Yep- they have been pretty flippant with employees & locations since I’ve lived in iowa. My buddies across state … Ottumwa to Ankeny to east side of state…. Lost jobs often. Deere, according to them & what I see - just seems like typical “margins & extra dollar at any cost”…. Quick to cut people, outsource parts & move to other countries to save a buck. Are lots of corporations the same way? YEP!! Not all of them though.
The place where I noticed it impacting me…. I had 3 new Deere tractors. Higher end models. Stamped with parts from “Turkey, India, Mexico, China, etc”. Why I think the best Deere quality for more modern stuff was mid 90’s to about 2010-ish. Quality always seemed priority one & the reliability was fantastic. After that- it became more outsourced & all about margins. Their low end stuff always seemed like built by someone else & painted green. Stuff that never gave me problems or were rare became very common. Go look at the prices of tractors that are 20 years old - if they have “lower hours” they sell for almost as much as new stuff or newer stuff with few hours. Why is that? Cause folks know the older Deere stuff was well built & had far less issues than new stuff. & how, after 10-15 years they still can’t get the emissions stuff figured out is beyond me. AGCO - I rarely see emissions issues. Happens but rare. Seems like AGCO’s game plan this whole time was watching Deere go the direction of “margins & cheaper” where AGCO moved in for the “quality” market. That’s my perception anyways. I used to be all Deere…. Now I tend to steer away but I’d be open to any brand. They all have issues but I’ll dig for quality/reliability.
Hope they circle back to quality & American made. If Trump wins in ‘24…. Bet he throws on a tariff on all tractors shipped back from Mexico border. Hmmmm
The place where I noticed it impacting me…. I had 3 new Deere tractors. Higher end models. Stamped with parts from “Turkey, India, Mexico, China, etc”. Why I think the best Deere quality for more modern stuff was mid 90’s to about 2010-ish. Quality always seemed priority one & the reliability was fantastic. After that- it became more outsourced & all about margins. Their low end stuff always seemed like built by someone else & painted green. Stuff that never gave me problems or were rare became very common. Go look at the prices of tractors that are 20 years old - if they have “lower hours” they sell for almost as much as new stuff or newer stuff with few hours. Why is that? Cause folks know the older Deere stuff was well built & had far less issues than new stuff. & how, after 10-15 years they still can’t get the emissions stuff figured out is beyond me. AGCO - I rarely see emissions issues. Happens but rare. Seems like AGCO’s game plan this whole time was watching Deere go the direction of “margins & cheaper” where AGCO moved in for the “quality” market. That’s my perception anyways. I used to be all Deere…. Now I tend to steer away but I’d be open to any brand. They all have issues but I’ll dig for quality/reliability.
Hope they circle back to quality & American made. If Trump wins in ‘24…. Bet he throws on a tariff on all tractors shipped back from Mexico border. Hmmmm
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Sad to see them move to Mexico !
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
I was raised in a small Iowa town that was a bedroom community for JD. Couple of classmates fathers worked at JD. Their fathers started straight out of high school at a very high pay for that era. They almost tripled their salaries over their 20 years of working before retiring. So JD had a huge liability to “young” retired ex-employees. JD said they needed to close the local plant to upgrade technology. Offered some employees the option of relocating. Never brought back substantial numbers of jobs.
I can’t pencil buying JD with their decline in quality that hasn’t lowered prices.
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I can’t pencil buying JD with their decline in quality that hasn’t lowered prices.
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deerdown
Well-Known Member
I keep saying to myself, I'll never buy another JD tractor with the quality issues they have, but darn if I don't do it again and again...their dealership footprint is just too hard to ignore. I can get pretty good service from them as well. I do buy 2009 and older equipment though....
But my NEXT tractor................
Rjack
Well-Known Member
Retired at 38? My Dad retired a little early from JD Ottumwa works, but nothing like that.
Ha I only have a John Deere for that reason. I have 3 dealerships within 30 miles. The closest if any other color is 70+ miles which is unfortunate.
sep0667
Land of the Whitetail
They have such a brand and marketing. The farmers that have deere equipment sure are proud of them, but to me deere doesnt seem like a real good company to work for. Seems as though jobs moving away or layoffs etc is the norm for the past 15 or so years, as long as I have been old enough to pay attention to it in the news. Doesn't surprise me one bit seeing that in the news.
Does Case, New Holland, etc have the some regular layoffs and moving jobs away? I dont know.
Does Case, New Holland, etc have the some regular layoffs and moving jobs away? I dont know.
hillrunner
PMA Member
This is an example of why it's ridiculous to have undying loyalty to a soulless corporation like so many do.
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