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Chinese Made Craftsman Professional Wrenches

sheslostcontrol

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We don't value labor anymore.

In the past making 20/hr + bennies was good middle class pay. Now some would have you believe blue collar/manf. work doesn't deserve that kind of pay, since it doesn't require "skills".

We've come from valuing a capitalist economic system that worked for the greater good, to blindly supporting a capitalist system that works for the top 1% of wage earners, and against the rest. In the 50s and 60s companies paid executives less and had more workers working for higher wages. In the 70s through the 90s and into today, companies care less and less about the greater good of the economy and focus on maximizing profits "by any means necessary".

It all goes back to what we value in labor.

Americans simply cannot compete with workers in other countries. The dems and repubs in DC can yammer on blaming each other for high unemployment. But both parties continue to do a disservice to the American people by not addressing the underlying causes of offshoring and high unemployment. The media is a joke. They'd have us up in arms over social issues or celebrity gossip than report the facts.

And the fact is, American workers are no longer employable in a global economy. Has nothing to do with Unions (well it does, but only in the sense that union jobs were traditionally good paying middle class careers). Has nothing to do with regulation or taxes. Everything to do with overall cost of living here vs. China, India, Balglesdesh, ect. Corporations will continue shipping jobs to these places as long as they can get by paying workers pennies on the dollar -- and as long as we Americans continue buying goods made with cheap asian labor.
 
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MAD

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I am afraid you can't blame unions for Chinese Craftsman wrenches. I believe the last Union Danaher tool plant making Craftsman tools was the Moore Dropforging plant in Springfield MA which has been closed for a number of years.
The union workers that made Craftman ratchets at the Springfield MA Moore Dropforging plant made around $14/Hr on average. There were times when there was a lot of overtime hours so folks there often made a decent wage for this area. When Danaher said that they would close the plant and move the ratchet production to Texas, the workers offered a concession package that lowered the average wage to around $11/Hr. I remember reading that the union workers were told they would have to take a 50% wage cut to keep the Springfield plant open. This was around five or six years ago when the economy was better. If you think the production line workers in the Southern Danaher plants are making obscene wages then I may want to hire you to come scrape and paint my house. I am afraid it is just a race to the bottom.

The only union connection I can concede is when S-K was in good shape, Sears had another domestic wrench supplier to compete with Danaher. Now there is no real competition for the wrench and socket contract if they want to spec domestic. I don't blame the workers for what happened at SK but I don't doubt that the recent strike may have hastened the far eastern shift in Craftsman production.
 

Skin

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Teachers, seriously? Talk about union abuse, once they get their tenure they sit in their *** and do squat.. I graduated highschool in '05, my public school teachers were HORRIBLE, I had less than a handful of good teachers, most taught me nothing. College was a different story their was actually good teachers they taught you something, teachers in this day and age never heard of a chalkboard and chalk and want to sit around all day and watch movies. A teacher also gets a 3-month vacation. We're in a fight in ny to get federal funding for education but the teachers won't give up the plastic surgery clause in their health insurance.. plastic surgery give me a break..

I think you'll find that sweeping generalizations like that arent true. Perhaps its abused in areas where the population is high, which doesnt surprise me, but if you go into more suburban or rural areas teachers are under paid. I believe the ones in my area make around 40-45k a yr and i live in a far from poor town [which causes its own problems for them since taxes and living costs are high]. Most dont get a 3 month vacation but instead continue to work since living on a 40-45k salary is not exactly swimming in money. I've known teachers who work in bars at nights, paint houses, and offer private tutoring so they can pay the bills and not be flat broke after. There was even some stuff in the news a few years ago about how the bus drivers earned more money than the teachers.
 
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BigK600

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Well this ***** the craftsman pro wrenches were great.
Now where is a guy suppose to go to get good USA made wrenchs?
SK would be nice but there in trouble too. Snap On is too expensive for me.
 

Stuey

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mrholeshot

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Well this ***** the craftsman pro wrenches were great.
Now where is a guy suppose to go to get good USA made wrenchs?
SK would be nice but there in trouble too. Snap On is too expensive for me.

