Yes, it's sad that Craftsman is no longer a quality brand. Here in Canada they started selling imported tools quite some years ago, but they were still okay. My pals and I used to save our broken Craftsman tools for our next trip to the US and get the "good" replacements. But last year I traded in a breaker bar and got one that said "Made in China". It was a bit of a shock.


I get great quality old tools at flea markets and swap meets. The last Craftsman tools I got included a 1-5/16 x something box wrench for a buck, US made of course.


As others have said, there are lots of great old US brands (and a few Canadian brands as well) available cheap on the used market. If it isn't Snap-on or Mac, it is perceived to be of little value. Williams, Indestro, Herbrand, Hazet, etc. were top quality tools that can be bought for peanuts at the flea markets.


A very good website that discusses in detail most of the US tool manufacturers is "Alloy Artifacts", whose link is here:


Alloy Artifacts Tool History Page

 

From a lost civilization, natch

 

Made in China doesn't necessarily mean it's crap. Made in China to an unrealistically low price point and without contact oversight DOES mean crap.
Flip over that iPhone, iPad, iPod and you'll see the statement "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China". Apple has their own QC people present in the factories. It can be done but when your only consideration is "make it cheaply" you get junk. Sadly, a large part of the blame goes to the consumer. They want it cheap. They complain when it's junk, but they keep on buying it.
If everyone stopped buying Craftsman products tomorrow one of two things would happen: Sears would fold (finally) or the quality of their products would improve.
But we won't. We'll keep on buying and complaining.

Sigh!

 

No, it's getting almost impossible to manufacture anything in this country. Labor costs are (relatively) extremely high, and "free trade" ha ha, means countries with the equivalent of slave labor are able to sell their wares here without benefit of all the taxes and regulations and workers comp, minimum wage req's and social security etc etc that employers have here. We're told by the "experts" that this is good for our economy, with 45 million people on welfare and a $20 trillion federal deficit. It wasn't that long ago they were making $2 a day in You Know Where and they had to put nets around some of the factories to prevent all the suicides.

 

The US importers SPECIFY a price point. Americans blame competition but forget that corporate MANAGEMENT make the calls, not mechanics.

We should blame the Americans who make the choices. Sears was ruined by management intent on gutting the company then selling off the very valuable real estate. Take my word for none of this, it's well documented! Such news merely notes who chose what corporate moves:

Suit against Sears Holdings alleges asset stripping to benefit Eddie Lampert - Chicago Tribune

We are reading these posts on Chinese computers. I have many of those which are far from new. China can make what the buyer specifies but Americans should remember that in business only money matters, not people. Get used to it because ya don't get to make the rules. Old Americans in particular who aren't in industry tend to have an outdated idea of how business works. (I'm old too.) The corporate landscape is constantly changing. Some examples of who owns what.

Tool Brands: Who Owns What? A Guide to Corporate Affiliations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danahe...tion#Divisions

Really Complete List of TOOL Manufacturers, Who Owns Whom & Stores - David Woodsmall

Worth noting is some quality changes are due to poor quality AMERICAN work forces. Ever wonder why old Crescent wrenches and new Crescent wrenches often have, ahem, "different" tolerances? I don't. I have buds who worked there...Many US companies have very high reject rates but tolerate those because they locate where wages are low INSIDE THE US.

This is NOT a political post. It's just some industry news. Make of it what you will.

The payback period for buying quality tools and equipment is surprisingly quick if you figure cost per year. There is plenty of good gear available, but what's good changes. Power tools for example have never been better, with cordless tools leading the way. Many, perhaps most, are made in China.

I'd rather be buying tools now than in the 1970s. Thanks to the internet I don't need brick-and-mortar stores for high ticket items, and before anyone gives the "Mom and Pop" nonsense speech, if Mom and Pop deliver SERVICE they'll do fine. (Many did not.) My favorite example is Wally's Hardware in Sumter, SC. I've shopped there since 1985. Wally openly welcomed the Walmart behind him and the Lowe's next door because he knew they'd bring traffic to his store. He was absolutely right, his parking lot stays full, and he has MORE staff per square foot than either competitor! I buy lots of hardware etc there because his service and thoughtful stocking are outstanding.

 

Still can't compete with slave labor guys. Business has tons of regulations and red tape, our "free trade" competitors have virtually none.

Remember the US government itself survived on import tariffs alone, for well over a hundred years and no income tax. In those days you could make money in America, and even better, ya got to keep it. One of the highest periods of technological innovation and income expansion ever.

America was for many years a creditor nation, and exported oil, until about 1970.

Then we became an oil importer, but still exported goods.

Now we import both the goods and borrow the money on credit to pay for them! A $20 Trillion federal deficit and getting larger. See the trend? It ain't good. After the 2nd world war in europe, there were signs posted in the factories saying "Export or Die", a recognition of a simple iron law of business that our leaders have seemed to have forgotten or maybe don't care.

 

I don't necessarily disagree with that statement but there's much more to it. A good part of that 20 Trillion debt was and still is caused by borrowing to finance "progressive" agendas. We live in an entitlement nation. People feel that the government "owes" them a place to live, a cell phone, free food, subsidized transportation rent and utilities. Yup, drop out of school the day you turn 16 and let "the man" pay for everything. Problem is that "the man" is falling all over himself to give the gimme generation stuff they didn't even know they wanted. Just look at the Progressive mayor of NYC. How much you think that Big Mac is going to cost once the guy putting it together has to be paid $15 an hour?

