Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Dyson is in the news frequently and so a dedicated thread.

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For all across the pond: What's the latest information on the Westfield Mall due to open next week in London?  Likely for all the space to be filled with retailers?  Optimistic/pessimistic prediction for its opening success?  Any vacuum brands/vendors to be there, presumbably dyson?  I believe there is a German connection to the Mall and Westfield Group [Commerzbank AG], any MIELE/SEBO presence?

Thanks in advance for any intelligence forthcoming.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Carmine,
I say “The hell with Walmart and their cutthroat ways”.  It maybe a necessary evil (to sell product), but it’s an evil nonetheless.  I saw the DC25 Animal there many months ago and did not say if it was a WM exclusive.

Today, I saw a Los Angeles Target offering these Dyson models:
DC25 Animal
DC25 All Floors
DC24 All Floors
DC17
DC14

DIB

Thanks DIB, I thought it was you who made the statement months ago.  Looks like it scrubbed the DC07, DC15, and DC18.  Surprisingly the DC18 is supposed to be the best dyson sku according to Matt mmc Airblade.  What about the DC16?  Was that scrubbed too?

I suppose the DC25 was just a dyson store display model to bait interest.   Brand makers will drop off a new product and leave in stores to vet client/customer interest.  Hoping the store management will petition Corporate to buy and sell the items.  In the present economy it would be a HARDSELL for WM especially for a dyson ball DC24/DC25 for $400-$500.  I suspect retailers' staffs/management trade inside information on products and their sales.  I can't imagine any dyson ball models [including DC15 for $300] are even on the radar screen for WM customers. 

BTW, don't know if you follow such matters, but Wal*Mart is the only retailer whose stock price has actually appreciated over the last year and stayed steady despite the huge market fluctuations.  WM and COSTCO have been the ONLY bright spots on the retail sales reports all year.  All other retailers' stock prices, including BEST BUY, SEARS, and the like are down.  BEST BUY and SEARS' stock prices almost in half from year ago levels.  Other retailers have fared very poorly too. 

Carmine D. 

CarmineD wrote:
Hello Carmine,

Talking of the Slim...
It success has spawned another entirely new Dyson created category, I like to call - “Steerable’s”.  When I saw the Slim commercial for the first time I new it was going to be huge, I just did not know how huge.  Yes, big sales for Dyson and more Dyson models of steerable's no doubt.  What I did not forecast was copy-cats buy the major players.  Miele and Hoover Candy are just the beginning.  Certainly Oreck for example can easily make his antiquated machines, not so antiquated and do it fairly easily and cheaply...  make em steerable's.

Now that the major players are getting into steerable’s and doing so with full sized vacuums, now it is obvious why Dyson is choosing (I’ve heard or read hear on a post) to keep the 15 and make it a dealer exclusive.  Dyson needs to look hard at his design philosophies to make the 15 feel lighter to turn.  He can get away with his design philosophies on the 18, 24 and 25 due to their small footprint and weight but it does not translate to the DC15.  By observations only, the Miele and Hoover as unresponsive as they turn (steering slop from midline to 30 degrees left and right) look to require less strength to turn vice the DC15.

DIB

P.S.  You know how I feel about monopolies and their power.  WM is just another monopoly with unprecedented power.  I put WM right along with Bill Gates in the category of “Power Whores”.

The DC15 is old hat. That model has been superceded by the DCs 18, 24 & 25. Even the DC18 has been made obsolete. Any major improvements in weight, steering etc. seem to justify the release of a new model.

True, Dyson sometimes makes small modifications to a current model; witness the modified soleplate and cyclone assembly of DC07, but major alterations mean a new machine.

R.I.P. the DC15 and the DC18.

DysonInventsBig wrote:

DIB:

I share Trilobite's sentiments on the DC15 and DC18.  Those that will sell, have sold, and it was their final curtain call when dyson launched the DC24/DC25.  You bought your DC15 for $300 [half the original MSRP] several years ago from BEST BUY.  DC18's are discounted by all retailers who still have them sitting on the shelves.  Most retailers dropped the DC15 and DC18 from their stores months before the DC24/25 launched this spring.  BEST BUY stores were the first to scrub the DC15.   It was BB's worse dyson seller up to then.  Will the DC24/DC25 sell among the hoi polloi?   Maneuverability is one thing.  A wheel the size of a soccer ball with a vacuum sitting atop, well to me it is a joke.  Add in the increased filter maintenance and what do you have?  A comedy of errors.  Vacuum cleaners are not wheel barrows, my good friend.  

