What a week!

Keeping on top of all the toings and froings at Westminster (not to mention keeping check on whether Steve Smith is out yet!) has proved really quite exhausting.

I’m grateful therefore that in this climate I edit a journal about outdoor powered machinery. Clearly our industry will be greatly affected by the B-word, which ever road it ends up developing down - but frankly it'll be delightful when we return to mostly worrying about the weather!

Which correct me if I’m wrong, hasn’t proved to be all that bad for dealers just recently? I've been hearing various, cautiously optimistic, reports.

For example, I spoke to one supplier this week who was very enthusiastic about the way the season has panned out for their company. They were telling me that in particular, they had seen great success with robotic mowers.

As well as a general upturn in the acceptance of the machines, they were saying that certain customers with large areas to take care of, are now seeing the benefits of having multiple robots out cutting.

Once it’s been broken down in terms of how much it costs to cut per square metre, and how individuals can then be deployed elsewhere to carry on with more skilled work, this supplier was telling me, that customers are starting to consider the usage of robots as a "no-brainer". Surely this isn't a phrase which would've have been used around the products just a few years ago?

So is this a school of thought which is being seen in customers with expanses to cut across the country? Robotic manufacturers will certainly claim their usage is becoming ever more common, but have they truly crossed over into mainstream customer acceptance?

Back in February, we speculated on whether 2019 was panning out to be the year of the robot? Now we’re deeper into the season, do we think this is a fair assessment of their rise in popularity? Or is it a tad hyperbolic? Are we at the stage where if a customer has a grand or two burning a hole in their pocket for a new mower, ride-ons might face some seriously stiff competition?

It would be interesting to hear from our readers today, just how robots have been performing for your business lately.

We have some other positive news today coming out of Great Haseley regarding AriensCo's decision to start producing zero-turn mowers in Britain. This is an exciting development both in terms of the jobs which will be created, but also in terms of the confidence which the manufacturer is showing in zero-turns for this side of the Atlantic.

Received opinion has traditionally suggested that zero-turns are not a product which does that well over here. The machines are often thought of as a peculiarly American tool. But AriensCo must clearly believe that is changing.

I remember speaking to David Withers several years ago at a BTME exhibition, when he was still based in the States with Ransomes, about the differences in popularity between zero-turns over there and over here. At that point Ransomes had bought Dixie Chopper, with the mowers a significant part of their business in the States - but there was no real push of the machines in UK.

At that point David had a couple of theories as to why they had struggled to make a mark this country. One major factor which he believed had hampered their uptake, was simply due to not enough homeowners having a big enough plot of land that requires cutting that quickly. This is a fundamental difference in the market compared to the amount of large homesteads in the U.S. Another was that the units can't be driven down the road to the next job.

He did however believe that within 10 years the machines would have a significant presence in the UK due to more productive, less-expensive products usually winning out.

Well, we're not quite at that predicted 10 year point today, but are you seeing an increase in the machines' popularity in your dealerships? Are customers looking for zero-turns to perform certain tasks, meaning AriensCo confidence is justified?

It would be great to hear what our readers think. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.