Asian mills & lathes -tariffs ?

[pacifica]

Since we have new leadership (this is not political) and Tariffs have been threatened as a tool to even the trade deficit between the US & China, do you think it may be wise to buy your import lathe or mill sooner rather than later ? Your thoughts...

I know after the tariffs of 2018 the price of steel went way up. O-1 I got from MSC pre 2018 went from $35 then to $138.00 present day( and that is not the starret brand).
For a while they put market price rather than listing a price.

 

[kiwi_007]

I have to say some machinery is more expensive in the USA than it is in New Zealand now.
It used to be machinery was more expensive in New Zealand than the USA but not now.

https://www.machineryhouse.co.nz/l237

https://www.machineryhouse.co.nz/l240d

Talking about the increase in prices, I've seen machines almost triple in price over the last 20 years

 

[jwmay]

Talking about the increase in prices, I've seen machines almost triple in price over the last 20 years

Did your wages stay the same?

 

[St. Paul Steam]

Did your wages stay the same?

wages & tariffs (the original talking point) are not the same thing, tariffs are nothing more than a tax.

 

[jwmay]

wages & tariffs (the original talking point) are not the same thing, tariffs are nothing more than a tax.

With respect, I didn’t ask you any question.

Wages weren’t ever a talking point in this thread. Tariffs, other than their potential to affect consumer prices, didn’t ask for a definition either.

So sure, I broke off from whether or not to buy before the administration changes, and ribbed a guy about him noticing prices have increased over time. But you engaging me is exactly as grievous. Lol

If you’re the same St Paul Steam as the one on YouTube, I like your videos btw. Good stuff! I’ve wanted one of those 1228s for awhile.

Finally, I would ask what value “tariffs are nothing more than a tax” is bringing? “A lathe is nothing more than a machine tool,” doesn’t actually get a person very far in understanding a lathe, does it? Lol

Again, if that’s you on YouTube, keep it up. You’re a sharp guy! I’m really impressed with your lathe improvements!

 

[St. Paul Steam]

With respect, I didn’t ask you any question.

Wages weren’t ever a talking point in this thread. Tariffs, other than their potential to affect consumer prices, didn’t ask for a definition either.

So sure, I broke off from whether or not to buy before the administration changes, and ribbed a guy about him noticing prices have increased over time. But you engaging me is exactly as grievous. Lol

If you’re the same St Paul Steam as the one on YouTube, I like your videos btw. Good stuff! I’ve wanted one of those 1228s for awhile.

Finally, I would ask what value “tariffs are nothing more than a tax” is bringing? “A lathe is nothing more than a machine tool,” doesn’t actually get a person very far in understanding a lathe, does it? Lol

Again, if that’s you on YouTube, keep it up. You’re a sharp guy! I’m really impressed with your lathe improvements!

Also with respect, I did initiate this thread & feel I might have something of value to add to it. I'm not following some of your logic here (& I'm Ok with that) I'm certainly not looking to cause hurt feelings here or derision, if I've severely offended you...you have my apologies, I simply made an innocent statement. It seems you got the BIG guns out for a mole hill. Thank you for the compliments, btw...I am that "St. Paul Steam. Cheers, Bruce.

 

[jwmay]

Also with respect, I did initiate this thread & feel I might have something of value to add to it. I'm not following some of your logic here (& I'm Ok with that) I'm certainly not looking to cause hurt feelings here or derision, if I've severely offended you...you have my apologies, I simply made an innocent statement. It seems you got the BIG guns out for a mole hill. Thank you for the compliments, btw...I am that "St. Paul Steam. Cheers, Bruce.

Well color me sheepish. I could have sworn it was someone else who started this thread! Not that anyone is excluded of course. But had I asked Joe if his wages went up, and Jeremy replied with an incomplete definition of tariffs…surely you can understand the mix up.

I’m not offended.

So no apologies necessary. And trust me, there wasn’t any gunplay. Perhaps it’s also a matter of perception rather than intent.

All you did was make an innocent comment. And all I had done was make an innocent joke.

On to the topic:

I perceive a concern that additional tariffs may have an effect on the consumers cost to purchase. While this seems logical to me, a delineation was suggested between my logic and some other logic.

So using the historical record, I would say that the original tariffs were never removed, and have been increased again since 2020. So having not noticed a dramatic price change over that period, it’s unlikely we’ll notice it next time. If in fact you have noticed a dramatic increase in the price of a metal lathe in the last 6 years, then you should buy right away.

That said, I’d always recommend buying any big ticket item sooner rather than later. Because in my lifetime, the cost of everything has only ever gone up.

Tangentially, a 12x36 Grizzly metal lathe could be purchased in June on sale for $3600. Which is about a grand less than regular. And currently they’re offering free freight on select models for a limited time.

 

[mksj]

Not to beat this to death, but l have been watching the price of new machines over the years, and there has been significant increase in the price of manual mills and lathes over the last couple of years. Salaries have increased, but so has cost of living, so disposable income has probably gone down. Tariffs have already been effect for many machines for quite a few years, but it is throwing the dice to say what is next. As others have mentioned, buying now is probably wise, I have yet to see anything go down in price for new machinery. I would be hard pressed to buy machinery these days and spend 2X what I spent on them 6 years ago, in my view Taiwanese machines offer more value/quality, but I gag at the current costs of machinery these days. Materials, will go up as well as everything else, but I doubt it will effect buying habits. There will also be loopholes to any tariffs, but at the end of the day I have little doubt that it will bring back jobs to the US.

Interestingly I recently visited Japan on vacation, I could find nothing that had a made in China sticker, not that there economy is in great shape but they have limited imports, and cost of goods/foods where less than the US when we where there.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I keep hoping that someone in the USA starts making good quality lathe in the smaller range like a South Bend 9. I think hobbyists like me would buy them up in a heartbeat.

I heard a rumor that PM was looking into building a machine or 2, not sure of the reality, maybe Mike can chime in and give us the skinny..

 

[Aaron_W]

Not to beat this to death, but l have been watching the price of new machines over the years, and there has been significant increase in the price of manual mills and lathes over the last couple of years. Salaries have increased, but so has cost of living, so disposable income has probably gone down. Tariffs have already been effect for many machines for quite a few years, but it is throwing the dice to say what is next. As others have mentioned, buying now is probably wise, I have yet to see anything go down in price for new machinery. I would be hard pressed to buy machinery these days and spend 2X what I spent on them 6 years ago, in my view Taiwanese machines offer more value/quality, but I gag at the current costs of machinery these days. Materials, will go up as well as everything else, but I doubt it will effect buying habits. There will also be loopholes to any tariffs, but at the end of the day I have little doubt that it will bring back jobs to the US.

Interestingly I recently visited Japan on vacation, I could find nothing that had a made in China sticker, not that there economy is in great shape but they have limited imports, and cost of goods/foods where less than the US when we where there.

Yeah, I've seen a big jump just in the past 5 years.

In 2019 when I was shopping for a mill, the HF 6x26" mill was $1600, now it is $2500. The small Grizzly knee mills have seen similar price increases from around $2800 to over $5000. The HF 7x10" lathes were $499 now they are $799.
Not just lathes and mills. I bought my Miller Multimatic 220 welder for $2900 in 2019, now they are $4700.

How much was the tariff vs Covid I can't say, but if I were looking at a big purchase, I'd make it sooner than later. Prices are unlikely to come down anytime soon.