Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I recently visited a local vac shop, not the one run by a close friend. We discussed Dyson and other brands. He maintains that Dyson WAYYY overestimated the cost of returns/warranty repairs when he invaded the US vac market, which is why the Dysons were given a 5 yr warranty. He said Dyson, despite rumors to the contrary, is making money hand over fist, and show no sign of slowing down. Even though the hose is excluded as a warranty part, Dyson is issuing repair authorizations for them. He also said he is selling Dyson dirt canisters, cords, roller brushes, and hoses like there is no tomorrow.  He said Dyson is ready to cut prices when necessary to boost flagging sales.  The DC-07 will make a reappearance at  $299 or lower when the time is right.

I stopped by Best Buy to purchase a memory card  for my camera, and wandered down the vac aisle, of course. 33 full size vacuums on display. THREE bagged machines, all uprights. Other than Dyson, only ONE canister, a Dirt Devil straight suction. Dyson had on display three cans and four uprights, over 20% of the vac sku offerings!  There are new and interesting things in the vac shops, but nothing has changed at BBR where most of America buys their vacuums.  According to him, Panasonic has lost the contract to build Sears canisters.
All of this is, of course, excellent news for Kirby.

vacmanuk wrote:

Hi vacmanuk,

I did some looking around online this morning but didn't find much.  There's a reusable bag for Eureka's portable Mighty Mite series and I think the Hoover PortaPower can be fitted with one if not already included.  I don't know if Aerus still provides the two-piece affair that Electrolux once sold optionally.

The only vacs that I can think of that sell here with permanent bags included (wide-mouthed and usually used with disposable paper liners) are TriStar, Miracle Mate and Shoettler's Air Storm and Patriot.  All of these are very expensive niche brands.

I in no way think the reusable bag is ideal but at least it is designed for re-use.  Among the "thrifty", looking to save now as in past, there's been a habit of snipping off the sealed end of full disposable bags, dumping them and re-sealing them in whatever easily accomplished fashion (stapling or taping).  This usually leads to problems later but people do it anyway even when bags for their machines are not overly expensive.

Venson

Hi Venson,

There are many brands that still can be fitted with a cloth shake out bag, Sanitaire uprights come standard with the shake ouit bag and can be oredered with the top load paper bag conversion.The old electrolux/aerus brand cans can also be fitted with the shake out bag only sold for demo purposes [yeah right].

Model XXX cloth bags are still available, Compact  tri star also,even the old euerka 900 canister cloth bags can be found.I find it interesting that some euro brands are tinkering around with saran braided hoses again.

Hows mieles bottom end machines selling? From what i can gather the miele dealers are getting a little disgruntled with the brand and are converting over to Riccar.

The dyson repair business shall we say is picking up.[because of lack there of]

The central vac market other than service and parts have fallen way off. over 50 %.

regard

MOLE

mole wrote:

Hiya MOLE,

How are you?  Thanks for the info as to what's still around.  My gut feeling even though some salesmen seem to be in denial is that people in general are nervous about money -- at least those that have any left to worry over. 

Even though I know the indies need product to draw customers in, Miele's low-end canisters are straight suction and if all I wanted was a straight suction vacuum I'd go to Sears and pay way less.  The name game doesn't get to me that way.  Someone here of course will "remind" me of the Miele's wonderful turbo-tool.  But -- if I wanted to invest 120 bucks in something that runs on wind, I'd give it to a relative.

By the way has anyone here noticed any appeances of Miele vacs in regular retail settings?  P.C. Richard, a chain of appliance and electronic stores in my area and New Jersey has been carrying some of them as well as J&R a local brick-and-mortar and online seller?

Considering what I've heard about real estate nose dives, I can't see a lot of people easily investing in a central vac system unless the mortgage has been paid up and burned.  Horror stories of houses that cost a lot to buy but are now on sale for well below their original price still prevail all over the country. 

Best,

Venson

Hi Venson,

Im doing OK. A dealer  now more than ever cant just put all his eggs in one basket anymore or just be a specialist in one brand, To navigate through this economic downturn the smart retailers and indies will prevail, You are right about the money situation ,we been finding people with the money but are real carefull about what they get for their money, no more on impulse sales.

We have also noticed that the Home depot ,lowes,and others are not stocking any central vac supplies tubing,fittings, attachments,etc.  

Maybe they figure its not worth the time and space to stock it anymore.

Just hang in there and take care.

regards

MOLE

mole wrote:

MOLE,  what do you attribute to the drop off in central vac sales?  Is it the reduction of housing starts?  Is bagged or bagless more popular with central units?

HARDSELL wrote:

Hi  HS.

New constuction central vac sales are off almost 75%

The builders have NO MONEY.

Its all a customer preference as far as bagged or bagless, some systems can be used either way.

regards

MOLE

WRT cloth reusable bags, it is the next frontier in the vacuum industry.  Look at the progress in disposable paper bags that have been made.  Same can be done for cloth.  Less mess with dumping and perhaps even washable cloth like material with dirt retardants.  Bagless and higher priced paper bags with their scientific improvement have paved the way for the return of cloth permanents.

Carmine D.

Why should a buyer purchase a cloth shake out bag only to dispose of it as an actual purchase incentive? I dont think shake out bags are the next frontier Carmine, particularly when the condition of the bags once they have been "shaken out," can make the filters on board worse...

HARDSELL wrote:

HS you make me laugh out loud when I read your posts.  Toyota sales had a bump up in one month because its buyers' incentives per vehicle are up $750 over last year.  If their own statistics can be believed the average buyers' incentive now on a new toyota is about $3500.  Why?  Great time to buy a new car. 

Now, change gears and let's talk bagless vacuums.  With the bagless competition robbing sales from your favorite brand, quess what will have to happen if the high priced bagless brand wants to keep up with the sales of the competition.  Hint:  What did toyota do?  As I said, competition is great for the buyers and sellers. 

So, it took you 2 new ORECKS to figure out you didn't like them.   One more new returned ORECK and you're out.   You may even force the company to put a limit on the number of returns by one customer in a given period of time. 

Carmine D.

vacmanuk wrote:

The same can also be said about bagless systems that use pre and post motor filters,Do we really want to go there again??

MOLE