I was speaking the other day to Keith Bailey, an engineer with Loderail, Columbus McKinnon’s light crane department, about why it publishes end user prices for hoists online.
There are too many competitors out there to go to the trouble to hide this information, Bailey said: it’s like putting a price sticker on a car.
I suspect his rather relaxed attitude comes from fighting against another kind of competitor whose power seems to be rising particularly in the US market, the industrial distributor.
These catalogue supply houses sell everything from gloves to pipes, and are happy to include a line or two of lifting equipment, if the price is right. Hoists are sold like pens, light bulbs, or any other commodity.
I would argue that although there are major industrial distributors selling third party hoists, they tend to be based more around material handling: Certex of the UK has a big catalogue, as does Germany’s Pfaff Silberblau. And some hoist manufacturers will badge products related to their main lines.
But both types tend to hide their prices, perhaps because they are still close to their markets. It will be interesting to watch this trend and see if attitudes begin to change.
