Kmart Push Mowers Spring Sales Review

Written by Garry Conn on May 2nd, 2008

It is that time of year again when all the major department stores and retailers start offering their spring discounts and savings, just as we have here with the Kmart Spring Sale. So what does Kmart have to offer this year? Well, I received an email from Kmart a few hours ago - I am subscribed to their mailing list - and I was giving a pretty decent snap shot of what Kmart has to offer in their spring sales event.

The items shouldn’t really come to a surprise, its all the standard stuff that all places are offing on sale. Some of the things showcased in the Kmart Spring Sale email newsletter were their line of lawn mowers, gardening tools, patio sets and gas and charcoal grills.

The above is the cover page of the email I received today. I proceeded to do some window shopping on the small push mower being offered in their special Kmart spring saving sales. The thing that concerns me here is the fact that the lawn mower in the picture shown above is their cheapest push lawn mower available. The push mower is powered with a 5HP Briggs & Stratton engine and is being sold for $139.99. The part that bothers me is the fact that this is their cheapest push lawn mower not available, it just happens to be out of stock.

The issue is not that they have sold out as I checked the availability immediately upon receiving the email - we’re talking less than 30 second to receive the email and less than 30 seconds to check inventory status.

I believe that they have purposely marked this lawn mower as being out of stock as an attempt to try to upsale on their more expensive lawn mowers. Aside from that, even if this particular lawn mower was indeed in stock and available for purchase, their price is too high.

Walmart on the other hand, offers the same push lawn mower for $138.00. This has been their on going price regardless of any type of sale or promotion. Additionally, they offer an even cheaper option which is the 20′ inch deck for $119.00. The same 22′ inch push mower happens to be out of stock as well at Walmart.com; however, at least Walmart didn’t send out a mass email featuring a product that was out of stock.

I believe that the better deal in this case would be at Walmart. Paying $20 dollars more for a measly 2′ wider cut isn’t justifiable. Cutting eleven rows with a 20′in deck is the same as making ten passes with a 20′in mower. Having the extra 2′in deck really isn’t saving you all that much time, plus, I think many people could use the extra exercise on the few added rows of cutting.

If you’re curious, I do own the 20′in 5HP Briggs & Stratton push mower purchased at Walmart. I purchased the lawn mower a few weeks ago for $119.00. It works quite well; however, the quality of the Briggs & Stratton engine itself is much less than to be desired. I’ll save that for another article in itself. All in all, I feel like Briggs & Stratton lawn mower engines are not made how they used to be. This is the same case for both brands of lawn mowers listed above.

As a kid growing up, I used to tinker with these engines a lot and still to this date, I can easily build / rebuild just about any Briggs & Stratton engine. While as a kid, the days of finding one of these engines lying around in a junk yard and taking it home and doing some basic cleaning and having success with firing it up are over.

The newer Briggs & Stratton engines will cause you many problems if left outside and subjected to the elements. More to come soon on the topic of the quality and craftsmanship of the famous and most popular lawn mower engine, Briggs & Stratton. In the mean time, if you’re looking for a great deal on a push mower, take a glance at the 20′in 5HP at Walmart and just be sure to keep in in the garage when not in use.