Taco Announces Price Increases

Taco, Inc., Cranston, RI, has announced further price increases for both its commercial and residential product lines.
Commercial products, which include pumps and commercial-size circulators and parts, motors, valves, heat exchangers and tube bundles, tanks and air controls/separators, will increase by an average of 6.8 percent.
Residential products, which include circulators, valves, air separators, expansion tanks, radiant products and electronic controls, will increase, on average, by 6 percent.
Commercial products price increases go into effect on August 8th. Residential products price increases will go into effect on September 1st.
This is the third price increase this year to date for Taco products. Unprecedented global demand for raw materials coupled with rising energy costs affecting transportation, and even investor speculation on commodities futures, are behind the need to raise prices.
Taco CEO and President John Hazen White, Jr. issued this statement commenting on the price increases.
“Taco is not alone in raising prices repeatedly in 2008 to cover the increased costs of the metals we use in our products – it is happening across the HVAC industry. Prices manufacturers are paying for materials have risen 70 percent during the 2nd quarter of this year alone, according to a report from the Associated Press. Our OEM and contractor customers are bearing the brunt of these increases, and we know they hurt.
While we certainly would prefer not to raise prices two, three and possibly four times in one year, we have no choice but to do so. Companies like Taco are acting responsibly in reflecting in our pricing the runaway prices we are paying for brass, copper and steel – acting responsibly to our employees and especially our customers who look to Taco as a trusted supplier of the best products in the world. To hold back on price increases at this time would be irresponsible and unsustainable. Our intent in passing along these price increases is to simply cover our costs, and normal profits we earn go back into Taco to make it an even better, stronger company.
Rest assured we are doing everything we can to adapt our manufacturing processes for greater efficiency and cost containment. We scour the world for the most cost effective, reliable and quality-driven suppliers. We’re investigating using different materials in our products to reduce reliance on metals like brass and copper. And we’re studying design changes to make our products lighter and smaller.
But the hard truth is that there’s only so much we can do in this situation. We hope that prices for raw materials, like oil, with moderate as time goes on and progress is made in finding alternatives. In the meantime we at Taco will continue to do our very best to source our materials from the least expensive suppliers while not sacrificing quality, and by producing long lasting, energy efficient products that use less metal as we RD durable, reliable substitutes.”