When did FTJ stop discounting LN ?

[Doug Shepard]

You could always count on FTJ in the past as being the one consisten LN souce that didn't sell at full retail price
https://www.finetoolj.com/lienielsen/index.html
Looks like that's changed now, as well as a fancier website.
Bummer.

[Mike Henderson]

I noticed that a while back. I just guessed that LN had a talk with him. They can't force him to sell at their suggested list price, but they can do a number of things to put pressure on him, such as increase the price to him, or be slow to supply him, or other things that will make his life difficult while still being within the law. Heck, they could even threaten to cut him off as a dealer for some reason or other.

Mike

[Tony Zaffuto]

FTJ still has free shipping for LN, though! Plus Clarence & company are great to deal with for LN or vintage. Heck, how many places like that remember you when you call!

T.Z.

[Mike Brady]

Discounts on L-N stuff are pretty much a thing of the past. This came about last summer when the L-N prices went up. There are occasional sales on an item or two, must nothing across the board. Woodcraft has one-day sales that include their L-N inventory on hand only. Get there early. L-N no longer gives a discount at their personal appearances at shows or events. It's hard for me believe that business hasn't suffered from this, combined with the soft economy.

[Bill Stoffels]

WOW
this was a surprise to me in that I just bought a #8 and the #4-1/2 both out of stock at my woodcraft dealer this weekeknd
the #8 was 20% off and the 4-1/2 was 10% off.
paid in cash so they should deliver??
Bill

[Ken Garlock]

Well gents, my rusty old brain seems to remember that back in the 50's or 60's Corning glass enforced a list price on retailers. That went to court, and it was decided that the Corning actions were "price fixing" and illegal.

I have always wondered how the Fuzz-stool people got away with their pricing structure.

I like LN tools, product quality, and made in the USA, but it seems to me that they should cut some slack. If the vendor wants to cut his profit to attract business, it isn't hurting anyone but the vendor. That is how the game it played.

[Joel Goodman]

They went to list some months ago when LN raised their prices.

[Dave Lehnert]

Well gents, my rusty old brain seems to remember that back in the 50's or 60's Corning glass enforced a list price on retailers. That went to court, and it was decided that the Corning actions were "price fixing" and illegal.

I have always wondered how the Fuzz-stool people got away with their pricing structure.

I like LN tools, product quality, and made in the USA, but it seems to me that they should cut some slack. If the vendor wants to cut his profit to attract business, it isn't hurting anyone but the vendor. That is how the game it played.

I work in retail and can tell you a very large amount of products have what is now called MAP. Market Adjusted Pricing.
" isn't hurting anyone but the vendor" is not exactly true. If I see another selling at a lower price I may say " I can't sell at that price for profit" and cancel my order. The lower price store may only have one store. I may be ordering for my 15 stores.

[Mike Henderson]

I haven't followed this real closely, but I remember a supreme court decision that allowed a manufacturer to cut off a retailer for not following the suggested retail pricing. I don't remember all their logic but I think it was based on a requirement by the manufacturer for the retailer to have display merchandise and support. For complex products, one seller could just provide the product without any pre or post sales support, leaving all that to other retailers. Customers would then go look at the product at the stocking retailer and then buy from the seller who did not provide any services.

If the manufacturer could not control the marketing channel, the company could not sell its products because everyone would stop stocking the product and providing support.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Sorry, Ken...but "price fixing" only applies when multiple companies collude on pricing to reduce or eliminate competition. Individual manufacturers can and do enforce pricing guidelines with distributors, retailers, dealers. It's very legal. Festool is an example in tools. Saturn is an example in cars. Sony is pretty particular relative to pricing with their dealers, too.

[Dan Sink]

Sorry, Ken...but "price fixing" only applies when multiple companies collude on pricing to reduce or eliminate competition. Individual manufacturers can and do enforce pricing guidelines with distributors, retailers, dealers. It's very legal. Festool is an example in tools. Saturn is an example in cars. Sony is pretty particular relative to pricing with their dealers, too.

I am just echoing that Jim is spot on. Setting a minimum price for goods is only illegal if competitors get together to set prices. Individual companies are well within their rights to set a floor price for their products and enforce it via contract with dealers, distributors, et al.

[David Keller NC]

There's another motivation for doing this if you're Lie-Nielsen. They sell direct to the public through their website, and I'm guessing that they think that's very important to their business. If their distributors are undercutting the prices on LN's website, it's essentially a case of their distributors competing against the manufacturer, which is probably not good for business.

That's OK, L-N's profitable, but not wildly so. I'm perfectly willing to pay the price they ask in exchange for getting some extremely high-quality tools, a lifetime no-questions-asked warranty, and the knowledge that some 80 families get to feed their kids in what would otherwise be a fairly difficult area of the country to get work.