History Hold on to your Craftsman tools...

Craftsman has a pretty good hand tool... Just hated having to go to Sears to get them ... I always thought a free standing CRAFTSMAN store would do well. I thought the same thing about MAC and Snap- on also. That would open them up more to the general public and not just to shops. I think Snap on does have a pretty good web biz going now though I hear.

 

ACE Hardware in my little town also sells a limited line of craftsman hand tools. i'm sure you could order any catalog item from them too.

 

eventually Craftsman will be nothing but crap like everything else. just a name of something that was once good. like Schwinn bikes. bunch of Taiwan crap now.

the world is turning to shit.

 

I bought an old Craftsman band saw a few weeks ago. 1950's model. Once I clean it up, it will run forever. Only problem is the messed up size of the blade. I might have to modify that part.... No Sears. No more Monkey Ward. No more Woolsworth and no more K-Mart. What the fuck is left???

 

The rumor is, so far, just a rumor. The parent company is in trouble and has to make some hard decisions about how to boost quarterly profit numbers.... Right now both Sears and Kmart are dragging the company down due, among other things, to way to much overlap in all areas of the business.

The general line of thinking is that Sears is less popular, and less profitable than Kmart and is the most likely candidate to go by the wayside. That Will increase Kmarts market penetration and, probably, save it from doom.

The fact that Craftsman tools are now being sold in many other stores might be an indicator that the parent company is thinking along the lines that saving Craftsman is worthwhile when the rest of Sears goes bye bye...

I'm still using many of the Craftsman hand tools I bought in the mid 60's. They're probably the best...certainly the most used...of all my tools. That includes lots of Snap-on, Mac and Matco, Challenger, etc.

My Mom worked for sears for close to 20 years during the 60's and 70's. She retired early because the company started a program whereby they would summarily fire employees that were getting close to retirement time, usually within a few months of the projected retirement date. At that time an employee that got fired automatically lost their benefits..... Pretty low, but that's the way Sears was evolving during the 70's. They were on a campaign to get rid of long term employees and replace them newbies. It worked.... They saved lots of money on personel costs but...I'm convinced.....doomed the company to a long, slow, and painful death.

The last time I was in that store I had to actually go behind the register and make my own change because the girl working the counter just could not figure out how to count out change on a cash sale...

I've never had a positive experience since that time.

 

Thank Walmart.

 

Had a "wonderful" experience in Sears yesterday. Nothing like having to wait 10 min. for them to open up a display case. But the teenager was both rude AND ignorant of the product line, so that made up for it....I got to spend the 10 minutes in his company.

 

Sounds like Craftsman is doing fine... and selling their stuff through other stores.
I got my first Craftsman tool set when I was 12... and still use them.
I like the way you can just go exchange them when they break... unlike a SnapOn tool where the guy will look for hammer marks on a screwdriver and deny an exchange for a broken tip. (happened to me once in the 90's)
Anyway... I hope they are around for a long time.
Sam

 

We had a made in USA Craftsman hand shrub trimmer for many years. After it finally gave out, I took it back to Sears. They replaced it with a made in Chinas trimmer which lasted two weeks. Returned for credit on a bag of fertilizer. Sears no longer carries USA made trimmers. Neither does Lowes or Home Depot. Found a USA pair at a yard sale. Just the sate of affairs regarding Chinese made junk.

 

Seriously people it's a list that Wall Street thinks will go away. The record for these predictions is not really that good. And Sears holdings will sell it off if they're going under. Talk about the boy that cried wolf.... jeez.

 

My father and I were working on his car a few years ago when he busted a ratchet. He got rather upset about it.

I said, "don't worry about it, it's Craftsman, just get another"
"Oh I know that" he says "but I bought this wrench when I bought my Chevy... in 1955"

 

Who cares? It is all speculation. I am going home to set up my frame table and work on hot rods.

 

I just got laid.
"AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"

 

You mean "Chinamart"! The United States of America is headed for failure.

 

You really need to go Read This First!

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I dont know who actually manufactures the tools for sears. But i doubt they would just close up their plant because sears is gone. There would be a lot of machines and someone would buy them and probably the name.

I dont have anything bad to say about sears. A torque wrench i had of thiers broke. The guy behind the counter said he didnt think they guaranteed them. He asked the manager, who asked me how long i had it. I told him twelve years. He handed me a new one because in his words, i was honest and most people tell him they've had it less then a year. I was stoked and so i bought thier timeing gun.

 

Multiply that by hundreds of thousands, and therein lies the reason they're going out of business.

Bob

 

I too had the "rebuilt ratchet " crap pulled on me. [In a BIG Sears store].
As for tools, I have a few of the Kobalt brand from LOWES...They have the same warranty as Craftsman... Now, I see that LOWES has dumped thier Kobalt tools, and have yet to see what will replace them...More Chink crap, no doubt.

 

Really

I like hot rods

 

Well lucky you!!

 

Also thanks to a society that would rather buy cheap products over quality products. Even though in the end the quality products are cheaper.

 

I thought they quit replacing broke tools a few years ago

 

Summit Racing is now a dealer, do not know about swapping out for warranty with them.

 

That would suck!

 

I still have a Craftsman 3/8" drive speed handle from the '60's that still works like a charm..

 

I love OSH too!! I know here they stopped selling Craftsman pneumatic tools, but they still have a decent selection of hand tools.

They also just started offering a military discount which is awesome since the big boys (Lowes and Home Depot) already offer a 10% discount.

I hope Sears doesn't go under, but they did take a huge loss so it may be possible. Also, pay attention to their hand tools, many are made overseas now.

 

Amen to that ^^^

its just a prediction, hell they said Kia would disappear and I believe they had their best year last year. If Sears is in trouble, they will sell off the craftsman brand and it will carry on, owned by someone else...however it will be up to the sale agreement whether they take on the warranties of previously sold product. And since it is just a predicition, Im going to predict that craftsman and A&W are still around in 2012.

 

Hey, I don't remember things being all that wonderful 5 or 10 years ago either, ...we don't do politics here...read the rules or go away

 

If A&W goes under, I'll sure miss their footlongs... (hold le onions)

Forget I said that!

 

I still have a set of Craftsman tools I was given as a graduation gift in 1953. Still use them almost daily. At one time they were offering tool replacement for faulty tools. I guess that went by the wayside. It is a shame but greed is taking over in every sector of the American marketplace. First they shipped the high tech jobs offshore and now some of out highly regarded institutions too. What comes next??
Normbc9