Sell off an empty wagon?

showcrop

Well-known Member
There was a local business owner who used to advertise on local radio, and part of his advertising was his pappy used to tell him that "You can't sell off an empty wagon" meaning a business needs to carry adequate inventory. I go into my local TSC now and then, and it seems that they never have what I need. Maybe 3 0f 5 or 1 of 3 but I always have to go somewhere else or go home without. Is the company short of money so that they can't buy adequate stock? I know about just in time inventory, but this has got to be costing them millions if the whole company is running this tight.
 
We have a regional (mostly MN/WI) called Mills Fleet Supply, similar to horsey TSC. When they opened in St. Cloud (pop 60,000), I went to get new teeth for a 24 foot field cultivator...48 teeth. Spring of the year, and they didn"t have that many. Low inventory of all styles.
 
It depends on who/what they are competing against to make sales. Slow moving inventory is expensive to carry and often must be disposed of at a substantial loss.
 
My understanding is that they are cash lean due to constant increase of locations. Further, at one time not too long ago they had a few former Central Tractor execs in there mainly worried about putting pins on the map rather than make logical decisions in terms of expansion. Further yet all their management heavily believes in the Walmart philosophy of fewer but faster turnover items. If you are going to only sell one maybe every three to six months and only make a couple of bucks profit then don't stock it. I don't have a love for TSC but they must be doing enough right that they have not run the ship on the rocks..... Yet.
 
It's not just TSC but pretty much everywhere !

I like the ritz peanut butter crackers in packets for in my lunch pail. Walmart hardly ever has them. Lots of others like them too so I don't know why they don't order more at a time ?
 
I have to buy ahead on drum mower blades, rake teeth, other consumables. Usually wait until I get a 10% off coupon, and empty their racks on those items. That way they have to reorder. Sometimes they are several weeks behind on restocking. Seems like with computer inventory they would be fairly prompt, but no. Used to have issues with sickle mower guards and knives when I wss using them for haying.
 
Word is that cash flow gets so tight they don't have the money to pay for inventory when they need it. When I worked for Central Tractor they had the same problems although they never saw the location growth that TSC has. It would be nothing for CT to be on credit hold with their vendors until their accounts were brought to current. Many a time a store clerk or manager would be left hanging in the wind by placing an order that only the home office knew would not be filled in a normal amount of time because of payment issues. It must have reached a point where the home office got tired of being blistered over the phone by irate customers so they finally would send a few E-mails letting store personnel know not to place certain orders. Even so I still remember calling vendors and them telling me that CT was on credit hold therefore no goods before the company would admit a problem. One of the things I certainly do not miss about working in a farm supply business. I could stand some part time income but I don't want to make enemies of friends and neighbors because corporate keeps the stores in the dark.
 

In these parts, Orscheln's is everywhere. Some of them maintain a good inventory, some do not. Recently though, the store in the next town over relocated into the vacant Wal-Mart building. Did a lot of remodeling and redecorating. Wife and I checked it out about 1 week ago and we were both VERY impressed. If you can't find it at THAT Orscheln's, you don't need it. They even have a firearms section. Rifles, shotguns, revolvers, semi-auto handguns, and ammo of all kinds.
 
I worked at a TSC in high school, and its really simple actually. Their "cared for" segment of customers are the homeowners who stop in for dog food, then impulse buy a
JD tee shirt and get talked into buying some short-life AA batteries or a garbage-bag thickness poly tarp when they make it to checkout. The type who buy a new riding
mower every 3-5 years, even better if they can be talked into opening up the stores credit card when they do, which is also why there is little/no parts support for anything
mechanical they sell. These folks dont know enough to buy something better, if they did they'd likely break it/never maintain it/etc then just need another new one. This is
where the money is.

This is why most of the store caters to such demographics. This is also why there is very little worthwhile there beyond their surprisingly good selection of nuts/bolts.

I'll be honest. No one cares about you guys at that company. Actual tradesmen/farmers/etc are maybe 1 in 5 or 6 customers I had there, at absolute most.

