Sears - yikes!
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Originally Posted By: dlundblad
What about the lifetime warranty on their hand tools? This almost makes me not want to use my Craftsman wrenches. Especially the USA made ones.
Bah, I say use them. You generally have to work pretty hard to break a wrench. I seriously doubt you'll break them unless you misuse the tool and double-up the wrenches or use a cheater bar.
I bought a double-box metric wrench set so I could get one before they turned Chinese. It appears instead they just discontinued my wrench set. But, I'm not worried. I don't misuse my tools and I got these for a great price. I replaced the two smallest wrenches because of minor cosmetic quality issues and ended up with a great set of wrenches for a bargain price.
These are the types of Craftsman tools I'll miss...
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/craftsman-box-wrench-set-initial-review-pics.178963/
What about the lifetime warranty on their hand tools? This almost makes me not want to use my Craftsman wrenches. Especially the USA made ones.
Bah, I say use them. You generally have to work pretty hard to break a wrench. I seriously doubt you'll break them unless you misuse the tool and double-up the wrenches or use a cheater bar.
I bought a double-box metric wrench set so I could get one before they turned Chinese. It appears instead they just discontinued my wrench set. But, I'm not worried. I don't misuse my tools and I got these for a great price. I replaced the two smallest wrenches because of minor cosmetic quality issues and ended up with a great set of wrenches for a bargain price.
These are the types of Craftsman tools I'll miss...
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/craftsman-box-wrench-set-initial-review-pics.178963/
Craftsman power equipment is MTD or Husqvarna built anyhow. I bet Briggs & Stratton, MTD, or another retailer will buy the Craftsman name and just apply it to whatever Chinese junk they're selling.
You can already buy the same MTD snowblower as a black and yellow Craftsman at Sears, a black and red Troy-Bilt at Lowes, or a yellow Cub Cadet at Tractor Supply.
You can already buy the same MTD snowblower as a black and yellow Craftsman at Sears, a black and red Troy-Bilt at Lowes, or a yellow Cub Cadet at Tractor Supply.
JTK
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Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Craftsman power equipment is MTD or Husqvarna built anyhow. I bet Briggs & Stratton, MTD, or another retailer will buy the Craftsman name and just apply it to whatever Chinese junk they're selling.
You can already buy the same MTD snowblower as a black and yellow Craftsman at Sears, a black and red Troy-Bilt at Lowes, or a yellow Cub Cadet at Tractor Supply.
Right.
Was American Yard Products, then Electrolux, now Husqvarna. The rest are MTDs of different colors. People still buy them based on the Sears/Craftsman name and the fact they can order parts through the stores, where you can't through a Big Box.
Craftsman power equipment is MTD or Husqvarna built anyhow. I bet Briggs & Stratton, MTD, or another retailer will buy the Craftsman name and just apply it to whatever Chinese junk they're selling.
You can already buy the same MTD snowblower as a black and yellow Craftsman at Sears, a black and red Troy-Bilt at Lowes, or a yellow Cub Cadet at Tractor Supply.
Right.
Was American Yard Products, then Electrolux, now Husqvarna. The rest are MTDs of different colors. People still buy them based on the Sears/Craftsman name and the fact they can order parts through the stores, where you can't through a Big Box.
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Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
What about the lifetime warranty on their hand tools? This almost makes me not want to use my Craftsman wrenches. Especially the USA made ones.
Bah, I say use them. You generally have to work pretty hard to break a wrench. I seriously doubt you'll break them unless you misuse the tool and double-up the wrenches or use a cheater bar.
I tend to misplace screwdrivers.
I've managed to buy a lot of specials with Craftsman tools. I especially like the $5 special for a full 18 piece metric/standard screwdriver set in a fabric case.
I also remember buying several Craftsman labelled screwdrivers. They seemed identical to the standard ones with the clear handles, but these had opaque red or orange handles. They were sold loose in a cardboard box without hang tags. However, they seemed to be as functionally strong.