Yeah, I think it really *****. The real problem is that you can buy new great quality USA built wrenches but chances are if you break one 5 years from now it will get replaced with one from China. The really sad par tis I have a set of Stanley Long Wrenches I bought back when Stanley first came out with their professional mechanics line of tools (12 years ago?) and the quality of that tool rivals Snap-On. I recently purchaced the same set and enen they went down in quality so if I had to have one replaced the new one wouldn't be near as nice. I would say for a good set of USA wrenches at a reasonable price pick up a set of Kobalts at lowes. Satin finish but made in the USA (for now). In reality its a rare thing to break a wrench.
 

chevy302dz

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The outsourcing of these tools has a lot of factors labor costs, enviormental regs, corprate greed/responsiblity (depend on your point of view) etc. While it's unfournate the fact is due to the factors listed above there probably was only two choices for Sears; raise prices or import the tools. Think about it for a second, how many people on here have commented about what a great bargian the pro wrenches were? Well if something is a great bargian for you, it means someone probably isn't making much money. Now Sears could have gone the route of raising prices but that would be a kiss of death with the current economey and the type of customer base Sears has. So really outsourcing was most likely the only choice as unappealing as it is to us here.
 

Skin

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Making wrenches isnt labor intensive, its largely an automated process, so i do not agree with your assertion that they had to export or increase prices. If what you assumed was true you'd never see them put on sale, however they were often on sale, even now i believe they're $10 off.

Companies are exporting for greed due to the drastically reduced production costs and to allow themselves to compete directly or undercut their competitors, nothing more. There are numerous examples of this like when they shut down the Vise-Grip plant that had been operating for 80 years.

Its a funny thing too but you'll notice these mass exportation of jobs is usually closely intertwined with a merger or purchase by what becomes a new parent company. In the case of vise-grip they got purchased and shut down in a span of just 6 years. These massive faceless cooperations dont see american jobs, and they certainly dont care about domestic quality, they just see dollar signs.
 
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blklegend

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Making wrenches isnt labor intensive, its largely an automated process, so i do not agree with your assertion that they had to export or increase prices. If what you assumed was true you'd never see them put on sale, however they were often on sale, even now i believe they're $10 off.

If that is true then why does a snap on wrench cost so much more than other american made wrench?
 

Rickster

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Those stats are skewed. Yes, the richest 10% may account for 1/3 of consumer spending, but what are they spending the $$ on? Tools? Not likely. It's going to be cars, premium entertainment systems, pools, jacuzzis, etc.

The idea is that the people making the things they buy also profit, and so on down the line.
 

Skin

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If that is true then why does a snap on wrench cost so much more than other american made wrench?

? All Snap-On tools cost a lot of money cause its Snap-On. Truck brands in general are grossly overpriced. If you've deluded yourself into thinking that's not true go find some of the rebranded merchandise made by other companies, its usually got a substantial premium tacked on.
 
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Aberdale

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If that is true then why does a snap on wrench cost so much more than other american made wrench?

Because of the SO warranty and two step distribution through truck distributors. I'm sure SO has statistics on how frequently a tool gets warrantied. They basically factor in the warranty frequency into the purchase price. (So you are buying the wrench twice or more the first time you buy it.) Sears does this too, but SO wrenches on average probably get used and abused way more often than the average Cman user, so the warranty cost to SO is much higher.

There is also a cost of convenience. If a driver delivers the tool to you, then the driver has to make a living, pay for his truck, fuel, inventory, insurance, etc. There is no free lunch.

Dale
 

boybacon

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Also, Snap On keeps tight tolerances on their tools. I did some measurements with a caliper some months back, and SO had the tightest & most consistent tolerances of stated size vs. actual size.
 

Coach James

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Sears corporate says they are not made in China. Anyone besides the OP seen any stamped Made in China? I still wonder if they might have been the Evolv wrenches as they are full polish.

Coach
 

Cummins_Powered

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Maybe the box was made in China.


Not sure if im reading correctly, but the OP said something about the box end saying USA...is he talking about older or newer wrenches?
 

Hiball

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Sears corporate says they are not made in China. Anyone besides the OP seen any stamped Made in China? I still wonder if they might have been the Evolv wrenches as they are full polish.

Coach

I havent seen any marked China yet, But as i posted (#99) I talked to the manger of a Sears store in Stlouis and he confirmed they where coming.
 

Stuey

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Sears corporate says they are not made in China. Anyone besides the OP seen any stamped Made in China? I still wonder if they might have been the Evolv wrenches as they are full polish.

Coach
Sears corporate? You emailed Sears' regular customer service, right? They're drones that only know how to look things up in a database and offer a canned response.
 

Stephenw

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I've been too busy to go to Sears and take a look, but I suspect they may be Evolve tools. In the past, Evolve tools were a seperate homeowner line. A couple months ago, I noticed Evolve tools were also carrying the Craftsman brand.

My short article and pictures here...

Is Sears Evolving?
 
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Hiball

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I've been too busy to go to Sears and take a look, but I suspect they may be Evolve tools. In the past, Evolve tools were a seperate homeowner line. A couple months ago, I noticed Evolve tools were also carrying the Craftsman brand.

