Losing local business

J.Mc

Member
I received a call yesterday from a gentleman I know that works at a long time local tractor parts yard. He asked if I could think of any parts that I may need because they were going to close Friday (tomorrow). I said I wasn't sure at the moment and then it hit me... wait... closing? Like... permanently?? "Yes" he replied. He proceeded to mention that internet sales is one of the bigger reasons for the decision (although I'm sure not the only one). He mentioned people call asking about part numbers and such, then turn around and order online. This place is a 10 acre "Mom and Pop" paradise and has been in business for over 40 years.. its sad to see them go. I understand that most parts can be aquired online cheaper, but it doesn't beat the face to face help and advice from someone truly knowledgeable. I could walk thru the door with some thingamabopper that fell off one of my tractors, and Mark would look and say " oh.. thats a splice pin for your muffler bearing! Yep I have one and you need it. This is how you put it in."
Mark is absolutely full of tractor knowledge, Andy was always great at helping out behind the counter if something was needed, and Sue who always does the ordering and final pricing is an absolute sweetheart to work with.
Meyer Implements will be missed.
I'm sure most everyone on here has a favorite parts place.. please treat the local "mom and pop" shops well.
I'll step off my soapbox now.
 
I think a lot of older places failed
to adapt to the changing times. I buy
a lot of stuff online, and a good
portion comes from small shops too.
They are places that realized the ups
man comes daily so it's just as easy
to ship stuff out too and look beyond
the front door for customers. And then
because of the volume they do online
they have a lot more in stock when
someone does come in thru the front
door looking for a part so it's a win
win situation. My local dealers often
don't have much stock, so why drive to
them, order it and then go back to get
it when I can pull out my smartphone
and order it and it comes to my house
the next day often
 
I hate to see it also, but they could expand their business if they made it internet ready, the others are not going to survive.
 
A good parts house or person is getting very hard to find. We had one down here. You could call the lady that ran it. Tell her what you needed She would have everything she thought you might need. Waiting for you.New owners fired her. Hired a bunch of kids that couldn't find the part. Even if they were looking at it.
 
That's a very important point I forgot as well, and a couple of our local dealers had that years ago, but not now, I can look up my own parts online easier than trying to explain to some kid who never saw one before
 
It's the same as Sears, before Amazon became what it is someone suggested to a Sears exec that they should start selling online, the exec said "no, that will never be successful! Amazon is now what Sears was 120 years ago!
 
I’ve told that story before, the short version is the new kid didn’t think Deere ever made the disk spool I needed it wasn’t in his computer for 10 minutes of searching. A fella working out back Walked by, looked at me, my broken spool on the counter, reached over to the other counter took the fall flower display out of the new spool and set the spool next to mine, then kept walking. The parts person was less than 3 feet from it the whole time.

Paul
 
Or a place does as the local O'Reilly's is doing. Manager has been there for 14-15 years and he got the axe because he has done to good a job and has out smarted some of the upper people so getting rid of him to put in place a puppet manager
 
I needed two new rock guards for my Ford 501 sickle bar mower. I called the local New Holland dealer and told him what I needed. After a couple of minutes he said to
me, "are you sure it's a 501?" Yes, I'm sure. He then said, "well I can't help you. There's no such thing as a 501".

I called a "country oriented" New Holland dealer that's 40 miles away. "You got it?" "Sure, come get it". I did.

The local dealer is only interested in selling new tractors.

Tom in TN
 
I've had the same problem as the others. You drive all the way to town and end up arguing with a computer button pusher who swears whatever it is you have doesn't exist or their inventory is screwed up in the computer and they bring you the wrong thing but the computer says it's right.
 
Last time I went to the local tractor scrap yard, I called ahead of time to see if they were still in business. "[i:283250e4b2]Yes[/i:283250e4b2]." Do you still sell used tractor parts? "[i:283250e4b2]Yes[/i:283250e4b2]." Even older machines? "[i:283250e4b2]Yes[/i:283250e4b2]." OK, I'm on my way.

I got there, but wasn't sure it was the right place as I couldn't see any old tractors anymore. Drove around for a while thinking I was at the wrong place. Finally went in and asked...yep, that's them. So I asked if they had such-and-such part. They said sure, but could take a couple weeks to get it in.

Come to find out, they'll order from an online parts place, then sell it to me. [b:283250e4b2]ARG!![/b:283250e4b2]
 
Sears sold a lot more thru their catalogs than they probably realized,we'd get the catalog and find something we wanted but go to the store to buy it,catalog made the sale.
 
I do very little online parts most are not cheaper than my local guy and he is very good with parts. Is a bit arrogant sometimes. But better than not available after playing with their phone and can't find it or don't know what it is in the first place. A good parts person is worth their weight in gold, and a poor one is not worth the effort to throw them out.
I find the parts people I call for online parts are not much help most of the time so one of the many reasons I just go to my local guy.
 
I buy my tractor parts from regular dealers
who just happen to be hundreds of miles
away. My local dealer was charging me way
over list plus always had a bad attitude.
Some regular dealers saw the online thing
coming and embraced it. Interestingly,
here in Memphis there are several
performance car parts manufacturers that
sell almost exclusively online, but since
They are here I can walk in.

This is the way it will be in the future.
 
I'm in Memphis also and I order parts from this website when I can. However if I can save money ordering them somewhere else I do. We don't have any tractor yards anywhere around here that I know of. I sure wish we did.We used to have a couple of guys around that sold parts for Fords one was good the other wasn't. I could order a part online and pay shipping cheaper than I could buy from him.
 