All they're interested in is cheap asian hand tools that they sell for almost as much as the domestic name brand tools they clearance'd for the aforementioned, because the
mark up is bigger and the average horse owner customer will only use them once or twice anyways. Why sell durable work wear when half the customers work in an office
and would rather buy a thin tee shirt with a cringey "country" saying on it? Why sell cultivator teeth when only 1 in 100 customers owns a cultivator? Why stock a good
assortment of quality hydraulic components when none of the employees know what they do, and only 1 in 50 customers owns anything hydraulic in the first place?

You can see where this is going. Having worked at one of those stores, I'd just be thankful that they have as much as they do. Regarding quantities of goods stocked, I
remember even then that many things took 1-2-3 weekly cycles to appear, but we never had any shortages of plastic outdoor canopies, chinese cowboy boots or flimsy
lawnmower wagons.

Like I said, this is where their money is, and what they care about, not some old farmer who wants a moldboard bolt or whatever.

So I bought all the clearance Cresent and Channel Lock tools I could, then quit when I entered trade school :D
 
Around here, several (that used to be) good farm supply stores have converted themselves to "mini-Cabelas", and ag parts are all but gone.

Must be a lot more sales/markup/turnover in hunting and fishing supplies, obviously.
 
I have 4 Oerscheln's nearby, 5 miles, 14 miles, and two at 28 miles each. The five mile one is horrible. The 14 mile one is better, and I often drive the extra miles to that one. The two farthest ones are great, but there are also two TSC stores closer. I kinda have it figured out who has what.
 
I remember telling a few people about how Central Tractor honestly operated and it always went over with a thud. It only took a couple of people complaining about my "bad attitude" that finally I would not say anything and call the manager out to the desk to explain why a customer's special order tool box took weeks instead of days to get to the store. Or why one week corporate would let you give the last sale price on a item and the following week they would not budge on the tag price. Or why they would fully refund somebody's neighbor on a new lawn tractor and make you make the guy in front of you who is royally peeved about his same mower that was bought at the same time go to the service center. Especially when his neighbor abused his mower and the guy in front of you made plenty of effort to take care of the mower. And so on.
 
Bought a brand new Snow Blower last fall from TSC. Had the first snow storm of the year. 20 inches over night. Any rate TSC was the only one had any still in stock. Paid the extra money for a Cub Cadet. Cub Cadet brags about made in America Best in the Industry warranty. Got it home wouldnt run right. Would only run with choke half way on even after doing a 250 foot driveway and plenty warmed up. Called them right away the next day. Told me "bad gas" I told them it was the gas they had in it. Still not covered. To this day snow blower still dont run right. Will never go back to TSC. and will never buy anything Cub Cadet again. As an after thought when they asked if I wanted to pay extra for the warranty I said no. Pretty pathetic they charge you extra for a warranty on a $800 dollar purchase. Especially after the sales dept. At Cub Cadet brags about how great it is. By comparison I bought a brand new Stihl Br 700 leaf blower from a hardware chain. Two year warranty NO CHARGE. But if you buy their two stroke oil. Which I needed anyway They double it for, wait for it..... Only the cost of two stroke which as said I needed anyway.
 
Yes, BB was good- early days of the fleet stores. Now, Mills, etc. is like big box stores- all the guy stuff is in the far corner! At least some of them have scooters now.
 
TSC built a new store in Marshalltown over
40 years ago. They weren't much to brag
about then. They had a small store uptown
and built much larger on edge of town. Dad
said at that time, he wished it had been
Farm and Home that expanded. Been closed for
quite awhile. They got a Theisens and TSC
lasted about another year.
 
Even though it is a NEW snow blower I wonder how old it really was?
The local Sears has a over supply of them from last year. Many of those got transferred in from other stores closing. We have not had much snow in this part of Ohio for a few years now. These may be 2 or 3 years old by now ?
 
