A reader wrote in, concerned that Festool tools were leaving Amazon. After looking into this, what I found was that certain Festool tools are simply sold out at dealers, and this looks to be a nationwide issue.
I turned to one of my go-to Festool dealers, Tool Nut, which also operates Festool Products, for answers, and they have a information page dedicated to this.
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Basically, Festool has been hit hard by COVID-related shutdowns and have been unable to keep up with demand.
Festool’s products are all manufactured in and distributed from Germany, which has been particularly hard-hit by COVID-19. From supply chain disruptions to lockdowns impeding manufacturing, Festool has been unable to keep up with the pace of orders and requested shipments. This has resulted in all dealers facing disrupted delivery times, cancelled stock orders and unprecedented backorders.
If there’s a particular tool or product you have been meaning to buy, preordering or backordering it is the way to go. You can always cancel later. As additional people place their orders, expected shipping times will continue to be pushed back.
In other words, if what you were looking to buy is out of stock, it will likely remain out of stock for a long time.
If you need something sooner, you might have to look at alternate tools or brands for your more immediate needs.
Festool tools and products are still shipping, but they will continue to be in preorder and backorder status until supply catches up to demand. Higher demand and the ongoing impact of COVID-19 means that nobody knows when this will be.
The Tool Nut info page has a list of ETAs that are regularly updated.
Jaycob P.
The local Acme tools had a huge stack of Systainers kits with drills and drivers. They were out of pretty much anything else though and even the majority of the display units they had a month or two ago were gone.
Randy
“Festool’s products are all manufactured in and distributed from Germany”
This is untrue.
Pull out your Festool products and check the labels.
fred
I looked at my inventory of about 100 Festool items – bought from 2008 to 2018 – which may not be representative of what it is today – or waht you might see if you bought different items. But here’s waht I found:
Germany 75%, Czech Republic 16%, Switzerland 6%, UK 2%, Vietnam 1%
Rafe
100 Festool items? Who is this Bill Gates?
fred
My net worth is OK – but nowhere near a Bezos or Gates
The 100 items includes only 4 power tools – plus accessories and consumables ranging from things like tracksaw rails at the expensive end to consumables like boxes of sanding discs at the low cost end.
Stuart
This is what the retailer says, hence the quotation.
I have no better information about where they or other dealers get their Festool tool shipments from.
Shane Holland
Hello, this is Shane from The Tool Nut.
You’re correct, my colleague wrote “all” when it should have said “the majority of”. We were talking about tools in the context of this statement.
Certainly not attempting to mislead anyone with that information. We will make the correction. Thanks for bringing to our attention.
Mat
festoolrecon.com has had a bunch of reconditioned tools available lately. It’s goes up and down without warning, but what they have is generally around 25% off full price with a one year warranty. Since Festool stuff never goes on sale it’s a pretty good deal. I’ve seen stuff on there recently that’s out of stock new (e.g. TS75 and DF500).
Lyle
Cool. I used to get emails from them all the time but I could never purchase anything. It always sells out faster than I can click. I mean literally if I clicked as soon as I got the email I wouldn’t be able to get my info entered in time to complete the purchase. I see lots of items on the site now. Thanks!
PETE
We are told 1,800 workers are not going on the job due to COVID right now at the California ports. There are a BUNCH of cargo ships that are just waiting outside of the port waiting to get room in the port because the port can’t process them fast enough. I expect that we’ll hear of more shortages in the next month.
PETE
I should specify- shortages of consumer goods and imports that are processed from the california ports.
Dstblj
It’s more than that logistics are really tough these days, their is very limited capacity available from most forms of shipping, trucking and airfreight have been really hard hit, and these days with just in time production a small delay anywhere in the supply chain can ripple for weeks or months.
James Moore
This has driven the price of panel products way up mostly cabinet grade plywood and melamine.
PETE
The entire construction industry has a BUNCH of price increases announced for this year. Wood included of course.
fred
From talking to my old business partners, the price increases that they are passing on to their customers have not had any impact on demand. They tell me that the remodeling and spot building business is booming and that they have been turning work away mostly because of skilled labor shortages – but that lead times on many materials are stretched resulting in start-time delays.
PETE
The price increases have only just begun. I know that there is one shingle company that has announced 4-5 increases this year.
Most projects that are or have just started are probably already in motion and can’t stop. But new construction that is in the planning process may be put off. Especially if the commercial real estate market falls.
These announcements are within the first month of 2021. I would expect to see more.
https://www.universalsupply.com/news/84/February-Monthly-Update.html#:~:text=GAF%20has%20announced%20a%20price,%2D10%25%20on%20all%20accessories.
fred
They told me that their commercial (used to be mostly stores offices and things like B&B’s) has dried up – but that residential work is in such high demand that prospective customers are pleading for start dates. We had never been what one might call a budget-priced contracting firm – relying more on quality, craftsmanship, repeat business and customer satisfaction to sell our services. Now they tell me that they are being swamped by calls out of the blue from new customers who are shopping around to get projects underway.
SpainUser
Most of that is because of product launches man… the new TSC 55 K has just been announced…
William
I had to wait like 10 months for my a Kapex UG Stand set.
Plain grainy
This coordinates well with my shortage of money to buy them!
Rob
Festool has had a major inventory shortage issue due to COVID for over a year. Not new news.
Stuart
I wasn’t asked about Festool shortages a year ago, and I didn’t see notices on retailer websites a year ago. I’m being asked about it now, and I’ve been seeing notices about shortages now.
RKA
Maybe I need to start listing some unused Festools on eBay?
M Donegan
Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa Canada (does a lot of mail order) carries Festools has stock .
I just phoned in, I am a customer, don’t work for them
MikeD