My short article and pictures here...

Is Sears Evolving?

I hope your right but we already know they off-shored the Professional Flare Wrench sets... Its coming buyer beware..
 

Stephenw

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I hope your right but we already know they off-shored the Professional Flare Wrench sets... Its coming buyer beware..

That was sad to see, but I think that had more to do with SK going bankrupt.
 

Hiball

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That was sad to see, but I think that had more to do with SK going bankrupt.

It very well could have, But we know Danaher makes Line wrenches for Matco. Dunno.... Ill hope for the best and keep snatching up my Wright goodies.
 

Stuey

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I've been too busy to go to Sears and take a look, but I suspect they may be Evolve tools. In the past, Evolve tools were a seperate homeowner line. A couple months ago, I noticed Evolve tools were also carrying the Craftsman brand.

My short article and pictures here...

Is Sears Evolving?
Someone did say that the model numbers and prices were the same as the Craftsman Professional full polish wrenches.

That they could be evolv instead of Craftsman is unlikely.
 
OP
F

Fedwrench

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I've been too busy to go to Sears and take a look, but I suspect they may be Evolve tools.

Unfortunately, you suspect WRONG. As I pointed out in previvous posts, the new Chinese full polish wrench sets have the same part numbers as the us made Pro sets and more importantly the same $99.99 price tag. Evolve tools also come in the icky brown cardboard packaging. Whereas, the new chinese polished wrench sets come in the current whit/red/black Craftsman logo and packaging. When have I ever steered any of you wrong?You can doubt me all you want but, it won't change reality.:D
 
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RLRRLRLL

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im going to be stopping by a sears with a better tool selection then the one im close by this weekend. if they have the cman pro 26 piece wrench set...and its the usa made ones.. i will be bringing them home. might even get the line wrenches if they are still the usa ones. they are decent tools, and will last a number of years im sure. they can be replaced with something better if any of them fail.
 

beelsr

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all you have to do is look on the tool. Made in USA have USA stamped on the tool. If they come from China, they won't.

I'm on the road and have stopped at 5 different Sears today (PA, MD & WV). 3 of them had most wrenches on sale (raised panel & pro) - individual and sets.

It was kind of weird walking into the store and seeing a wall almost covered in little red sale tags... :shocking:
 

Boiler

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The American consumer is as much to blame as are the corporate lackeys at sears. On one hand you've got a cheap products hungry people who want as much stuff as possible for as cheap as possible. Though the price is the same, it is probably a move to add back some profittability and to keep the price the same. Americans won't stand long for them raising their prices to maintain quality. Also to blame are the American companies who would rather send jobs overseas and make more profit than figure out a way to do it here. Rampant capitolism, just care about the bottom line today at all costs. Oh by the way, we now have less customers because the average wage dropped after our (and all our buddies) outsourcing jobs. Now we need to send more of it overseas to lower the cost to cater to our lower income consumer base. Oh look we lowered the average wage again...etc etc. Sorry guys but cheap foreign products = ugly cycle. Yep, its cheap for you today, but tomorrow when you're buying power is less it will need to get cheaper. 20 years is a blink and jeez has this economy just hit the crapper in the last 20...
 

Skin

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The American consumer is as much to blame as are the corporate lackeys at sears.

nope. thats an idiotic and obtuse statement. the outsourcing of tool products has been going on for years and years at most all B&M operations. If the truck brands have no problem offering combo wrench sets for 3x the price of the craftsman one, i'm sure the craftsman ones also sold. Incase you havent noticed Sears has been moving to an all chinese/taiwanese hand tool line for quite some time.
 

Stuey

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nope. thats an idiotic and obtuse statement. the outsourcing of tool products has been going on for years and years at most all B&M operations. If the truck brands have no problem offering combo wrench sets for 3x the price of the craftsman one, i'm sure the craftsman ones also sold. Incase you havent noticed Sears has been moving to an all chinese/taiwanese hand tool line for quite some time.
No, that's not an idiotic statement. Store and compant trends tend to follow consumer patterns. Many people don't want to spend money on tools. Why spend $8 for a single Phillips driver when you can buy a whole set for $9? There have always been cheap import tools available, but they weren't that cheap or that available.

A lot of people are spending more and more of their money at Walmart than elsewhere.

There are several direct-from-China distributors out there that dropship products. People flock to them. Take a look at the many deal sites and forums out there. 99 cent tweezers? Everyone HAS to have them. $2 all-in-one screwdriver kit? Thousands buy 'em up. 10 flashlights for $4? Everyone figures this is something they MUST HAVE. So what if 2/5 products fails or is broken upon arrival? Who needs to solve manufacturing problems when you can replace the products for pennies.

