Everything feels expensive now, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s the growing percentage of Cranky Old Man in my core, but I feel like I remember a time when not every single thing on some crappy chain restaurant’s menu was over $18. Shit’s expensive! Cars especially, as the whole low end of the auto market feels like it’s been eaten away by some sort of greedy slime-mold. But even with everything being expensive, sometimes you encounter something so improbably overpriced that it commands your attention like an unexpected grab to the genitals. I think I’ve encountered such a something, and it’s a vehicle. An electric vehicle. And I think it may be the most overpriced vehicle anyone can buy new today.
Now, this is a pretty specialized sort of vehicle, something designed for commercial/industrial use, so that may explain its high cost, since this is something that ordinary people are unlikely to buy, and may just be worked into some large budget of some sort. It’s just called a “Personnel Carrier,” and that’s pretty much what it does: carry a personnel around, at what seems to be a maximum of 9 mph, which, the description helpfully notes, is three times faster than walking.
It’s for warehouses and campuses and places like that, not regular roads. Well, here, you can see for yourself what I’m talking about. Meet Personnel Carrier 6794N11:
Guess how much this thing costs? Or, I suppose, you could just read how much on that link or screenshot, but where’s the fun in that? Look at that little three-wheeled electric standing trike and make a guess. Tally the features, if that helps! Three penumatic tires, a steel body, a couple of bent-metal fenders, a little clipboard in the middle of those bicycle-like handlebars, a battery, a motor, a little tray on top, and, um, that’s about it. So how much is this thing?
$7,214.99. That “0.99” really helps, because if this thing were $7,215, I’d just walk away. But $7,214.99? I’ll roll away, thanks very much, at three times walking speed!
I first encountered this on the Daily McMaster-Carr X-Twitter account:
Personnel Carrier
$7,214.99 Each
6794N11Submitted by @MattLitke: "imagine how many stickers you can get on those flat sides." I'm just imagining how fun it must be to zoom around on one of these. ???? pic.twitter.com/VcMyrqe2xi
— Daily McMaster-Carr (@McMasterDaily) June 30, 2025
…there was also a follow-up tweet showing the thing in action, and I do mean action:
Damn, that dude is really standing on the back there! You can feel the excitement through the screen!
I mean, I bet this thing is kinda fun to buzz around in, and I suspect everyone lucky enough to be issued a 6794N11 is happy to have it as they whizz down massive warehouse aisles, perhaps looking for where somebody put the Ark of the Covenant. Also, I suspect this thing is built to last, as it all looks like very basic thick sheet metal and some batteries tucked inside. I’m sure it’s quality.
But for over seven grand, would it have killed them to give this thing some lights? A horn? It has a reverse alarm, but everyone hates those. There’s no padding or a seat or anything like that. There’s no way this thing can be worth anywhere near $7,000. The money-to-what-you-get ratio of this thing puts it easily in the running for the most overpriced vehicle you can buy.
I mean, look at this:
That’s an electric trike from AliExpress, and as you can see, it’s about one-tenth the price of the McMaster-Carr electric trike. I’m sure it’s not built as well as the McMaster one, but this one is almost the exact same size (length is within two inches), has a range between 35-75 miles (the McMaster one says 35 miles), but this cheap one can go about 30 mph (ten times faster than walking, not just three) and has things like a seat and lights and turn indicators and also has a little cargo/tool holder.
Maybe the McMaster one will last 25 years, and this one will only last, oh, five, let’s say. You could still buy five of these and just keep swapping them as they expire and you’ve still spent half as much! Someone explain to me why anyone would spend $7,000 on that thing?
What am I missing? What is this thing even used for, anyway? Moving one person around? With a little bit of stuff? How hard is this thing really going to get worked? Nobody is going to fill it full of gravel or use it to tow an airplane or anything like that? Wouldn’t this $600 trike accomplish the same things?
Hell, even if we look at other small electric personnel carriers built to the same general industrial standards and quality as this one, it still feels way overpriced. Look at this – here’s a new Taylor-Dunn personnel carrier for sale on eBay for $6,175:
Yeah, I rounded up that penny. So what? That Taylor-Dunn is built in the same simple, rugged, thick bent sheet metal sort of way, but is larger, seats twice as many people – hell, it has a seat, period – and can hold a lot more cargo, too. All for about a thousand dollars less! Oh, and it has a headlight! And a taillight! Again, who is buying these McMaster-Carr things?
I say all this, but then Peter mocked one up in Autopian livery and now I kind of want one. Think anyone would notice if I hid this somewhere deep in next quarter’s budget? I bet not?
