Thread: Carbatec Super Specials

Their Perth shop ran a large ad (about one third of a page) in the West Australian newspaper the other day. I can't recall them doing this in the past. I thought it must be difficult for them if they're doing this.

Saw this last night - Mondays West (6th April) page 31. Only normally read the Sunday Paper

Noticed that http://www.timbecon.com.au are having a 12½% off website sale over Easter too.

Have a great and safe Easter everyone.

Chris

The local woodwork shop here is struggling because all the old woodies who bought there are now finding their Superannuation and such gone. I think the same thing must be happening at Carbatec.

Some items that are on special (Woodfast lathe frinstance) aren't in the new catalogue, so I guess they're trying to get rid of stock.

I do like the sound of a 17" bandsaw for $1300, ah to have the space

I havn't been taking any notice of carbatec prices of late until i got my '09 catalog in the mail.

Have been considering a new table saw and was quite amazed at the increase in prices for the same model compared to last years catalog.

I can understand a price increase over a 12 month period but $500 or more for the same thing seems a bit much.

Have been looking elsewhere for prices now. Maybe Hare & Forbes!!

Steven.

I think it has already been said somewhere else before, but the driving force behind price increases is exchange rate against the US$.

Mid last year, we were trading around the 90c mark against the US, then around October it slumped to around 60c, that is 30c in the dollar, or 30%, whichever way you look at it.

Most of these companies import thier machinery from china, taiwan or other asian countries who trade in the US$.

If they pay more for what they sell, which they are, around 30% more, then so does the end user.

It seems like a sharp price rise, then running specials that look just like last years regular prices, but in fact they really are specials.

In some cases, their will be old stock that can be sold off cheap because relative to now, it was bought cheap. This will soon cease.

As the dollar goes up, prices should come down. By now just about everybody will have turned over existing stock from before the collapse and will almost certainly be buying at a lower exchange rate.

What looks like profiteering really isnt, its just business buying, marking up and selling as it always has, just the base price to mark up on has increased. They will not cut profits to provide equipment at 2008 90c exchange rates, no business will.
I doubt that they have 30% less profit to absorb, again I doubt that any business would be prepared to make 30% less money.
Would anybody here like their income slashed by 30%.......... I doubt it

Originally Posted by funkychicken

The local woodwork shop here is struggling because all the old woodies who bought there are now finding their Superannuation and such gone. I think the same thing must be happening at Carbatec.

Some items that are on special (Woodfast lathe frinstance) aren't in the new catalogue, so I guess they're trying to get rid of stock.

I do like the sound of a 17" bandsaw for $1300, ah to have the space

You not only need the space funky, you need 3phase as well.

Originally Posted by brisbanefitter

I think it has already been said somewhere else before, but the driving force behind price increases is exchange rate against the US$.

Mid last year, we were trading around the 90c mark against the US, then around October it slumped to around 60c, that is 30c in the dollar, or 30%, whichever way you look at it.

Most of these companies import thier machinery from china, taiwan or other asian countries who trade in the US$.

If they pay more for what they sell, which they are, around 30% more, then so does the end user.

It seems like a sharp price rise, then running specials that look just like last years regular prices, but in fact they really are specials.

In some cases, their will be old stock that can be sold off cheap because relative to now, it was bought cheap. This will soon cease.

As the dollar goes up, prices should come down. By now just about everybody will have turned over existing stock from before the collapse and will almost certainly be buying at a lower exchange rate.

What looks like profiteering really isnt, its just business buying, marking up and selling as it always has, just the base price to mark up on has increased. They will not cut profits to provide equipment at 2008 90c exchange rates, no business will.
I doubt that they have 30% less profit to absorb, again I doubt that any business would be prepared to make 30% less money.
Would anybody here like their income slashed by 30%.......... I doubt it

Succinctly put. None of these stores make a huge margin on most items, and certainly not on their large ones. It's definitely driven by exchange rate. In addition, in Perth Carbatec have direct competition from Timbecon, unlike the internet order competition they have in the eastern states.

Originally Posted by brisbanefitter

I think it has already been said somewhere else before, but the driving force behind price increases is exchange rate against the US$.

Mid last year, we were trading around the 90c mark against the US, then around October it slumped to around 60c, that is 30c in the dollar, or 30%, whichever way you look at it.

Most of these companies import thier machinery from china, taiwan or other asian countries who trade in the US$.

If they pay more for what they sell, which they are, around 30% more, then so does the end user.

It seems like a sharp price rise, then running specials that look just like last years regular prices, but in fact they really are specials.

In some cases, their will be old stock that can be sold off cheap because relative to now, it was bought cheap. This will soon cease.

As the dollar goes up, prices should come down. By now just about everybody will have turned over existing stock from before the collapse and will almost certainly be buying at a lower exchange rate.

What looks like profiteering really isnt, its just business buying, marking up and selling as it always has, just the base price to mark up on has increased. They will not cut profits to provide equipment at 2008 90c exchange rates, no business will.
I doubt that they have 30% less profit to absorb, again I doubt that any business would be prepared to make 30% less money.
Would anybody here like their income slashed by 30%.......... I doubt it

Remember too, the price increases extracted by RIO and BHP for iron ore. I don't know about coal, but I'd guess it went up heaps too.

Bit off topic but it makes a "world currency" look interesting. I seen this on a sign in the recent rally protest of the G20 sumit and I thought 'what a good idea'. Which I assume the same item would be the same price anywhere throughout the world. But I guess there will be "Experts" who will tell me if I'm wrong.

Not expert, but happy to say you're wrong

To make it work the income levels around the world would also have to be the same, and that is impossible.

Think of the effect on food, for example, if the same 1kg of rice cost the same everywhere.

Originally Posted by rod1949

Bit off topic but it makes a "world currency" look interesting. I seen this on a sign in the recent rally protest of the G20 sumit and I thought 'what a good idea'. Which I assume the same item would be the same price anywhere throughout the world. But I guess there will be "Experts" who will tell me if I'm wrong.

Also not an expert (not even a drip under pressure) but it has already been achieved in a small way. Think of most the European countries actually getting together and establishing a common currency, the Euro, and a common central bank in Frankfurt.

Despite having this common currency, they don't have common pricing. Just travel from say Holland to Germany and see what happens to the diesel and petrol prices.

Originally Posted by rod1949

Bit off topic but it makes a "world currency" look interesting. I seen this on a sign in the recent rally protest of the G20 sumit and I thought 'what a good idea'. Which I assume the same item would be the same price anywhere throughout the world. But I guess there will be "Experts" who will tell me if I'm wrong.

The suggestion I saw was for a world trading currency, to replace the $US so it can go wobble without upsetting third parties.

I think the suggestion ws from China, and that USA isn't keen on the idea.

An idea I've had is for companies doing international business is to value the contracts in equal measure in both currencies: we sell iron ore to India, half of each tonne is valued in $AU, half in Rupees.