America's tool company is no longer made in America, Craftsman

[2007ShelbyCobra]

Well myself and some of my friends who do a lot of wrenching have all come to the conclusion that Craftsman quality seems to have gone down a bit in recent years. Today I went to blow some money and get some little things from Sears I know I needed. I personally dont have the money to have a full set of Snap On tools, so I buy Craftsman when I know it will work. I decide to get a set of files, hammer, and a ratcheting wrench set. When I get home I take a glance at my cool new purchase, before I put them in my box, and see... wrenches, made in Taiwan, and my files made in..wtf? Idk where that is. So I take a look at the hammer, and thank God its made here in the states. What happened to taking pride in the things we make, and making them here? I look for a measuring tape, and they dont even sell Craftsman at the Sears store... :( I guess ill have to save up and get the Snap On tools, I wont settle for non American metal :)

[Buckeye]

We are so interested in making a but we cut our own necks, Then wonder why we are bleeding

[XTROOPR]

Yep, I've been a diesel wrench for over 20 years and am disgusted at how many tools are now made in China, Taiwan, Indonesia...so on. I own mostly Snap on, MAC, and Cornwell and if you look closely at even their new packages they discreetly now say "Made in USA WITH GLOBAL MATERIALS" which basically means "It ain't made here" SUCKS where our greed for a profit has taken us...

[plated]

did you know we make more chopsticks for china than they do,and thats local in cincinnati we ship them to china:fart: yea fuck sears they can pound salt

[Mista Bone]

this happen once when I was a kid, seems Dad and me were going to Sears every weekend to replace split sockets, we didn't even have air tools then!!!!!

[Dirtyd0g]

If you want anything American made anymore make it yourself or find a local company that can make it for you. I have made a big attempt to change the parts I buy to american made products and I have changed about 50% over, everything else has no American supplier. If you google American made you will find a list of American made products, it isn't as big as you would think.
Alan

[mad max]

I looked for 4 months last year for an air conditioner made in the usa. Guess what ? I couldnt find it.

[duststang]

People should let SEAR's (letter/email) know that their decisions to out source sucks and they will lose your business.

[INSANEBA]

Hell all of my cordless snap-on stuff says made in china on them...

[Pitbull1052]

I've always bought craftsman until last year the lever on my 3/8's ratchet broke and I always thought Craftsman's warranty was you break it we give you a NEW one.... then the guy at the counter reached into a drawer under the cash register and was like here you go a reman one........ and they wouldnt give me a brand new one until three managers deep....... I was pissed and i'll never buy another new craftsman tool again

[SCHMUCKINGHAM]

I have been having good luck with kobalt tools and then i actually looked at it was made in the United States of China :(

[cstreu1026]

I noticed you can buy Craftsman at not only Sears but also at Kmart and Ace too.

[k062693w]

Sear's quality has changed since the KMart corp. Bought them ... It's Sad ...

[Dirtyd0g]

I thought sears bought kmart, most of the kmarts went under anyway.
Alan

[bobtsgt]

nope K mart bought them somehow. still sucks though.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/

[Dirtyd0g]

I don't understand big business, Company dying loses most of it's stores buys part of one of the biggest chains. What did they pay with food stamps?
Alan

[Gene]

If you can't afford new Snap-on (or Mac, Matco, etc), keep your eye out on Craigslist. There are often pretty good deals on used high quality tools for the same price or less than Craftsman stuff. Ebay can be good for that as well.

[SCHMUCKINGHAM]

If you can't afford new Snap-on (or Mac, Matco, etc), keep your eye out on Craigslist. There are often pretty good deals on used high quality tools for the same price or less than Craftsman stuff. Ebay can be good for that as well.

Which is great if your planning out your purchase but if you need something on the fly then its not so great.

