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Sears selling off Craftsman

td25c

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Junkyard

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I've been watching their struggles for awhile now. My dad worked for them 30 years. Retired in the early 90's. It was still a great strong company then. It's a shame considering their history.

Junkyard
 

check

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in the mail
Craftsman tools have been slowly going downhill for 30 years. Back in the 70's and early 80's they were good enough for most professionals.
 

willie59

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I certainly can't say why stores like Sears are on the decline, not privy to all the details. But in recent years many brick and mortar stores have faced similar situations. Online purchasing, Amazon, etc, I think most certainly has changed retail shopping, or at least eat into overall sales, but I'm certain there's far more to it than that. One thing I'm of the opinion of is the continuing success of any brick and mortar store/chain is the willingness to and proceed with change. I'm convinced that consumers gravitate to "new and modern, up to date". Take Kmart that tinkerer mentioned, in my area, even after Sears acquired them, the stores are still the same stores they were 40 years ago. Meanwhile, a nearby WalMart shuts down a store that's only been there maybe 10 years and moves a mile away to a new location with a totally new store from the ground up. Same with Target, or Marshalls, they're constantly changing their stores. Yet they're not really changing their product line overall, just changing the environment. Same with Malls. There's two main large malls in Knoxville. One built in the 70's, the other built in 1982. The one built in 1982 still looks pretty much as it did then, they haven't really changed anything, heck, it still has the same pavement that was laid in 1982. I wager that mall is maby half occupancy. The other mall, built in the 70's, have been aggressive to updating, changing, adding on to it. At that mall, you are hard pressed to find a parking space on the holidays. BTW, there's a Sears store at both malls. The one at the 1982 mall, even during the Christmas shopping season, parking spaces not even 1/4 full. Not going to stay in business with those numbers.
 

Dickjr.

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One part of my childhood was the sears catalog. Front to back , checked out the chicks in bras and panty to toys to tools. Mom bought 90% of Christmas there yearly. I think they could have done something to survive better. Today , its Target and Kohl's for houseware. Tools , flea market for craftsman stuff or harbor freight is carrying pittsburg which works for me. ( my tools grow feet ). If I were a pro , I don't know which tool company to go to. My NAPA guy says the NAPA tools are made by the same company that makes craftsman.
 

willie59

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My NAPA guy says the NAPA tools are made by the same company that makes craftsman.

I know they both used to be made by New Britain tools. Now, with NAPA having the Carlyle brand, I'm not sure. I know the Carlyle brand long handle 1/2" drive ratchet is not near as strong as the old New Britain ratchet of the same. :beatsme
 

RZucker

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I know they both used to be made by New Britain tools. Now, with NAPA having the Carlyle brand, I'm not sure. I know the Carlyle brand long handle 1/2" drive ratchet is not near as strong as the old New Britain ratchet of the same. :beatsme

I'm not sure if New Britain Made tools for Craftsman, After NB, Easco tools supplied both Sears and NAPA. Good stuff that wasn't made in Taiwan.
 

Dickjr.

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I bought a 300 piece craftsman mechanics set about 10 years ago. The one thing I hated about it was getting 4 dozen useless small sockets. 5.5mm , 6mm and such. I know there are times when they are needed but not much for my needs. I have bought a few snap on tools , mostly ratchets and one set of standard wrenches. The ratchet is great. 3/8 swivel head. For guys like myself , Craftsman tools are a go to when needed. The guy I hire when I need a pro seems to use proto and mac.
 

thepumpguysc

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I too have noticed Craftsman tool sales, popping up in the local Ace hardware & TruValue sales paper. Pretty good prices..
Sales fall inline w/ the holidays just like a *normal* Sears ad would.. its hard to beat the 20pc screwdriver set at $20.00.
and every now & then a SET of standard or metric wrenches for $20.00..
 

Tinkerer

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I certainly can't say why stores like Sears are on the decline, not privy to all the details. But in recent years many brick and mortar stores have faced similar situations. Online purchasing, Amazon, etc, I think most certainly has changed retail shopping, or at least eat into overall sales, but I'm certain there's far more to it than that. One thing I'm of the opinion of is the continuing success of any brick and mortar store/chain is the willingness to and proceed with change. I'm convinced that consumers gravitate to "new and modern, up to date". Take Kmart that tinkerer mentioned, in my area, even after Sears acquired them, the stores are still the same stores they were 40 years ago. Meanwhile, a nearby WalMart shuts down a store that's only been there maybe 10 years and moves a mile away to a new location with a totally new store from the ground up. Same with Target, or Marshalls, they're constantly changing their stores. Yet they're not really changing their product line overall, just changing the environment. Same with Malls. There's two main large malls in Knoxville. One built in the 70's, the other built in 1982. The one built in 1982 still looks pretty much as it did then, they haven't really changed anything, heck, it still has the same pavement that was laid in 1982. I wager that mall is maby half occupancy. The other mall, built in the 70's, have been aggressive to updating, changing, adding on to it. At that mall, you are hard pressed to find a parking space on the holidays. BTW, there's a Sears store at both malls. The one at the 1982 mall, even during the Christmas shopping season, parking spaces not even 1/4 full. Not going to stay in business with those numbers.

