"I bought a Snapper walk-behind from a dealer out in a rural area about 10 miles from my home. I knew about him because he was the only person for miles around still selling snow blowers in January of 2005 when we were getting record breaking snow out here in Southeast Michigan. I wanted to go with Snapper mower because of a recommendation from a family member in another state, so I went back to him.
When I went there to buy the mower, I discovered that I knew more about the walk behinds than he did, and all I did was check out the Snapper website. He confessed to me that his bread and butter was in the zero turns from other brands, and he kept about four dusty old Snappers around but did not make much money off of them. As a result, he did very little to study up on them. "

RB> You were apparently uneasy with your purchase of an expensive mower from a dealer with little experience in that line. If you were uncomfortable why did you continue with the deal.

"Several months later, I bought a bag kit from a Snapper dealer on line through eBay. Good experience, but he did not have a plug for the chute to sell me as well. Rather than go back to the first dealer, I drove 15 miles to the next closest one. He had a used plug to sell me, but I noticed not one Snapper mower in the entire shop even though he is considered a dealer."

RB> I don't understand the point here at all.

"How is Snapper making their money? "

RB> Without looking at their financial statement, my guess is that Snapper is making money by selling powered products.

"With Toro, I can find at least 3 dealers within 10 miles that have plenty of current mowers to shop. If my neighbor wanted to buy the latest Snapper, I am not even sure where I could tell him to go. I can understand their avoidance of the Wal-Mart channel, but I would hardly consider their dealer network a worthy channel either."

RB> Snapper is and always has been a small line with limited coverage. But just what exactly is a worthy or less-than-worthy dealer network channel. If you were looking for a mower from a company with dealers as common as gas stations then why didn't you buy Toro, Lawnboy or Murray.

" I wonder if Briggs is going to come up with a different strategy for Snapper."

RB> What is their current strategy and how would the new one differ.