# Snapper exits snowblower category



## toroused (Mar 1, 2015)

I completely missed this one. 

According to their website, they exited the U.S. and Canadian market in the 2015 model year yet are continuing to sell overseas. 

Link: https://www.snapper.com/na/en_us/su...n-i-find-snapper-walk-behind-snowblowers.html


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Interesting to me that the Snapper site simply says sorry, we no longer sell our stuff in North America. Interesting because Snapper was bought by Simplicity who still sells their snowblower and then was sold to Briggs and Stratton who also sells snow blowers. I just thought it was odd that they didnt say not just sorry, but a "if you're looking, take a look at one of these" link.


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

https://www.snapper.com/na/en_us/support/faqs/browse/where-are-snapper-mowers-made.html
" As a part of the Briggs & Stratton corporation, Snapper headquarters is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin."
guess cost cutting and box store sales dollars mean more than what they had became well known for, QUALITY


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## Cardo111 (Feb 16, 2015)

I remember reading this a while back and it is interesting, they built some solid machines years ago. There later offerings were essentially Simplicity's late model heavy duty series painted a different color with a slightly revised dash. As another member said they are both owned by Briggs for years now.

The new manufacturing world does seem all about keeping things simple, cost cutting to maintain competitive in a highly competitive marketplace. The car companies are now heavily into having a single platform with slight revisions to keep costs down. I am not saying that a good platform can't work well for many models in a manufacturers model line up. The consumer will likely not notice the difference or may appreciate the improved structural rigidity/ride quality of evolving vehicle design. However the main driver from a business/manufacturing standpoint is cost cutting and maximizing profit margins. Sorry if I got off topic..lol


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

I remember reading somewhere that Snapper owed Briggs & Stratton millions, (probably for engines) and was simply absorbed into the B&S corporate structure.


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

from wikipedia 

Snapper, Inc. was a United States company, formerly based in McDonough, Georgia, that manufactured residential and professional lawn-care and snow-removal equipment. Snapper was known for its high-quality red "rear-engine" riding lawnmowers that are capable of standing on-end for storage or repairs, and for its invention of the first self-propelled rotary lawn mower.

History[edit]
The company began in 1894 as Southern Saw Works. Later, in the 1940s, as the McDonough Power Company, it was acquired by William Raymond Smith, who changed the company's direction when the lumber industry declined. Smith recognized a need for lawn mowers and patented a mowing blade.[1] With this, he created the "Snappin' Turtle," named so for the way it snapped the grass and for its turtle figurine on the top front of the first model.

Producing an assortment of lawn-care tools, Snapper, Inc. had facilities in two States. In 2002, Snapper was acquired by Simplicity Manufacturing,[2] which was subsequently acquired by Briggs & Stratton in 2004.


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

so it looks like briggs has owned snapper since 2004, no snow blowers since 2015 
all seems like cost cutting moves and some pretty bad motors from china.


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## toroused (Mar 1, 2015)

The problem for Briggs is that their recent foray into Wallyworld with the low-end (Murray built?) Snapper lawnmowers has been a disaster. You never see them on display at Wallyworld, much less an emphasis to sell or promote them there, and they're always up for resale on Craigslist within a year after a customer buys them. So you would think they'd just dump the brand or sell it off. But the high-end Snapper Hi-Vac mowers still sell at a very good volume at local dealers, to repeat customers like myself. Customers who have been buying the same basic model for 30 years. So I believe they are in a conundrum. Add to it the fact that all those new Snapper branded weed wackers and blowers are just licensed to some Chinese company to design and make, and you can see the position where Briggs is today.

In the late 1980's, Lawnboy bought out Gilson, who in turn was bought out by Toro a year later. Toro just wanted LawnBoy's snowblower single stage paddle technology and Gilson was just a competing line. So they killed off Gilson. But they kept the LawnBoy name/brand around on the fringes of the lawnmower and snowblower marketplaces. Briggs may end up killing off Snapper, but then again, you'd be faced with killing off all that yearly residual income from that higher-margin Hi-Vac line. Which, for a publicly traded company like Briggs, is hard to do. 

Additionally, like Stihl, Snapper has historically been a high-end consumer product sold through a local dealer network. And that just flies in the face of the high-volume,
low cost, big box store marketplace of today's power equipment industry.


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## deezlfan (Nov 8, 2017)

Here is a fascinating story about Simplicity/Snapper's experiance with Walmart fore shadowing the downfall of quality American made power equipment. Guess Briggs didn't take a lesson from history and is now repeating it.

https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart


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## Blosumsno (Dec 7, 2016)

Yeah it's sad, my '03 is going on 14 years and no problems still original belts, ( there were a few years I didn't need to use it) though it was I guess under Simplicity ownership.






I did however buy a new Hi Vac walk behind this spring and seems pretty good, design didn't change much, but the only "gripe" I have is the bearing on the end of the hex shaft rattles around some, they changed from the flanged radial bearing to a self-aligning one so it moves around in the bracket it seems and the plastic wheels "may" be a little weaker (the commercial version still uses steel wheels). But I wish they still made snowblowers.


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## Toro-8-2-4 (Dec 28, 2013)

I can understand why they may kill the Snapper snow throwers as the Simplicity are a good high end machine. You could argue they are redundant. But Why still produce them for overseas? There must be more going on than meets the eye.

RE the hi Vac mowers.....I picked one up last year that was from the early 90's. It was well kept and is a very nice cutting and mulching mowers. It is built like a Sherman tank. The rear differential is a nice touch. I hope they keep making these for years to come.


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