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)
Looks like something (ridiculous) from an Austin Powers movie 😀
We had these at a large hanger I worked at when I was in high school. They got a lot of use ferrying things around between the parts room and the airplanes.
My Ben-Hur halloween costume is going to be expensive this year but totally worth it.
Perhaps there’ll eventually be enough Rich Corinthian Leather or whatever-they-are members to fund a re-enactment of the Ben Hur chariot race with these things.
As others have said, you’re paying for convenience here. McMaster-Carr is “the engineer’s Amazon”, and it’s one-stop shopping for pretty much any industrial-related stuff across a staggering array of categories.
You’ll pay a premium for having everything in one place, and McMaster knows it. That said, their customer service is incredible, their shipping speed puts Amazon to shame (I’ve gotten packages in under 12 hours), and their website is the gold-standard in quick product sorting, so the premium is worth it to me.
Also, lots of companies have direct purchasing agreements with McMaster, so even if you can find something cheaper elsewhere, the ordering/billing setup process with a new company through Corporate Purchasing often wipes out any savings with all the extra time and paperwork churn versus just paying some extra bucks at McMaster.
Carts like this are used in very large warehouses and factories for getting around. It’s assumed they’ll get banged up over time, so having a beefy little scooter with easily replaceable standard parts makes sense to me. I’ve been in factories with basically full-on roads through them, complete with lane markings and traffic signals. This would be right at home there. Lots of places use bicycles and trikes too.
I miss having access to McMaster Carr.
I mean, anyone can set up an account. You can have a personal account and pay on a credit card, which is what I do for my home projects.
I now live on the other side of the planet haha.
That last image reminded me once again that you guys have the most perfect logo to be mirrored and turned into a 2-sticker set for the sides of one’s car.
I’m sure you can get this scooter for half the price if you buy it through the manufacturer’s typical sales channels, buy 5 at a time, and are okay waiting a few weeks (or months) for them to be delivered.
This is the price you pay for the logistics McMaster has in place to put (qty 1) in your hand, tomorrow.
It’s hard to imagine a hypothetical where that would be necessary, but if one of these scooters did decide to die, of course it would be during an important assembly line switchover or something like that.
When hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars are on the line, paying $7k to keep a key industrial technician mobile might seem like a bargain.
Strong Segway vibes here.
My house is around 1,700 square feet. But there’s a long hallway from the front bedroom offices to the kitchen. Maybe 25 feet or so. I’ll have to do the math to see if this is an effective way of traversing that long stretch.
Then again, turning around might be a bit of an issue in our tight front entrance area.
Even for an industrial spec people mover, that thing is rough looking. They could have at least rolled the fenders.
And I agree with every one else saying McMaster-Carr is great, but expensive.
Their catalog is amazing. It has everything.
maximum of 9mph…. is 3 times faster than walking.
5 minutes ago I just had a guy in a mobility scooter say he paced me walking my route at 9mph.
Got me thinking of this article and how I could possibly get a better job and save someone the 7 grand.
The union boss that supervises the work crews at trade shows. That’s who’s riding around on these things in my experience.
Welcome to Vegas, where even plugging in your laptop is a gamble.
That bearded dude looks quite embarrassed.
And…oh great. Seeing the utility cart made me think of Austin Powers.
Most things on McMaster, while competitive to other quick options like Grainger, are overpriced relative to going through a distributor that specializes in whatever category of thing you need.
But McMaster removes all the friction. Simply make an account, and without so much as a credit check you can start ordering thousands of dollars worth of parts on a net 30 basis, and have the invoices sent directly to your payables department. Their search and filtering capabilities are the gold standard I’ve ever encountered, and they have helpful descriptions on almost everything. And long before Amazon was doing it, items typically show up the next morning.
Would your eBay purchase be net 30, and show up via freight by Monday? I think not.
Don’t forget they have the drawings for most things publicly available too!
I did forget to mention that! And not just drawings, full 3D models in whatever format floats your boat, without forcing you to request them and wait.
I still use them for models and drawings occasionally now, despite being on the other side of the planet.
