Wow... she's a drama queen.
I'm a Deere retiree and have been hearing from friends about the layoffs. Many are company people too; it's over for them. The union guys can, at least, bump the lower seniority workers and keep going. It's too bad but it happens. Many of you probably got layed off and let go like I did in the late '70's and throughout the '80's. You dust yourself off and keep pounding.
The dealers I've talked to tell me sales are slow and inventory is high. They ordered lots of product in 2022 and it just didnt arrive due to COVID related supply and production delays. When it did arrive it came too late and all at once. It will take a year or so to get back to normal inventory when orders will pickup.
Regarding sending production out of the country: Deere sees itself as a global company. The MBA's that run most any US corporation have no issue doing it if cost, quality, and delivery can be met. I know that the buyers of premium riding lawn equipment are especially touchy about where their tractor is made. We at Horicon always argued that our product should be labeled "Made in USA" very proudly. Corporate would never let us: "we are a global company".
D100 tractors are made in Greeneville TN. I never worked on them but have heard all the stories. It was a pretty big deal when Deere put RLE in mass retailers outside of the dealer network. Some dealers are still PO'd to this day. JD felt they HAD to do it... too many lost sales to Sears, MTD, and the other bottom feeders. Many of THEM arent fairing too well either. One thing that people don't realize: the retailers that are selling the product are bigger than JD! It's ALL about cost. THEY tell JD what the product costs. Don't want to play??? Now your product sits or worse... a plastic transmission housing doesn't surprise me.
BTW- a product recall is for a safety issue, not a quality or warranty issue. Hope this helps!
