I used to love going to sears as a kid. They always had the latest video game consoles set up to play that I couldnt get.
Later they got rid of all that and the store went down hill fast.
Fast forward until I was 21. I broke my pop rivet gun, a craftsman product, went to return it and all they had was a Sears brand. Same identical product, different logo on the rubber grips. Was something like $20. Because they did not stock the “Craftsman” product anymore, they would not let me exchange my lifetime waranteed tool for the Sears model… I argued for about 20 mins and ended up tossing it in the trash in front of the store manager telling him I would never buy a product there again, and I still have not.
Another note. My brother in law likes to act like his stuff is the best. I went and bought a new Troy Bilt 4 stroke trimmer. A few weeks later he comes over saying “I got a new 4 stroke trimmer, but I paid the extra for the quality and got Craftsman”. I laughed and showed him my Craftsman chainsaw and my Poulin pro chainsaw. Identical. But the Poulin has a brake. I told him my 30cc trimmer is the same as his 30cc “Craftsman” MTD trimmer…
Back 15 years and before, yes, craftsman was probably better than average, but now they are selling a name and not standing up to the quality. They are essentially what I think is wrong with our country, or at least one of the problems…
Back in the 60’s I bought all my tools from Sears, Craftsman. Even then, I could see that they were not as good as the ones from the 50’s
This has been going on for quite some time, but it really accelerated when Eddie Lambert got control of the company. Sears owner has milked iconic retailer dry, analysts say
About 30 years ago, a friend of mine was operating a bulldozer on a new golf course they were building. He unearthed this old rusty tool box. All the tools inside were a big clumped up pile of rust. Turns out they were Craftsman tools. He busted them all apart from the rust pile, took them into a Sears, and they gave him all new tools, replaced free. Lifetime warranty
Try that now a days, and youll get laughed out of the store
I am now a die hard anti sears/craftsman. I can get equally good, if not better, tools from lowes, and EASY, no questions asked returns. And spend a fraction of the price.
I know big box stores like lowes are not good for our economy, but neither is a store (big box original) like sears cashing in on a name that was once probably great.
So true. All my pliers and cutters are Knipex. I know, made in Germany isn’t good for the US economy either, but once I bought my first pair, everything else seemed like cheap S… and I couldn’t go back. One trick I learned was tools made by Snap-on but branded by New Holland farm equipment, are a fraction of the price of Snap-on wrenches, but are the same wrenches. Even have the same part numbers and the same Snap-on font stamped on the tool. Bought those about 15 yrs ago.
It sucks, but its the same with flashlights too. Why buy a Surefire when you can get a light in the same form factor but better for a quarter of the price?? Personally, I can not afford to buy an inferior product at a significant increase in price just to support a US vendor…
Say, if a comparable surefire was 25% more than getting a solarforce host and quality components to complete it, maybe. But when I built my L2m it was about 150% more for a comparable surefire. And I didnt go cheap on it, its an L2m only in the battery tube. L2t head, different tailcap, bezel… Fluorosilicone orings, AR lens… If I remember right, Im at just over $30 for the whole thing
recently purchased a >$2000 washer/dyer from Costco w/free delivery/setup
which bombed abysmally due to their 3rd/4th person connections which did not live up to agreements
bought them thru our local Sears for a couple hundred more, butt the installation and service was perfect
I’m really sad that Craftsman is not what it used to stand for.
Yeah, I hear ya. A bud looooves Snap-On over Craftsman any day of the week. Better material, so performs the same but with much less bulk.
I still maintain that their toolbags are a great bargain. Decent canvas, nice zipper, fairly cheap when on sale.
Tried ordering a bunch online, but apparently they have random price fluctuations. 7.99 one day, 8.99 the next. 11.99 one day, 13.99 the next. Etc. Still haven’t ordered them. Wanted to “bundle” my order but I keep getting screwy prices for one/more of them.
I found sears online to be seriously inconsistent and unreliable. It almost seems like they are resale for many small companies. Me and my wife tried to order some furniture for our then soon to be daughters room from their website, and was nothing but trouble. This company wanted this, that company wanted that, prices would drastically change like you said… we said F this and think we went with JC Penny or Kohls
Hahaha I am thinking this is one of their failures of a strategy to save the business.
Someone in an office said “lets track our website visitors and what they look at, and every time they come back to it we’ll raise the price until they buy it”
Some other guy said “amazing idea” and they gave each other a high five and a raise. :laughing:
So I don’t feel so bad now getting a battery from AA. Dead, was trying to figure out the logistics of jumping it and getting like 25mi to a Sears, prying out the battery in the parking lot (or paying who knows how much for their auto-center to do it), then getting it back in.
Saw the AA sticker on the side of the battery, called, got a price, nice guy came in the pouring rain to test the whole system and do the swap, and got a nice multi-year no-questions warranty.
150 and change after tax, gave him 170 for his trouble (and my lack thereof), over and done-with in less than 2hrs from when I first called. Well worth it.
not even their going out of business sales were good. We went there the last week the Augusta Maine store was open. A bathing suit for our daughter was still going to be $18 after the 40-80% discount. and it was nothing special
I mentioned that to my gf, wondered aloud why a company that’s on the ropes and NEEDS business would do something screwy like that, and her only reaction was a stunned “Amazing…”.
I didn’t go into my Rat Shack diatribe, did I? I just mentioned in a PM here a while ago, wil dig it up vs retyping it.
Lol, reminds me of about 20yrs ago. I used to own a 1948 Chris Craft Mahogany runabout boat. It had the original Flat head straight 6 engine. A buddy of mine who was an expert on flathead engines was helping me rebuild it. He was over at my house and I had my trusty Craftsman wrenchs we were using. A couple of the head bolts you had to use an open end wrench vs a box end. The bolt rounded out the inside of my craftsman wrench and my friend looked at and said “this F…… Piece of S…” and threw my damaged wrench out in the bushes. Walked to his truck and brought back his Snap-on wrenches and the bolts came out no problem.
Not Craftsman, but some generic “buy 10bux worth off crap and get a free set of sockets” garbage. Literally one-use.
Was underneath my car trying to undo the bolt holding the muffler on the hanger. Obviously rusted. Giving it a good slow pull… finally it’s giving, as I feel the resistance give way as I’m pulling on the handle-part… and then the handle unceremoniously separated.
It’s as if the handle were made of lead, that it just bent and, I guess that’s it, not even “snapped” off, but just pulled and felt like taffy.
Imaging the look on my mug as I’m just looking in absolute disbelief at the meringue-peak of metal on the handle where the head used to be.
I had a $90+ ratchet break on me trying to swap the blades on my mower. It was an 1/2” Armstrong ratcheting spud wrench. Going, going, gears strip… they dont make them no more so they offered me a regular ratchet… but its my precious spud ratchet… I got a 1/2” Armstrong ratchet I need to get around to seeing if the guts are the same though. Swap the guts and get my regular ratchet replaced, if they are interchangeable that it…
