Hammer A3 31 Shipping

[4nthony]

I was on the Hammer site and added an A3 31 to my cart, entered my addresses, and was kinda shocked:

$1300 for shipping?

Do these ship directly from Austria? Shipping price seems excessive, considering there's a Felder showroom 20 odd miles from my home. I made a couple calls to Felder but have been getting disconnected after listening to a few minutes of their hold music.

For those of you who have ordered from Hammer, were your shipping charges similarly priced?

 

[rvieceli]

I think that Felder's main US presence is in Delaware. Basically across the whole country for you. Shipping rates have gone up significantly lately.

There is a used A3-31 listed up in Monterey if you don't mid a road trip. It's been listed for a month, so they might be willing to negotiate a bit.
https://monterey.craigslist.org/tls/d/seaside-hammer-12-jointer-planera3-31/7486675640.html

Ron

 

[4nthony]

Thanks for that link! I'll have to strongly consider it and figure out what it would take to get it down here.

As for shipping prices, I'm used to the prices I usually see on Grizzly.com and was expecting something in the vicinity. For a 1700lb 16" jointer their freight charge is only $425. Maybe Grizzly just does a lot more volume and can negotiate better pricing from their shippers?

*EDIT: Hammer is no longer available.

 

[rvieceli]

Bummer on the used one. Grizzly has two distribution centers. One in Bellingham Washington and the other in Springfield Missouri. Closer

Ron

 

[wopchop]

Shipping prices are certainly insane right now, but it sounds like an error.

I just estimated the cost to ship an A3-31 from Felder Canada in Winnipeg Manitoba (or Nanaimo, BC maybe?) to Toronto, and it was $359 CAD.

 

[4nthony]

Shipping prices are certainly insane right now, but it sounds like an error.

I just estimated the cost to ship an A3-31 from Felder Canada in Winnipeg Manitoba (or Nanaimo, BC maybe?) to Toronto, and it was $359 CAD.

Interesting. I wasn't able to get through on the phone today. I'll try again tomorrow see if it's a real price or simply an error.

I'm also researching other combo units and I noticed CWI ships their Scorpion 12" and 16" jointer-planers for $150.

 

[Peter Kelly]

For less, you could fly to Italy and import something yourself:https://www.makxilia.biz/prodotto/l...inata-filo-spessore-scm-group-minimax-fs30-g/

Insane what Felder charges.

 

[Alanbach]

The salespeople in the office that covers your area probably put together container loads of equipment for presale. When they do that they offer reduced freight and sometimes reduced prices on the equipment. I say this based on emails I have received from my salesperson in Texas. Call the area office and find a salesperson to deal with. See what they can do for you. In my experience you don’t want to just buy from them online if you want the best deal.

 

[Mini Me]

For less, you could fly to Italy and import something yourself:https://www.makxilia.biz/prodotto/l...inata-filo-spessore-scm-group-minimax-fs30-g/

Insane what Felder charges.

At a guess that would be 415V 3 phase. Someone on the Festool forum calling out Felder for high prices seems a bit odd.

 

[jeh]

For less, you could fly to Italy and import something yourself:https://www.makxilia.biz/prodotto/l...inata-filo-spessore-scm-group-minimax-fs30-g/

Insane what Felder charges.

At a guess that would be 415V 3 phase. Someone on the Festool forum calling out Felder for high prices seems a bit odd.

A cheapest SawStop ICS configuration with the large slider just over $7K.

 

[4nthony]

Someone on the Festool forum calling out Felder for high prices seems a bit odd.

Just to clarify, the topic of the thread is about shipping prices, not tool prices.

A cheapest SawStop ICS configuration with the large slider just over $7K.

Shipping for an ICS is around $650.

 

[Peter Kelly]

I wonder if it'd be simpler to stop by their showroom to speak to someone in person for a quote. I've been to their US HQ in Delaware, they had a fair number of machines on display, certainly helped in my decision process to see everything lined up side by side.

FYI - pre-covid, the lead times for buying anything other than parts from Felder was anywhere from 3-4 months. I don't think they stock too many machines in the US.