Anyway, I’m just baffled. Maybe one of you out there has seen some crucial element or has some inside information that will make this all make sense. But at this moment? I just think you’d have to be a fool to buy a new 6794N11.
Come at me.
(top image sources: McMaster-Carr, Freepix)
Trike?
Needs more Piaggio Ape.
McMaster is expensive, like very expensive.
They rely on being a source people can go to and buy things without having to get a PO or having fast availability and shipping.
Plus, industrial equipment is expensive because it is built to last forever and it has quite a bit of battery in it.
I am not up on the costs of those at the moment but I would bet you could find one for half that.
And they have an outrageously good return policy. Finished a project and didn’t need that pile of things that you purchased 14 months ago? Just dump it in the box and send it back. Don’t worry, they got you
It’s crazy what they will accept even months or years later.
We use them solely for the convenience, and their online catalog is amazingly thorough.
McMaster was always my very last resort when I couldn’t buy it directly from the manufacturer or their distributor. I’d rather do a little bit of homework and save a not-insignificant amount of money.
If it’s anything like Grainger, the price on the website is not what most of their customers pay. That price is for retail customers without a corporate account, quantity 1. Most of the stuff I’ve ordered from Grainger using a corporate account was invoiced at something like 60% of the website pricing.
Change that motor pulley and it’ll go a lot faster than 9 MPH. Hehe
McMaster-Carr will sell you that pulley, too.
In the ’80s we called those Pow Pow Power Wheels, and adjusted for inflation they should still be under $400 and have a damn seat.
The range of my early-90s Pow Pow Powerwheels corvette was roughly to the end of the drive and half way back, so based on range alone this personnel carrier is a steal.
“We drove a Personnel Carrier 6794N11 across LA and it only took 6 days”
Looks like a self-propelled urinal.
That explains the large cake receptacle. Minty!
Please, please do not give Jason any ideas… Have we forgotten https://www.jalopnik.com/i-took-a-dump-the-same-way-the-apollo-astronauts-did-1836637152/
More than a decade ago, when I was in trade school, my class took a tour of a nearby factory (in the U.S. Southeast) owned by a Japanese OEM that made auto parts; it was so large a factory that the workers used electric carts to get around. The tour guide talked about how the company had a similar factory but even bigger back home in Japan and the workers used cargo bicycles (& some tricycles) rather than electric carts. Seems that travel times & even cargo capacity were actually similar with the electric carts being of course a lot more expensive to buy & maintain but many of the American workers balked at riding bicycles, as they apparently viewed the bicycles as just toys not befitting grown men. Yeah, pretty much a case of fragile masculinity, lol.
Someone then pointed out that the carts could carry more than one person but it was noted that so rarely did that ever happen that it was actually a moot point. The tour guide said the company was still trying to convince the Americans to switch to the bicycles especially since there were actual benefits from riding bicycles in terms of cardiovascular health as compared to just sitting in a cart. Yeah, I’ve always wondered if they ever succeeded.
*voice-over guy *
They did NOT succeed.
Yes if you have ever been to Toyota City in Japan (actual city name) The factories there usually have the maintenance staff on the trikes and have basically a tool box set-up for each area they will need to work at so for the day they will have a certain trike. Those people hustle too.
Have you seen how fat and out of shape the typical Southern Man is? At least half would drop dead in the first week if they were forced to ride bikes/trikes. This is simply a case of self-preservation instincts kicking in.
The American company Worksman made and still makes industrial tricycles that where a mainstay of large manufacturing plants across the county. In the 2000s when Bethleham Steel finally closed it’s massive ship building yard in Baltimore, they had the most incredible auction that I’ve ever attended. Among the lathes and and massive pressed, where dozens and dozens of tricycles, each auctioned off for about $20 each. You’ll still occasionally see one cruising the streets of Baltimore.
If only McMaster-Carr sold bikes…
https://www.mcmaster.com/2701T19/
At two large aerospace companies and one computer company I worked at, we had bicycles available to travel between the many buildings on campus. One building I worked in was a 5 acre building. Everyone used them.
We have these where I work. The maintenance techs use ’em for medium jobs, ones that require a few tools/supplies, in a large installation.
They are pretty solid and seem to last a reasonably long time, judging by the banged up condition I see them in. A good barometer of this seems to be that every one I’ve seen seems to still have have the clipboard attached.
I’d guess there’s an insurance reason not to use the alibaba one. Maybe this one has some certifications that means the insurance company will cover you if an employee gets hurt while using it.
