Sears sells the Craftsman Name to Stanley

[Realmongo]

Well-

It looks like Sears is disappearing.
They just sold Craftsman to Stanley.

[83GTJIM]

That sucks. Sears and Craftsman used to be an institution.

[vintageracer]

NOW Get all you Craftsman hand tools and warranty broken tools at your local ACE hardware store.

[qikgts]

FWIW Stanley also seems committed to manufacturing here in the US, very much the opposite of what Craftsman had been doing over the last few decades.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ut-900-million

“To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S.,” Stanley CEO James M. Loree said in the statement. “This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 percent in the past three years.”

[Haystack]

Stanley has been making craftsman tools for decades, not surprised at all. Even though they arent labeled as such, the part numbers on a ton of tools directly cross over and many look nearly identical except for color. Craftsman actually farms out almost all production anyways and has been accused of labeling Chinese tools as made is usa since the 70's. A bunch of them actually come from the same place as harbor.freight.

The more you look into tools, the more the are the same.

[ZephyrEFI]

FWIW Stanley also seems committed to manufacturing here in the US, very much the opposite of what Craftsman had been doing over the last few decades.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ut-900-million

“To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S.,” Stanley CEO James M. Loree said in the statement. “This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 percent in the past three years.”

Yeah, that was my first thought. I believe the basic Craftsman line is all chinese made now. If you want American, you have to step up to Craftsman Pro.

I know Stanley also owns Mac tools, which is a good brand. Hopefully they find a way for their expertise with Mac to pull the quality of Craftsman upwards and shift some of the manufacturing back here to the US.

[83GTRAG]

I am a huge craftsman fan or should I say I was. One area I pride myself in was my "made in the USA" tools. When they went to China like everything else. I lost my love and started to look at other tools. I still try to buy as much American made as possible but it's tough. So if Stanley is made in America and they make craftsman I am back. Not that I ever break a tool but how disheartening to know you would exchange your American made too for junk Chinese tools.
So keep that craftsman USA stuff alive.

[TNT]

You guys sure it's Stanley?

ABC affiliate here in Los Angeles just reported that Craftsman stuff is going to be sold as Black and Decker now. Granted, the ide of some lamestream tv idiot making a mistake like that isn't that hard to believe.

[83gt351w]

I had my Craftsman Made in USA 1/2" to 3/8" impact reducer for years, and it finally broke. I returned it, and received a made in China piece. Snapped it the first day. Returned that, broke after 2/3 uses. Finally, the last one has lasted half a dozen uses.

[83GTRAG]

I had my Craftsman Made in USA 1/2" to 3/8" impact reducer for years, and it finally broke. I returned it, and received a made in China piece. Snapped it the first day. Returned that, broke after 2/3 uses. Finally, the last one has lasted half a dozen uses.

Forgive me for thus statement:
Get a Kobalt. Made in Japan and 10 times better,same guarantee.

[83GTRAG]

You guys sure it's Stanley?

ABC affiliate here in Los Angeles just reported that Craftsman stuff is going to be sold as Black and Decker now. Granted, the ide of some lamestream tv idiot making a mistake like that isn't that hard to believe.

Black and decker, dewalt would be good too

[wraithracing]

You guys sure it's Stanley?

ABC affiliate here in Los Angeles just reported that Craftsman stuff is going to be sold as Black and Decker now. Granted, the ide of some lamestream tv idiot making a mistake like that isn't that hard to believe.

Black and decker, dewalt would be good too

Black and Decker is a whole owned subsidiary of Stanley.

Dewalt is a whole owned subsidiary of Stanley.

Dewalt was an old tool name that Black and Decker brought back in the 60's IIRC.

Bottom line is all of them are Stanley now. In fact I believe the new official name is Stanley Black & Decker.

Hopefully Stanley brings some quality and respect back to Craftsman as it is needed and well deserved.

[TNT]

OK, that clears it up.


I can still remember shopping with my dad once in the 80s. I don't recall the store, but some salesman was trying to convince him to buy some set of tools made in china. Dad picked up one of the wrenches and broke it in half with his bare hands. Told the guy that's why he'll stick with the Craftsman set my mom got him when they first married in the early 70s. He finally had to replace them a few years ago. Some tweekers broke into his garage while he was away and stole most of his tools.

[KevinK]

My first tools were Stanley and I was not impressed 35 years ago. I called them junk toys. Since I could not afford Snapon tools, I went with Craftsman. Sure I have broken a few but for the most part they get the job done.

Not to say Stanley does not have some good ideas, they are not my go to brand. I feel the same about Black and Decker. Time will tell how things pan out. The good news is the cheap tools are getting a lifetime warranty. This pressures the so called better quality tools to do the same. That will hopefully insure some decent quality.

[ev5oh]

Walmart tool section is mostly Stanley and its subsidiary B&D. It would be interesting to see how the purchase of the name Craftsman changes their marketing strategy. Sears is on its way out and Kmart. As mentioned above ACE carries Craftsman, but i would think there is not as nearly enough ACE Hardwares to hit a large enough market segment like a Sears. They're not necessarily "the palace" these days like the big box stores, either. Getting Craftsman in a Walmart would be exciting, but having everything on security tethers wouldn't be convenient.