My dad borrowed some and proceeded to chew up the Phillips head screwdrivers and the flat heads rusted because of where he stored them. I bought them into an Orchard Supply Hardware store. OSH was then owned by Sears and even now I think they'll do Craftsman warranty replacement. I showed them to the manager. She told me to find an equivalent, and all they had were the standard clear handled ones with the hang tags. She looked to see they were functionally equivalent and I walked out of the store with new tools.
I remember a former coworker telling me of a discarded and damaged Craftsman hand tool he found on the side of the road. He brought it into a Sears tool dept and they replaced it on the spot.
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
What about the lifetime warranty on their hand tools? This almost makes me not want to use my Craftsman wrenches. Especially the USA made ones.
Bah, I say use them. You generally have to work pretty hard to break a wrench. I seriously doubt you'll break them unless you misuse the tool and double-up the wrenches or use a cheater bar.
I tend to misplace screwdrivers.
I've managed to buy a lot of specials with Craftsman tools. I especially like the $5 special for a full 18 piece metric/standard screwdriver set in a fabric case.
I also remember buying several Craftsman labelled screwdrivers. They seemed identical to the standard ones with the clear handles, but these had opaque red or orange handles. They were sold loose in a cardboard box without hang tags. However, they seemed to be as functionally strong.
My dad borrowed some and proceeded to chew up the Phillips head screwdrivers and the flat heads rusted because of where he stored them. I bought them into an Orchard Supply Hardware store. OSH was then owned by Sears and even now I think they'll do Craftsman warranty replacement. I showed them to the manager. She told me to find an equivalent, and all they had were the standard clear handled ones with the hang tags. She looked to see they were functionally equivalent and I walked out of the store with new tools.
I remember a former coworker telling me of a discarded and damaged Craftsman hand tool he found on the side of the road. He brought it into a Sears tool dept and they replaced it on the spot.
My friend who works at sears (technically Lands end within sears) says that fifteen minutes before closing some curmudgeon brought in a box of "hundreds" of broken/ rusty/ misfunctioning Craftsman hand tools, apparently expecting free replacement, possibly without argument given the time.
They stayed open late to churn through each item. I saw both sides of that coin WRT the customer's expectations vs the retailer's.
They stayed open late to churn through each item. I saw both sides of that coin WRT the customer's expectations vs the retailer's.
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
Sears didn't kill itself. KMart is responsible for driving Sears to the ground.
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
stephen9666 said:
The only thing that cane save Sears is the company being controlled by people that understand mass market retail, they have to get out from under the holding company that now controls them. K Mart while an icon should be shut down or sold if possible.
Sears still has a lot of things going for them.
I have to chuckle at some of these "experts" pronouncing the death of the company, unless of course he is somehow going to benefit from doing such. Which wouldn't surprise me one bit.
I'd say the worst thing that happened to Sears was the company falling out of the family hands that built it.
Look at Dell. The company while public and in the hands of greedy shareholders only reacted to short term planning which was destroying the company that had once been very profitable and highly regarded. Now that Michael Dell has bought it back and taken it private they can concentrate on rebuilding the company and focusing on customer satisfaction.
Sears still has a lot of things going for them.
I have to chuckle at some of these "experts" pronouncing the death of the company, unless of course he is somehow going to benefit from doing such. Which wouldn't surprise me one bit.
I'd say the worst thing that happened to Sears was the company falling out of the family hands that built it.
Look at Dell. The company while public and in the hands of greedy shareholders only reacted to short term planning which was destroying the company that had once been very profitable and highly regarded. Now that Michael Dell has bought it back and taken it private they can concentrate on rebuilding the company and focusing on customer satisfaction.
Originally Posted By: Turk
Anyone remember "Montgomery Wards"??
Yes, I also remember Gottschalks, Weinstocks, and Mervyns.
Anyone remember "Montgomery Wards"??
Yes, I also remember Gottschalks, Weinstocks, and Mervyns.
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Turk
Anyone remember "Montgomery Wards"??
Yes, I also remember Gottschalks, Weinstocks, and Mervyns.
Mervyn's HQ in Hayward is still unoccupied years after Target sold them to two private equity firms which in turn figured that they had no choice but to liquidate.
Several locations are still unoccupied/boarded up, and some still have the signage.
Originally Posted By: Turk
Anyone remember "Montgomery Wards"??
