Need item shipped to U.S.

[Packard]

I had a friend some 40 years ago that owned a chain of discount drug stores.  He would shop for toothpaste from a UK distributor, Kodak film from Italy, and shampoo from some other European country.

I asked him about that.  He said that the UK distributor would not discount in the UK because he did not want to upset the pricing structure that was in place, but he did not mind selling at a discount to the USA because it would not affect his pricing structure and moving more product netted him a bigger discount from the manufacturer.

So is Festool distributed by Festool in every country?  If not, they might be wanting to eliminate that discounting like my friend had back then. 

I don't know anything about the distribution channels for tooling, but I do know that when I wanted to buy certain CMT tools from Amazon.de (Germany) I would get a notification that they could not ship to this (USA) location; that I should choose another location.  I suspect that CMT is protecting the USA distributor by ordering the German distributor not to sell to the USA.

 

[DeformedTree]

to get us off topic:
Bricklins-what were they made from-was that a colored plastic?  I remember them from mid 1970's.

Finest car ever to come out of New Brunswick, Canada

 

[Packard]

to get us off topic:
Bricklins-what were they made from-was that a colored plastic?  I remember them from mid 1970's.

Finest car ever to come out of New Brunswick, Canada

As I recall, Bricklins used thermoformed epoxy panels, and the technology was new and the process quickly drained the coffers of all funds. 

I would guess that conventional chopped fiberglass molding would have been far more economical and given the identical appearance. 

I will try to find a reference on this to see if my memory is serving me well.

Addendum:  This article spells out the troubles with the thermoforming on the Bricklin, which apparently they eventually abandoned.
https://www.compositesworld.com/columns/the-composite-car-that-should-have-been

Ultimately, only 2,854 cars were built before the company went bankrupt in 1976. I will always feel sad about that, because the Bricklin was so very close to being a very good car. Since so much has been written about the number of Malcolm's ancestors on the payroll, I've often said that the company must have suffered from internal combustion. A great idea became another blurred vision.

 

[Ron B]

Good article, Packard.  I remember a dealership when I was in college in Champaign, Il in about 1975 or 76.    Remember, this was the time of the Ford Pinto with the exploding gas tanks, and the oil burning Chevy Vega, and exploding Firestone 500 tires, so we college kids were open to new ideas-the old automotive companies had failed us.  I just knew the colors were made into the panel, and strange colors like orange or lime green.  Sorry they were not able to pull it off. 

 

[Packard]

I had a Pinto.  Vega had borrowed racing tech and used hard anodized in place of cast iron cylinder liners.  They did not wear very well.

Worse, the Vega came with a steel floor.  Carpeting and carpet liner were optional.

I had the Pinto wagon.  I'm not sure that the wagon had gas tank vulnerabilty.

 

[DeformedTree]

It may have been mentioned, but there is also the issue of import duties. If — say Festool were to stock a lot of inventory and parts in the US, they would have to pay duties on that, or go through the hassle of warehousing in a bonded facility (way too complicated and costly, I think) where you only pay those duties the moment the article leaves the facility.

For Festool the cost of stocking a considerable supply of their products in North America could cost more than a couple of years’ profit. Who knows?

OTH I use a US-based forwarder (MyUS) to purchase stuff that sellers wont ship outside of the CUSA. Maybe there are similar options in Europe for customers in the US?

Thank you, good to know about such services. Never knew of them, always thought something like that should exist, guess it does.  Not sure how sketch it gets, but sounds way better than ebay.

Of course part of me is wondering "what on earth is for sale in the US that people elsewhere would want and can't get there?"

 

[Packard]

Of course part of me is wondering "what on earth is for sale in the US that people elsewhere would want and can't get there?"

If you turn that around to read, "What is available elsewhere that is not available in the USA?" you will find that some of the CMT line of woodworking tools, and some of the Wolfcraft stuff is not available here and is available in Europe.

I ended up buying my CMT dowel jig from Germany and the mating centering drill from Spain.  It was definitely not available in the USA.  I contacted the distributor and they said it was not an item imported to the USA. 

