Craftsman and Lowe's

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  • Carlos
    Veteran Member
    • Jan 2004
    • 1893
    • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

    Craftsman and Lowe's

    I generally prefer Lowe's over HD, so I'm there most often. I've noticed Craftsman creeping in for the last year or so, now it seems like it's all over the tool section and even leaking out of the tool section. In my store they've got all the common hand tools, lipo power tool sets, medium and large tool boxes, and some miscellaneous. They don't seem to have the small tool bags and boxes, drill bits, and things like that. Which seems fine to me, the brands like Irwin and Dewalt have the bits/cutters covered well. But I was kind of wishing for a new Craftsman tool tote to replace mine that has given 15 years of service and is done. But all the others have pockets just slightly small enough to not fit many of the things I carry.

    What are you seeing in your local stores? Also Ace? I haven't looked in the tool section on my rare trip to Ace. I assume this is Lowe's only and not at HD?
  • LCHIEN
    Internet Fact Checker
    • Dec 2002
    • 20913
    • Katy, TX, USA.
    • BT3000 vintage 1999

    #2
    Ace has been carrying Craftsman tools for quite some time, several years now, I tink they were the first of the non Sears stores.

    You could always try the Sears Hardware and Appliance Stores, they are independently owned but franchised dealers.
    Loring in Katy, TX USA
    If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
    BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

    Comment

    • Carlos
      Veteran Member
      • Jan 2004
      • 1893
      • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

      #3
      Oh, I didn't know about those stores. Ace, last I looked, carried only the hand tool line.

      Comment

      • Jim Frye
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2002
        • 1051
        • Maumee, OH, USA.
        • Ryobi BT3000 & BT3100

        #4
        If you want to look at a Sears store, you better hurry. Last week they announced the closing of another 80 stores. There isn't one left in the Toledo, OH area. Even the Sears scratch and dent store closed. The Sears parts center here closed nearly 15 years ago. I did see a lot of Craftsman stuff last week when I was in one of the Lowes stores here. I have a Ryobi tool tote that is really pretty roomy. When I go off site to work, I pack it pretty full. It evens totes my 24" level.
        Jim Frye
        The Nut in the Cellar.
        ”Sawdust Is Man Glitter”

        Comment

        • Carlos
          Veteran Member
          • Jan 2004
          • 1893
          • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

          #5
          Two weeks ago I was told that all but one of the stores in Phoenix would close. Not sure if that one is still there. Sears is a great example of what happens when companies/people outright refuse to see what the future is. Online comparison and shopping, and no more of this awful scenario where huge retailers like Sears dictated our options. They thought they could fight it. All I can say is: LOL!

          The tote issue isn't the overall space, it's that every single pocket on the new one is slightly small for what I use. Like my stud finder is a larger high end one with center finding and electrical wire warnings and such. No pocket works on the new one.

          Comment

          • twistsol
            Veteran Member
            • Dec 2002
            • 2893
            • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
            • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

            #6
            Originally posted by Carlos
            ... Sears is a great example of what happens when companies/people outright refuse to see what the future is. ...
            When you think about it, Sears, J.C. Penney and Montgomery Wards all had the entire distribution system necessary to go along with online shopping already built through their catalog systems which were all shuttered right about the time online shopping started to take off. Any one of them could have been Amazon. Instead, Wards is gone, Sears will likely be liquidated, and Penney's is in a death spiral.

            Back on topic, Our Ace store carries Craftsman hand tools, but DeWalt and Milwaukee are pretty much all they have in the power tool line. The vast majority of my hand tools come from farm auctions and flea markets.
            Chr's
            __________
            An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
            A moral man does it.

            Comment

            • LCHIEN
              Internet Fact Checker
              • Dec 2002
              • 20913
              • Katy, TX, USA.
              • BT3000 vintage 1999

              #7
              Last week I decided to order a Craftsman middle chest to add to my tool chest.

