Buying the floor model

These days, we're all looking for a way to save a buck or two. New tools are expensive and with sales at a low ebb, sellers are loath to cut prices. You would think that would be just the opposite and that lower prices might be seen as a way to stimulate sales. The problem is that with sales already low, sellers are anxious to get the best price to keep their profits high enough to even stay in business.

One way to get a better price is to offer to buy the floor model. This is especially attractive when manufacturers release a new model. Often the new model offers no real improvement over the old model other than some cosmetic changes. Even if the new model offers features not found on the previous version, those features might not be something that will make any significant difference in the way the tool functions.

The floor model is usually the last one to go and sellers are often pleased to move it. Since they have been unpacked and often actually used to demonstrate the tool, they cannot be sold as new. So it's possible to pick these tools up for close to cost which can represent up to 30 to 40 percent off of the retail price for a tool that has seen little or no actual use. Oftentimes, the manufacturer will still offer a full warranty on these tools.

There is a downside here though. In bigger stores where there may not be enough people on the floor to keep an eye on everything, things like knobs, levers and/or anything else that can be easily removed by hand may be missing. It's also likely that the original packaging, manuals and any wrenches or other tools that would have been "in the box" may have long since been lost. But manuals can usually be found online and downloaded and the wrenches are typically easily replaced or substituted. They are rarely much to begin with anyway. Locking knobs and levers, fences, miter gauges and the like are another story and if parts like that are missing, it might not turn out to be such a great deal.

D.D.