And in another vein, corporate management may make the decisions about price points but it doesn't matter if they can sell that set of drill bits for 10 cents and still make money if no one will buy it. We are ALL guilty because we want cheaper, cheaper, cheaper but rarely better, better, better. This didn't happen overnight. The first guy to figure he could make something cheaper off shore probably imported fairly decent quality products. People bought them because they were a little cheaper. Soon the quality went down a little and the profit went up a little. Pretty soon the guy who made the good stuff couldn't compete and went under or went off shore himself. At this point pure greed took over since the competition was gone. You see this in a lot of neighborhoods when Walmart moves in.
Fortunately, this is a monster that feeds on itself. As the standard of living rises in those off shore countries the cost to produce and ship those cheap products starts to rise. We are already seeing some smaller companies bringing their manufacturing operations back into the US. It will probably never be the way it was but there is some hope.

 

No, that's pretty much all there is to it. It matters not, the debt is unpayable at this point and has been for many many years.

There was never any intention to "pay it back" for that matter. As a practical matter, so long as interest payments can be made, the debt will be rolled over, and more borrowed, or "printed". Eventually... soon.. this won't work. America has been coasting along for this long because the US government enjoys the benefits of the dollar being the reserve currency, and in terms of settling oil payments. What this meant in the past, was any country that wants to buy oil, had to use US dollars, that is, convert their currency into US dollars first, then buy the oil. This meant the government could "print" dollars and export them to other countries where they would be used to buy oil, and they would in turn be invested or parked in US Treasurys.

The important thing to remember is these billions of dollars were not "here" in the US driving up prices. If all this money ever comes home looking for something to buy, look out below.

Many municipalities too are looking at similar fiscal reckonings, virtually 100% of their annual budgets will theoretically go to retired employees pensions and such. Of course in real life, that won't ever happen.

About the same actually, since everything will become automated. Robots. Minimum wage is a scam issue, these politicians don't give a **** about anybody, they just want the votes so they can get into power. Robots will replace low skilled, low wage workers. They don't call in sick, they don't need health insurance, they don't go on strike, don't need a pension, etc.

 

Ah, but the robots don't vote. After that first vote after getting $15 an hour but before being replaced by a robot those politicians are screwed because here, in NYC our Mayor and our City Council president have proposed allowing "undocumented immigrants" to vote in local elections. Besides under "progressive" agendas, the taxpayer will have to provide "income equality" to all those displaced workers. Note my use of officially sanctioned and politically correct progressive buzz words.

 

Ad just think of all the skilled labor that will be required to keep all those robots working!!

 

True, but not very many, compared to millions who are going to be essentially "unfunded liabilities " out there, with no job prospects. They can vote all they want, it will still probably end up like every other utopia.

 

Heres the thing when it comes to people like me that work on vehicles for a living you have three choices. Buy Matco, Snap-On, or some other brand. Matco and Snapon depending on your guy in your area you might do better buying from them. I have not bought anything from our snapon guy cause he cant even get me a replacement for a power steering pump puller I have that is stripped out. He also shows up when he feels like it. Our Matco guy he shows up every single week and hes a pleasure to do business with and very helpful. He is who I got my second toolbox from that I been in the market for as my Matco service cart I have finally out grew it. The box I got from him was a trade in from another guy its a Husky brand Mustang-Cat edition box which sells for new for $300 that I got for $125 and sure the wood is banged up and the box has a few dings and dents but other than that its like new.

Now as far as tools goes, I cant be without a socket or a wrench a week before it gets replaced. So I buy craftsman cause there is a sears down the street from where I work that I can get it replaced. But one thing I noticed they don't have the same tools. Like I bought the professional series full polish wrenches from them had to buy a 1/2 and a 8mm that I couldn't find. They didn't have a single professional full polish wrenches individually all they had was their non professional full polish wrenches that does not say Professional on the back of it. Thankfully I found the two I thought I lost, boss picked them up and put them in his box thinking the wrenches was his. So now I have some spares.

But while I am getting upset with their quality and how they just don't have what they used to have my only other option is to make the move to another brand with a life time warranty such as Kobalt which is good itself. But I grew up with craftsman and my set I bought for tech classes was a craftsman set as well so I hate to just walk away from them at this point.

 

I always bought Craftsman also because of the cost factor and convenience of availability. Several years ago Sears stopped standing behind their " lifetime warranty " on ratchet drivers, which pissed me off , especially since they are now made by whoever, and are very low quality.
I used to work at McMaster Carr in NJ, and I know for fact that Armstrong Tools was the manufacturer of Snap On. That would get hand tools in daily from Armstrong, and if Armstrong couldn't supply the number of ordered pieces they would substitute with Snap On to balance the order. Several of us would go through stock looking for the Snap On pieces, then will call them.
I now by Snap On from EBay, and get what I need

 

SB&D Buys Craftsman Brand for $900M | Tools of the Trade | Manufacturers, Stanley Black & Decker, Craftsman

 

Yup. Black & Decker, something or other wrecker is not the same as Cratsman.

But then again, they also own Dewalt which is big on producing stuff in the USA, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Stanley screwdrivers are crap though so here's hoping all my lifetime tools don't get warrantied for that stuff.