Walmart has Channellocks Now!

[Farmall450]

Saw the 440 & 420 in Walmart. Pretty good prices too.

 

[devoncoolman]

I dont know if this is good or bad.

 

[atwageman]

Wal Mart has carried Channellocks off and on for years. At least around my parts.

 

[Farmall450]

Wal Mart has carried Channellocks off and on for years. At least around my parts.

First time for us. Almost the same price as Stanley el cheapo

 

[ChevyEFI]

As much as I want to like a U.S. company, I don't know if this is good, long-term.

WM tends to leverage pricing so much that the vendor is enticed to manage costs. Quality may suffer.

 

[Farmall450]

As much as I want to like a U.S. company, I don't know if this is good, long-term.

WM tends to leverage pricing so much that the vendor is enticed to manage costs. Quality may suffer.

I doubt this, as Walmart had 2 different ones...Farm & Fleet for example carries the whole lineup.

 

[kythri]

Walmart, as an entity, has carried Channellock for at least 5-10 years. Maybe not in all stores, but they've been in the system, and at my local stores forever.

Quality isn't going to suffer. Channellock will stop selling to Walmart before they cheap out in response to Walmart's demand for a specific price point.

 

[zkling]

I have a bad feeling, within the next 5 years; Channellock will be no longer made in USA. Probably Taiwan, maybe China.

 

[CWP1616L]

I dont know if this is good or bad.

Exactly. If they're making their pliers cheap enough to suit Walmart, that can't be good.

 

[Jawn]

This isn't new. I got a set of 440s from Wal-Mart probably about 8 years ago?

 

[mmack66]

They have always had them around here.

In before I have to read that Channellock has a completely separate manufacturing setup for making inferior tools to sell to Walmart.

 

[Farmall450]

I have a bad feeling, within the next 5 years; Channellock will be no longer made in USA. Probably Taiwan, maybe China.

I don't think so...

This isn't new. I got a set of 440s from Wal-Mart probably about 8 years ago?

New to me, and plenty of others it seems.

They have always had them around here.

In before I have to read that Channellock has a completely separate manufacturing setup for making inferior tools to sell to Walmart.

I really doubt this...

 

[mudflap]

Walmart, as an entity, has carried Channellock for at least 5-10 years. Maybe not in all stores, but they've been in the system, and at my local stores forever.

Quality isn't going to suffer. Channellock will stop selling to Walmart before they cheap out in response to Walmart's demand for a specific price point.

I hope your right...but they already sell junk china screwdrivers with their name on them.....will never understand why they would risk their good name doing that.....but i know lots of once great American companies have gone that route....

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

if you don't charge enough , people don't respect you

 

[Farmall450]

Walmart, as an entity, has carried Channellock for at least 5-10 years. Maybe not in all stores, but they've been in the system, and at my local stores forever.

Quality isn't going to suffer. Channellock will stop selling to Walmart before they cheap out in response to Walmart's demand for a specific price point.

I completely agree...

 

[zkling]

I don't think so..

Why? If you look at their quality over the years it has drastically decreased. I'm pretty sure some of their products are already made over seas, just time till their entire pliers lineup is. Only time will tell though.

I hope your right...but they already sell junk china screwdrivers with their name on them.....will never understand why they would risk their good name doing that.....but i know lots of once great American companies have gone that route....

Cough craftsman cough?

 

[justanengineer]

I hope your right...but they already sell junk china screwdrivers with their name on them

If you look at their entire lineup, and yes they have quite an extensive lineup of socket sets, wrenches, and other items not on their website, other than the pliers most of its cheap Asian ****. Hit a few of the bigger car shows in summer, theres a few "dealers" that have pretty extensive displays of it.

 

[nine4gmc]

Saw the 440 & 420 in Walmart. Pretty good prices too.

COO? Pics?

 

[bimmerZ5]

I've seen Channel Locks at my local Walmart for several years too. The prices are ok, they are probably a little expensive for what you might expect at Walmart. I find better deals on Channel Lock when they are being cleared out elsewhere.

There's no worry about Channel Lock falling into Walmart's pressure for low prices until Walmart actually starts to sell them at a larger volume. I don't think Walmart is a major sales channel for Channel Lock. Whenever I've seen them at Walmart, people aren't buying them that fast. So, if you don't want to give Walmart the leverage it needs to pressure manufacturers to lower prices, just don't buy them at Walmart and Channel Lock will remain doing business through other channels.