              I searched several places and decided on Craftsman chest and placed the order on Sears.com for free delivery to my local sears hardware store.
              I did this with some trepidation... what if sears folded and charged me but it got trapped in shipment or the store closed holding my chest... Well I checked and the Sears Hardware and Appliance store near me is franchised by independently owned. So I figured if they charged me when it was shipped, I was OK since the shipper is independent and the store is independent.

              Well, I placed the order and it went OK, I have a sears.com account. However I did not receive a confirmation e-mail
              I tried to login to see that they had a record and it wanted me to verify myself using an emailed code... I had it e-mail me the code several times and it didn't come thru
              I finally after another day contacted the customer service chat and he sent me the verification number 6 times and the confirmation 6 times. I got one verification e-mail. I was able to log in then but my order still did not show- it said i had no orders pending.
              The CS agent gave me the details which were correct and said they were working on the problem.
              Still not showing...
              My credit card was charged but I did not get a shipping notice.

              Anyway, That's why they can't compete with Amazon. This is 2019 by golly and their online ordering is crap.
              Last edited by LCHIEN; 01-07-2019, 01:39 AM.
              Loring in Katy, TX USA
              If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
              BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

              Comment


              • Slik Geek
                Slik Geek commented
                Editing a comment
                Your experience reminded me of the time I needed to replace a Kenmore washer that failed a day before my home closing. I found one I wanted, but it wasn't in stock at the Sears store. They gave me the number of a neighboring store. The management genius controlling Sears decided that calls to the store for inventory would be handled centrally by people who actually had no clue regarding what was actually at the store. They person on the phone assured me the item was at the nearby store. I drove there with a rented truck so I could install it that night. I got to the store - they didn't have it in stock. That's when I discovered that the calls were routed to a central (clueless) location, not the actual store. It was a nightmare, I was out of time. Fortunately the store manager helped me out and got me a better model at the same price. As LCHIEN says, their system is crap and that has hurt them.
            • cwsmith
              Veteran Member
              • Dec 2005
              • 2737
              • NY Southern Tier, USA.
              • BT3100-1

              #8
              Personally speaking of course, but I'm under the impression that Sears is really falling apart and has been disintegrating rapidly over the last year. When you take into consideration that Sears foundation was mail-order and that they did that for more than a hundred years, it's a great mystery as to why they shouldn't be the "Amazon" of today. They had everything in place to do that, the system, the catalog, the suppliers, and the men and women who understood how it all worked together. All they needed was to adopt to the Web and in that they totally capitulated.

              When Eddie Lampert came along he decided that the best way to lead was by fattening his and the top executives annual incomes by selling off the catalog business. I likened that to a worker who finds themselves on reduced hours, and to make ends meet they sell their car!

              Our local store has been gone about a year ago, and in the two years leading up to that closure, I think everybody who worked there knew it was doomed, and without leadership I think the attitude of most of the employee's was such that it just hastened the inevitable. In the two or three months prior to the announcement, most of the local store empty of employees, having left already or just not caring. The only half-hearted activity was in hardware, but even that was quite disheveled, only two people working there and even the area around the register was a mess.

              My opinion is that this attitude has permeated most all of Sears. It's dying and everyone is abandoning ship, if not directly, than in spirit. That's what bad leadership does for a business. It's hard to do your job when you know the leader is scuttling everything for his own profit.

              I reached the point a couple of years ago, where I don't look to Sears for anything. Sad, because at one time it was once about the only place I looked for tools.

              CWS
              Think it Through Before You Do!

              Comment

              • twistsol
                Veteran Member
                • Dec 2002
                • 2893
                • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
                • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

                #9
                We should find out tomorrow if Eddie Lampter's 4.4 billion dollar bid for Sears is accepted or if Sears will be liquidated.
                Chr's
                __________
                An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
                A moral man does it.

