"J. Clarke" wrote in message
in.local...
In article ,
says...
"Pete C." wrote in message
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Frank wrote:
On 12/28/2011 3:05 AM, Existential Angst wrote:
"The Daring wrote in message
...
On 12/27/2011 10:58 PM, oldyork90 wrote:
I'm reading bad news about Sears/KMart. If Sears goes tits up, I
hope
they hand off the Craftsman line. I always had good luck with
their
hand tools.
Don't worry, some Chinese holding company will buy them out. The
new
stores will be Shears and Claymart. ^_^
Or, equivalently, HF will expand.....
From what I read lately, HF tools are probably just as good.
Honestly, I haven't broken any Craftsman or HF hand tool that I wasn't
*seriously* abusing. I have seen Snap-On tools break under comparable
abuse, so I'm not sure there is any real advantage there.
Craftsman sockets and especially especially the deep ones are quite
easily
broken given even rather light usage these days...
These days? I broke two of them removing the oil drain plug on my 1980
Honda, before I finally got an impact socket for it (note--I wasn't
using an impact driver, just a breaker bar).
I have a coffee can about 1/2 full of them because it really doesn't make
much sense to get a replacement that in all likelyhood is just going to
crack and break like it's predecessor, and this has been a problem ever
since Danaher took over and then promptly offshored much the line....
Every Craftsman hand tool I have is stamped "Made in USA", so if Danaher
has "offshored much of the line" they've done it in the past year.
Sears has other lins that are not Craftsman that are made offshore, but
Craftsman hand tools aren't.
[
Suit Hits Sears Made In USA Claim
12/08/2004 | ConsumerAffairs.com
A class action lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck and Co alleges that Sears
conducted false advertising and consumer fraud by advertising that its
Craftsman tool line is "Made in the USA."
The suit alleges that promotions in ads, the website, on signs and labels
claiming that Craftsman is "Made in the USA" led consumers to purchase the
tools out of a sense of patriotism. Consumers were also led to believe that
Craftsman is of high quality because it is "Made in the USA."
Pictures attached to the complaint show metal parts from Austria, Denmark,
China, India and Mexico on Craftsman tools labeled as "Made in the USA."
"Sears has falsely touted Craftsman tools as 'Made in the USA' when the
Federal Trade Commission has issued guidelines stating that such a claim is
proper only where all or substantially all of the product is U.S.A. made.
Sears Craftsman is misleading consumers by invoking that claim," said
Barbara J. Hart, attorney for the tool buyers.
]
--in retrospect, this was a very stupid move for Sears' part.....Danaher
already owned several quite successful competing lines (arguably, Danaher
did and *still does* own *most* of the viable competition) and so any
decline in Craftsman tool sales / quality ultimately means increased
volume
for Danaher's wholly owned lineup.