Craftsman tools at Lowe's

I was in Lowe's last night for first time in a while. First time seeing the Craftsman brand since Stanley bought them. All were zip-tied so I couldn't open to inspect. Prices looked reasonable, however they were 'on sale'.

 

It has been predicted that selling the craftsman brands at Lowe’s will be the final death of Sears as that is one of their last draws at attracting shoppers into the store. I would be surprised to see Sears around in five years

 

That’s what I was wondering. Sears closed up shop in Canada just lately & I was sorry to see the Craftsman tool line go. Lowe’s just set up shop here so we’ll see.

 

Sears Holdings Corp. is still getting residuals from Craftsman sales and I think that contract is something like for the first 10 years under SBD leadership, not including the sale price of the brand.

They’ve also sold selling rights to their other in-store only brand, Kenmore.

Assets are being liquified, including real estate. Mathematically, Sears retail will be dead within 2 years. Craftsman is a legacy brand and will continue to be sold just as much as it has been, if not more. It’s still the “coke,” “Kleenex,” and “Band Aid” of tool brands.

I work for a separate corporation under the Sears name.

 

I was excited to see their new tool boxes at Lowes, and was instantly disappointed in the drawer slide quality. The Kobalt brand and Harbor Freight both have nicer drawer slides.

 

I completely agree. The thing that surprises me tho, is that Kobalt has not tried to compete better with Home Depot's Husky. they are both up to par tech wise and what not, but Husky beats them hands down with price on some of the larger models.

 

I'm glad I built up my hand tools back when Craftsman was made in the USA. Sears used to have great sales on Craftsman now and then. A number of years ago I ordered a wrench set and when I opened it up something looked wrong, the metal was a lot thicker than the ones I had so when I compared them there was no forged in USA on them, instead there was some D-AC on them. That was the last time I bought Craftsman, If I need something that I will use frequently I will look at S&K or possibly Snap-on and for the stuff I don't use that often I will get Harbor Freight or Tekton, at least with them you know what you are in for.

 

IDK, it's kind of nice having to constantly spend more money on wrenches as they snap because they were built like absolute shit.

oh wait....

 

You guys should check out the Carlyle tools at Napa auto. I have spent the last three years pretty much converting to them and I am a huge fan of Carlyle Tools. They have been selling the Craftsman line at our Ace Hardware for several years now too. Sadly I no longer buy Craftsman due to the poor quality.

 

Craftsman is in the processes of bringing a lot of their tool manufacturing back to the US.

 

Almost bought a Kobalt and HF toolbox, ended up settling on a Milwaukee one. Pretty nice toolbox.

 

I was under the impression that sears was going under. But in order to still capitalize on the craftsman brand they sold it off too Lowe’s.

I would have much rather seen the brand be in Home Depot stores

 

They sold it to a tool conglomerate that owns several brands to include Stanley & Black & Decker. Let that be your vision of the future for Craftsman.

 

I worked for Sears for about 10 years starting back in the early 2000’s right before they merged with K Mart. When I first started there it was still decent, the workers were full time and or commission and the quality of the products, although I am sure not as good as say in the 50’s ect, was still okay.. Once they merged with Kmart I saw a very swift decline in quality year over year, and quality employees got replaced by part time high school kids. I gave them only 5 years or so back then, and I am shocked they are still around. Its really too bad that a company that was once considered the standard is now the laughable joke it has become.. I have some craftsman tools I bought back then that have lasted pretty good, but I would not buy them today..

 

Which has also owned dewalt since the mid 60s. So they're capable of producing nice stuff.

 

They actually purchased Dewalt in 2004 and I no longer purchase Dewalt either. I am not trying to bash on the stuff but you should know what you are buying before you invest.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeWalt

http://www.powertoolsinsider.com/black-and-decker-and-dewalt-a-tale-of-two-brands/

Stanley bought b and d in 2009, but everything I've ever read says that black and decker bought dewalt in 1960. Two examples above, if you have more reliable information then I'd love to see it.

 

Can I buy a single 3/8" drive deep wall 10mm?

 

I am not going to continue to argue the point, we can agree to disagree, the end of the story is the company that now holds all of the brands mentioned does not have a good reputation for producing quality tools. This includes the Dewalt brand. I have switched everything we use at our shop over to Milwaukee as the Dewalt products we used to be outfitted with typically do not last a week in our environment. They might do okay for the home owner but you can get better quality for the same money. This is also why you now see the Dewalt brand being whore'd out and basic socket sets being branded as such. I have no dog in the fight as I have quality tools, best of luck to everyone investing in tools but some people seem to hold on to the reputation of these old brands when that is exactly why these cheap companies are investing in the name recognition in the first place. Brands like Craftsman are dead, you are better off picking up a Husky or Kobalt than anything with Craftsman stamped on it.

Think of it this way, why would a company that already produces tools pay billions for a brand for items they already produce? It is only for the name recognition and because they know they can fool the consumer and make a return on that investment. Many people trust Craftsman and they know that people will buy that product based on the reputation of our fathers and grandfathers tools without questioning the quality of the item. When in all actuality the Craftsman tool you buy today has zero in common with the exact same part # that was produced even 20 years ago. The only thing that remains is the name that is poorly stamped on the item. These companies are purchasing these other lines so they can control the lower end tool market and give the illusion of competition when they are only competing with themselves.