 

[ganymede]

..... WM tends to leverage pricing so much that the vendor is enticed to manage costs. Quality may suffer.

Yup.
I bet Home Douche-po and Blowes do it too.

 

[oldtools]

Wonder if WM will pressure Chinnallock to move production to China.

 

[zkling]

Yup.
I bet Home Douche-po and Blowes do it too.

Would you be referring to the recent decision by lowes to replace their USA and German made tools (Channellock and Knipex respectively) with a China made product that retails for the same price? Yea I'm sure this was done for the benefit of the consumer

 

[cheechi]

if you don't charge enough , people don't respect you

I have to ask, why do you guys think Channellock still has as much USA production as they do? Maybe they're making healthy enough profits that they can let Wal-Mart charge less for 2 of their most common models and still come out ahead.

Pretty sure they don't need us looking out for them.

 

[The Frisco Kid]

quality isn't going to suffer. Channellock will stop selling to walmart before they cheap out in response to walmart's demand for a specific price point.

lmfao!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

 

[cashishift]

As much as I want to like a U.S. company, I don't know if this is good, long-term.

WM tends to leverage pricing so much that the vendor is enticed to manage costs. Quality may suffer.

This.

 

[ganymede]

Would you be referring to the recent decision by lowes to replace their USA and German made tools (Channellock and Knipex respectively) with a China made product that retails for the same price? Yea I'm sure this was done for the benefit of the consumer

Inflation be damned.

 

[mmack66]

Wonder if WM will pressure Chinnallock to move production to China.

Why would they?

What companies have they pressured to move production to China?

 

[CWP1616L]

Quality isn't going to suffer. Channellock will stop selling to Walmart before they cheap out in response to Walmart's demand for a specific price point.

I hope you're right about that.

 

[Super Sport]

Why would they?

What companies have they pressured to move production to China?

You can't always trust the media, but it's worth a read: http://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know

Walmart pressures suppliers to continuously lower costs, to the point where the supplier must choose to stop doing business with their biggest customer, or outsource production to lower costs. Ending business with Walmart will likely ruin their company, so they instead outsource.

It's been said time and time again, and there are specific examples out there. I don't work in the industry so I can't personally comment on the truthfulness, but I can't say I doubt it.

 

[CWP1616L]

What companies have they pressured to move production to China?

Rubbermaid for one. Maybe you should watch this video:

PBS FRONTLINE

 

[Trucky]

If it wasn't Walmart, there would be another company doing the same thing. People are very quick to point the finger at Walmart. My belief is, the writing has been on the wall for those companies before they ever signed up to get in bed with Wally World. They knew what might happen.

I'd bet that they were just hoping that it wouldn't.

Glad to see you finally got some CL at your Walmart though.

 

[CWP1616L]

As long as they don't screw up the models 718 and 728 I'll be happy.

 

[firebox40dash5]

I'm really just not seeing Wally World selling a whopping 2 (out of how many?) models of their pliers leading to them sending production offshore. I might eat my hat later for this one (cough... Craftsman) but they really hang their hat on US-made pliers. How much of their business is to large organizations/government contractors where being US-made is either a huge help, or a requirement to purchase?

I'm not seeing them moving everything overseas, nor Wally World carrying their whole line or anywhere close, so it would seem like the more rational answer would be keeping some production stateside and farming some out... which doesn't sound very rational either.

 

[AndrewH]

I'm really just not seeing Wally World selling a whopping 2 (out of how many?) models of their pliers leading to them sending production offshore. I might eat my hat later for this one (cough... Craftsman) but they really hang their hat on US-made pliers. How much of their business is to large organizations/government contractors where being US-made is either a huge help, or a requirement to purchase?

I'm not seeing them moving everything overseas, nor Wally World carrying their whole line or anywhere close, so it would seem like the more rational answer would be keeping some production stateside and farming some out... which doesn't sound very rational either.

Actually, my local Walmart sells 426, 420, 430, 440, 460, 337, 317 and a couple others that I can't remember off the top of my head! However, I agree with you that Channel Lock Pliers won't be made outside the US for some time, if ever.

Andrew

 

[kythri]

Why? If you look at their quality over the years it has drastically decreased.

Says who, with what evidence?

I'm pretty sure some of their products are already made over seas, just time till their entire pliers lineup is. Only time will tell though.

Any Channellock-branded product that isn't made in the USA wasn't something Channellock ever made in the USA.

They licensed out the brand name to someone that fills out the tool line.

