Is Festool OK?

[serge0n]

People are seriously hurting financially right now, and companies that sell luxury goods like Festool are the first to feel that.

On the contrary, this is surprisingly not true at all, at least for North America. I work in ecommerce, we sell luxury goods, stuff to buy when you have money to burn. We had a hell of a year, sales are through the roof. We are hurting a bit, but not because of the lack of sales, it's inventory problems related to container shortages and the upcoming Chinese New Year which at some factories will last for a never heard before 8 weeks!

A lot of Festool tools are on backorder as well, meaning their inventory was practically wiped out. They should be doing really well in terms of sales. Fulfilling those back orders is going to be a challenge though.

My guess is that when everything is closed due to covid a lot of folks with steady income start saving a lot of money that in normal times would be spend on eating out, going to the movies, travel, vacations, etc. This saved money is not going to sit at the bank, it's getting spent online. With nothing else to do shopping becomes the only available pastime for many.

 

[six-point socket II]

And for our friends from the UK, there seems to be some serious hick-ups at the border right now. Customers having trouble filling out the correct paperwork/ filling out the paperwork correctly. Causing even a well situated veteran of the cargo/shipping world like DB Schenker to temporarily halt shipments to the UK.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...pends-deliveries-to-u-k-due-to-brexit-trouble

I guess we really just need patience and be well-disposed towards each other, be it private or commercial.

Covid, Brexit, that's all going to stick with us for some time ... Germany hit another Covid death toll record today ... 1244 ...

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Stone Message]

And for our friends from the UK, there seems to be some serious hick-ups at the border right now. Customers having trouble filling out the correct paperwork/ filling out the paperwork correctly. Causing even a well situated veteran of the cargo/shipping world like DB Schenker to temporarily halt shipments to the UK.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...pends-deliveries-to-u-k-due-to-brexit-trouble

I guess we really just need patience and be well-disposed towards each other, be it private or commercial.

Covid, Brexit, that's all going to stick with us for some time ... Germany hit another Covid death toll record today ... 1244 ...

Kind regards,
Oliver

Hi Oliver

There is (or certainly was) a third factor that has caused huge hold-ups and that is the off-balance of container movements. The numbers coming into the UK were greatly increased as we went into November probably as a pre-Brexit stocking up exercise for industry and retail. As a result the ports became clogged with empty containers because the trade was not balanced (a match between imports and exports).

I have been waiting for some machinery which should be inbound from the US but had to be diverted to Antwerp. I am told that it should arrive this month having originally been forecast for November.

The stock piling will have ceased now and I am sure that the container situation is being sorted out. However, the newly introduced paperwork for cross border trade will take a while to settle down as people get used to the form filling and border checks. It will be okay very soon I hope.

Peter

 

[DeformedTree]

As someone in the US, the situation with the EU and the UK is interesting.  I don't see the 2 sides deciding to massively reduce business between each other, so it means companies will have to learn how to work/sell/trade/etc in and out of the EU bubble. For those of us who try to buy things from the EU just to hit the wall of the EU where companies are "international" but only in the sense of "within the EU", it might make things much better for us.  If they have to learn it and set things up for the UK, they might then take the steps to sell in and out of Canada/USA more.

Or the UK finds itself with more trade back and forth with the US.  UK could join NAFTA

I'm sure a lot of folks over there are learning fast that no matter what kind of complaints they might have had with the EU, that things worked very smoothly, even if they didn't understand/accept it.

 

[mino]

As someone in the US, the situation with the EU and the UK is interesting.  I don't see the 2 sides deciding to massively reduce business between each other, so it means companies will have to learn how to work/sell/trade/etc in and out of the EU bubble. For those of us who try to buy things from the EU just to hit the wall of the EU where companies are "international" but only in the sense of "within the EU", it might make things much better for us.  If they have to learn it and set things up for the UK, they might then take the steps to sell in and out of Canada/USA more.

Or the UK finds itself with more trade back and forth with the US.  UK could join NAFTA

I'm sure a lot of folks over there are learning fast that no matter what kind of complaints they might have had with the EU, that things worked very smoothly, even if they didn't understand/accept it.

The biggest trade hurdles are not paperwork but regulatory. And this part is not changing - the UK has agreed to keep aligned to EU standards.

The current delays are of the "new paperwork which no one knew how it will look ahead of time as deal was signed on last minute" sort. It is temporary and does not create any real design/compliance demands on the producers per above.

The biggest hurdle for power /but not only/ tools export to US is the local "litigious" culture. Injury claims which in Europe (bar UK, mind you) would be thrown out on the grounds of user "not applying appropriate caution" have a pretty good chance to succeed in US. Not to mention the costs for an (often small and specialized) company to defend in court even if they win. Just not worth it if you are not planning to "go big".

In Europe, everyone knows such cases will be thrown out at first instance, so does not even try ... A cultural thing I guess.

 

[six-point socket II]

[member=11196]Peter Parfitt[/member] Thanks Peter, I've been following all of this pretty closely - it's always interesting to hear from someone "on the other side of the Channel"!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[leakyroof]

While I didn't need much of any Festool related last year, my local dealer WAS selling at a higher rate even with Covid and all its related issues /effects on Supply Chain,  until stocks became back ordered form being sold out.
I DID however need things from other places, and had to get used to often common items being sold out, or really in short supply that were not part of the highly talked about things such as Toilet Paper and other Grocery Goods.
I'd go into a Home Depot, and they were out of 90 min Durabond, but had 45 or 20 min versions in 'some' stock.
Or the next week HD was over flowing with 90min Lightweight Drywall Compound, but not much in any of the versions of Durabond.
  Lumber prices, yeah, all over the place, when you could get what you wanted.
  There is a new house being built next door to us, the builder talked to us about his delay in getting Truss Assemblies out of Wisconsin , due to Covid there. So that put his time table for finishing the house clear into this Summer, months behind what they had originally planned on.

On a different Tool Note, I was on-line at Grizzly's website this week, many items were on back order, the most I'd ever seen from them.

AS far as Brexit and good out of the UK, I'm acutely aware of those headaches since I depend on the Brits to get us our Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, parts, and support on a timely manner.  We here in the US all dreaded the long dragged out scope of Brexit, but never dreamed it would be a 1 /2 punch with a Global Pandemic added to it at the same time. [eek] [eek] [eek]

2021 will be a long year all over again... [blink] [blink] [blink]
  At least I'm fully stocked on all my Festool Consumables.... [smile] [smile] [wink] [wink]