If you have a warehouse supervisor covering this much ground by foot, you just tripled his productivity. Even if you just added 10% productivity, this thing more than pays for itself in a year. If you have ten supervisors and can get a decent discount on ten of them, even better.
The maintenance guys in the refrigerated warehouse I worked at drove these. It was one of very few non-hydrogen powered vehicles in the building. Had no idea they cost that much.
Overpriced, you say?
Hot off today’s press releases: Jeep Wrangler total sales increase 23% year over year in Q2 (Stellantis)
well this sent me down a rabbit hole. i was thinking “hey just get an electric wheelchair that has to be cheaper right? WRONG!. While there ARE electric wheelchairs that can go 9mph they are nearly 10 grand also you are limited to only around 15 miles on the battery. Yikes. This is kind reminds me of some sort of offroad rascal buggy but standing up instead of sitting down is an interesting choice? i guess if you have SOME mobility but never know when you will run out of breath? but then what if you fall off of it??
however who is to say if this thing even performs as it’s advertised. is 35 mile range realistic? who is going to stand on this thing for FOUR hours just to test it? is someone going to get a radar gun and test the top speed??
If anyone will, it’s going to be the same folks that drove an nyc taxi to LA to find out the fare.
Did you find what supermarket buggies go for?
I imagine the range is measured in aisles.
The most important person on any school campus is the person driving the Taylor Dunn cart, painted in school colors.
Hey! That penny was the difference between me buying and not buying. 😛
Please let us know how/where/if/when we might be able to purchase enormous Autopian decals like PV mocked up so we can liveryize our own vehicles.
And please make the price end in .00 to avoid that whole rounding kerfuffle.
Become a member of The Autopian so that we can buy The Most Overpriced New Vehicle You Can Buy Today!!
…and make Adrian ride it.
Buy it and drive back to NYC on it.
“Maybe it’s the growing percentage of Cranky Old Man in my core”
It’s weird how I can feel it happening to myself. I think I always assumed the person was oblivious to it.
The thing you are missing is the source. I’ve been shopping there over 15 years. Things are a premium because factories and engineers need it tomorrow, and they absolutely deliver. I’ve had a 1000lb surface plate in my lab next day. When you shop here, price is typically disregarded.
And, as said below, they are always in stock, or have an option that works. The search engine is amaze-balls, and like muscle memory for me.
People who don’t regularly shop at McMaster really are missing out on how ethereally fast they are at delivering.
I’ve personally helmed a 130 or 140 line item order submission on a Thursday evening. We essentially ordered everything to build a device from scratch over the weekend for a surprise demonstration/show event for the company. The design wasn’t even done yet Friday at 1PM when the UPS guy woke us up in the conference room.
This was a delivery to Boston, from their New Jersey warehouse. That means it went out at 0700 sharp, got to Somerville distro around lunchtime, and they threw it at us the next town over afterwards.
Working with a lot of industrial suppliers is like pulling fingernails (like have you ever seen sprockets sorted by OUTER DIAMETER, NOT NUMBER OF TEETH?) but McM’s big swinging value-add sack is how systematic and predictable they are.
My only problem with them is now I live 10 minutes from the Atlanta distro center and I treat their Will-Call counter as a hardware store and this is costing me my financial stability.
Absolutely, 100%, and fully agreed. McMaster is fantastic. Their premium is justified for their breadth and depth of stock, their ease of search, and their availability and delivery. They are also good with CAD availability.
Though MSC Industrial has improved in the last few years, 10-15 years ago I could probably search and order ten available items at MCM in the same time it took to search three items at MSC, put one on an order, find that one can be ordered with several days lead, and one is not available at all.
If someone wants one of those transporters for a lower price, they can do that. They can
This is why I love the Autopian commentariat. This is an entire industrial subculture I had no idea of. For the most part, my “emergency” demos have simply involved faster thinking, later nights, more programming and sometimes the need for an overnighted computer part.
It’s an industrial subculture that doesn’t involve leather jackets, metal-studded steel toe boots, and gas masks
(Though it can, having welded in awkward environments before)
Oh, I forgot about the CAD. Been import their models as long as I have been ordering from them. My most recent job I integrated them into the Solidworks Sidebar, and man was that convenient.
You’re gonna need a support group. We are always on Discord if you need to talk.
In the mid 90s I worked for a small environmental consulting firm designing and building remediation systems. It was before McMaster had a website and I would fax pages of parts orders from their 6″ thick catalog and they’d show up a few days later. Between them, a local welding shop, and local instrument panel shop we built everything from scratch. Fun times.