                Comment

                • dangre
                  Norum Fewbie
                  • Oct 2009
                  • 78
                  • Gardnerville, NV
                  • BT3100-1

                  #10
                  I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, but
                  Stanley Black & Decker now owns the Craftsman name. Numerous articles about both them and Sears using the name, for now, and where they will be sold. Looks like Stanley/B&D Craftsman will be sold at Lowes and on Amazon. Should be interesting.
                  Dan

                  In a recent survey, 4 out of 5 hammers preferred thumbs.

                  Comment

                  • durango dude
                    Senior Member
                    • Mar 2011
                    • 934
                    • a thousand or so feet above insanity
                    • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

                    #11
                    I’ve followed B&D for a long time. They’ve made DeWalt a household name. I looked at some Craftsman cordless tools at Lowe’s, and I’d have to say they feel improved to me. I stopped buying Craftsman power tools over a decade ago. This is an interesting change for me. The new Craftsman cordless tools feel solid.

                    problem I see is a saturated market. The mark of a good tool is durability. With all the good stuff out there, not sure why any big box wants to add a new brand.


                    Comment

                    • LCHIEN
                      Internet Fact Checker
                      • Dec 2002
                      • 20913
                      • Katy, TX, USA.
                      • BT3000 vintage 1999

                      #12
                      Originally posted by dangre
                      I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, but
                      Stanley Black & Decker now owns the Craftsman name. Numerous articles about both them and Sears using the name, for now, and where they will be sold. Looks like Stanley/B&D Craftsman will be sold at Lowes and on Amazon. Should be interesting.
                      That happened two years ago. see this thread https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...-sold-by-sears
                      Loring in Katy, TX USA
                      If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                      BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                      Comment

                      • Carlos
                        Veteran Member
                        • Jan 2004
                        • 1893
                        • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

                        #13
                        I thought it was falling apart much longer than that. I haven't walked into one in well over a year, and it was a disaster. Three years ago I tried to get a tool replacement and that was a ridiculous mess between not being in stock and them not really knowing how to order it for me. I would rather have saved that hour standing around and bought a new Kobalt socket.

                        Comment

                        • cwsmith
                          Veteran Member
                          • Dec 2005
                          • 2737
                          • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                          • BT3100-1

                          #14
                          Sears started it's decline probably more than twenty years ago, IMO. I remember going into the store in the early 90's and being told that they didn't "mix paint" anymore... no more matching of colors! They also started to do away with the "6%'ers", those were the employee's who made commission on their sales and were considered the top sales people, the knowledgeable ones. At about that time, the new Sears marketing VP introduced their "21st Century" scheme of retail... which was basically the idea that we don't need knowledgeable sales people... we'll put all the information on the product boxes and we'll stack the products to the ceiling, so there is little need for salesmanship and no longer a need for demonstrations!

                          My late FIL was the Hardware Dept Manager in the Binghamton, NY store at that time, and had held that position for more than thirty years. The new move literally made him sick, and lots of people started to put in for early retirement. Then the local store moved out of it's long-time location, moving to the local shopping mall. That did it for my FIL and he retired. He was a major award winner here on the east coast, selling Craftsman tools to the tune of $Millions every year. His reputation in our area was really outstanding and people would drive down from Syracuse and Rochester to buy from the Binghamton store.

                          After he retired, he couldn't stand to even go into the Sears anymore... as things became messy and disorganized and the sales staff was constantly changing. It was just sad to see, and nobody in top management seemed to know what to do or were even interested in making any kind of positive change.

                          CWS
                          Think it Through Before You Do!

                          Comment

                          • Carlos
                            Veteran Member
                            • Jan 2004
                            • 1893
                            • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

                            #15
                            Yeah, I can agree with that, at least a decade. I recall that at some point I went from the childhood lesson of "Sears has everything for the house" to shopping around. Not sure WHEN, but it's been a long time. My last Kenmore washer from Sears gave many issues and had poor support. We replaced it with a Samsung ten years ago and in that time it has needed one $20 part from Amazon, replaced easily.

                            Target is following that dumbing-down, cheap labor mantra too. A friend is a 25-year store logistics manager there. She and all of her peers are being pushed out in favor of $15/hour labor with no goals, career, or clues.

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