General Price Hikes and Delta Price Reductions.

[Dev Emch]

I just got word today that a new round of price hikes went into effect on general machines made in Canada effective about Feb 1st. And these were a doozzy. The cost of the General 350 and 650 tablesaws, for example, just went up about $300 to $350 dollars. The current price for the general 690 bandsaw is now $1600 dollars for the ones in stock. I believe the new ones on order may have a hike as well.

Meantime, the Detal DJ-20 jointer is now selling for about $1100 dollars. This is the price I pulled from the Woodwork magazine or Wood magazine article on 8 inch jointers. As I read these in the supermarket and dont buy these mags, I forget which one I was looking at.

At any rate, the price for the Delta flagship machines has been going down down and more down. But the price for the canadian made general has seen one price hike after another for the last few years. Whats up with this? Delta has to cut prices to stay competative and general just keeps moving their prices upward. Interesting.

[Joe Blankshain]

Thanks for the info Dev. i was considering a 8 inch from "the bear" this may make me rethink the selection.

[Michael Ballent]

Not really sure why the prices are going up for the General, but I believe that Delta is moving more things over to Asia so I would not be surprised that has something to with the difference. :(

[Allen Bookout]

A short while back while comparing the DJ20 and the GO490 someone, and I think that it was Dev may be, said that it looked like that Delta may come down and Grizzly go up untill things evened out a bit. It looks like that assumption may have been correct and that the process is already starting. Sooner than I expected.

As for General - it worries me that they are having to increase prices. Could be that they are just testing the waters or it could be that their cost mandate a price increase. In any case, I hope that it is the former as I sure would hate to see another North American manufacturer bite the dust.

I am just guessing but looks like something is up.

Allen

P.S. I got so up tight watching the Super Bowl I had to take a look at the Creek to give myself a break.

[Brent Smith]

I would think a couple of things have caused the General price hikes. First, the cost of raw materials . Asia is buying as much as they can which is driving up the price. Second, the Canadian dollar is increasing in value which means that a saw they used to sell for say 1000 dollars American and get $1300 Canadian back from, now brings them back less than $1200. Then of course there's the price of transport, which is also going up.

As mentioned earlier, Delta has most of their manufacturing over seas now which brings the price down. Lets face it, you can buy a machine almost identical to the DJ-20 for alot less. Delta had to lower their price since they can't use the made in America selling point anymore.

Brent

[Frank Pellow]

I expect the fact that the US dollar keeps dropping in value against the Canadian dollar has something to do with the increase in General prices in the USA.

[Allen Bookout]

Are the prices in Canada for General basically staying the same except for the increased cost of raw materials?

[tod evans]

my opinion on generals price increase is that general is just trying to keep the same amount of profit built into each machine, the eastern countrys are buying up power and raw materials and causing the prices to rise across north america, the more goods we buy from overseas the more our dollar falls on the world market. just this last month i saw a 25% increase in my utility bill per kwh, our co-op blames china in their little "it`s not our fault" supliment that is supposed to make me feel better...now let`s guess where delta tools are made now so they can lower their prices.......02 tod

[Gary Herrmann]

On a selfish note, regardless of the reasons, I'm glad I picked up my 650 in December...

[Andy London]

You have a number of factors at play. First they are made here in Canada and the cost of labor does not come close to that of Asia, they are one of the very few companies that still offer a made in N.A. cabinet saw, that comes with a cost but also comes with quality. The US $ is weak compared to the CDN $ which has been strong on international markets for the past 14 months or more, the cost of shipping and costs in general have gone way up. Even raw wood materials are seeing hikes.

I see it like this in my own WW business, I don't compete with the big box furniture stores, not even interested, same goes for picture framing and crafts. It's not even the clients I am after...the result is that there is still a huge market looking for quality built at home products. At the moment I have at least three months work ahead of me, perhaps General is in the same boat.

As long as I can afford to I will support and buy made in N.A. products, on the economics side I see a lot of red flags for both the US and CDN economy on the not so distant horizon. When you import billions more per month than you are exporting, it will catch up.....I just hope the market doesn't crash as a result.

There was a recent article on W5 or a similar type documentary on the US economy, the largest buying house in the world. The short of it was the US consumer has been keeping the world markets thriving on goods, problem as they noted was places like China are funding the money back through loans and other instruments to keep things going on both ends....not a good thing IMHO.

my 2 cents

[Ken Shoemaker]

I remeber something called NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)... It's now catching up with us......
Like a plane with a door coming off, the explosive decompression sucks eveything right out into space.... Sit down, strap in, hold on for dear life

Small rant.. sorry:(

[Dan Owen]

I just purchased a General 14 inch 130 planer. The price quote at the end of January was $300.00 less than the one I got Feb.1st. My dealer was able to split the difference with me. My bottom line is this. General is family owned. Everything else is corporate. With corporations you have shareholders who are interested in only one thing and that is profit. In order ot make more profit without making things more expensive, you make them cheaper. Yeah, I paid way more for that General planer than I should have, but I like thing that are finely made, will last forever, and will always hold their value.