I was in one engineering group during the transition from the Big Yellow Book to online. In the earlier paper-only methodology, in the project book where you kept your photocopied catalog cuts from which you built your BOMs, you made sure to note which edition of the McMaster catalog you were referencing, e.g. MCM-18.
I also remember it was a Big Deal when a new edition came out. Damn, the new one is 75 pages longer! Our business probably only got a half dozen or a dozen copies, so there would be only a few latest editions in the ME department, one or two in EE, a few on the shop floor, and one or two in the offices. Precious commodity
And of course since it was 75 pages longer that meant you “had” to look through and find what the newly available products were.
I think I tried that once, but with so many pages and items I found it easier to just be surprised while searching through.
I love the specs. All the dimensions are on the website. No needing to order 20 different items from five different that have vague descriptions that could be the thing you need.
I’m a mechanical engineer and I’ve been doing industrial and product design & engineering since the late 1990’s. McMaster-Carr is my go-to for prototyping and low volume production components. Their website is unmatched in searchability, customer service is quick to send you further information, manufacturer drawings, spec sheets, or to provide a dimension that isn’t noted, and their stuff generally arrives next-day.
That said, if I needed a brand name power tool, I’ll send somebody to Lowe’s or Home Depot as McMaster-Carr pricing is exorbitant. But if I need an odd widget and can wait until tomorrow (but don’t want to spend 3 hours searching the internet and then waiting two weeks for a part to arrive), McMaster-Carr is where it’s at!
I had forgotten about that one aspect — you can can ask for the rare piece of information that’s they don’t have listed, and they will research it with their supplier, or pull one and put a tape measure or a caliper on it as appropriate. And get back to you with the info the same day.
I’ll wager at least half the cost of this critter is the battery. 232 amp hours. 35 mile range at nine miles an hour gives lots of run time. That temu special is 40 amp hours. 35 miles at 30 mph. Much less run time.
It’s still crazy how expensive it is though….
But, if it breaks someone in the USA answers the phone AND knows how to fix it. That’s worth it’s weight in gold these days.
Grainger to McMaster-Carr: hold my beer!
For a mere $16,725.35
https://www.grainger.com/product/CUSHMAN-Tugger-33-1-2-in-x-21-in-35LR62
You do get a seat, but you give up the blistering speed and Ben Hur vibe of the McMaster-Carr
They have a two seater for $22k
and a standing one for $11k
https://www.grainger.com/product/CUSHMAN-Warehouse-Vehicle-48-in-x-35LR60
McMaster-Carr is great for weird washers and screws, but it’s almost cheaper to make them out of bar stock on a lathe.
It’s great for finding out that weird washers and screws and other hardware exist. “Oh, that’s a thing, and that’s what it’s called. I’ll try Amazon now.”
Yes. I have found so many things that I didn’t know exist.
Grainger delivery from the supplier: by the end of October 2025
Unless you work for a state agency, then it’ll be a hard never. We’ll take your money though and maybe we’ll let your maintenance guy spend his own money and we’ll give him a broken, used item.
Is he though? Judging be the length of his legs, he’s either:
a) An oddly-proportioned little person
b) Got really hairy arms for a 9-year old.
Yes! He looks like he’s standing in a hole underneath a cut-out where the left rear corner and wheel used to be.
This is heirloom quality. It’ll be passed onto the business owner’s grandkids.
There is something to be said for having it in stock right then.
Just a wild guess, McMaster-Carr is NOT looking at a partner opportunity.
“new” Taylor-Dunn personnel carrier is the shocker! Thought those stopped in the 60s when the secret lair under the volcanoes market collapsed.
Ever tried to turn one around in a hallway? Harder than you’d think.
Austin Powers trained me personally
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OTtLYlOLoHE
That 2025 model looks identical to the ones we drove around the steel mill when I worked there in 2008 (and those were ancient even then for all I know)
Why change the look when the look doesn’t matter?
Damn those things can take some abuse though. There were a few floating around my old workplace that had seen some shit in their decades of use.
Colour me surprised that McMaster-Carr’s Twitter uses humour.
But, you don’t go to McMaster-Carr to hunt down deals, you go because they have a crazy selection and everything is in stock.
Plus, the best search engine in the world is on their website.
McMaster-Carr is far from cheap, but they stock the most oddball fasteners, etc. our engineers can come up with. And they have a well done search engine and drill down menus.
“And they have a well done search engine and drill down menus.”
And it’s fast.
It knows you want a M5 blue-zinc socket head cap screw before you even finish typing the b.
In your choice of tensile strengths. Standard, fine, or superfine thread. Left- or right-hand thread.