chinese raised panels, and sockets. am i late to the party?
- Thread starter TwoInch
- Start date
the open stock stuff was all still USA, there was just some stuff mixed in, im sure just the stuff where there was room on the shelves. but its here, and its coming. there is no doubt about that now. it seems our squawking all over the internet, in the store, and by letter to sears themselves isnt doing much.
i know i was hoping some of it would stay, but we all knew it was a pipe dream.
other than the wrenches having that same lobster claw head like the polish version, they didnt look to bad cosmetically. smoother finished all around than the recent USA versions. the hoops of the box end is thicker than the USA version, but not by a bunch.
the sockets look terrible. the stampings are rough and inconsistent, and just generally terrible looking.
the sockets look terrible. the stampings are rough and inconsistent, and just generally terrible looking.
matt1977
Well-known member
I guess the screwdrivers are the next and last thing to go?
Fordman7795
Well-known member
Tool manufacturers should be required to stamp COO on the tool. When its USA made they stamp it on the tool. When its china, they hide it on the packaging.
Super Sport
Well-known member
Pliers too, along with numerous odds and ends they sell.
i feel your pain here. I recently bought those wrench sets when they were on sale for $49.99. I ended up going a little our of my way to a Sears Hardware and Appliance that doesn't get the regular customers that mall based Sears would get. They barely turn over their stock so I was able to get the older ALL AMERICAN made version. Worth it.
DSLTRK
Well-known member
I don't understand the economics behind the sockets? Those are mass produced by a MACHINE. There's no human involvement besides loading the machine up with bar stock and dumping formed sockets in a plating solution. How much do these "machine loaders" and "plating dumpers" get paid an hour?!? to make imports that must travel over 3000 miles to get here cheaper???
wrenches are made by a machine just as much as a socket. sockets still have a person standing there as the machine makes them. some of it is done by hand by most companies, cleaning up the burrs, and transferring from the broaching to the stamp roller, etc...
no different than wrenches or any other tool that has been sourced to china.
my guess is the plating(no EPA), and the steel costs, along with labor are the major reductions in manufacturing costs when it comes to tools.
no different than wrenches or any other tool that has been sourced to china.
my guess is the plating(no EPA), and the steel costs, along with labor are the major reductions in manufacturing costs when it comes to tools.
GirlnAgarage
Well-known member
You said it, the China stuff is flooding in. But I bought a few more sets of the USA RPs. They are still out there, you just have to search the shelves. The stores are just unloading gobs and gobs of the China stuff for the holidays though. It's like the China packaging department puked in the tool section.
The easiest was to tell is the China packages don't have hat little blue emblem on the front that say Made in USA. I'm finding a ton of individual wrenches as well. I think Sears knows this and I've noticed the prices are somewhat reflected. The China stuff is all on sale, huge sets for big discounts. The USA are slight discount or regular price.
I grabbed a 9pc metric ($19) and a 12pc SAE ($29), both 6pts. They still have more on the shelf but we've all got sets already. I know people said don't buy the, don't give money to Sears. But I had to do it because my sister was looking to buy some sets and I wanted her to at least to get a USA set. So I got the for her Christmas present. I did take the time to educate her a bit on things to look for when we were in store during Thanksgiving.
Anyway, here's a pic
The easiest was to tell is the China packages don't have hat little blue emblem on the front that say Made in USA. I'm finding a ton of individual wrenches as well. I think Sears knows this and I've noticed the prices are somewhat reflected. The China stuff is all on sale, huge sets for big discounts. The USA are slight discount or regular price.
I grabbed a 9pc metric ($19) and a 12pc SAE ($29), both 6pts. They still have more on the shelf but we've all got sets already. I know people said don't buy the, don't give money to Sears. But I had to do it because my sister was looking to buy some sets and I wanted her to at least to get a USA set. So I got the for her Christmas present. I did take the time to educate her a bit on things to look for when we were in store during Thanksgiving.
Anyway, here's a pic
matt1977
Well-known member
So it's safe to say the chinese tools aren't an improvement over the danaher made ones? like when kobalt switched their hardline over to taiwan.
ChevyEFI
Well-known member
I wanted to replace a couple lost Craftsman combo wrenches that I've lived without but would like to have.
But I already have a blackhawk, a snap-on and another name mixed in.
So I think I'll say to heck with it and just buy whatever catches my fancy that's made in the US instead of bothering to find USA Craftsman.
But I already have a blackhawk, a snap-on and another name mixed in.
So I think I'll say to heck with it and just buy whatever catches my fancy that's made in the US instead of bothering to find USA Craftsman.
