- Location
- East Essexshire
I might have to ask about a new one then, rather than doing up the old rake!
Reco to shut?
- Thread starter Afx9010
- Start date
Loose talk costs lives
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
While it is sad that the business is ceasing, it is refreshing to see a company that sees the writing on the wall and conducts an orderly gradual withdrawal from the business with minimal pain, rather than run it into the ground with a lot of sudden shock and locked doors. Well done and best of luck to everyone going forward.
Hi Patrick I'm saddened to hear this news , but that's life in the machinery game , franchises come and for no reason can go as quick . You did a great job with strautmann and I'm sure they will miss your hard work , thank you Patrick for your help and best of luck in the future , regards James, (Agriknives. ).
Think all machinery dealers are in for a rough couple of years, talking to a guy at cheffins Monday saying what hard work it is shifting stuff at the mo. Guess Richard Ruston is jumping ship at the right time he won't be bored though as he's just building a million pound home in our village.
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Very sad for all the staff at Reco.
Ref machinery dealers in general going to have a difficult couple of years, they will have more than two difficult years unless they all realize that new machinery/ 2nd hand machinery and parts are all 30% too expensive and adjust prices to mirror farmgate prices..
They need to cut overheads/ wasting so much money on open days etc etc for starters!!
Prices have gone up massively the last 4/5 years in what were generally decent ones for many farmers ( excluding 2012 ) so now it will be intresting to see if prices are corrected to what the industry can sustain!!
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
The signs of prices that the industry can't sustain is that machines don't sell. New equipment has a basic manufacturing cost that is rather inflexible and doesn't follow agricultural commodity prices. Lower sales volume due to poor farming profitability actually increases unit costs so should theoretically result in raised prices.
The current worldwide decline in agriculture causes massive problems in the supply industries. It is nothing they haven't seen before and there will be further consolidation, distributor and dealer casualties, factory closures and big and small brands failing and disappearing. They live or die on their products and wit and on the profitability of farming. When farming does well, everyone in the chain and in the rural community shares that prosperity.
Selectamatic
Member
- Location
- North Wales
Nonsense.
If dealers chop prices by 30%, they would be selling them for less than nett cost. It's all well and good complaining that things are expensive etc, and your right, they are, but if you can afford them, dont buy them.
The dealer buys with one hand and sells with the other, those of us that think that there is a phenomenal margin are mistaken, much like ag contracting, fuel merchants, hauliers, etc etc there are simply too much of them for them to add mega profit on a sale and live off the fat of the land as some think they do.
You will soon end up like me and John1594, driving round in old kit, which is fine, but if you want to upgrade, you will have to buy. I want to buy new kit, but I dont have the money or the work to justify it, so I go without, that is not the dealer's fault, and I do not expect him to sell his kit at a loss so I can have a Air Conditioned Cab.
Open days, shows and the like are necessary, as is supporting the local ploughing match, auction of promises, it's marketing, which every other industry seem to do, apart from farmers who generally think of it as showing off.
I think there is a lot more competition in the machinery game , new brands are selling well generally with small lower cost dealers, every sale is a sale lost for the bigger older brands , in Ireland here I remember a local class dealer who would have 30 new balers in the yard in April with the customers name on them , then along came Mchales and that wiped out the sale of class balers , there are more brands now than ever before all looking for a slice of the same cake .
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Sorry but if times are tough you cut costs and that apply's to machinery dealers the same as any other business!! they are all running around in brand new trucks/ massive dealerships/ and wasting money on open days/ attending shows etc etc and its just not sustainable at the current farmgate returns..
No end of 2nd hand kit around in dealers yards, plenty of buyers for it but not at the over inflated prices they are asking but if you try and do a deal on it they wont budge much either yet moan they can t shift it, they cant have it both way's!! I try to buy all my kit from farm sales/ facebook and places like TFF as you can save a massive amount than buying it thru a dealer!! only thing I will prob buy thru a dealer would be a tractor and poss a fert spreader as the latter I will buy new and getting the right spec tractor at a sale can be difficult!!
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Its that simple. It certainly isn't as simple as you think to sell into agriculture profitably. Give it a go. Put your money where your mouth is and show them all how its done.
But since you don't use dealers, there is no profit to be made from you and I wouldn't be surprised if you walked into a dealer if you were met with this greeting…..
"Are you local? This is a local shop for local people. There's nothing for you here!"