Someone apparently thought it was wise to do so.

That doesn't mean that Channellock has started outsourcing - I'll say it again - if you see a Channellock product that isn't made in the USA, then it's a product that was never made in the USA to begin with.

Channellock's core line is still made in the USA.

Cough craftsman cough?

Channellock isn't a publicly-traded company with a head-***** gutting the brands or spinning them off into a separate holding company so he can sell that little diamond after he tanks the rest of the corporate entity that once wholly-owned that brand.

Further, Channellock has always been a manufacturing entity, not a brand that contracts production out.

Completely different situation.

 

[kythri]

I've seen Channel Locks at my local Walmart for several years too. The prices are ok, they are probably a little expensive for what you might expect at Walmart. I find better deals on Channel Lock when they are being cleared out elsewhere.

I've seen better Channellock deals a number of places than Walmart.

 

[zkling]

Dang man, did I offend you or something?

Says who, with what evidence?

Gab an old pair and compare it to current production. Lots of corners were cut to save production costs and IMHO overall quality and life of the tool. Ex. Went from an adjustable nut to a penned joint design. Went from a deep stamped marking to an etched marking. Overall fit and finish are different and IMHO less than the older ones.

Any Channellock-branded product that isn't made in the USA wasn't something Channellock ever made in the USA.

They licensed out the brand name to someone that fills out the tool line.

Someone apparently thought it was wise to do so.

Yes, but it shows that they have no problem putting their name on a foreign made product. That is how it begins. Got to trickle it in so the customers don't jump ship right away.

Further, Channellock has always been a manufacturing entity, not a brand that contracts production out.
Completely different situation.

O I really do hope I am wrong on this, and we really won't know till the 5 year down the road mark comes. But based on recent trends of other makers; I predict chanellock will either switch their entire production to off shore to save $. Or they will increase the cost of the USA made stuff drastically to a point where they limit their market and then introduce a cheaper line of main products for the average consumer. Kinda like how Snap On has the SO line and the Bluepoint line.

I wonder who is Channellock's largest customer? Does anyone know if they have any large military, LEO, or industrial accounts?

 

[Super Sport]

Further, Channellock has always been a manufacturing entity, not a brand that contracts production out.

Completely different situation.

Any Channellock-branded product that isn't made in the USA wasn't something Channellock ever made in the USA.

They licensed out the brand name to someone that fills out the tool line.

You contradicted your own point earlier in your post.

I'm not saying they will, and I hope they don't...but it definitely is a possibility. The fact they they're already allowing their name to be put on cheap imported **** scares me a little!

 

[kythri]

Dang man, did I offend you or something?

Not at all.

Gab an old pair and compare it to current production. Lots of corners were cut to save production costs and IMHO overall quality and life of the tool. Ex. Went from an adjustable nut to a penned joint design. Went from a deep stamped marking to an etched marking. Overall fit and finish are different and IMHO less than the older ones.

I can't speak to why one is better than the other, but I can say that my new production stuff is really no different than my old production stuff in the quality department. It's all incredibly solid stuff, and I really can't say that I can see much difference in fit/finish of the stuff.

I haven't had an issue with the stamped vs. etched marks eroding, so it really doesn't bother me.

Yes, but it shows that they have no problem putting their name on a foreign made product. That is how it begins. Got to trickle it in so the customers don't jump ship right away.

So, basically, like every other brand out there? This really doesn't strike me as any indicator of anything, save a desire to make some more money.

O I really do hope I am wrong on this, and we really won't know till the 5 year down the road mark comes. But based on recent trends of other makers; I predict chanellock will either switch their entire production to off shore to save $. Or they will increase the cost of the USA made stuff drastically to a point where they limit their market and then introduce a cheaper line of main products for the average consumer. Kinda like how Snap On has the SO line and the Bluepoint line.

Well, we're kinda past that mark now, because the licensed-production stuff has been out for more than five years. Walmart's been selling the brand for more than five years.

As far as production goes, I do believe that Channellock was recently boasting how they've hired more people and expanded their domestic production. I'm too lazy and don't care enough to go try to source that, but I'm pretty sure I read something about that in the past year or so...

 

[firebox40dash5]

You contradicted your own point earlier in your post.

I'm not saying they will, and I hope they don't...but it definitely is a possibility. The fact they they're already allowing their name to be put on cheap imported **** scares me a little!

Snap On lets their name be plastered on gobs of Chinese pure ****... like the $10 lights at Tractor Supply or Amazon.