Sears Selling Craftsman Brand

sixdogs · Feb 7, 2017

Robmus18 said:
Stanley black and Decker should breathe new life into the brand, once sears produced in China it was all downhill. I'd like to see the craftsman power tools with the stanley/Dewalt 20v lithium ion, maybe even the 60v flexvolt l. That tired old 19.2v needed to be retired, making the 19.2 lithium ion only made it smaller, not stronger.

Yeah, once they decided to sell Chinese stuff and take on Harbor Freight

but at twice the price and half the service, the end to this story was written. Management looked too comfortable. Lesson; never get cozy in the job and always hire better than you are. In reality, Sears started to trend down in the mid-late 1970's when they stopped selling many traditional items and started lowering quality. It was obvious they were just trying to kick the can down the road a while longer.

Time to look to the next leader. Online? Walmart online? Amazon? EBAY? I'm thinking WalMart online with lots more USA stuff or maybe Alibaba or but it's early. At least now we know how it will settle out 75 years from now.

Soundguy · Feb 13, 2017

sixdogs said:
Yeah, once they decided to sell Chinese stuff and take on Harbor Freight but at twice the price and half the service, the end to this story was written. Management looked too comfortable. Lesson; never get cozy in the job and always hire better than you are. In reality, Sears started to trend down in the mid-late 1970's when they stopped selling many traditional items and started lowering quality. It was obvious they were just trying to kick the can down the road a while longer.

Time to look to the next leader. Online? Walmart online? Amazon? EBAY? I'm thinking WalMart online with lots more USA stuff or maybe Alibaba or but it's early. At least now we know how it will settle out 75 years from now.

yup.. if your tools are made in china, and HF's tools are made in china.. and both have a lifetime warranty, and yours cost 3-4x more than harbor freights, and they both look about the same. yup.. people gonna stop buying your tools. go figure.

JESSE1 · Feb 13, 2017

Several months ago I needed a set of long metric sockets so I went to Sears. Found a set I wanted, looked closer and saw the "made in china" lettering. Sales clerk came by and asked if I needed any help. I said that I was headed to Harbor Freight because if I had to buy imported there wasn't any sense in paying three times as much for the same tools.

sixdogs · Feb 13, 2017

JESSE1 said:
Several months ago I needed a set of long metric sockets so I went to Sears. Found a set I wanted, looked closer and saw the "made in china" lettering. Sales clerk came by and asked if I needed any help. I said that I was headed to Harbor Freight because if I had to buy imported there wasn't any sense in paying three times as much for the same tools.

Plus you to have to deal with the Sears attitude, assuming you can find someone to wait on you. It pains me to say this but some of the HF hand tools are really pretty high quality.

s219 · Feb 13, 2017

I needed to find a 10mm flex socket for 1/4" drive to get to a tough bolt on my wife's car. Sears showed one in stock at the local store for $8.50, so I went by, but that particular peg was empty and we didn't see the socket anywhere else on the rack. Checked three other stores (not Sears) in the area and they don't even carry that type of socket. Checked the local Ace that sells Craftsman and they don't stock that socket. So I had to order a different brand from Amazon and wait a few days.

This suggests we will have a big problem if/when Sears disappears. Around here, they are the only source for oddball tools like that. I can remember 4-5 times over the years when I needed just "one size" of a particular wrench or socket, and Sears was the only game in town. Well, the game apparently hasn't changed -- they are still the only game in town for oddball stuff. I won't have any choice but to order this stuff online in the future I guess. That sucks for those projects when you need that special tool "today".

Funny thing -- when I was in Ace, I asked the clerk, and he said why not just use a u-joint swivel socket adapter with a regular socket. I told him if it was that simple I wouldn't be driving around town all day. The bolt I need to get to (on the back of a power steering pump) is in a tight spot and the only option is a flex socket.

Soundguy · Feb 14, 2017

s219 said:
I needed to find a 10mm flex socket for 1/4" drive to get to a tough bolt on my wife's car. Sears showed one in stock at the local store for $8.50, so I went by, but that particular peg was empty and we didn't see the socket anywhere else on the rack. Checked three other stores (not Sears) in the area and they don't even carry that type of socket. Checked the local Ace that sells Craftsman and they don't stock that socket. So I had to order a different brand from Amazon and wait a few days.

This suggests we will have a big problem if/when Sears disappears. Around here, they are the only source for oddball tools like that. I can remember 4-5 times over the years when I needed just "one size" of a particular wrench or socket, and Sears was the only game in town. Well, the game apparently hasn't changed -- they are still the only game in town for oddball stuff. I won't have any choice but to order this stuff online in the future I guess. That sucks for those projects when you need that special tool "today".

Funny thing -- when I was in Ace, I asked the clerk, and he said why not just use a u-joint swivel socket adapter with a regular socket. I told him if it was that simple I wouldn't be driving around town all day. The bolt I need to get to (on the back of a power steering pump) is in a tight spot and the only option is a flex socket.

And that's part of why they went broke.

stocking their shelves with expensive 1-off tools that someone once a year needs...

svenlylethor · Feb 14, 2017

My first job out of college was at Sears Corporate in Hoffman Estates. They lured students in from top universities with high salaries but after a year or two they'd all split.

I remember when I had my flyout they picked me up in a stretched limo... I thought to myself "If they didn't blow money on stretched limos for college students, maybe they wouldn't be in such a bad situation".

I was only there for a year before I couldn't take it. Learned very quickly that I hated working for huge corporations and I hated the feeling that I was on a sinking ship... and that's totally how it felt. I do love craftsman tools but man, working there was a disaster. I have two friends out of the 75 analysts who are still there. Good for them for staying but I'm sooooo glad I'm out of there.

sixdogs · Feb 15, 2017

All the reasons no longer matter and even the mass store closings likely yet to come won't have much you want to buy regardless of the lower price. Well, it was a good hundred and something years and shopping at Sears was one of the highlights of my youth. What a joyous experience it was, especially around the holidays.

JESSE1 · Feb 15, 2017

I remember my parents taking us to Sears at Christmas time in the early '60's. They had Marx train sets running on layouts and any toy you could want. I had a Marx Rock Island train set under the tree that Christmas, didn't get any better than that. Always had a candy counter, I can still remember the smells.