Dealer
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
Many dealers don't want the overheads and large premises
It the manufacturer that us driving the dealers to do this, the big 4 manufactures want car show room facilities to enable them to sell and market the products at a premium price.
The dealer and the customer don't have any say in it.
As for prices manufacturer tells the dealer the cost the customer tells him the price the dealer has little influence of the 2 the price of used is driven by the dealer being squeezed to pay more than he wants.
Most dealers will put a small margin on used to move it on unless it there own brand then they will ask a premium to show low depreciation on the new the are trying to sell.
As for marketing it's a small amount compared to interest payments on borrowed money it's cheaper to advert than it is to fund a large used stock.
One thing is for sure the less dealers / manufactures the higher prices will become.
Because the customers has less choice.
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Its that simple. It certainly isn't as simple as you think to sell into agriculture profitably. Give it a go. Put your money where your mouth is and show them all how its done.
But since you don't use dealers, there is no profit to be made from you and I wouldn't be surprised if you walked into a dealer if you were met with this greeting…..
"Are you local? This is a local shop for local people. There's nothing for you here!"
Running any businesss in any industry isn't simple but clearly the farm machinery trade has got far too bloated and far too much money is being wasted by dealers and instead of thinking farmers will buy machinery at over inflated prices to let them carrying on doing this they need to start addressing their cost base ( just like dairy/ sheep farmers have had to do this year for example )
I buy some parts from the dealers but tbh there is an independent chap who runs a part business near here ( and sends stuff all over the UK/ abroad ) who deals with all major machinery makers and quite often he can be 50% cheaper than for the same part from the local franchised dealer for that make!!
Selectamatic
Member
- Location
- North Wales
Your right, no end of second hand kit.
The second hand kit has been brought, more often than not against new. The farmer who brought new probably squeezed the dealer to their limit, threatening to shop elsewhere, different brand, playing two dealers of the same colour against each other etc.
So the dealer cuts his margin to the bone, and sells a tractor, taking in a second hand tractor which now owes him more than market value. i.e. he has to sell it for chunky money to make a decent profit and carry on in business, looking after his customers.
So the dealer will set on his tractor until the right customer comes along and buy's it.
The money he pays buy's him both a tractor, giving the dealer a fair margin, and insurance should something goes wrong, the dealer would help rectify it, often at their cost.
That is how a decent dealer does it, or rather often has to do it.
Other dealers sell you anything, for next to nothing, and then clear off and leave you to it when something goes wrong, stock the shelves poorly with parts, and cant pay for decent workshop staff or pay for them to be taught about how to repair the ever increasingly complex machines on our farms.
Anyone who thinks a Machinery Dealer is laughing all the way to the bank, swanning around like landed gentry is very naive. Just like a farmer taking his livestock on a Wednesday, or loading a lorry with grain, all he wants to do is make a living. When times a good, he does this, when times are bad, he has to fight much, much harder to do this. The stuff you mention about cutting his costs back is marketing, as said before, something farmers hold in contempt as showing off.
Again, if you cant afford it, dont buy it.
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Sorry but the dealers need to get together and start standing up for themselves and make it crystal clear to the 4 main manufactors that what they are asking is unstainable in the current economic climate!!
Grassman
Member
- Location
- Derbyshire
Heck @gone up the hill you don't half have a bee in your bonnet about everyone cutting prices to suit farmers pockets.
It's us farmers who need to get our acts together and stop over producing and learn to farm smarter not cheaper!
It's us farmers who need to get our acts together and stop over producing and learn to farm smarter not cheaper!
Selectamatic
Member
- Location
- North Wales
Why don't farmers get together and tell the ones that buy their end product, or those who pay them various payments that what they are being paid is unsustainable?
The answer is, should farmers be able for even a short time to get their acts together to act united, is they would be told to chuff off.
Much like the dealers would if they went knocking on John Deere's door.
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Most dealers wont do much about 2nd hand kit if it goes wrong to start with!!
No doubt there is plenty of areas within their business that they can cut costs if they wanted to, question is can they be bothered!!
Ref don't buy it if you cant afford it, why do you think sales of new/ 2nd hand machinery has fallen off a cliff??!!!................ and it wont get better for many years, either dealers adjust their business model or many of them will go under sadly!!
And I cant understand why people thing the logics of running a business/ cutting cost's to enable them to sell machinery cheaper etc doesn't apply to machinery dealers!!
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- parts