 

[gruz]

I would definitely speak with a rep.  I purchased one in January (I think it was tail end of a holiday sale?) and paid $5,240 with Xylent cutterhead, outfeed extension, and digital / numerical height gauge shipped with lift gate service. I’m in the Northeast and was told all the machines come in to the US through Atlanta. Should be arriving any day now… scheduling trucking for them has been challenging, but only a month later than their original timing estimate.

 

[macanter]

The shipping fees the OP mentioned are consistent with what I have seen recently for comparably machines.  BUT, for anyone thinking of having a large, heavy, expensive machine shipped by lift gate residential service, think twice.  I recently had an SCM Minimax SC3 Classic saw seriously trashed by Fedex Freight lift gate service.  It was refused and sent back to SCM, and the revised delivery for the "repaired" unit was done to my local SCM dealer.  I rented a drop deck trailer and picked it up without incident.

Residential lift gate is fine for 4' x 4' pallets, not so good for things bigger than that.  You also save the residential lift gate fees, and that more than pays for the rental of the drop deck trailer.  You can make arrangements to do the same at the local terminal of whatever freight company your shipper chooses to use.

 

[Aux2496]

The Felder-Group website uses standard e-commerce type shipping quotes (i.e. UPS Freight) and is good for small items under 100 lbs but obviously estimates extremely high for heavy machines.  I spoke with a Felder rep about this.  If Felder website shows shipping at $1,300, he could probably get a common carrier cost of about $600.  If you are close to a local Felder office (like 1-2 hours), then shipping could be around $300-350.  It's best if you work out a "customer pickup" at a Felder location.  There is no cost for shipping at that point.

 

[4nthony]

Thanks for all the feedback!  [cool]

The Felder-Group website uses standard e-commerce type shipping quotes (i.e. UPS Freight) and is good for small items under 100 lbs but obviously estimates extremely high for heavy machines.  I spoke with a Felder rep about this.  If Felder website shows shipping at $1,300, he could probably get a common carrier cost of about $600.  If you are close to a local Felder office (like 1-2 hours), then shipping could be around $300-350.  It's best if you work out a "customer pickup" at a Felder location.  There is no cost for shipping at that point.

Great info. Local freight would be ideal as there's a showroom nearby and I don't think I could manage a local pickup by myself.

I was researching other combo units over the weekend and came across the Jet JJP-12HH, which is more expensive than the Hammer but can be purchased on Amazon with free Prime shipping. It has some good reviews but one of the main complaints is it's difficult to align the tables. Many people also say the fit and finish on the Hammer is much nicer.

I've sent an email and left a voicemail with Hammer so hopefully will hear back from them today or tomorrow.

Also, I know helical heads are much quieter than straight blades. Is Hammer's "Silent Power" cutter head just marketing or has it actually been engineered to be quieter than other helical heads?

 

[rvieceli]

[member=75283]4nthony[/member] if you go the delivery route rather than pick up, make sure they fully explain what the scope of delivery is. Have heard some instances where the delivery folks will stick it in you shop, maybe drop it just outside your shop or drop it in the street at the end of your drive way. Big difference in hassle for you depending on the circumstance.

Ron

 

[MikeGE]

[member=75283]4nthony[/member] if you go the delivery route rather than pick up, make sure they fully explain what the scope of delivery is. Have heard some instances where the delivery folks will stick it in you shop, maybe drop it just outside your shop or drop it in the street at the end of your drive way. Big difference in hassle for you depending on the circumstance.

Ron

Here's an example of how not to drop off a machine in the street.  This is a SCM FS 30S (not mine).

 

[rvieceli]

Shame, fairly obvious that the pallet was broken somewhere along its travels. Needs another bottom piece on the side facing out. If they would cared. they could have spun it 180 when they put it on the lift and that never would have happened.

Ron

 

[jeh]

[member=75283]4nthony[/member] if you go the delivery route rather than pick up, make sure they fully explain what the scope of delivery is. Have heard some instances where the delivery folks will stick it in you shop, maybe drop it just outside your shop or drop it in the street at the end of your drive way. Big difference in hassle for you depending on the circumstance.

Ron

There are huge variations on this and sometimes you can request more than the basic delivery. Depending on the weight and what the delivery people have a $50 can go a long way. Too heavy and they probably would not attempt because they probably are forbidden from doing so and the Workmans comp might be a issue if they are doing more than they are supposed to.