[redfirepearlgt]

Yes I quite agre. Quality of Craftsman has gone down hill on many but not all of their hand tools. I return my metric and SAE allen sets semi monthly due to wear and get fresh sets. Each time I ask why they don't oil harden the ends at minimum on these things to save money in returns. NO response as usual. The good thing is I have yet to have anyone at teh tricounty Sears reject a return on any hand tool I have taken back. In fact I took back a neoprene/rubber hammer that was worn to the nub to find a match to purchase. The man told me that the hammer/mallet was warrntied for lifetime and traded it out for a brand new one.

i would love to carry matco, Snap-on, Cornwell, Williams, or some other high end, high quality brand tools in my field service box, BUT either they would disappear OR I would never be in a place a Snap-on or other mentioned dealer would be at the time I neededthem for an exchange. At least there is Sears Hardware, Sears, Ace,or Kmart in every little "anytown USA" I happen to find myself turning wrenches in that particular week.

[heyitsmepugsley]

i just love paying a tool bill on monday (matco) and a tool bill on friday (snap-on) lol. and i have finnally convinced the girlfriend that bill will never go away. as soon as you start to pay it down you see something you cant live without.

[bestracing]

I noticed you can buy Craftsman at not only Sears but also at Kmart and Ace too.

...and it's cheaper at Kmart for the same stuff. I saw a 105pc set for $10 cheaper at Kmart than what Sears had advertised in their "On Sale" flier. :lol:


The latest 1/2" to 3/8" adapter I had from Craftsman, on the first use, it just snapped the end off with my 1/2" ratchet and I wasn't even putting any real torque on it. I switched to my "No Name" back up and wound up using a breaker bar and it worked great.

Chinese steel might meet the requirements of the spec but who wants it to be at the minimum of the grade :confused: The main reason I only use ARP bolts and fasteners for my engine enternals. They greatly exceed the Grade 8 tensile strength testing and when we had a rod break the rod bolts were still holding the ends of the bearing cap together eventhough they had broken off the rod and were not stretched. :eek: :bigthumb

So think when buying your supension parts, (rod ends, bolts, ect) are they just good enough or exceeds specifications and how long will they hold up.... ;)

[inferno50]

I have a set of snap on small files that say portugul on the handle. Isn't it great.....

[rmracing]

I have noticed a few things on the tool trucks that were not made in the U.S.A. so its not just sears. Now it seems all the new stuff I have seen at sears is being made over seas .

I recently bought a tap and die set from sears and got home and saw it was not made in the U.S.A so I took it back . They did return it and asked if anything was wrong with it and I let them know I dont want to buy any hand tools made overseas.

[Sparky]

Snap On has a factory in China. Most of their new products they have on promotion are from there. Hand tools are about the only thing left still made here.

[cstreu1026]

Snap On has a factory in China. Most of their new products they have on promotion are from there. Hand tools are about the only thing left still made here.

WOW, now there's a screen name I haven't seen forever. How have you been?

[NO SHOT]

They need to bring the stuff back to the USA imo...........:confused:

[2007ShelbyCobra]

They need to bring the stuff back to the USA imo...........:confused:

^this. Or im not paying the cash for it. They dont need more money in theyre damn pockets. Ill pay more knowing the money is staying in this country.

[Sparky]

WOW, now there's a screen name I haven't seen forever. How have you been?

Not too bad. Still have the Ranger. I lurk around on here every now and then, just haven't done much at the tracks. How 'bout you?

[Blackout]

Well I went into K-mart the other day (expecting them to be the same as sears) and tried to exchange a 15mm socket that broke...... well the manager looks at me and says we only sell them, we don't warranty them anymore...come on, WTF. And they wonder why over half is going out of buisness.

[dedpedal]

This thing with Sears and Craftsman reminds me of the AMF takeover of Harley Davidson. There was more intrest in profit than quality. We all know the eventual outcome and lok at HD now. We can only hope that the same happens with more of the USA based companies that have moved production overseas just to save a buck. I havent bought Craftsman tools in years since GayMart bought Sears.

