Festool To Increase Price of Products

Festool, a popular choice for hobbyists, and professional woodworkers has announced that they will be increasing the prices of their tools starting February 1st. This is not surprising to me, but it is bad news for anyone who is saving up to by a Festool product. Prices for Festool products are already double the price of any other manufacturer, so what is a few more dollars, right? I have always been critical of Festool for their prices. My belief is that Festool charges as much as they do, simply because they can. Festool fans say they are worth the price, but what they are worth, and what they should cost are two different things.

The iPhone cost $500 when it first came out, and now it costs $300 and has more features. It is clear Apple charged $500 for the phone because they knew it would sell for that price. In all honesty I believe people would still pay $500 for the iPhone.

The World is in a recession; now is not the time to raise prices for anything. So what is logic behind Festool? Here is what I think. Festool says they are going to raise the price of their tools. This will force people that were waiting, for whatever reason, to buy the tools now. Then a month or two after the February 1st date, Festool will come out with a press release stating they will be lowering the price because of the economy. This way Festool gets sales from people that were waiting, plus they get the sales from a higher price tag. A win win for them and a lose lose for everyone else.

I could be wrong, only time will tell.