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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JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
Wasn’t Deere trying to prevent people from working on their equipment? Locking control software down to be JD service only? I think they lost that court battle? Seems like a monopolistic approach but I’d trust their service over Goober at the corner gas station.
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theDoorman
Active Member
Bidenomics
deerdown
Well-Known Member
Read this today, thought it was interesting...
John Deere was a blacksmith who developed the first commercially successful, self-scouring steel plow in 1837 and founded the company that still bears his name.
Deere was born in 1804 in Rutland, Vermont. After his father was lost at sea when he was four years old, Deere was raised solely by his mother. As a young man, he won acclaim for his workmanship and ingenuity as a blacksmith. When the New England economy collapsed in 1836, he followed other Vermonters to Illinois, where he established a blacksmith shop in Grand Detour.
Shortly after arriving, Deere learned from his farmer customers that the commonly used cast-iron plows of the day performed poorly in the sticky soil of the Midwest prairie. Soil clung to the plow bottoms, and farmers had to stop and scrape off the dirt every few feet.
Convinced that a plow with a highly polished surface would shed the sticky soil as it moved through the field, Deere made a plow using steel from a broken sawblade. The need for a self-scouring plow was so great, it is said hundreds of people gathered at the farm of Lewis Crandall near Grand Detour to see the young blacksmith test his new product. It wasn’t long before manufacturing plows became not only Deere’s identity, but his business as well.
In 1848, Deere moved his growing operation 70 miles southwest to Moline, Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The river provided water power for running a factory, as well as riverboats for bringing in raw materials and moving plows to market.
Soon, Deere’s company was making 1,000 plows a year. Business boomed as Deere established a reputation for both his plows and his principles. Those same principles guide Deere & Company to this day. Among them was his insistence on selling only high-quality products.
In 1868, Deere’s business was incorporated under the Deere & Company name.
From his arrival in Moline, Deere was actively involved in civic activities, and in 1873 he became the second mayor of Moline.
John Deere died in 1886, with his heirs leading the company for the next century.
and now, for the rest of the story:
Nov 1836 John kissed his wife who was six months pregnant and his children goodbye and left home forever, he did not have much of a choice because the county sheriff was coming to arrest him. John didn’t do anything wrong, just a matter of bad luck.
His misfortune started five years earlier. John was determined to own his own shop, but he had not saved enough money, so he formed a silent partner with Jay Wright. He had a good blacksmith shop, until it burned to the ground. They decided to gather enough money to rebuild. Everything went good for a couple of months, then the second shop burned down. Again Mr. Wright helped him rebuild, but by then customers were patronizing another blacksmith so soon John was out of business and took a job with another company repairing stagecoaches.
After a year John was back in business for himself with a blacksmith shop. This one became prosperous, but his former business partner found out about his success and John still owed him a lot of money. Mr Wright wanted his money immediately. Threaten with imprisonment and losing his home, John left Vermont, leaving his family behind. He ran until he reached Illinois. There the young blacksmith, envisioning a plow that could slice through the soil without breaking as cast iron constantly did on the tough midwestern soil. That plow made him famous.
The name of the blacksmith who fled to Illinois not just for opportunity. but to escape creditors threatening him with jail for unpaid debts was John Deere.
And now you know the rest of the story, why it’s true that “Nothing runs like a Deere.”
Thanks Paul Harvey for the story
Edited: Reason for post.
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Huntinguy
Active Member
If Trump gets in they won't move bc just like when Ford was going to and changed their mind after all the tax they would have to pay
abell3
Well-Known Member
You'll fit in perfectly around GG. I was out and about yesterday doing farm work and all the neighbors rolled their eyes at my truck when I drove by hoping I wasn't stopping to sell them something lol
Tmayer13
Well-Known Member
Quality issues? Do tell...
Windlooker
Well-Known Member
Blind loyalty is dangerous. JD has declined big time. Two years ago I was in the market for a used 75 hp tractor. Considered the jd e series, Kubota m series and new holland.
I noticed two to three times the number of jd e series for sale with crazy low hours and I asked why. Shitty quality and traded quickly. Period. I ended up buying a Kubota m7060. Maybe other jd models are better but not the case for the model I was looking for.
I noticed two to three times the number of jd e series for sale with crazy low hours and I asked why. Shitty quality and traded quickly. Period. I ended up buying a Kubota m7060. Maybe other jd models are better but not the case for the model I was looking for.
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