[gr79]

Times change
Good thread here. Always need to keep up with current policies.
Why not honor warranties? Most of this stuff costs pennies on it's retail dollar to manufacture.
Cant send it back to the factory thousands of miles away. Who wants to wait for repairs?
Throw it away, lose it, forget policy, get tired of looking at it. Buy more.
One little cheap component fails and the whole shebang is junk.
Eh, who wants to keep that item forever anyway?
What do you do with like new box fans when the motors quit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Black_%26_Decker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftsman_(tools)

Industry is not going to buy into replacing all the time, nor tolerate junk tools.
Used on modern assy lines every day:
http://www.stanleyengineeredfastenin...ies/automotive

There is money to be made selling or licensing brand names with past history of quality.
Hit or miss. Still are good products out there. And old ones.
How to make max profit vs product quality and reputation. Reverse of the norm from way back.

Accountability and pride is not what it was. Companies sell out to someone else, merge, or fold up in a heartbeat.
Extended the 'fly by night' to 'fly by year'.
Change the product line and not offer comparable exchange.

A lifetime warranty is good. If the company stays in business or new owner honors it.
Limited lifetime is the phrase now.
Still can be used as a measure of quality or a selling point if keeping something a long time.

Related:
Ford, 1983:
http://www.automotive-fleet.com/arti...nted-move.aspx

Ford, 2013
http://www.automotive-fleet.com/arti...nted-move.aspx
http://www.fordparts.com/newspw.aspx...-newFPwarranty
https://www.fordparts.com/FileUpload...%20Summary.pdf

GM:
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/gm-warranty

[homer302]

The last time I attempted to get a broken craftsman tool replaced they did replace it but told me it would be my last. The guy at Sears told me they were no longer honoring that lifetime warranty.

[Hemlock]

This isn't the first time in the last 5 years I have had a problem with Sears but it is the straw that broke the camels back! Sears has been going down the crapper for the last several years and the only thing that HAS kept them alive up to now is the repeat business from their loyal senior patronage which unfortunately is dwindling every year. There was a time when Sears meant high quality and a name you could trust! My parents and my wife's parent were regular customers up until recently.

My mother in law who lives with us and we are taking care of insisted on buying our last gas dryer from Sears thinking their product and warrantee would some how out perform the other chain stores due too her dealings with them in the not so resent past. She even paid more for the dryer! I went with her to make the purchase seeing as she is in her 70ies now and not wanting her to get taken advantage of. The sales person assured us they had the lowest price (which I knew they didn't because I looked on the net before we went shopping) on the matching dryer we wanted and that they had our gas dryer in stock and it would be delivered within 2 weeks. The delivery time to us was crucial seeing as our current dryer had died several days before and our laundry was stacking up! It took almost a month to get the first dryer delivered after making several calls to the store sales guy and department manager complaining we had not received our dryer yet. When the dryer was finally delivered it was an electric dryer which to us was completely useless! When I called the delivery stockroom pissed off that they had sent the wrong dryer, they informed me that they were told to send the electric dryer and the one we had ordered was back ordered and had been back ordered for way over a month and that the store when we ordered it would have known that! The sales guy just wanted to make a sale with no regard for us! This is the reason I HATE commissioned SALES! After another week of dicking around and a few hundred dollars in discounts which brought the product down to about a $150 below what everyone else was charging for the same dryer, I finally got a date for delivery from them of another month away! Needless to say I was tired of going to the laundry mat with a family of 6 worth of laundry! I told them to pound sand and give us our money back! I then that same day went to Home Depot and got the same dryer delivered and installed in 3 days for the same $150 discounted price because Home Depot was having a sale on that dryer!

That was 3 years ago and I haven't looked back! The only reason I would set foot in a Sears now is to exchange a broken tool because all my tools are Craftsman or if they were having some kind of crazy sale on tools. I even bought my new drill press this Christmas from Harbor Freight because of the problems I had with Sears. Keep in mind ALL of my 15+ power tools up to now have been Craftsman!

Robert

[downtime!]

I got a Craftsman top box and the 200+ piece Mechanics tool set for my tenth birthday (1973) and still have every bit of it and the box. I added a matching vintage rollaway bottom box several years ago and it's still doing a fine job of holding my tools. Can't argue with 44 years of continuous service. The only piece I've ever broken was a 3/8" drive socket handle. The center spun out of it. Took it back to Sears and they gave me a new one, never had another issue.

[TNT]

This isn't the first time in the last 5 years I have had a problem with Sears but it is the straw that broke the camels back! Sears has been going down the crapper for the last several years and the only thing that HAS kept them alive up to now is the repeat business from their loyal senior patronage which unfortunately is dwindling every year. There was a time when Sears meant high quality and a name you could trust! My parents and my wife's parent were regular customers up until recently.

