Let me start out by telling you a little history lesson. Ever since the early 2000’s we’ve been one of the top sellers of legal for trade price computing scales every year. There used to be Toledo 8433’s and CAS TP-1’s flying out of the scale warehouse it seemed like daily back then!
However, if I’m being totally honest, those numbers have dropped the past few years. Why is that you might ask?
There’s probably several possible answers. However, I think the truth is online shoppers are looking to buy cheaper and cheaper price computing scales. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to write this Dangers of Searching Online for the Cheapest Produce Scales for the Farmers Market entry today.
Look if you’ve read our blog in the past, we’ve mentioned this concept before, that if you’re focused entirely on low cost… there’s almost always going to be a cheaper scale around the corner if you keep searching. However, at some point the corner cutting and quality reductions that take place in order to reach a certain price point will bite you.
And before we go any further I wanted to mention that we often mix and match the terms of farmers market produce scales and price computing scales back and forth. In this instance they generally mean the same thing which is basically an electronic scale that can calculate the total amount owed once a scale operator types in the price per pound.
Non-NTEP vs NTEP
I was looking around the internet today and I noticed several of these lower cost price computing scales for sale. I think one was $189 and the other $169 or so. Obviously before we get started too far, you have to understand something. The price computing scales that you see for ridiculous prices like $59.99 or 79.99 each are non-ntep (not legal for trade) and are essentially worthless. I would NOT recommend buying one of those. You always want to buy legal for trade scales with a certificate of conformance number (CoC#) if you are in a commercial setting where money is changing hands.
Ok, now that we’ve gotten that public service announcement out of the way… the retail scales that I saw today were on two different websites. One was a rather large website that everybody knows and the other was on a restaurant supply type website. My concerns with these scales are the following… #1 they are priced really low. $169 for a NTEP price computing scale is pretty low these days. That makes it very difficult for folks like us to compete with them when they are pricing their scales so low that we really have nothing to offer at that price level. My #2 concern is the reviews that I see on the low cost scales when I dig a little further are not that great.
Balancing Initial Low Price & Unhappiness vs Higher Initial Price & Happiness
So basically these sellers are grabbing all the initial interest from customers looking to buy legal for trade produce scales that they can use at their local farmers market, mostly due to the outrageous low prices that they offer. But, the online reviews seem to paint a slightly different picture once the customer starts using the scale.
It reminds me a little of the entry we did last month where we broke down all the costs of the pro grade floor scale and wondered how the seller still had any profit left to cover the support and warranty costs.
The online price computing scale sellers seem to offer a great deal originally, but the warranty and support seems to be lacking when you dig a little deeper and actually read the reviews.
So, basically the point of this Dangers of Searching Online for the Cheapest Produce Scales for the Farmers Market entry is beware of the low cost entry level price. There’s almost always a cheaper scale around the corner…. but at what cost? In our opinion, you probably will be better off in the long run working with a trusted scale company who can suggest a proven and reliable legal for trade produce scale that will provide you with years of service. See our best retail scale choices for more info too. If you have any questions be sure to contact our customer service group for assistance.