*Contented engineer noises*
Also, one thing people overlook when they talk only about prices is that McMaster does not sell shit. I work a lot with high currents and power electronics, and I know what comes out of that warehouse is made of what the datasheet says.
Battery terminals are solid copper. Crimp terminals and lugs are solid copper. If it’s brass it says it’s brass, and if it’s lead it’s soft and creamy, organic and local Cleveland lead dredged straight out of the Cuyahoga.
Brass is not copper. Copper-clad aluminum is not copper. If you sand the shiny coating off an Amazon battery terminal, it’s often brass or even aluminum. A lot of terminal products are coated steel.
I was once part of a dynamometer project which was returning a solid 1/3rd less than calculation and simulations were expecting. It took a long while of hunting and picking over connections and re-measuring electrical properties before it was discovered that someone bought the 1/0 gauge power feeder wire from Amazon. One clean slice and it was all silver – it was actually copper-clad aluminum wire. Bingo, 60% of the conductivity of copper!
Some times even working on stupid things you want the peace of mind that your stupidity is 100% modeled and controlled.
On a side note, does anyone have their McMaster-Carr (liberated from the work before it was scuttled) catalog in a wooden box made just for the catalog?
This! Back in the dark ages, those catalogs were like contraband. You had to “know a guy”, unless you were, umm, the guy (i.e. shop foreman or whatever). Even then it was easy to find the needle you’re looking for in the haystack. Never saw the wooden box, though.
I’ve picked up from their warehouse outside Chicago, and it’s as massive (and efficient) as you’d expect.
The warehouse I delivered ice (frozen water kind) to, had one of those and many times I wanted to get on it and ride it around but I missed my chance because I am sure there were cameras around, so I just had my fun on the forklift, like putting pallets on the concrete floor and pushing the the pallet of ice 200 yards or so to the back of the freezer just to smell the scorched wood smell, it smells awesome by the way.
I’m a designer at a fabrication facility. We had an after-hours pickup that needed a forklift. I was the only one there, so I gave it a go. Never driven a forklift before. I got the pallet into the truck and pushed it in further. It was very fun.
One time I got on the wrong warehouse forklift (the tall one) and was racing to get the first pallet of ice out of the truck and was looking up and thought to myself this forklift sure seems too tall to fit in the trailer and slammed on the breaks (I was hauling ass) and put a tiny dimple about the size of a quarter on the trailer header.
It’s a purpose built race car.
It races emergency parts or repair men to a location in the plant while adhering to OSHA regulations while taking up a minimal amount of space.
William Osman always seems to be fighting with his second hand Taylor-Dunn. Good stuff.
I like The Autopian version, but I feel like it needs some flames painted on it.
And some knobby tires.
Nope. Brown manual wagon version.
Why would you buy this when copart will sell you a whole 375k mile taxi for $800?
Oh, right, the taxi won’t fit in the warehouse.
It’s a personnel carrier, so it’s priced in Pentagon Bucks. I wonder if it can be up-armored.
Really, it’s like a Segway for people who have poor balance and find the Segway just a little too cool.
I mean, that’s the correct answer. Stuff that’s sold to people who aren’t spending their own money….or most business-to-business sales, tend to be hilariously overpriced. They guy ordering a $7200 mobility scooter for a warehouse knows it’s just going on an invoice someone in a faraway A/P department won’t even glance at in 30 days and it’ll be coded to a nebulous “misc tools” (the corp-speak for slush fund) category nobody pays attention to. So it could be free, $1500, $15,000, it makes no difference to the person ordering it. They want/need one, they’re getting one, that’s it.
Mobility scooters/power wheelchairs can cost high-fours and into five figures, because they know the end user almost certainly isn’t paying that bill. Insurance/medicaid is.
I’m pretty sure that you can’t hide that deep in the Autopian budget because no matter what category you try to hide it in, that $7214.99 will breach the surface and stick out like a volcanic island.
They can just hold off hiring the news editor for one month and use their salary. It won’t get capitalized properly but no one will be the wiser, it’s right near the middle of the salary range they posted.
Nothing like walking through a dark, cavernous warehouse with only motion sensing lights barely illuminating your surroundings and then being buzzed by an electric person carrier. Damn those things.