Yes, I also remember Gottschalks, Weinstocks, and Mervyns.
Mervyn's HQ in Hayward is still unoccupied years after Target sold them to two private equity firms which in turn figured that they had no choice but to liquidate.
Several locations are still unoccupied/boarded up, and some still have the signage.
Originally Posted By: mjk
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/...-151232559.html
Quote:
...The company has been on a slide ever since, particularly since hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert merged Kmart with Sears and adopted the name Sears Holding Corporation in the middle of last decade. Comparable store sales have since shrunk in a straight line and earnings haven’t been much better.
Well yeah! Looks like Eddie tried to mimic Jean Claude VD, but without near the flexibility. A hedge fund manager?? WTH? Small wonder. . .
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/...-151232559.html
Quote:
...The company has been on a slide ever since, particularly since hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert merged Kmart with Sears and adopted the name Sears Holding Corporation in the middle of last decade. Comparable store sales have since shrunk in a straight line and earnings haven’t been much better.
Well yeah! Looks like Eddie tried to mimic Jean Claude VD, but without near the flexibility. A hedge fund manager?? WTH? Small wonder. . .
Worked @ Sears for a couple of yrs. in the early 2000's. We replaced a TON of rusty, beat-up Craftsman tools w/new ones. Sometimes went well over $1000! It was ridiculous. The store that I worked in looks MUCH better today than 12 yrs. ago. Management. Paint dept. gone. Cut-troat policy on selling "extended" warranties for the associates. If you didn't sell a percentage, out the door or moved to a different dept. You MUST treat your employee's well if the Co. expects to stay and flourish. Customer service is the key. I hope they stick around.
I've always thought that Sears getting out of the mail order game right before the advent of e-commerce was one of the greatest business blunders of all time.
They had the infrastructure, distribution network, a solid reputation, and were trusted. Sears could have been Amazon.
I used to buy everything at Sears (downtown, non-mall store) -- clothes, glasses, shoes, family pictures, electronics, appliances, tools, tires, etc. If Sears didn't sell it, I probably didn't need it.
And then, they moved to the mall and all of their old employees were phased/forced out. The store gradually turned into a slightly upscale K-Mart but with nothing in stock, an antiquated POS system (esp. annoying when everything was kept in a warehouse), high pressure and un-knowledgeable salesmen, etc., etc.
To say they're not even trying would be a compliment. It's almost like they're actively trying to alienate their own customers.
They had the infrastructure, distribution network, a solid reputation, and were trusted. Sears could have been Amazon.
I used to buy everything at Sears (downtown, non-mall store) -- clothes, glasses, shoes, family pictures, electronics, appliances, tools, tires, etc. If Sears didn't sell it, I probably didn't need it.
And then, they moved to the mall and all of their old employees were phased/forced out. The store gradually turned into a slightly upscale K-Mart but with nothing in stock, an antiquated POS system (esp. annoying when everything was kept in a warehouse), high pressure and un-knowledgeable salesmen, etc., etc.
To say they're not even trying would be a compliment. It's almost like they're actively trying to alienate their own customers.
Originally Posted By: kb01
I've always thought that Sears getting out of the mail order game right before the advent of e-commerce was one of the greatest business blunders of all time.
They had the infrastructure, distribution network, a solid reputation, and were trusted. Sears could have been Amazon.
Absolutely. The only real differences between online shopping and mail order shopping are stamps and printed catalogs.
Heck, the first online order I ever made was from Stash Tea in Oregon a lot of years back, using their printed catalog, when bandwidth was a little more precious.
In retrospect, Sears, as you say, could have been Amazon.
I've always thought that Sears getting out of the mail order game right before the advent of e-commerce was one of the greatest business blunders of all time.
They had the infrastructure, distribution network, a solid reputation, and were trusted. Sears could have been Amazon.
Absolutely. The only real differences between online shopping and mail order shopping are stamps and printed catalogs.
Heck, the first online order I ever made was from Stash Tea in Oregon a lot of years back, using their printed catalog, when bandwidth was a little more precious.
In retrospect, Sears, as you say, could have been Amazon.
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