So I would imagine there are things that are not available overseas that are available here (USA).

 

[DeformedTree]

So, where I was going is that most stuff that I could think of that is in the US and not elsewhere is stuff that no one would want elsewhere.  As it will be stuff for the non-standard US/north america market that is useless elsewhere.  The US has stuff that is unique to here, but it's because things never updated correctly (metrification being one).

Parts to support old equipment/machinery etc might be something.  But generally, the US is an island when it comes to a lot of things and it's not where I would expect people to go looking for stuff.  The flip side is there is plenty of stuff outside the US that people in the US want just to catch up with the rest of the world verses being held to stuff we have because folks won't change.

Or stuff in the US might be a product/material/etc banned elsewhere in the world.

Or put another way, why does Festool exist in the US? ...Because none of the US manufactures made stuff like what they made/make.  But outside the US, I don't think there are many tools in the US that you can't get the same thing in other places.

If US brands had been making track saws, dust collection focus'd tools, auto on extractors, metric machinery, etc. Festool wouldn't have been able to get a foothold here.  Some aspects of those things might have existed, but not in a way that prevented Festool from having an opportunity.

So I would expect the number of folks trying to get stuff from the US is much less than folks in the US trying to get stuff from other places. 

 

[Packard]

The only thing I can think of off the bat is Airstream Trailers.  They are available in the USA but not in Europe.  (I heard that there is a waiting list for them--perhaps that is the reason).

Right now pistol ammunition is in such short supply that it basically is not available.  This is hoarding, not the fact that Americans are shooting more people. I think people are afraid that Biden will outlaw the sale of ammunition.  That won't work.  Reloaders will fill in the gaps.

 

[DeformedTree]

Right now pistol ammunition is in such short supply that it basically is not available.  This is hoarding, not the fact that Americans are shooting more people. I think people are afraid that Biden will outlaw the sale of ammunition.  That won't work.  Reloaders will fill in the gaps.

The #1 causes of ammo shortages is people convinced X will ban guns/ammo/etc, so they buy it all, and then what do you know, there is a shortage....  Happens every time politics align a certain way, people create their own fear.

I'll stick to atlatl's

 

[Crazyraceguy]

If Festool (Germany), allows retailers in EU to sell to the USA, it means Festool USA is competing against Festool.  Festool USA is its own company (LLC), and has to justify itself, and protect its dealers.  If everyone bought stuff from out of the USA, then it just undercuts Festool USA's existence.

Obviously someone could point out that if someone buys something Festool USA sells, but buys it from a different country, that person is hurting themselves by loosing warranty and support, thus will keep things in check.  I doubt they see it that way.  If Festool opened things up where items not sold by Festool USA were valid for people to buy from out of country, I think that would bring things in better balance.  Someone wants a tool that Festool USA has decided won't sell enough of to justify carrying it, let folks buy it. Someone wants a tool that isn't offered such as a 230V tool, let folks buy it. 

That's a great explanation. I didn't realize they USA was a separate company.
So in essence the issue is with USA itself? The German company isn't keeping things from us other than to stick to USA's choice of which items to stock?

I like your solution to "allow" those sales from Europe for customers who are willing to go that far to get those items.

 

[DeformedTree]

That's a great explanation. I didn't realize they USA was a separate company.
So in essence the issue is with USA itself? The German company isn't keeping things from us other than to stick to USA's choice of which items to stock?

I like your solution to "allow" those sales from Europe for customers who are willing to go that far to get those items.

Festool USA is owned by Festool (Germany), but it is a LLC in the US.  So it's all the same company, but you don't go and put the investment in a country like that, then put it in a position to have sales taken from it by other parts of the company.  If you were just going to have people do transactions trans-atlantic, there would be no point in the investment in creating Festool USA. But now you have employees there, facilities, etc.  That needs to show it can support itself.  The German side is going to help it by trying to prevent sales from elsewhere.  In the end, it's stuff that isn't sold here that falls in a weird spot. If someone says they want say a CS70, Festool USA can't claim it was a sale taken from them.  For stuff that is the same (drills and such), then it makes perfect sense for someone to prevent someone from buying from Europe.  Then you get grey areas.  Like say someone wants a 230V Kapex or 230V CT.  Sure they sell Kapex and CTs in the US, but not 230-240V.  Similar with saws like a TS55 where they ditched the metric on us, but folks still want it. Ignoring the ability to swap parts, it's still just a general grievance for folks and reason to buy one from the UK instead.

