PLEASE look!

jeffcat · Jul 31, 2014

On the garden tractor sight at the bottom of the colum I posted a whole bunch of photos about Paul's mower repair. They are closing up at the end of August. Go look!!! SO sad.

bison · Jul 31, 2014

Looks just a junk pile to me.

jay-eye-see · Jul 31, 2014

As they say, One man's junk is .........

JGayman · Jul 31, 2014

We just had a mower shop in town close up and I kid you not, they had 10-times more riding mowers sitting around than you are showing, mostly John Deere. Someone came in and just started scooping everything into huge dumpsters and hauling it away.

I can't help but think there were a lot of parts in there that somewhere someone was desperate for.

Ron-MO · Jul 31, 2014

I am seeing more and more small engine shops go out of business. I suspect it is similar to what happened to the tv repair business, in that it is getting to the point the parts and labor are often more expensive or at least less coss effective to pay for a repair, thus most just scrap them and go buy new. I made the mistake of going into tv repair in mid 1970's, and by 1980 I was starving and went to get a real job. A few toughed it out, but I know by late 1970's people were leaving them in my shop fully repaired refusing to pay the bill, as they would rather spend double the amount of the bill vs. pay for repairing a tv that might not make it another year (but it could last another 5). Just a thought, and reminds me of that scenario.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 31, 2014

Looks typical of a general repair shop for all makes and models of lawn equipment without being a dealer for any particular brand. Average business lasts for about 10 yrs.

These days, the investment is prohibitive for the average mom and pop to make in trying to become a dealership. Expect about 250.000 worth of investment.

Billy Shafer · Jul 31, 2014

I have stopped working on small engines. For that very reason. Even if I did the work for free the parts cost almost half the price of a new unit.Or you run into something like this.

Need oilier tube. 1.74
Penalty charge for not meeting minimum. 10.00
Shipping charge.14.95

Then you get stuck with equipment that is no longer wanted. Or the customer gets mad at you.Because they didn't take of their equipment and expect you to fix it for free.

Now I will only work on equipment for a few people I know and Onan generators.

Donald Lehman · Jul 31, 2014

Yup. Got out of the small engine business for the same reason. Most places minimum orders are a lot more than $10. Same thing on firearms. you need and $2.00 part and the shipping costs $15.00. So you had $17.00 in a part that was supposed to retail for $4.95.

Mark - IN. · Jul 31, 2014

...my next wife?

Mark

Anonymous-0 · Jul 31, 2014

I know the feeling. I ordered 2 small flat bushings from the local hardware supply. They came to less than $3., but the shipping was over $6.00. Could have shipped in an envelope for I think 43 cents at the time. Salesman said he was sorry, but the company only ships one way and that was with UPS.

CenTex Farmall · Aug 2, 2014

Reminds me of when the grocery store had a tube tester in one corner for people to use.

PLEASE look!

jeffcat

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bison

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jay-eye-see

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JGayman

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Ron-MO

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Anonymous-0

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Billy Shafer

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Donald Lehman

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Mark - IN.

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Anonymous-0

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CenTex Farmall

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