The majority of people want to spend as little as possible on many types of goods these days. Retailers are forced to meet them at a lower price point and manufacturers then have to design products according to those price points. You don't want to comply? See ya! Manufacturers who don't comply with stores' pricing can't distribute via those stores anymore. Then, they're forced to compete with stores that do.

Some companies can produce tools overseas with the same level of quality as before. Others cannot. There are a lot of influences - corporate greed, effective management, luck of the drawer, honest factory managers or dishonest overseers looking to line their own pockets, etc.

I'd say that Boiler's statement is pretty accurate. People vote with their wallets and stores occasionally adapt accordingly. Sears has access to sales data that you and I don't have. They might be seeing a large bias for Gearwrench wrenches and low demand for costlier Craftsman ones.

In any case, this is NOT a good decision for them to have made.
 

Skin

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No, that's not an idiotic statement. Store and compant trends tend to follow consumer patterns. Many people don't want to spend money on tools.

I'd say that Boiler's statement is pretty accurate. People vote with their wallets and stores occasionally adapt accordingly. Sears has access to sales data that you and I don't have. They might be seeing a large bias for Gearwrench wrenches and low demand for costlier Craftsman ones.

In any case, this is NOT a good decision for them to have made.

You forget that this is not sears's only line of combo wrenches. If what you said was true what sense does it make to make a change starting with your highest tier supposed "professional" quality wrenches? I maintain that they are simply shifting all production over to china, it has nothing to do with cost or quality nor the consumer base but instead simple corporate greed.

And second, the price is the same. Clearly they arent trying to attract the same type of people HF are or we'd of seen the older sets on clearance and a new format for significantly less, instead we've got the same product without the USA stamp and with some small font change on the back near the UPC. You average joe wouldnt even notice and will continue to purchase those sets, and this is what sears is banking on.

So nope, dont blame the consumers for what is clearly just another case of corporate greed.
 
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blklegend

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Not everything is based on corporate greed, it more smart management from Sears to either increase profitability or maintain profitability levels on future forecasts. Cost of labor, healthcare, corporate taxes is forecasted to increase in the future. They don't really have a choice but to start outsourcing more and more items.

Honestly alot of these companies would rather keep manufacturing jobs in the US, but they honestly can't anymore to remain competitive and bottom line STAY IN BUSINESS.

Besides that, I personally care about a tool being quality regardless of where its made..

To those that bash made in china tools, products, etc.. Would you pay more for a tool made in the USA where the quality is horrible for $100 bucks or a tool made in China that is decent quality for $20 bucks?
 

Indy_500

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I went to sears to buy Madden 11 which was the only store that had it on sale for $50 and it says "available on 8/10/10" and guess what, they didn't have it and weren't getting it shipped in for 2 weeks. BOY WAS I MAD! and boy did they know it! Then i was looking at the wrenches, every single raised panel wrench was on sale :( but all were still made in usa, i hope this doesn't mean what i think it means. THey had the professional wrenches on sale for $90 and MADE IN CHINA!!!! They honestly looked like pieces of ****. There's a big difference between these and the old ones. There was bad chrome galore all over them. They looked like HF made in India clones!
 

Cummins_Powered

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Just picked up metric cman pro combo wrenches today. Made in USA, while i did see the chinese replacements for flare crowfeet(next to the older USA ones) and regular flares i did not see any chinese pro combo wrenches...
 

SocketDeviler

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I went to sears to buy Madden 11 which was the only store that had it on sale for $50 and it says "available on 8/10/10" and guess what, they didn't have it and weren't getting it shipped in for 2 weeks.

Why not just wait a few months and get it for a few bucks. It's amazing how quickly those sports games become worthless. At the pawn shop I worked at we had to package them together to get rid of 'em. Spend the money on some good tools or invest it. But I digress.....

I might go to Sears tomorrow, see what's going on.
 

Hiball

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Why not just wait a few months and get it for a few bucks. It's amazing how quickly those sports games become worthless. At the pawn shop I worked at we had to package them together to get rid of 'em. Spend the money on some good tools or invest it. But I digress.....

I might go to Sears tomorrow, see what's going on.

Or just download it when it hits the Torrent world.
 

SocketDeviler

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Or just download it when it hits the Torrent world.

So you equate the secondary market with torrent sites or you just want to bust chops?

I realize these game companies have to make a profit..yadayada...but I'm hard pressed to think of something that costs so much and becomes so worthless so quick. Madden games from a 2-3 years ago can literally be had for $1.00 and less. Just saw some for 50 cents at a local store.
 
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