So yeah, if I was to try and buy a drill or a sander from Europe and it blocks me, I wouldn't care, since there is no reason for me to buy it from there.  But if I want something that they refuse to sell here, then that is an issue.  And some of the tools I think a lot of us can understand why they don't sell here as the market is small, but you would think Festool would still welcome a sale if they can get it and not have to make any effort. I think 230V tools are a big one. That's something that if people had a stable option of buying them, and some level of support, a number of folks would buy them and have their shop setup with them. People have 220V stuff in their shops all ready. People might want to be more unified. Just look at CTs. Until recently Timberwolf didn't offer a 230V vacuum other than a barrel top thing. So everyone who bought 230V tools from them had to find a way to get a CT out of Europe. They now offer a Mafell 230V vacuum.

This is why I think Festool needs some sort of option, either let people buy stuff not sold from Festool USA, or create a special order process/warranty system.  Supporting a 230V versions of CTs, Kapex, OF2200, etc would be easy as they are largely the same tools. But if they don't want to help on something they don't offer at all, then that would be a bit understandable.

 

[Coen]

Buying single items shipped across the atlantic (usually airfreight) is so much prohibitively expensive compared to bulk containerized shipping that it would be very strange if that undercuts Festool USA...

 

[DeformedTree]

Buying single items shipped across the atlantic (usually airfreight) is so much prohibitively expensive compared to bulk containerized shipping that it would be very strange if that undercuts Festool USA...

Yes, this is why people won't normally do such a thing if they can just buy it from Festool USA. But it's still a sale that Festool USA didn't get even if it cost the buyer more money and way more hassle.  It should be a rather self regulating situation.  But if the items are much cheaper in the EU, people will start doing it, people do all sorts of crazy things to save a buck.

But from a company standpoint, look how companies regularly do this sort of thing as they see potential loss of any sale as a major issue, even when the reaction should be if it is a small amount of sales, to ignore it and not anger/turn off those who are interested in their products. Companies will go to great lengths to block folks from doing things not as the company intended, or even go to governments to have laws passed to stop it. (Mercedes getting 25 year import ban put in place in the US). Companies just don't generally see how this sort of think backfires or is not worth their efforts.

 

[Agent 73]

***  Update ***

So I decided to attempt to make a purchases from Amazon.DE and was notified they can't ship that item to the US.  I then made the purchase with Conax UG via Papal last Saturday and haven't received any shipping updates.  I emailed the seller directly and haven't heard a word back.

It looks like I'll be attempting to get a refund and possibly trying elsewhere.

 

[hdv]

Last year another FOG member had a similar problem with plug-its. If it is just a one-off I don't mind helping out. As a business owner myself, I really don't want to undercut anyone's business, so I don't want to do this too often. But I don't see no harm to help someone out once in a while. PM me if you still need/want it.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

The things I was looking for are not big "equipment" type stuff.  There is an entire line of router bits and other accessories that the US catalogs ignore completely.

 

[hdv]

Yeah, I do recognize that feeling. I often find stuff online that is only available on your side of the pond.

 

[fritter63]

Agent, PM me, I can CNC that for you as long as you know what all the layers should look like. Or we could collaborate on a design.

***  Update ***

So I decided to attempt to make a purchases from Amazon.DE and was notified they can't ship that item to the US.  I then made the purchase with Conax UG via Papal last Saturday and haven't received any shipping updates.  I emailed the seller directly and haven't heard a word back.

It looks like I'll be attempting to get a refund and possibly trying elsewhere.

 

[Throwback7r]

https://www.mcfeelys.com/festool-sys-hwz-tool-organizer-qty-1.html

this it?