Sears circleing the bowl

[Bonnewagon]

I agree. This is just another case of the suits stuffing their fat asses while the workers get stiffed. Damn shame as my tool collection is 90% Craftsman. So I figured I can get by with a set of 205-65-15 tires and they were in stock. But as I went through the process the 15% off would not apply. That was the whole point, a 15% off tires and batteries sale, and without it I can do better elsewhere. Ironically I just heard a business report today that said Sears was trying to stay afloat for this last Christmas season and then will implode soon after. One less annoying popup ad.

 

[mikester]

Time to get a couple of extra sockets. You know, to replace the ones that always fall into the abyss.
Most of my sockets are all Craftsman 6 pt and since I suffer from OCD theyre all on Hanson socket trays. If I lose one I might go nuts. LOL
All joking aside when I was a kid I couldnt wait for the Sears Christmas catalog to arrive.

 

[joesregalproject]

I don't even think there is a Sears in Pittsburgh anymore, the closest one is in Washington County. I don't really mind seeing Sears go at this point, they did
it to themselves, it's only a matter of time. My main concern is the Craftsman tools I already own. The "new" Craftsman from Lowe's is sh*t.

As for buying new tools, I'm just buying whatever. Craftsman has become cheap junk with a brand name on it, and Snap-On/MAC/Cornwell have all priced themselves out of the market.

Going off on a bit of a tangent here but-

I work at a Ford dealership and all the older techs have Snap-On, MAC, and Cornwell stuff because they bought it back when it was (more) affordable (than it is now). All us younger guys use a mix of mostly old Craftsman, Husky, Kobalt, Harbor Freight, Gearwrench, some Blue Point, and most of us have maybe one or two nice Snap-On tools or socket sets. All of us use either Harbor Freight or garage sale tool boxes.

Of course there is the one kid who's parents immediately went out and bought him the most expensive box and the most expensive set of tools that Snap-On sells, and the kid who spends 100% of his paycheck on tools, but the majority of us are using consumer grade stuff. Even Harbor Freight hand tools have a lifetime warranty now, it's hard to justify spending so much extra on the pro grade stuff.

 

[pontiacgp]

In Canada Lowes took over retailing craftsman tools and soon after they had ads about that Lowe's was in the news about closing 31 stores in Canada

 

[DRIVEN]

Those old guys didn't buy it all at once😉. I started with a Craftsman top box and basic Craftsman tool set because we could buy them at a heavy discount as automotive students. Then when I outgrew that box I bought a heavily discounted small Mac John Force stack set and added more Craftsman tools along with some BluePoint and Mac. Later on I traded up to a medium sized SnapOn box and my tools got better. Toward the end I bought a lot of SnapOn off CL and my old Craftsman became "home" tools. It takes time. Those old have been upgrading for decades.

I still have all my old Craftsman tools it's all between 15 and 30 years old and decent quality. The newer Craftsman stuff just sucks.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Kmart left years ago here, Zeller's took over and also gave up. Target was a joke, ran by people who didn't even know we needed bilingual labels. They saw no profit projected for three years and bolted. Sears also protected the executive's in Canada while cutting jobs, stores before finally pulling the plug. Craftsman did become cheap junk, MasterCraft from Canadian Tire are better tools anyways. We also have Princess Auto, Canada's Habor Frieght. Retail is dying and the greedy b*st*rd's in charge are stuffing their pockets on the way out.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I really am pissed at whoever the douchbags are that are killing off Sears. Sears took excellent brands usually USA made and re-badged them as Kenmore, Craftsman, etc, and you got great quality stuff at discounted prices. My Craftsman compressor was made by DeVilbliss, my Kenmore water heater was made by State, my Kenmore washer was made by Whirlpool, my Craftsman acetylene torch was made by Harris, the list goes on. IIRC Whirlpool refused to provide appliances to Sears anymore because Sears wanted to undercut the selling price too much. Poor business decisions aside I don't understand why the board of directors could not overthrow the idiot CEO and get back to work.

 

[Kratos]

Like Joe and Driven, I also started out with Craftsman tools and tool boxes. I made a lot of money with Craftsman tools over the years. I found it hard to pay $25 for a Snap on wrench when sears had the same thing for $10. My tool set evolved, I still have a lot of craftsman tools mixed in with Snap on, Mac and Matco, and I have a big Matco box now. I also work in a different field now, so my tools are 99% fun and hobby use now.
I will be sad to see Sears go, but they did it to themselves. I guess I better get my ( last years Christmas gift) Gift card out and spend it at Sears before its too late!

 

[DRIVEN]

My JC Higgins shotgun was made by High Standard 😉. Was probably ordered from a catalog and mailed directly to the customer's house. Those really were the good old days.

 

[81cutlass]

So the question is, if you have an old broken craftsman socket can you go to lowes or still even a sears and get it warrantied? I broke my 18mm recently :?

With Craftsman ending their warranty, you might as well buy stuff at the hazzard fraught for getting warranties. That was the reason people liked them, warranty like snapon or mac but open 7 days a week at the same spot, dont have to wait for a truck.