Look we get it… you are looking for a good deal on your next scale purchase. Almost all of us do that on virtually everything that we buy these days. And thanks to the internet we have pricing at our fingertips for everything from toilet paper to masks… (A little covid-19 reference). 

However, a lot of times the pricing is only a small part of the entire picture. Often, customers will purchase a scale from some “Restaurant Supply” Warehouse website or some “Material Handling” Catalog that gets mailed to every business in the country it seems. Ordering is easy and the pricing is usually very reasonable. However, customer service and most importantly, product knowledge is often lacking.

Sometimes the purchase can be ok. The product arrives and it works out well. But what happens when you have an issue?  This is where the disadvantage of using this ordering route begins to occur. 

I was visiting one of these “mega” websites recently and the customer reviews were pretty bad for what should have been a pretty nice product. 

You see, to many of these customer service reps, your counting scale or the price computing scale that you purchased, is simply a part number or item number.  There is no “real” tech support for the most part. There is no factory trained scale technician who can diagnose what the issue is. Take a look at the “canned” response that I saw today when I looked at one product:

Thank you for your feedback! We’re sorry you did not prefer this product. For recommendations, please contact our solutions team.

This can not only be a problem after the sale, but it also can be a problem when you make the original purchase.

For example, if a customer calls or emails the sales team at Central Carolina Scale and tells us what they are looking to do, we can often point them in the right direction and recommend a proven product to them right off the bat.

Will it likely be more expensive than the Restaurant Supply or Material Handling websites?  Usually (but not always). However, in most cases you are benefiting from our years of experience and the proven performance that we have actually seen from our products. 

You see, we don’t typically just refer to our products as an item number… we have put these scales to work for many years. We have a list of proven and dependable scales that we can recommend for just about any application.  

Have a budget in mind?

Tell us ahead of time what your budget is and we can work to meet that number, assuming the budget is realistic. 

The reason I mention “realistic” is that with all the cheap products coming over from China these days, you can just about get whatever you want from China at whatever price you want.  But as the old saying goes, “you get what you pay for”. We see A LOT of scales. It’s our business and it’s basically all we specialize in. Some of the scales that come from China are pretty good and some are complete garbage. We’ve found that most are somewhere in between. 

So when we discuss budgets… we’re not saying you have to purchase the most expensive scale ever created. We are simply saying, have a realistic budget that will allow you to get a quality product that might provide you more accurate weighing and perhaps more longevity.

I’ll give you one quick example. You can buy a counting scale for about whatever price you want to pay these days.  I’ve seen them for around $100 and up. However, the odds are that $100 counting scale that is made out of 98% plastic is not going to last very long and then you will be buying another and another etc… Or, you could just purchase a proven industrial scale like the Pennsylvania 7500 counting scale and likely be using it for the next twenty years. That is an example of what I’m referring to. 

The overall point of this entry is to please contact us before you contact one of these mega websites or material handling catalogs. Often times we can beat their prices and if necessary, we can almost always provide you with an even better product.  Contact us (919) 776-7737 or complete our Request a Quote button on our website. As always, thank you for your business.