My mother in law who lives with us and we are taking care of insisted on buying our last gas dryer from Sears thinking their product and warrantee would some how out perform the other chain stores due too her dealings with them in the not so resent past. She even paid more for the dryer! I went with her to make the purchase seeing as she is in her 70ies now and not wanting her to get taken advantage of. The sales person assured us they had the lowest price (which I knew they didn't because I looked on the net before we went shopping) on the matching dryer we wanted and that they had our gas dryer in stock and it would be delivered within 2 weeks. The delivery time to us was crucial seeing as our current dryer had died several days before and our laundry was stacking up! It took almost a month to get the first dryer delivered after making several calls to the store sales guy and department manager complaining we had not received or dryer yet. When the dryer was finally delivered it was an electric dryer which to us was completely useless! When I called the delivery stockroom pissed off that they had sent the wrong dryer, they informed me that they were told to send the electric dryer and the one we had ordered was back ordered and had been back ordered for way over a month and that the store when we ordered it would have known that! The sales guy just wanted to make a sale with no regard for us! This is the reason I HATE commissioned SALES! After another week of dicking around and a few hundred dollars in discounts which brought the product down to about a $150 below what everyone else was charging for the same dryer, I finally got a date for delivery from them of another month away! Needless to say I was tired of going to the laundry mat with a family of 6 worth of laundry! I told them to pound sand and give us our money back! I then that same day went to Home Depot and got the same dryer delivered and installed in 3 days for the same $150 discounted price because Home Depot was having a sale on that dryer!

That was 3 years ago and I haven't looked back! The only reason I would set foot in a Sears now is to exchange a broken tool because all my tools are Craftsman or if they were having some kind of crazy sale on tools. I even bought my new drill press this Christmas from Harbor Freight because of the problems I had with Sears. Keep in mind ALL of my 15+ power tools up to now have been Craftsman!

Robert

Back in the 1990s I worked at the call center you dealt with. We covered scheduling of deliveries for So-cal, AZ, and southern NV. I lost track of how many times I had to deal with customers who the salespeople had flat out lied to. Promising deliveries in areas we NEVER delivered to was a frequent one. Same goes for lying about the availability of appliances, like they did to you.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

I have some older Craftsman stuff that my Dad bought me for Christmas back when I was 15 or 16 years old. That's been over 20 years now and I still have most of it I'd say. For the last 16 years or so I've been working in shops professionally so 90% of my stuff is Snap On. Expensive yes but high quality and I help my local tool man earn a living. On the plus side he also takes pretty good care of me. I try to always buy American when possible. I'll even avoid the Blue Point brand unless it's manufactured here in the States. Most Blue Point used to be when it came to hand tools but now allot of that is being made over seas.

[Hemlock]

The last time I attempted to get a broken craftsman tool replaced they did replace it but told me it would be my last. The guy at Sears told me they were no longer honoring that lifetime warranty.

The sales guy was mis-informed according to Craftsman's newest return policy as of last month 12/2016. Although I don't know if this will change after the sale to Stanley/Black and Decker.

https://www.craftsman.com/customer-c...ty-information

Update I just found this: http://www.masslive.com/business-new...fetime_wa.html

Looks like they are going to still honor the Lifetime policy on Hand Tools!

Robert

[mmb617]

I was buying Craftsman tools so long ago that I have some of their power tools that were made in the USA, so you know that's a long time ago. When they shifted power tool manufacturing off-shore way back when, I switched to buying Porter Cable as they were a quality US tool. Now of course Porter Cable is owned by Black and Decker and their tools are just more run of the mill off-shore stuff.

I hate seeing what used to be quality brand names like Craftsman and Porter Cable go down like that. There's not much left in the way of quality, US made mechanics tools anymore. You pretty much have to go tool truck brand to get that, and those tools are a tad high in price for us non-professionals.

[ZephyrEFI]

I was buying Craftsman tools so long ago that I have some of their power tools that were made in the USA, so you know that's a long time ago. When they shifted power tool manufacturing off-shore way back when, I switched to buying Porter Cable as they were a quality US tool. Now of course Porter Cable is owned by Black and Decker and their tools are just more run of the mill off-shore stuff.

I hate seeing what used to be quality brand names like Craftsman and Porter Cable go down like that. There's not much left in the way of quality, US made mechanics tools anymore. You pretty much have to go tool truck brand to get that, and those tools are a tad high in price for us non-professionals.

Not only that, no access to a tool truck! I've had to warranty some of my stuff recently and it's the convoluted, months-long procedure of mailing tools back and forth from the manufacturer! For a while there, i'd watch the local garages to see if i could spot a tool truck at one i could go to. One time, i was seriously thinking about accosting a tool guy at McDonalds!

[Hemlock]

For the price Snap On charges for a set of tools you should be able to call a guy to your home to exchange a tool! I would be pissed if I spent that much money on a tool set and couldn't find a place to exchange a broken tool! The warrantee is only good if you can use it!

Robert