Same situation in Illinois Willie. A big part of the deterioration of those stores are the salary's of those thieves that are CEO's.
 

hetkind

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Sears realized that their highest profit items were women's clothing, so that has been their push for decades. I haven't been into one in a decade, they have gotten terrible...

The last time I was buying craftsman tools at Sears, about 2005, I was replacing missing/broken/lost pieces of sets, like the set of thin wall 1/2 deep some idiot coworker used an air impact on, or the three racks of sockets some meth head lost every 10 and 13mm sockets on...


Howard
 

td25c

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I've been watching their struggles for awhile now. My dad worked for them 30 years. Retired in the early 90's. It was still a great strong company then. It's a shame considering their history.

Junkyard

Sure appreciate your Dad's long service with the company Junkyard !

I'm originally from Stillwater Oklahoma . Parents shopped mostly at Sears at that time " late 1960's ". No doubt in my mind people like your Dad helped customers like my family make decisions & purchase products that made life a little better with customer service and backing up the product .:thumbsup
 

willie59

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I bought a 300 piece craftsman mechanics set about 10 years ago. The one thing I hated about it was getting 4 dozen useless small sockets. 5.5mm , 6mm and such.

For years that's the biggest problem I have with Craftsman, that is, their tool sets. When you purchase their sets you end up with a pile of tools you have absolutely no use for. I don't know who decides how to arrange their sets, but they damn sure ain't no mechanic! For example, one of their sets, you get a 1/2" drive 12 point 7/16" socket. Yes...7/16". I'm sorry, if I'm going to break loose or tighten a 1/4" bolt with a 7/16" head, I damn sure ain't gonna go with a 1/2" drive ratchet! I'm going to go two steps down and use a 1/4" drive ratchet. Just another (of many) useless tools supplied in their sets that wind up in a cardboard box on a shelf.
 

wrwtexan

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My father and later me have been using Craftsman for years but in the last few, I won't buy another one. If you look at the ratchets, they have gotten coarser looking and are now made in China, definitely not who makes Carlysle tools. How about their coarse gearing in tight places? I forget the letter code which tells where its made. The wrenches are made by the same company that makes Gearwrench and the open end heads are too big to go into places the old designs would fit. Go in with a ratchet for replacement and they give you some beat up worn out rebuild instead of a new one as others with a lifetime warranty will do. A high school friend is a mechanic at our local Toyota dealer and he told me that if he goes in with his uniform on, they won't warrant his return as they aren't made for professional mechanics anymore. One of the older salesmen lives in the same town I do so he is willing to tell me some inside info. I asked him about the rebuilt ratchets instead of giving new and his response is that upper management considers warranties the same a theft, not by the customer but having the same effect on their bottom line. Our local store up to just a couple of years ago had a great open stock inventory of nearly everything in their catalog and now I can't even go in and buy or replace many of my more specialized items such as the 1/4x1/2 universal socket I lost.
Regarding other brands, as self employed, I'm not going to take food off my families table to pay for tool truck tools but the Taiwanese (not Chinese) stuff that Lowe's, NAPA, and dare I say Harbor Freight sells is really good for the price, they don't haggle over a return, and they get my work done just fine.
 

jeff112

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even the repair kits for craftsman rachets have changed in ways that surprised me, I went in to exchange a rachet that had a failed/broken on off lever,when I looked at what the exchange consisted of,I ended up settling for what craftsman stated they had a old stock repair kit for my rachet but could not swap out the parts at that time so I said I would just do it myself if that was ok, so back at the shop I opened up the rebuild kit and found the new on/off lever to be plastic! Plastic its bad enough I had to rebuild my old rachet my self and not able to exchange it for the same quality I first paid for and then to rebuild it with plastic parts!Makes a person wonder what a company thinks on selling points???
 

ScottAR

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Sears is circling the drain. The nearest corporate store gets the chopping block in April. My local ACE carries craftsman these days. I still like their screwdrivers.
Dad and I have taken to buying the older tools on Ebay for things we are missing. I've gone to armstrong and EZ Red ratchets. Knipex for pliers.
 

wrwtexan

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From my discussion with the Sears salesman, I don't believe the repair kits will interchange between the old American made and the new Chinese made ratchets.
 

mikebramel

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People complain about the ratchets being junk because they're made in China. Sorry, they were junk at least 5 years before they started making them in China
 

thepumpguysc

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I know what you mean Mike.. I've had more than my fair share of busted knuckles from the ratchet missing a beat/ skipping a tooth..
If you look at just about any mechanic hands in his 50's.. they look like they've been thru a meat grinder.. Lol
 
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