[big cheif]

This thing with Sears and Craftsman reminds me of the AMF takeover of Harley Davidson. There was more intrest in profit than quality. We all know the eventual outcome and lok at HD now. We can only hope that the same happens with more of the USA based companies that have moved production overseas just to save a buck. I havent bought Craftsman tools in years since GayMart bought Sears.

Same here!

[AntiRice427]

My 1/2" torque wrench broke so I went to sears this morning to get one while they are 50% off. They had a new style one and an old style, both Craftsman. They are both 79.99 retail and are both on sale today for 39.99. I was trying to figure out the difference between them. They both have the exact same specs and do the exact same thing. The only thing I could see was that they looked a little different, the new one has a red handle and is about an inch longer. I started reading the back of the box a little closer and the old style wrench says made in America, so I checked the other one and that area of the box was covered with one of those little theft tags. I grabbed another one and it was also covered with a tag. Finally I just tore one off. Turns out every single one had the theft tag covering the words "made in china" The American made one didn't have the theft tag any where near that label, they were just stuck on anywhere at random, but they made sure to cover the word china on the new ones. Thats pretty shady if you ask me.

[svtmofo]

Im a manager at autozone. Since i have been there i have bought nothing besides duralast. I have had excellent luck with them. If something does ever break there is no hassle. You get a brand new one on the spot

[2007ShelbyCobra]

more junk today, almost everything is foreign now. Picked up some ratcheting wrenches, MADE IN CHINA. One of them had been stolen from the set, but they dont carry single wrenches in that style, however I found one on the shelf that would work. So I tell this new kid working there, he unlocks it, puts it in my set and im on my way :) sounds good to me, he had no clue it was a different style. Then I pick up a portable work light, the kind that sits on the floor. Well in the process of puting in the light bulb, the damn LIGHT BULB, and the piece that holds the terminals bent, so I had to take it apart and bend them back... This is just sad... It was at a sears store too, and at this point, at least 40% of their tools arent craftsman..

[graysonracin]

Yeah ive had to get a couple ratchets from snap on replaced recently, and the new ones i got dont say (snap on usa) on the head anymore just snap on is all it says and almost everything on the matco tool truck is made in china or other places. Amazing that its all still expensive though, someone needs to get richer i guess until they run these companies into the ground.

[2007ShelbyCobra]

Yeah ive had to get a couple ratchets from snap on replaced recently, and the new ones i got dont say (snap on usa) on the head anymore just snap on is all it says and almost everything on the matco tool truck is made in china or other places. Amazing that its all still expensive though, someone needs to get richer i guess until they run these companies into the ground.

This imo is what happened to the entire country...

[graysonracin]

This imo is what happened to the entire country...

Right, i worked for a gm dealer for a bit and the quality of them is why they were in the spot they were until the bailout, most all of them starting around 98 and up keep getting worse and worse with just junk parts from get go. The intake gaskets, steering shafts, different modules, resistors, all garbage from the factory. Delco and gm parts had names of countries were people probably are still shooting each other with darts and wearing leaves and sticks for clothes, never heard of alot of them. I worked for ford as well alot of their stuff is atleast german, canadian, some mexico and brazil, little china but that wasnt as bad as gm. Allittle of topic i guess, sorry for the long winded post. I am a ford guy but i think all cars a junk after being a mechanic for some years.

[woodrow5.0]

funny,i just had a "newer" craftsman rachet break,i took it back to sears where they rebuilt it,not replaced it. a week later the same same piece broke again

[redfirepearlgt]

funny,i just had a "newer" craftsman rachet break,i took it back to sears where they rebuilt it,not replaced it. a week later the same same piece broke again

The tricounty sears location will offer you the option of a replacement or a rebuild kit. I have never had them turn down my request for full replacement. They are good to deal with from my experience, however I can say I have never had issues with any returns on Craftsman tools at any Sears or Sears Hardware stores and I use them exclusively for the most part.