"GRL" wrote in message ...
I have heard that a new Shopsmith machine now costs $3,000. Knowing what
good quality Jet, Delta, and Grizzly equipment costs, this leads me to ask
three questions. (1) Are the people at Shopsmith completely out of their
minds in their pricing?, (2) How is it that Shopsmith is still in business
with that kind of pricing?, and (3) Does anybody actually buy Shopsmith
machines at this sort of price?

I mean, it's a fairly nicely made machine, pretty compact, and pretty
durable, but $3,000?

Am I missing something?

1. They seeem to follow the Lee Valley model of customer service.

2. The equipment is well made and you can get parts for and all
upgrades fit the 40 to 50 year old models.

3. It's a niche market.

4. They seeem to follow the Lee Valley model of customer service.

5. They are "American Made" for all those of you willing to pay
mightily for that honor.

6. They have been losing money for a number of years (although I think
they may have posted a small profit last year) and have retrenched to
just one store (in Dayton, OH). They used to have a number of retail
stores and used to be sold through Woodcraft (in fact many of their
retail stores were bought by Woodcraft when they closed them). They
have always used demos (malls, county fairs, etc.) and recently began
a demo relationship with Lowes - you can buy through Lowes during the
demo.

7.They seeem to follow the Lee Valley model of customer service.

8. The base unit (model 505) sells for I believe $1,995. That includes
some tooling like a couple of saw blades, lathe tools, etc. and I
believe includes one major attacment such as the bandsaw or strip
sander. (I guess they follow the Lee Valley pricing model
too).....just a joke Robin - while I have never purchased anything
from Lee Valley I do drool over the catalog periodically.

Dave Hall

(PS I bought my 1992 model 510 with the bandsaw, jointer, strip
sander, DC3300 dust colletor, numerous blades, bits, sanding disks,
belts, lathe tools, etc. etc. - along with a downdraft sanding table,
Dewalt ROS, a bunch of non-shopsmith stuff- for $1,250 a couple of
years ago. I then sold my 1982 model 500, bandsaw, jointer and a bunch
of related tooling (but less than what I had just bought) for the same
$1,250.)