It's been a while since I traded in a Craftsman tool under the
lifetime warranty, so maybe I just don't remember this happening last
time.

I turned in a ratchet handle and 3 Phillips screwdrivers. The
replacement screwdrivers were new off the shelf but the ratchet handle
was a different story.

Hanging on the wall inside the cashier's area was quite a large number
of ratchet handles, open-end and box-end wrenches and a few other hand
tools, all with yellow stickers on the handle.

The cashier handed me a ratchet handle from behind the counter and
said "This is still covered by the lifetime warranty."

The ratchet handle looked "new" (clean?) but had a few dings in the
handle section. The yellow sticker said "Replacement Tool" oe
something like that.

I assume that the tools behind the counter are probably a combination
of scratch and dent items from their inventory along with some
customer returns that can't be sold as new.

Is this something new or has it always been this way? Just curious...