(quoted from post at 12:26:05 09/18/17) Even though it is a NEW snow blower I wonder how old it really was?
Makes you wonder . What aggravates me is that they refused to service or even give a serious diagnosis on a machine that was not even out of the store a full 24 hours. Pretty much thanks for the check - goodbye. When I got the bag with the booklet and a full page reading STOP- Do Not Return to store. It kind of sums up exactly how well they intend to stand behind their product. Put things in perspective I bought a Cub Cadet riding mower brand new from L&M which is another chain store but aside from the sand here eating blades off It has been an excellent machine. Also they had a full shop at the location I went to. And like I said they are a chain store just like TSC albeit not as big.
 
There used to be a really nice Central Tractor around Salem, Indiana. It closed. Tractor Supply is not much. On 3 separate but consecutive trips to T.S. the
item I drove about 20 miles for was out of stock. There are 2 Rural Kings near Cincinnati which are great, and another one just opened at Maysville, Ky.
Ellis
 
I made may trips to Salem to get parts at central tractor. I still some a couple of therre old catalogs. Went to tuff sh@t Charlie today for a # 50 chain offset link...none there!
 
First thing you need to do is take it to a really
Competent small engine shop. Tell them if they are not tooooo busy
you will sit there ,and even pay extra, as they tune your carburator.
They are set so lean to meet the polution crap they will never run
right. There are something like 20 plusss+++++ different types of
tools to adjust the screws on the new type carbs. Also for goodness
sakes run your snow blower with Hi-Test gas!!!!!! Lawn mowers weed
wackers chainsaws ALL of them need a tune up right out off the box
thanks to the EPA garbage.
 
Some of this low and out of stalk I can understand but a grocery store that runs out of milk? No hole milk, no 2%, no 1%, no skim or no chocklate in either full gallons or half gallons. And no bread or burger or dog buns. And this is just normal days, no weather or anything to prompt people to go out and buy twice what they can use before it spoils. Their meat specials that are supposed to be good all week, halfway thru the week they are out. And then seasonal food items that people eat year around, If you don't happen to find them when they get them and buy the years supply you are out of luck and then they might only get things in every other year. Somebody is not using their brain. How are they going to keep their customers if they do not have the product and you have to hunt a different grocery store. And I am talking national chains here. You just about need to go to 3-4 or more grocery stores to get your weekly purchases as you will only find a part of what you want at each store. Food is a constant need not that you may only need it one time in say 5 years like some part might be.
 
A grocery store that runs out of basics such as milk and bread has got definite financial issues and most likely has greater issues than managing inventory. The vendors are probably not getting paid when they are supposed to. There are people whose jobs are to get retailers to buy inventory at these vendors so even if a store employee was slacking it would draw attention someplace down the line. I guess I am lucky in that even though I don't always like the selection the shelf space always has product on it.
 
As a few on here have stated they carry what moves. They pay taxes on that property either through the cost of a lease or because they own it. So an item that say cost a dollar that sets for a year before it's sold actually cost them more to sell. SO if it's a slow moving item it makes no sense to stock a bunch. Now add in the declining number of farms. If TSC or Mills Fleet and Farm only carried ag related stuff they would go out of business. And as was stated maybe one in 10 or 20 customers have a link to any AG industry even in some rural farm areas. So are you going to only carry AG related items for a shrinking number of customers or are you going to attract a different customer base. Yea it sucks for the farmer, but they gotta keep the doors open or you get nothing!

As far as them buying on credit? If they get to that point after they are an established business they are in trouble. Most businesses especially large ones try to be able to pay for stuff up front! Those that don't wind up like Sears. Say company A buys stuff from company B to resell and make an order every 90 days. IF they have a positive cash flow they have the money in the bank and pay right away. They have earned a little interest and avoid paying interest. A win/win. If they have to borrow they have earned nothing and wind up paying more to stock the store because of interest. That's why a lot of companies make the decision to go public. Selling stock allows them to expand or upgrade equipment, stores ECT without going into debt.

