How to Know When to Trade Your Lawn Mower

Here at Humphreys we love selling new lawn mowers, but we also love selling used lawn mowers. Nothing makes us happier than helping a family get the lawn mower they need at a great price. My grandpa always told the story about the buying progression in the late 60s through the 80s. Young couples or homeowners would come in, purchase a used lawn mower, save up and then trade it up to a new one, then continue trading up every couple of years as their wealth and needs would allow. This always seemed appealing to me; the thought of making a lawn mower a symbol for how you, your means and your needs grow.  But how do you know when its time to make the jump up to a new mower? Or even a newer better mower? Enter the Humphreys Hierarchy of Mowing Needs. 

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Use the Humphreys Hierarchy of mowing needs to know when its time to trade up. 

This pyramid represents the mowing needs of most of our customers. They stack in this order because to move up to the next need you must have achieved the one below it (just like Maslow). So in this case your primary need is to make long grass short. In accomplishing this end you need to make sure you’re being safe and so on.

Now the trick to using this hierarchy to help figure out when you need a lawn mower is to recognize where you show up on the pyramid and which needs matter most to you. 

Psychological
If you’ve just bought a house and you’ve spent a lot of money on a down payment you might be at the base of the pyramid. Just trying to keep your yard looking reasonably kept, but without breaking your bank. If this is case you may want to look for a used mower, something inexpensive, reliable and safe with potential resale ability.

Safety
Safety goes hand in hand with the first level.  Although if you buy something very cheap, you might want something that is more reliable and safer, recognizing this need is a sign that it might be time to trade up.

Time
When you get to the time level, it’s probably time to start thinking about larger wheel pumps on your zero turn, or even upgrading to a zero turn if you didn’t start there. Larger engines can handle larger deck sizes, which help shave down your time, so its time to start thinking about upping the ante a little bit.

Physical Comfort
Physical comfort becomes a need for a number of reasons. Perhaps you’re not as young and tolerant (ignorant) as you once were. You’re body doesn’t need to take a beating and you don’t want it to. This is the time when you need to start looking at suspension seats and springer front ends. Whatever it takes to make sure you’re comfortable on your yard.

Pride
Pride is the tip of the pyramid because that is where you simply want your yard to look nice. You’ve taken care of all other needs and at the end of the day you want a beautiful cut and nice lawn mower.

You’re needs can and will change frequently throughout your life. Your mower can change just as frequently if you want it to. We love to take trade ins, to both help people at the bottom of the pyramid and to help people  move up. At the end of the day we love moving people into that top tier, but we know it’s a process. Come in or give us a call to let us know which needs you have.