For those of us not totally enveloped in the tech bubble I don't think this will be terribly shocking. In general, there's a sizeable and growing number of people who want products with less tech, not more. They're tired of everything being a subscription, overtly planned obsolescence, and inshitification in general.
Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
671–680 of 814 posts
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#672Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're using an absolutely ancient engine from Cummins that has probably paid off its r&d and assembly line costs at least 10x over. It has virtually no pollution controls on it like DEF or DPF. That alone is saving a fair amount of money.
/woosh But I could be wrong. I can't know but I'm pretty sure the GP was writing tongue in cheek. As in mocking the business strategies that have been eroding the engines of our economy.
Actually, no. I don't like the modern business strategies but they are what they are.
The only reason many consumer televisions are as cheap as they are is because they're being subsidized with advertisements.
It's the same thing with the razor and blades model, where the razor is sold at a loss and the profit comes from the replacement blades. Or the game console model, where the console is much cheaper than an equivalently powered PC because the profit is made on the games.
Low upfront purchase prices are subsidized by future income streams which can be enforced with technological locking. If you don't have that, the upfront purchase price generally has to be much higher.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#673Earlier quoted context omitted.
it seems like Slate might be trying that but there's no real cars from them yet so they're just renders at this point. but yes, same concept but printers is my wish.
Yes but not a pickup please
Pickups are a fine place to start. If they’re successful they’ll add other kinds of cars over time. Building a whole new car company is extremely risky. Picking the first model correctly is extremely important. I hope they got it right. My gut says plenty of reasons to think they did.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#674Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're mechanically inclined, the compacts of yesterdecade are still out there. Popular brands like Ford or Massey Ferguson have amazingly good supply chain for 50 year old models. I run my hobby farm with a 1975 MF135, and I just sold a 1947 Massey Harris Pony that ran like a top doing pasture/arena dragging duties. I've put a ton of hours on the 135 and only done basic maintenance like replacing a few hydraulic…
Can you share more about your hobby farm? I would love to learn more about how you got into that? My family had a small farm growing up and my parents are still actively working on the farm everyday and I would like to take that up at some point. So curious to hear what you farm and how much involved you are in the process.
If you're in the US reach out to the USDA new farmer program (e.g. https://www.farmers.gov/your-business/beginning-farmers) and they'll hook you up with your local extension office (applied agriculture University/land grant college), conversation district, state department of agriculture and so on.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#675Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that there's a major difference in the resulting mindsets that the two types of experiences form, though. The first learn that nature is always present and doing its best to kill you / wreck your harvest, and that it is only through man's intelligence and social bonds that we thrive. I would argue a corollary of this is that one cannot tolerate malicious or grossly neglectful people around. The second group l…
This is becoming such a weird romanticisation of rural Americana! Your civilisation is being destroyed because a largely rural constituency is able to clean a rifle in 60s but appears to have no critical thinking skills when it comes to a certain New Yorker. Yes it’s good to learn how to be resilient in nature, but it’s also important to learn how to get along with and manage relationships with larger groups who are…
City kids can get on the bus or urban rail in actual big cities. Even in places like urban philippines or mexico where there is [often] no public transport, collectivos take up this niche. Kids abound in these places even in places like Manila where traffic is way worse and way more homicidal, and they take the jeepnee to go to the next barangay.
It's really mainly in the suburbs where neighborhoods are choked off by bike unfriendly freeways and no for-hire transit.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#676I think this just shows how much distrust is in technology improving things nowadays.
What makes you go to distrust? It is clearly about affordability. That is the issue in the farm machinery market. Someone who is currently running a 50 year old machine that is worn out and in need of replacement simply cannot afford a new tractor with all the modern bells and whistles. If they could, they'd have upgraded long ago. They might be able to afford a new tractor that is built to 50-year-old standards. That is the bet being made here.
Although, honestly, from my farmer perspective I think that is even a stretch. Someone needing to replace their 50 year old machine right now is more likely to look at a 20 year old used machine with a smaller outlay than the brand new Ursa. They are considerably less pricy than a Deere or Fendt, but still pretty capital insensitive relative to what a farmer in the market they are trying to address can justify.
Granted, there is no doubt someone out there who is willing to pay for the "new car smell". There is always someone out there who will buy what you are selling, no matter what it is you are trying to sell. The question, as always, is: Are there enough buyers out there to keep the cash flowing? The fact that they still have 2025 models sitting on their lot that aren't moving, I'm thinking not, but we shall see. Kudos for them being willing to try.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#677Ah, this is the tractor that Jermey Clarkson needs!
Love it, when typos work.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#678Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, I still had to practically stand on the clutch with mine! I'd teach someone to drive it and say, "now push down on the clutch". They they would heave and struggle, then eventually succeed and look victorious. I'd say, "well done, it is now half way down! But that's all you need for now!" EDIT: To fully explain: It has a two-stage clutch. You half-press it and it disconnects the wheels from the engine. If yo…
> The PTO shaft is a spindle on the back of the tractor which drives things like your flail mower, wood chipper, etc. ... and kills/maims anyone with lose clothing trying to step over it!
Deceptively dangerous!
An exposed, spinning shaft seems benign but once it wraps you or your clothing around the shaft it pulls you in and destroys you in a flash.
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#679Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was i…
> Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 There is a tradition in several European countries named Affouage : If you live in a rural area, you can get very cheap (or even free) wood at the condition that you go to cut it yourself in the close-by forest. Many many people who are doing this practice are still using today Massy Fergusson 135, Renault R98/461, Ford 3000-4000 series, SOMECA or simi…
>"f this startup can capitalize on that, they do have a market."
$100K-$200 is very expensive for many. better find used old one
Re: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price
#680Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd love this. I really don't want my car to be an iPhone with "apps" and random background software on it. The car touchscreen was perhaps the worst design choice in the history of the automobile, and is likely the cause of countless crashes. It's insane when I see car UIs that have the 'cancel / go back' button located in DIFFERENT areas depending on the screen context.
The irony is cars got screens largely due to the backup camera mandate which was intended to be a safety feature. Governments are very bad at understanding unintended consequences.
The backup camera mandate is associated with a 78% (!) reduction in fatalities in children in backover incidents. That’s a pretty high bar to cross to prove that the camera is more harmful the it is helpful, especially since, as others have said, you don’t have to use the screen for anything else.