[SEL] Interesting exercise/ my B&S question.

[Jerry Evans]

Hi all,
         This could maybe be marked as "Off Topic" (remember your "delete" 
key) but it stems from the recent post I made for help on a modern Briggs & 
Stratton engine and I think that some of you may find it interesting.(This 
post may or may not be quite long - I'm just starting it! :-)

         I may sometimes come across as a "skinflint" (which I probably am) 
but, often posts are made to the effect of "Just replace this or that part".

         "Just" being the operative word in the above statement.This infers 
taking a "Few Bucks" out of your pocket at the local dealer and buying the 
new part.

         This is NOT usually the case where I come from. You guys in the 
USA and other "civilised countries" do not realise how lucky you are to 
have a genuine "free market" economy where prices are determined by the 
amount of competition in the marketplace.

         That is not the case in a smaller (shitty??) economy like ours 
which has very little "competition" in certain areas (I do understand the 
concept of "supply and demand"). (All this since the "New South Africa" 
happened).

         The case in point is Mark's very good suggestion that I install a 
new "Carby kit". (Note to Mark - I'm not in any way "knocking" your 
suggestion it was good and I'm going to use your advice - I'm only using it 
as an example).

         I phoned the local dealers for a price on the "kit". (the engine 
is about 10 years old - not obsolete by any means and I had the correct 
Model number etc.).

First dealer "Sorry - nothing on my list - Can you bring in a sample?" (I 
want to do the job tomorrow - that's why I'm looking for parts today!!!)

Second dealer "Sorry our "parts guy" is not in today - please call back on 
Wednesday (tomorrow is Tuesday, a public holiday, and I want the parts to 
do it tomorrow.)

Third dealer "Our parts guy is out - leave your number and he will call you 
back - I'm still waiting (8:45 pm).

         O.K. so I decide to call the "Main Dealer" Briggs & Stratton 
(South Africa). Spend half an hour finding their telephone number (not 
listed on B&S.com site). Eventually look in my backups and find it from 2 
years ago when I was looking for a Briggs coil for my Maytag conversion.

         Call them - no problem there - they are very helpful and "Vic" 
(same guy I spoke to 2 years ago) sure knows his job - gives me all the 
info and part numbers I need. A pleasure to deal with.

         So back to the dealers. The only one where I actually got to speak 
to a human - dealer No. 1.

         Give him the Part # (which he could not find previously - I had to 
call Head Office for it). Oh yes, that's on the system, but not in stock - 
you can have it by Thursday. !!!!!!!!!!!

         Me: O.K. How much is it ?

         Him: "Hang on a minute, ill find the price"

         Him Again (5 minutes later): "It's ZAR 428.00"

         Me again (after picking myself up from the floor). "O.K. Don't 
order it, I will get back to you".

         Now comes the real reason for my post (sorry I took so long to get 
to the point but that's just me). The price!!

         Currency conversions are not a good way of determining prices 
(most of you do not know anything about our currency) but, if you can 
relate it to some other cost in your country that you are familiar with 
then it will begin to make some kind of sense.

         I'm going to compare this with the average cost of a 340ml bottle 
of good beer and maybe you guys will get an idea of the problems facing 
me/us when it comes to something as simple as buying a "carb kit".

         I Googled the part # and came up with the following prices all 
converted to US$):

"Briggs & Stratton.com" = $ 22.95
"Briggs & Stratton (South Africa) = $ 58.33
"Sjmparts.com" = $16.54 (Obviously a "Pirate" part - not B&S OEM).
"lawnmowerstuff.com" = $16.75 (Obviously a "Pirate" part - not B&S OEM).
"Pressureparts.com" = $16.00 (Obviously a "Pirate" part - not B&S OEM).

         Then I calculated how many South African beers this "carby kit" 
would cost me. Here are the results. (These figures based on South African 
beer and then converted with a currency converter.)

USA (B&S Original): = 15.61 beers.
Sjmparts (non OEM) = 11.25 beers
South Africa (B&S Original): 39.66 beers.


         Another "Google" brought up these figures. The average South 
African has to work for an hour and five minutes to earn enough to buy a 
beer, whereas it takes a US worker only 10 minutes.
se: <http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article66313.ece>


         O.K. all for now - just some figures that I thought you guys may 
find interesting - how big business screws us small guys - maybe it should 
have gone to "Slick" :-)


Keep the revs up (or down)
Jerry Evans
Near Johannesburg in Sunny South Africa.
Etched Brass Engine Plates made to order:
<www.oldengine.org/members/evans/plates/index.htm>