Stay away from John Deere

[bertsmobile1]

Back in '03 I bought a L100 (basically the same thing, but with a manual transmission) $1,500 out the door with MA sales tax, which was 5% at the time. I sold it to a friend who abused the hell out of it - left it outside, uncovered, never maintained it, etc.., and it ran for YEARS afterwards. Only thing I had to repair on it during the time he had it, was all the safety switches that failed.

Quality across the board has taken a nosedive, whether it's a GM product, a washing machine, or a low-end lawn tractor. As a mechanic, I see it all. The state of manufacturing today disgusts me. Just look at what you could buy in the 1980's for a reasonable, working man's price. Alot of that stuff is STILL out there, doing what it was designed to do, 35+ years later!

But the problem is what we buy today is the same price as what we bought back in 1980 when the wages were 1/2 what they are now
Dads first petrol mower cost a months wages , now days you pick most up for 1 or 2 days wages so should you be surprised that as it is 1/30 the real price ( hours worked ) that iti is 1/30 the quality ?

 

[Smithsonite]

Here in the states, the cheaper "box store" units are 2-3 weeks pay (average - depends on your line of work. I believe average wage nationwide is $50,000 per year, before tax of course. Varies greatly by state, too). Back in the 80's, it was roughly the same. You got ALOT more for your money going all the way back to the dawn of the industrial revolution. Seems to have taken a turn for the worst in the late 90's, and has taken a nosedive from 2007 onward. Everything today is garbage, whether its a lawn mower, washing machine, blender, toaster, car or truck. Thank God aircraft aren't built by these same standards, or we'd all be running for cover ...

 

[Smithsonite]

Well Stated!
Not sure how things work in Canada but here in the States, anywhere a John Deere riding mower is sold, (yes big box) the machine is set up by the local John Deere dealer. This leads to an overall better customer experience with their new machine. I don't know of any other brand that does this.

Back when I bought my L100 (2003), it was uncrated and tossed on the floor by employees - the dealer had no part of any of it.

If I remember right, recently, I thought I saw the local dealer's sticker on a unit on the floor at a Home Depot. I could be confusing this with a customer's unit. I see too many tractors ...

I've heard from others that the dealers have nothing to do with what the box stores sell. The box stores tell JD what they expect to pay, and JD delivers ... which is probably why they're so failure prone now.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

There are 2 JD dealers near me one is 4 miles away the other is 8. I am told by the dealer i deal with for parts parts that the box stores have a deal with JD that the nearest dealer to the box store is the one the store tells is the servicing dealer. The dealers don't have anything to do with the initial delivery. The dealer also told me that if JD does any warranty work on the box store mowers that JD made no profit on that machine so JD covers almost nothing. The other dealer is the further away dealer and basically quotes 8 to 10 weeks to get to it so they just go away.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Now I know that USA wages have not been keeping pace with inflation for a while and wage rises for employees have bee fairly well flat fo the last decade, but I seriously doubt that they were $ 50,000 back in the 80"
$ 20,000 would be more like it.

 

[Smithsonite]

Now I know that USA wages have not been keeping pace with inflation for a while and wage rises for employees have bee fairly well flat fo the last decade, but I seriously doubt that they were $ 50,000 back in the 80"
$ 20,000 would be more like it.

No, not $50,000 - whatever the average national wage was in the 80's. I can't remember the exact number, but any person with a job got alot more bang for their buck back then, be it cars, dishwashers, or lawn equipment. Just about everything was built good (except for domestic compact cars, and the Chrysler K-car ... and the GM 350 diesel - they were awful).

 

[tom3]

Probably find a lot of mowers out there for $2400 these days. Spend that stimulus check. Back in 1980 I was making $5 an hour in an engineering department. Bought the old John Deere SP mower for $450 - that hurt - but it still mows every week here. Never had the head off.

 

[bertsmobile1]

So you SP push mower cost you 2.25 WEEKS wages and now days people wonder why a ride on that cost slightly more is not built well .
We forge that money is an artificial entity . It is just a means of converting your labour into things you need.
So everything has to be converted into hours worked, not the numerical value of the dollars spent .
even then it is not a true comparison as most people progress to higher value jobs as they get older & more experienced .
Average wage rates work best bu even then you have to be careful because back in the 69's, my dad like most lower working class men had 2 full time jobs or at least some second source of income .
But average hourly rate is he best we can do as it excludes salaried people as they wee not on hourly rate and it is salaried executive income that skews the wage rate higher.