at the box store level. They should focus on taking care of the independent dealers like Terry who go above and beyond to insure the success, why, because he is committed a good portion of his income to promoting and selling their product and knows he must do a good job if he wants to see a return, box stores could care less. I will say Stihl does an outstanding job for us, funds for warranty claims are usually in the account within 24 hrs of filing a claim,we're remodeling they gave us 12 month terms on the fixtures and our orders are filled within three days in most instances.
They are going to kill the Jonsred name with it in tractor supply with no support, already had people in with them raising hell about no nearby warranty or service centers.
One local small husky dealer closed shop this summer, the other one across town is a full line Husky dealer,carries a great inventory, all saw models but they are a chain farm store with no knowledgeable help and a non-existant shop, last time I was in they still had 346xpne and the original 372xp on the shelf, the husky rep stopped in and asked if we would be interested in adding the line, we don't need the inventory of parts that it takes to really support a third brand as we carry a huge inventory of Stihl parts and a moderate echo inventory.

 

[SawTroll]

Husky makes some great saws, but it appears that the corporation continues to struggle, missed their profit projection by 23%, they yet again are playing musical chairs in the top corporate positions, another CEO has stepped down. They have not figured out that selling to the box stores is not a profitable business, you operate on razor thin margins and the returns kill you as well as the payment terms. If you read the lastest Bloomberg report the motorcycle venture was a fiasco. The corporate powers (imho) do not protect the brand image very well, they'll stick it on about anything at the box store level. They should focus on taking care of the independent dealers like Terry who go above and beyond to insure the success, why, because he is committed a good portion of his income to promoting and selling their product and knows he must do a good job if he wants to see a return, box stores could care less. I will say Stihl does an outstanding job for us, funds for warranty claims are usually in the account within 24 hrs of filing a claim,we're remodeling they gave us 12 month terms on the fixtures and our orders are filled within three days in most instances.
They are going to kill the Jonsred name with it in tractor supply with no support, already had people in with them raising hell about no nearby warranty or service centers.
One local small husky dealer closed shop this summer, the other one across town is a full line Husky dealer,carries a great inventory, all saw models but they are a chain farm store with no knowledgeable help and a non-existant shop, last time I was in they still had 346xpne and the original 372xp on the shelf, the husky rep stopped in and asked if we would be interested in adding the line, we don't need the inventory of parts that it takes to really support a third brand as we carry a huge inventory of Stihl parts and a moderate echo inventory.

That was a lot of words, to say basically nothing that really is relevant on this forum!

As it looks to me, Husky has a definate technology advantage over any other chainsaw brand at the moment. They have used it well so far, and more is about to hit the market.

That's most apparent in the pro chainsaw category, not so much with plastic cased chainsaw, so far. Otherwise they still are working hard at cleaning up and "streamlining" the heritage from Electrolux, and their total earnings will of course suffer from that for a while, as it no doubt costs a lot of money.

Anyway, it is the chainsaw category that should be important on this forum - so why bother about the other stuff?