WRT W*M and Microsoft, your descriptions are off color and off base.  I didn't see either grovel for a US Gov't bail out. Their operations and success are legendary.  Something you can respect since you speak of it so much about your fave brand/inventor/designer.  Not to mention, the money that Bill and Melinda plow back into charities and worthwhile causes.  $60 BILLION  by last count.  If that's whoring, you and I don't share the same definition.  Recently W*M imposed huge sanctions and standards on its Chinese suppliers with written caveats to conform by a due date certain or risk business suspensions.  W*M is taking the lead in the retail industry by imposing quality controls on its Chinese suppliers with other retailers sure to follow suit.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Carmine,
Re: Gates and how he got there (got all his money and power).  We’ll agree to disagree. 

Re: Your Gates to Dyson comparison.  There is no proof anywhere that says Dyson is a monopoly, nor has enough power to strong arm governments and/or multibillion dollar corporations. - There is much documented proof of Gates getting caught for doing just that.  People see only what they want see.  We’ll agree to disagree.

Re:  Walmart.  Name me one single corporation that’s more responsible for pushing American manufacturing (mom and pops to billion dollar corps) off shore in the (their) quest for price reductions.  American manufacturing has a long history of building quality and safe products.  China, not America is in need of [much] reform.   We’ll agree to disagree.

DIB

The DC15 is far from dead.  Dyson can do much with this diamond in the rough.  Plug up the air-leak (the debris channel) and it will out-suck all Dyson steerables.  IMO, the DC15’s nozzle is a disaster and needs reworking and should not be all that hard or expensive to do.  The cyclones are a bit heavy and should not be hard or expensive to fix too or simply snapping a Core + Root set of cyclones (and bin) onto a DC15 should not take much effort or cost too.  Change up the color scheme and/or nozzle and/or cyclonic filters and Dyson will have a provable - worlds best filtering, steerable full sized upright.


DIB

P.S.  About 6 months ago, Dyson changed up the color schemes on their oldest vacuum, the DC07 and bundled it with $50-$90 of Dyson accessories and sold 10,000 units in 12 hours.  The largest one day sale of any Dyson at HSN.  People want Dyson’s no matter how long it has been on the market.

DysonInventsBig wrote:

DIB:

I have no qualms about disagreeing with you.  BUT don't put words in mouth.  I never compared dyson to Microsoft  and/or James to Bill.  Read again, my friend.  You boast of dyson's success all the time by citing the Forbes list.  Who's at the top of the Forbes list and has been for many years? Hint: You called him a whore.

Wal*Mart didn't put me out of business.  Nor the vacuum cleaner store owner/operator that's now in my same location, who's alive and doing well in the vacuum business.  IRS and the State of New Jersey nearly did.  Not to mention ruin my credit rating, my personal and business name, business reputation, freeze all my personal and business assets, and make it impossible for me to conduct business because I could not access my checking and savings accounts.  BTW, I won the court case, and IRS/NJ lost.  It took 3 years, 2 lengthy audits, and alot of legal fees.  Let me tell you, I'd rather fight/compete with W*M any time than Uncle Sam and the State of NJ.  

In business, it's survival of the fittest.  The businesses that survive are those that can adapt, improvise and overcome.  Those that can't, don't.  No country and/or ethnicity has a monopoly on it. 

Carmine D.

Warning to readers:   The below has nothing to do with vacuums per se.  But does have alot to do with vacuum consumers, vacuum retailers, vacuum manufacturers, and vacuum sales and service in the USA and worldwide.

DysonInventsBig wrote:

In case you missed it, in the last 6 months the US stock markets have lost 40 percent of their value.  [As did most of the global markets].  You can check my post/thread here on the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend, January 21, 2008.  I predicted it.  Here's a post from the thread [with highlights added for empahsis]:

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Re: Big Hit on the London Markets Reply #47   Mar 15, 2008 8:00 am

Stock price of BS dropped 50 percent yesterday.  It's down 75 percent for the year. 

Carmine D.

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In summary since my March 14 post, SIX historic financial stalwarts in the USA industry went belly up.  The US Gov't gave $200 BILLION  to Americans in stimulus payments to jump start the US economy.  THe US Gov't agreed to give $700 BILLION dollars more to bail out the rest of the financial industry and institutions.  Home foreclosures [the American dream] are at record highs not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930's.  The unemployment rates by state and nationally are the worse since the Great Depression.  Retail sales are at the worse levels in decades.  Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve Chairman for 20 years, often called the most powerful man in Washington and hailed as the greatest Central Banker of all time, with no equal, was raked over the coals by Congress in the last few weeks for failing to know/prevent the collapse of the US economy.  There are even rumblings that several European governments will default on their debts! 

In short, alot has changed in the last 6 months, my friend.  And they will never be the same again. 

Carmine D.