Fly on the Wall

[Tom_H]

I was at the local dealer's today, Sacramento For Tractors, to get some work done on the BX hydraulics. As I stood in the svc. mgr's office, the owner walked over to show the svc. mgr. a bill. He had just ordered a small implement, a rototiller I believe, from the Kubota warehouse which is in Lodi, CA, and less than 35 mi. from this dealer's location. He stated that Kubota had implemented a new delivery policy and all dealer's pay the same shipping fees, regardless of distance, so this dealer pays the same as a dealer in North Dakota. Further, Kubota is no longer allowing will-call pickups, so this dealer, who previously could just send a truck 35 mi. down the road, now has to wait for Kubota to ship implements on their own truck. The cost he was billed for Kubota to ship this implement 35 miles: $540. The two men just looked at each other, quietly shook their heads, and went back to work.

 

[DieselPower]

Somehow I think I would be driving myself 35 miles down the road to the dealer that had one to buy it and pick it up myself. What a bunch of whooy. Just what the dealer needed, more headache's.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hello Tom!

I would have thought Kubota would be more like the Auto Companies when it comes to freight.

In 2002 a new BMW Car had a freight delivery charge of $520 to cover the cost of delivering a new BMW from Germany to any Dealer in the lower 48 states. I never had to pay freight on parts orders if I was willing to drive to the dealer to pick it up.

Sounds like Kubota attachment sales will suffer a little in the California with freight charges like that and deservedly so in my opinion.

 

[BTDT]

Sounds like Kubota attachment sales will suffer a little in the California with freight charges like that and deservedly so in my opinion.

It's hazardous duty pay for having to drive through all that smoke from the woodstoves that people are using

 

[HomeBrew2]

... It's hazardous duty pay ...

In Lodi, you best be armed ... the smoke is from gang gunfire

 

[_RaT_]

I was at the local dealer's today, Sacramento For Tractors, to get some work done on the BX hydraulics. As I stood in the svc. mgr's office, the owner walked over to show the svc. mgr. a bill. He had just ordered a small implement, a rototiller I believe, from the Kubota warehouse which is in Lodi, CA, and less than 35 mi. from this dealer's location. He stated that Kubota had implemented a new delivery policy and all dealer's pay the same shipping fees, regardless of distance, so this dealer pays the same as a dealer in North Dakota. Further, Kubota is no longer allowing will-call pickups, so this dealer, who previously could just send a truck 35 mi. down the road, now has to wait for Kubota to ship implements on their own truck. The cost he was billed for Kubota to ship this implement 35 miles: $540. The two men just looked at each other, quietly shook their heads, and went back to work.

My experience was different Tom. I was at Gold Country Kubota to buy a new hard hydraulic line for my ex L3830. The salesman asked if I wanted it tomorrow or could I wait 3 days for the normal Kubota delivery. With the regularly scheduled Kubota delivery, it was "free" shipping, with special delivery there was a charge. I would think Ron at Sacramento For(d) Tractors would know this.

 

[BXRICK]

I may have some details incorrect, but I recall maybe 1.5 years ago, Kubota changed their shipping policies in an attempt to protect dealer territories from out-of-state dealers having people order on the internet and then doing a drop-ship directly to the customer. Also, special orders became much more expensive, as opposed to the regular delivery, because customers were ordering, for instance, 1 filter, which cost a lot (relatively) to pack and ship individually, rather than shipping a whole carton of stuff to a dealer.

Maybe this is totally unrelated as well....

 

[Tom_H]

RaT,

I don't know any details other than what I heard. I also had a small hard hydraulic line delivered (yesterday) with no shipping charge. The item Ron was talking about was a large implement. I have no clue as to whether these come on different trucks. Maybe his customer needed it pronto and got hit hard by the new "one rate regardless of distance" policy for the express delivery.

BTW, have you guys gotten much snow over your way this week?

Tom

 

[kwolfe]

I have heard this as well. As BXRICk said, I believe this is to limit the drop ship delivery. I believe that those most effected will be the folks closest to the delivery HUBs as there prices will increase.