Rick
 
"Established" businesses can get upended by changing conditions in the industry. What probably hurt Central Tractor as much as anything was the notion that Walmart was going head to head with CT in some of their core product lines. Whether this was a real plan (not implemented) or just a rumor it set a chain of events in motion which made CT push harder than it should have into expansion mode. It should have been obvious that CT could never go head to head in terms of capital but when management thought that they were hearing footsteps they became very paranoid. The growth in locations came at a cost in terms of maintaining inventory. Also, early in the game CT resisted going public as the principles wanted to protect the potential stakes they had if their moves had paid off. Bringing in outside investment means sharing profits which some dislike. You might say it is all about the greater good but sometimes people can not see that.
 
Well...I needed a roll of 50 roller chain this morning. Went to the hardware store first. Daryl looked and only had a few feet in a box. He used the term "One to show and one to go" when he said he should have more but didn't seem to.
I went to TSC and got the last 10 foot roll they had and was quite surprised that they even had one. I figured I'd end up driving all the way to Farm Services at Five Corners before the day was done.
 
TSC has drifted off from farm stuff to 10 acre farmette stuff.

They just had to follow the money, I'm not blaming them.

I don't go there any more if I need real farm stuff. But then, they for sure don't sell any farm stuff, and so it becomes self fulfilling. Farmers stop
coming in, and so the parts sit on the shelf and so even less real farm stuff is stocked. 'Well it never sells.'

At some point they kinda lose their identity.

Paul
 
We have two new TSC stores within a 20 mile trip. They have had everything I needed the past 2 years.
Employees are farm raised people and when ever I go into 1 of them, there is always one of them stepping
up to me asking "can I help you". I really enjoy stopping there.
 
There are several in my area the nearest one is 5 miles away.They carry a large inventory of bolts,nuts washers etc also right many metric nuts and bolts.They have a good twine at a good price,have a large inventory of 3pt accessories like top links,lynch pins etc.They carry hydraulic hoses and fittings,pipe fittings,tractor carb kits,front tractor tires,all sorts of 3 pt equipment.They have a good price on dog food(I buy it by the pallet).They carry a good hydraulic fluid and gear oil at at good price.A big inventory of trailer accessories,all sorts of animal
feed and medications.Also sell chainsaws,chain and cable by the foot.All these things I consider to be 'farm stuff' and I live in a very surburban area where the houses on a lot easily out number the farms 200 to 1.What's not to like?
 
Ah yes, Big Bear, dad would take me there once a week it seemed, they had a lot of stuff. It was actually better when CT took over - for a short time. Until that business plan caved in fast and deep. Think they were selling stuff at 25% at the end, and it was the good expensive big pieces.

We jave a Rinnings in town, that has been a good farm supply store. Almost as good as Mills Fleet. They have been in 4 buildings in town, came is when Big Bear was failing. Each building bigger. The last one tho a big corner is hunting supplies, that's always a bad sign for a farm supply store........

Steve the retired farmer (milking got to him early, he had to give it up) has been open charge of farm stuff there for years, really good at getting you so,etching from the catalogs if you need it.

Paul
 
My understanding is they don't like to restock until they can get a decent truckload's worth of stuff. Not worth sending a truck to restock one rake tooth.

Higher volume stores are better at restocking, obviously. They have trucks coming more often.

I'm sure there's also a computer algorithm involved. For stuff that sits on the shelves for long periods of time, I'm sure that restocking is less of a priority.

Now if you go in there expecting to replace all the teeth on a hay rake, you've chosen the wrong store. They usually keep enough rake teeth on hand to replace a couple of broken ones, to get you going on a Sunday morning when the machinery dealer is closed. If you need 96 rake teeth, go to the machinery dealer, or even better, ebay.

That's really all TSC is when it comes to farm machinery parts: It's the last chance to get you going on a Sunday when the machinery dealers are closed.
 
And they usually do not have things for that last chance. The management does not have a clue as to what made the chain like most city people. They build a city store in farm country and wonder why not much business. If they would actually build and stock a farm store in farm country like they used to have they would see a lot of business that they are throwing away. But they are too dumb to understand. Like most large business managers. Think people only want what they want, not what the people want.
 

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