Posted on 01/07/2017 8:40:30 AM PST by brucedickinson
Since Sears bought the trademark in 1927, Craftsman tools have had a famous lifetime - and unlimited - warranty.
But after nearly 90 years, Sears announced Thursday that it's selling the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker Inc for $900 million that bosses hope will keep the company afloat.
The change of hands has caused some to question whether Craftsman's lifetime warranty will still apply to tools people own now or purchase in the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Illegal aliens: Doing the jobs Americans won’t do anymore: mowing lawns, flipping burgers, and working at Sears.
Dumped Craftsman a long time ago. I go for Gearwrench and Williams for hand tools, DOTCO and Ingersoll Rand for air tools.
The bulk of my hand tools are Craftsman, majority purchased in the 70’s.
Around the 90’s it was such a hassle to get one warrantied I just gave up, and bought replacements elsewhere. Later on the local store got better.
Any new purchases are still bought elsewhere.
If the new owners honor the warranty, good. If not, I’ve personally lost nothing.
If they do not, the brand will be damaged. Most craftsmen tools don’t stop working due to damage, but due loss.
Made in America?
I hope so.
All of my tools are craftsmen and I have never had a problem with getting a replacement.
If memory serves me correct Craftsman was produced by danaher, the same place that made mac and matco. Shifting production from them will have a bigger effect than changing the warranty imho.
Buying Craftsman has always been the reason why I go to Sears in the first place. This is not going to help them stay afloat for long.
I suspect it will be like the other so-called ‘lifetime warrantees’ of tool companies. Simply send back the broken tool, with money for post-paid return, and you get a new one.
So, for just $18, you can have your $2 screwdriver replaced by a BRAND NEW ONE!
Absent a bankruptcy, a sale usually does not affect a guarantee. A guarantee is an obligation and liability of the seller of the business. The buyer of the business generally receives and assumes all rights, property, interests, goodwill, obligations and liabilities of the seller
I dont want a life time warrantee. I want a tool that will put up with my abuse and do its job.
Taking a tool back to the store for a replacement is NOT the sign of a good tool.
When I was working part-time in Sears hardware dept in early 90’s several of the Craftsman air tools were made by Ingersoll Rand. The policy for Sears was to find the BEST tool and sell it under the Craftsman label, often sitting right next to the identical tool under its original “big name” manufacturer.
There’s a Sears a mile from me that has a huge parking lot with usually about ten cars in it. I’ve been expecting it to close for years. Maybe for that reason, it seems that the only people willing to work there are fairly recent immigrants.
Stanley owned by Proto already have a lifetime warranty.
I assume you will still be able to buy Craftsmen tools from Sears. It won’t be an exclusive like it used to be. However, recently you have been able to buy them through ACE so I am not sure the impact of the sale.
Dewalt drill’s are better than Craftsmen and Craftsmen better than Black and Decker but now they are all owned by the same company. I wonder if it will be like Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet used to be with different quality.
Are you saying craftsman tools are junk?
They used to be made by Western Forge. I have no idea if they still are.
There is one factory in Taiwan which makes decent hand tools. They have a symbol which appears on them, maybe just the larger ones but not sure, which appears no matter what the brand.
That company used to make Wal-Mart’s “Popular Mechanics” brand.
Around 20 years ago the local super center started clearing out the 1/2 “ socket sets which included a very nice plastic toobox. They were originally around $34 then they reduced the price to $22.
I bought a set and was pleasantly surprised by the quality. They later reduced them to $11. I happened to be in the store when they announced that for the next 10 minutes all clearance items would be half price.
I bought all they had which I think was 15 sets for $5.50 each. The ratchet by itself was around $15.00 so it was a steal.
I later got out a Mitutoyo electronic caliper and measure the prongs on the ratchets. Every single one came out to .499 inch. Amazing consistency.
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