Good quality snow blowers are always difficult to get hold of in the height of the season (normally after the first big snowstorm panic buys destroy stock levels), but its predicted stock this year will not even cover 50% of the demand this year.
I’ve reached out to representatives at Ariens, Husqvarna, Snow Joe, and Honda, along with several other big snowblower manufacturers for comment on how they plan to manage stock levels this coming 2021 season.
I’ll update this page once I hear back (if they bother to reply).
But regardless of their response, it’s clear to see the supply chains have been heavily affected as most of the popular models and best snow blowers are currently out of stock on nearly all websites, such as Amazon, Lowes, Ace Hardware, Home Depot & other major retailers.
The only small saving grace here is that electric snow shovels and small snow blowers seem to have more stock readily available, but this is likely because more units can be stored at any given time compared to much larger two-stage models.
However, with larger 2-stage models barely available, those desperate enough will soon likely chew the smaller units in a bid to keep their driveway clear this season.
The Current Situation According To Other Sources
I’ve done some research to see what other people are seeing locally in the snow blower market, and here’s just a sample of what I found:
My local CBS Minnesota, published this article last week, with a quote from Mark Settergren:
“People are really concerned with the supply and demand of a snow blower this year because we honestly can’t tell them if we are going to be able to order enough,” said Settergren. “They are coming in now, buying them ahead of time, knowing that we might run out of them.” – Source: CBS Minnesota
Another article by kfyrtv.com in West Dakota spoke to the Ace Hardware manager Sam Hinz, who quoted them:
“Be cognizant of what’s going on. Be understanding with your local retailers. You know it’s kind of hard sometimes for us, but we’re doing our best to serve people.
And thankfully people have been really understanding. People are having the same kind of issues, so people are pretty understanding, and our community here is especially good to us,” – Source: KFYRtv.com
This article from Western Mass News also recommends “If you wait until the days leading into the storm, you might be out of luck.”
To add insult to injury, the snowblower market is expected to grow at a CARG (I have no idea what that stands for either) of 6.2% from 2020 to 2026 according to this report by Research And Markets. And whilst that might not sound like much, it’s an extra $262,000 million in market value.
So What Can You Do? Not Much, Unfortunately.
Prepare for low/empty warehouses across the country, so if you see the snow blower you want in stock do not wait for a sale. Grab it whilst you can!
In any normal year, most people wait until either the first snow storm and then panic buy despite it being the worst time of year to buy one, (p.s, read my article here to find out the BEST time to buy a snowblower), or try and get a Black Friday snow blower sale, but this year don’t expect there to be many sales happening.
Retail works by supply and demand, and current demand is absolutely ripping beyond what the supply lines can produce, meaning there’s no reason to offer discounts on products already flying off the shelves at full price. Why would retailers lose money?
Especially with a SNOW-19 pandemic on the horizon…
#FAKENEWS… obviously
In the meantime, I’m trying to keep my recommendations up to date, looking at different retailers, brands and changing links where possible, but sometimes the retailer is out of stock within hours, so it’s a never-ending fight I’m never going to win.
So I apologize for any out-of-stock products on my site – I’m not willing to replace them all with crap products for the purposes of earning commissions, so you’ll have to keep checking back from time to time 🙂
What’s Your Experience So Far?
Have you struggled to buy a snow blower locally? Or does your area have a surplus?
Let me know your experiences in the comment section below!
