Why people don't buy craftsman anymore

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Even though I was a MAC dealer for 28 years, I have a SK 1/4" drive set. Nice for the price and I like the fine tooth ratchets. I can still get them and sell a set every now and then.

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MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Used to have a set of Kraeuter sockets/ratchet that were pretty good tools. I like the proto,sk,cornwells I have.
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I aquired a 3/8 Kraeuter ratchet somehow. That's the only thing I had from them but I loved that thing. It left me as easily as it found me :(
Just like this one with the cool handle shape
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Back in the day it was Sears Craftsman for any store bought tools. Made in America, the warranty. Diehard batteries, the service at the auto centers (at least in suburban Illinois at the time) Yard equipment. ALL that is gone, dead, the name means nothing. Any of it is the same metal and manufacturing as the rest, some different color paint or plastic, logo, contours otherwise all the same. Luckily I still have all my Craftsman tools as well as my Grandfathers Craftsman mechanics cabinet “stack” filled with all his American made tools likely going back to the 40’s.
But now if I need any special tool or a replacement it’s Harbor Freight! I like the Doyle and Quinn line of tools. Some of their pricier Pittsburgh line are good. It’s all made in China no matter what “store bought” tool it is. When you need it now what are you going to do? Even the old reliable and quality “Lisle” brand of tools seems to be made elsewhere.
 
12many said:
Back in the day it was Sears Craftsman for any store bought tools. Made in America, the warranty. Diehard batteries, the service at the auto centers (at least in suburban Illinois at the time) Yard equipment. ALL that is gone, dead, the name means nothing. Any of it is the same metal and manufacturing as the rest, some different color paint or plastic, logo, contours otherwise all the same. Luckily I still have all my Craftsman tools as well as my Grandfathers Craftsman mechanics cabinet “stack” filled with all his American made tools likely going back to the 40’s.
But now if I need any special tool or a replacement it’s Harbor Freight! I like the Doyle and Quinn line of tools. Some of their pricier Pittsburgh line are good. It’s all made in China no matter what “store bought” tool it is. When you need it now what are you going to do? Even the old reliable and quality “Lisle” brand of tools seems to be made elsewhere.
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It wasn’t just tools. Sears meant quality. For many years we had Kenmore appliances. They were second to none. Our refrigerator is 35 years old!
 
12many said:
Back in the day it was Sears Craftsman for any store bought tools. Made in America, the warranty. Diehard batteries, the service at the auto centers (at least in suburban Illinois at the time) Yard equipment. ALL that is gone, dead, the name means nothing. Any of it is the same metal and manufacturing as the rest, some different color paint or plastic, logo, contours otherwise all the same. Luckily I still have all my Craftsman tools as well as my Grandfathers Craftsman mechanics cabinet “stack” filled with all his American made tools likely going back to the 40’s.
But now if I need any special tool or a replacement it’s Harbor Freight! I like the Doyle and Quinn line of tools. Some of their pricier Pittsburgh line are good. It’s all made in China no matter what “store bought” tool it is. When you need it now what are you going to do? Even the old reliable and quality “Lisle” brand of tools seems to be made elsewhere.
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You are spot on. I can remember as a kid that if we bought something from Sears it was a big deal. Not every family could go in there and make purchases because of the cost. And when you saw Craftsman (Yard equipment also) you really had something. One of the most recognized Brand names to ever come out of the USA sitting right beside the likes of Ford....

JW
 
The brand Sears used to man quality, like just said. Be it tools, lawn tractors, appliances, what ever. Used to be.
Sears, in general, went to Hell many years ago.
Quality isn't there for so many brands these days. No pride in anything. Everything is cheap and throw away!!
 
I really believe the road down hill for Sears is when they expanded the appliance lines to include other brands. Man I remember as a kid, that was like 1960 AD, going shopping for school clothes or supplies was like going to where the rich people shopped.
 
Got to looking on Ebag for the old catalogs, plenty to pick from! I can remember thumbing through looking at stereo equipment, guitars and drum sets. Here’s one from 1981, grabbed a screen shot from the listing of the catalog pages showing various accessories for the 1972-80 Dodge D/W Series trucks. How cool:thumbsup:
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toolmanmike said:
Even though I was a MAC dealer for 28 years, I have a SK 1/4" drive set. Nice for the price and I like the fine tooth ratchets. I can still get them and sell a set every now and then.