ChevyEFI
Well-known member
The easiest was to tell is the China packages don't have hat little blue emblem on the front that say Made in USA. I'm finding a ton of individual wrenches as well. I think Sears knows this and I've noticed the prices are somewhat reflected. The China stuff is all on sale, huge sets for big discounts. The USA are slight discount or regular price.
Anyway, here's a pic
thats not true either. the blue emblem you speak of is the old style, all the USA stuff has a different USA marking on the packaging now, similar to the CHINA markings.
all the china stuff and the USA stuff have matching part numbers, and are all the same prices. the sets you mentioned buying recently are being discontinued, thats why they are at a deep discount. i bought the 12pc 6pt sets a couple months ago for $15.97 each. the 9pc 6pt sets were $11.97
you can get the 26pc sets right now for $37.99, china or USA sets.
firebox40dash5
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- Joined
- Mar 19, 2012
- Messages
- 4,185
I don't understand the economics behind the sockets? Those are mass produced by a MACHINE. There's no human involvement besides loading the machine up with bar stock and dumping formed sockets in a plating solution. How much do these "machine loaders" and "plating dumpers" get paid an hour?!? to make imports that must travel over 3000 miles to get here cheaper???
Environmental regulations. The costs over and above wages of having employees in the US. The costs of maintaining a plant, and the machinery, in the US.
The costs of slowboating a huge quantity of small things over here isn't a whole bunch, and when you don't care about your quality, you can get the production itself done cheaper over there, and avoid pretty much all the costs mentioned above.
padronanniversary
Well-known member
Why does not everyone on this board buy a set of Chinese wrenchs, and use the a little so they are not new, and then return them back to sears saying you cannot accept a Chinese product. I bet if sears got enough return from every single GJ member, it would start hitting their books
NC-Fordguy
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- Mar 10, 2012
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- 1,391
I popped open a set of 1/2 in drive sae 12pt outsourced sockets a week or two ago. Didn't look bad to me. Haven't seen them yet in the smaller drive sizes.
NC-Fordguy
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- Mar 10, 2012
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Because 99 percent of consumers don't care. That 99 percent concerns are price and warranty.
Lowes and Home Depot transitioned years ago. Didn't hurt those companies.
Don't get me wrong, I don't care for this either, but the days of a 30 dollar made in the USA wrench set has sadly passed into history.
One thing is for sure, more and more companies will outsource more and more products
That doesn't bother me at all because I never liked seeing USA stamped on medium quality tools anyway. I would rather see people pay a little more money for better quality.
rocco
Well-known member
Welcome to sears Canada. We've had these horrible Chinese tools for the better part of 12-14 years now.It used to be a treat to go shopping at the US stores....
Fordman7795
Well-known member
If i had to make a guess i would say hes doing a side by side comparison for us
stratman977
Well-known member
I saw a guy in my sears on Wednesday warranty trading a bunch of perfectly good usa ratchets for the china ones. I was going to tell him but I figured he deserved it.
cgv69
Well-known member
I wonder how much it would hurt their sales if they promoted made in China in the same manor that they used to promote made in the USA?
byoungblood
Well-known member
I think if they were required to put a large "MADE IN CHINA" on the front of the package, as prominently as they put the Made in the USA on past products, I think you would get a better sense of how many people do care. It is just that so many of these companies have gone to such great lengths to hide COO from consumers that people are merely uninformed.
Face facts, most people in this country have to have something shouted at them or put on front of them in big shiny letters to get their attention these days. Sears, Lowes, HD, etc., know that a vast majority of people are not going to look for the microscopic print on the back of the package.
You keep hearing people complain about outsourcing and COO in the press all the time, so I think people do care, but are just deliberately misinformed/misguided.
egnorant
Well-known member
Some changes in the law require that the COO be shown for the primary purchase.
That is why all these tools come in the crappy plastic holders that will have the COO printed on them.
Nuisance packaging designed to be discarded or even destroyed before the item can be used is standard now.
This is why the Snap-On folks got so upset that the tool itself was not marked.
This does make counterfeiting COO a great deal easier and avoids the bad feelings of having tools themselves actually marked CRAFTSMAN CHINA.
I am just waiting to see who is the next distributor sued or fined for replacing a tiny paper label with Made in China for a tiny paper label that says Made in USA.
Truthfully I wonder if the enforcement is compromised, but I have been labeled a paranoid conspiracy nut.
Bruce
byoungblood
Well-known member
I pointed it out to someone and they turned around and walked out, after telling the employee how the Craftsman warranty was basically useless now.
