re: So, about that tariff: Just got hit with $11K adder notice

I'm not stupid enough to discredit every single policy a politician likes, including Bernie. Yes, he's a nut and his ideology is moronic for America, but that doesn't mean a guy in his position can't be agreed with on certain issues.

Please fix the 3% energy surcharge for shipping that was created when fuel prices hit $4/gallon. Fuel went back down but that surcharge is still used by every company.

Fix that, then we can talk abouy this tariff. Thanks in advance.

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Look at how upset you are getting over what was a harmless remark. Then again, I am talking to a 30 + year old professional who is into anime.

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Iosh, anime is pretty ****y, buddy. You should stop.

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The number of American workers in the metals industry could increase by an estimated 33,464 jobs, the decrease in other industries would be more significant: an estimated 179,334 jobs. This means that the net loss could total 146,000 jobs.

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Wow, they guessed job loss and creation down to the one's place. That's funny to me.

Sorry for the bump but we just got 3.5% bump that is effectively immediately but Steel prices have gone stupid

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Says the party of 70 dollars a year back from taxes is winning.

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But But But tax cut crumbs. You are pathetic.

When you get $ back in the form of tax cuts, do you also have the option to pass on expenses to the consumer in order to get even more $ back, as the OP does in his situation? Does the OP not benefit from new lower corporate tax rates as well? Of course you won't answer

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Says the party of 70 dollars a year back from taxes is winning.

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$1,400 a year for me...

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You said you ordered a dozen at a cost of 400,000-600,000. So we say you got 12 at 500,000 to average it out, that's a 6 million dollar order and 11,000 was added. Is that about right?

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Oh shite!!! That's like $3 a week extra rental cost for me!!!

SEND THE JOBS TO CHINA!!!

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But steel workers in the midwest will keep their jobs.

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Keep their subsidized jobs, while retailers lose theirs. Just 2 seconds of additional thought is all that is required to understand that you don't get something for nothing.

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How’s the OP figured out yet this is just a salesman trying to play him to sign the order early?

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You have not read the thread in it's entirety, and you have a simplistic, jaded view of how business relationships work.

As I said earlier, we deal directly with the president and owner. This is a family-run organization, started by a man (his 93 year old father) who is regarded as one of the pioneers of these machines. He sold his first company to what eventually became the core of Komatsu's product line in this industry. We also deal with the guy (in a separate product line) who did the same thing with what is now Cat's line up.

After the non-compete ran out with Komatsu, he started a new company making version 2.0 of the machines. The family is highly regarded for their machine, integrity, and community/family priorities. They could sell the current company for much more than they sold the first one, but they still remember how that first one was shut down and moved south to a non-union state. Their present workforce has no desire to be in a union because the family treats them so well.

Unless you are in the industry (and know more than what you have learned from Cat, Deere, Volvo, Komatsu, etc.), you probably don't realize how much of heavy equipment is made by small and mid-size private companies of under $100 million in revenue.

So, could he be "gaming" us? Not impossible, but it would be way out of character based on what we know after a long time of working with them. (Never mind that my General Manager, who I bought the company from, is related to the family. My GM still holds some paper from the acquisition, so he has a vested interest in making sure this company is profitable.)

Someone else also quibbled that this is "only" 1.5-3% and we could just pass it on. As I have said, a good margin on these is 10% (typical in the industry), so that is 25% of my gross margin right out the window if nothing else changes. Anybody else want to run their business with 25% less in their pocket? (And, for the history majors here, you don't pay overhead out of revenue. You pay it out of gross margin.)

Why no to just pass it on? These sales can take weeks to close. The tariffs were floated last week. They are still not formal, but steel prices are already factoring them in. You think the steel suppliers are just going to take an order today for something to be delivered in several weeks and HOPE they have the price right? Just like with any other commodity, these shocks get factored in immediately. Now, the owner-operator family logger that just pulled the trigger on a half-million dollar machine gets told it's another 11K+. We won't lose them all, but we will probably lose a couple. If you think 11K on a 500K machine is just a minor issue, you have no idea how roll-over trades and carried equity factor into the financing.

Again, I am not some third generation owner of a Cat dealership and have seen it all, but I am also not an amateur at this stuff. Heavy equipment has some unique financials that people outside the industry don't always relate to. But, by all means, sit there in your cubicles and tell me how dumb I am at this business.

ALL THAT ASIDE, the issue I brought up originally, and should still be the focus of the thread, is that the knock-on effects of this tariff are that one of my suppliers that sources semi-finished weldments from Chinese fabricators now has an advantage over my other supplier that machines and fabs their own stuff right here in here in the state. Economics is a bitch when you dig beyond the surface layer issues.

(I do have to say, though, that this place is good therapy sometimes. I use it as a study break when my head gets too far in the weeds of the real world.)