View attachment 1715830275
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The SK 650 piece professional master kit is about 13K or more.
How much for a comparable MAC set ?
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
I really believe the road down hill for Sears is when they expanded the appliance lines to include other brands. Man I remember as a kid, that was like 1960 AD, going shopping for school clothes or supplies was like going to where the rich people shopped.
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Hard to blame their demise on on-line shopping. They were the king of mail order for almost a century. They should have been way ahead of the game.
 
speaking of Sears, I heard a reference to the merger of Sears and K Mart back in the early 2000's. It went something like...
".... that merger is like one drunk helping another drunk drive a car, it will end badly."
 
my68barracuda said:
speaking of Sears, I heard a reference to the merger of Sears and K Mart back in the early 2000's. It went something like...
".... that merger is like one drunk helping another drunk drive a car, it will end badly."
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I had heard that too. I knew then Sears was doomed.
 
If you were going to buy Craftsman now, you may as well just buy Tekton or Capri where if you break a tool, you just send them a picture of it and they send you a new one right away. I have a bunch of USA craftsman stuff but a few sockets broke and they gave me Chinese ones. They don't feel quality at all.

I have a lot of Taiwan tools that I would consider very good quality. Capri extra long wrenches, Yost forged bench vice, Astro Pneumatic Impact Gun and .498 Shank air hammer,etc, etc. Most of us just can't justify and won't need snap on or mac.
 
Phreakish said:
Some of that can be blamed on the tree huggers. Lots of materials and finishes we used to take for granted are no longer RHOS or EPA compliant and so inferior coatings, plastics, and chemicals take their place. Some of it is driven by cost, but in the past few years it's also been driven by artificial shortages caused by over-regulation (or poorly managed regulation) holding certain products hostage. Nylon 6/6 became rare as gold due to some political shenanigans and lots of companies shifted to straight nylon 6 (inferior) or some other material - none of which are better than 6/6 unless you pay an ungodly premium for it.

On metals, good chromate went out the window. It was a great corrosion inhibitor. Hard chrome has also disappeared to a significant degree. Only a few dwindling number of places offer it, and only under 'grandfathered' operating licenses.

Soft touch materials universally suck, but the younger generation has been coddled with rubber on every 'touch point' since birth, and so designers feel they're necessary even on hard-use items. They're NOT. Soft materials are weaker by their very nature, and none are completely impervious to chemicals. Only a few can resist hydraulic fluids, and only one or two can resist DEET and hydraulic fluids.

I wish tool makers would build some of today's good tech (high voltage lithium batteries and brushless motors) into cast magnesium housings finished with hexavalent chromate. Best of both worlds, IMO. But then our tools would last more than a few years and they'd likely go out of business.
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You said it , heck seems like anything shipped out of CA that is metallic etc has a CANCER warning on it , my new pistons had it on the box last week.
 
bcschief said:
Shipping is the 10,000 lbs elephant in the room on online purchases.
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Little secret send a message to seller and type out your phone number and if they didnt ride the little bus and lick the windows they will figure it out and text or call you and u can make a deal off of EBAY and both save money I did it last night with a nos W5 intake of course before buying check to make sure feedback is positive on seller.
 
Unconventional said:
Hard to blame their demise on on-line shopping. They were the king of mail order for almost a century. They should have been way ahead of the game.
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Amen - they sold everything from Houses to Cars [ Kaiser] built the Henry J and sold it there called it a Allstate.
 
Lots of stuff Sears sold was re branded to their in-house names and sometimes hard to figure out who actually made it.

Pretty sure most of their appliances were that way. Some "Kenmores" were GREAT, others not so much.

We had a "Sears" branded Atari 2600.
They must have been masters of licensing agreements because it was actually $5 cheaper than the Atari branded one.

I agree that should have been ahead of the online game but their demise actually started way before online was even close to how big it is now.

Lots of folks blame Wal-mart for the demise of both Sears and K-Mart.
I'm sure it had something to do with it.

Speaking of that, how about Dollar General?
They are "out-Wal-Marting" Wal-Mart.
Their stores are closer to your house and the prices are similar if not a tad bit cheaper.
Why drive farther, and fight the parking and the Wal-Martians if what you need is at DG?

It's almost the return of the neighborhood "five and dime" store, but they're all the same and corporate owned.
 
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