It sounds like this couple started a business when they were young. They ran it successfully for forty years. Now they are ready to retire and have decided to cash out the business to fund their retirement. Isn't that the "American Dream"? Good for them!

Were they able to sell the business to another individual/company/corporation who will keep it going, or are they shutting down the business completely and and selling off their inventory where ever they can?
 
I buy mostly online. From YT actually.
A lot of things I call my dealer for-
specialized gaskets, orings and the like.
One guy there is a good guy. I tell him I
want CNH part # YYX which I always look
up beforehand. He checks stock and says
if they have it or if he needs to order
it in.
The other guy is an old crank. I tell him
it's CNH # XXY and he wants to the make,
year and model of the tractor. Then we
have to look it up again.
Ordering online I don't have to flip a
coin to see if I get the good guy or the
crank. It's impersonal but 50% of the
time that's better.
 
Ss55, if that was the case it would be a understandable. It may very well play a portion though. The gentleman that started the business passed from cancer a few years back, so although he got to enjoy what he did everyday with this business, he never truly got to retire.
I don't want anyone to misunderstand me. I'm not against ordering things online, but for those of us that are still learning about these tractors and equipment, sometimes a "hands on" approach from a knowledgeable counter person helps. I've gotten some fantastic advice thru the last couple of years from the Guru's on this site, but sometimes I have to see it work to fully understand. Something as simple as changing a starter drive in my 8n could have been an issue if he didn't break it apart and show me exactly what was what on the counter.
The other nice thing was that when I left the yard, I knew I absolutely had the correct part in hand and didn't have to worry about getting it in a day or 2, find out its wrong, then send it back and wait for the correct one to arrive.
Just my thoughts...
 
Some have lost business to the internet others in my opinion are just greedy and deserve to close down.

A local parts store a half hour from here I tried many times to send business to, every time I call them with a list of part numbers the pricing they come back with is higher than the full bore retail pricing of a parts store in another town 45 minutes from here.

Both these stores get their parts from the same distributor so it is not a matter of a different or cheaper brand.

I have told them what I can buy the same part for from their competitor to give them the opportunity to match it and I get fed the that's below our cost story.

Last order I picked up I drove the extra 15 minutes on $1200 worth of parts the closer store wanted over $200.00 more for the same.
 
I guess I lucky we have 3 tractor dealers near me in Monroe Wis. I have even had dealer a call dealer b and ask do you have this in stock
bearing or chain okay Will send him over, I got there and dealer b had what I needed ready for me.
 
I'm about as old fashioned as they come, although I'm not that old. Unfortunately...or fortunately, you decide, things change. I was
dragged into the internet world, kicking and biting, but have adapted. The one thing that sums it up for me is what my 20 yr old son said.
"Sears could've been Amazon if they just would've embraced the net. They had the catalog all in place and everything". Just my two cents.
 
Good afternoon: (sort of long post)
I have a favorite tractor parts store/repair shop that is a lot like the whole old tractor hobby, it is getting too old to keep going! The owner is older that I am (I am 81), he wants to retire but can't find someone to buy the business or run it for him on salary. The present owner keeps going partly because of instinct, he has been an expert for a long time on tractors of the 1940s onward. I think he feels needed, as well as needing the income.

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
 
Same story here as many of the above. Forty years ago there were 14 dealers within a half hour's drive today there are 3. One is the branch of a high priced big dealer from an hour away, the JD place just sold to the regional mega-dealer, and the other is a grandson, or great-grandson, of one of the older outfits that closed years ago who sits in the stockroom and is selling off the inventory and ordering in from online sources (the storefront is still closed up, you go in through the loading dock off a back alley).
 
I think what done Sears in was their attitude. We are no longer going to service any brands we sold. When they got rid of the service departments And people had to either wait a month to have them ship the item (sewing machine) out to somewhere unknown to be looked at by somebody that would not be let know what the problem was and something that might have taken 5 minutes to fix if service person was in store where item was bought and you could talk to them. Cost to send out was more than to go to a store that specilized in sewing machines and buy a new machine. I had a miter saw that the switch went bad. Would have had to send out to see if could be repaired at a cost of more just to look at it, doing no repair, that was more than going across the street and buying a new one off the shelf and you had it when you were needing it instead of waiting a month for them to come up with a price for repairing and then anouther month to get it back while you were setting broken downand could not be getting your work done. Then rude salesmen That is way more the problem than doing like Amazon Only on line dealing. Who wants to buy a refrigerator without seeing the item they were thinking they were wanting and get it shipped and having to find somebody to help you move it into the house where it was just droped at the road and when you set it in and find out it will not fit your needs because from pictures you could not tell what it was like untill you opened the door. And I bought 2 vacume sweepers of Sears brand and about perhaps 4 years later no we do not have bags for them any more. That kind of actions is what did them in.
 
It’s hurting my little town of Marquez Texas at the feed store we’re not
busy most the time, everybody seems to be drawn over to producers.
Our best selling product right now would be corn for feeders.
 
online orders arent that good either son ordered cat converter for his truck correct part #s and was sent y pipe instead
their fault but going to cost HIM 45 to mail back and mhy wife is always having credit card #s changed when i order
parts online i tried to buy local but like others said either grumpy salespeople or lack of knowledge to help you and
usually pricier too just my 2 cents
 

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