New Boss EXT Expandable Snowplow Now we all knew that when Toro bought Boss last year there would be some changes coming, but nobody expected the massive transformations that have transpired over the last 15 months. First, the duo has teamed up at the 2015 GIE Expo when they unveiled a Toro riding mower with optional Boss plow attachment. The practicality of this application is low for serious snow removal contractors living in the Northern tier of the country since the operator is totally exposed to the elements. I do see some utility with the setup for college campuses, homeowners, or contractors in the mid-south. For them this innovation may prove to have versatility and save money. I personally wouldn’t want to be outside on this thing for more than an hour in the cold, but that’s just me. Next, Boss changed its distribution model back in November and now all Boss dealers and distributors can only sell parts and equipment within their respective territory. This decision by Toro/Boss has already had some mixed reviews with our customers. The major complaints so far from contractors are that their local dealer doesn’t stock parts, and when they do, they charge list or more. Some customers even thought we were deliberately trying to make them loss money by not selling them parts! For contractors living in heavily populated cities this is not much of a dilemma because most times they can just drive to another dealer across town. They may pay more, but at least they can get back up and running. For Boss customers in rural areas or with local dealers that only sell equipment and do not stock parts the situation can be a lot more frustrating. Just imagine that you need a part, your local dealer does not have it and you have found it in stock online but you cannot buy it. Now we may not agree with this change, but as a long time distributor of Boss, we definitely respect and honor the changes they believe will enhance their brand. Nevertheless, you can see why some Boss customers have even went as far as cursing us out for telling them we cannot sell those parts because they are not in our territory, after we told them we had the part in stock. Finally and maybe, most important recent news from Boss is the new EXT Extendable plow. Boss is the latest snowplow manufacturer to jump onto the expandable plow bandwagon and for good reason. Well-informed snowplow contractors who actually take care of their equipment have gravitated toward V-plows and Expendable’s over the last decade. When Boss releases the new EXT plow the only major plow maker not offering an expandable plow will be Meyer but (with the ASH Group acquiring Meyer earlier in 2015) we just might see them offer a comparable expandable model in the near future. In fact, I would not be surprised if Meyer incorporated some of the European technology into their next few plows and brought out something amazing. According to sources in the snowplow industry, there are four Boss EXT’s out around the county for testing currently, but you know Boss already put them through a torture test or two also. Douglas Dynamics was the first to offer an expandable plow with their Blizzard Power Plow (Now SnowEx Power Plow). Next in the lineage came the Western Wideout, The Fisher XLS, and the Snowdogg XP. Expandable plows have been wildly popular over the last few years with the Western Wideout being one of the top selling plows in the country. We are not exactly sure how Boss managed to get around the patents, but whatever they did, I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of this beast in the near future. We may even get a close up look at the 2016 NTEA show, but who knows. Happy Plowing! � |