First, franchise stores don't exchange goods with corporate stores, I was told.
Second, the southeast stores are out of the SAE set. Dallas has some, but you would need to pay UPS shipping, which would be > the cost of the sale price.
Third, since it's a close-out, not to be re-ordered, it's 'limited to stock on-hand.' Even-though I had a confirmation of my order for both the SAE and the metric, the only one available was my two sets of the metric (one for a friend), and no Lufkin 25' tape measure zip-tied to the package. Even then, the clerk at the NAPA store I went to, which is the regional warehouse and is open 7 days, had to cannibalize another partial set to make a complete set.
The clerk was helpful, he showed me the inventory and explained the system. On 'closeouts,' it's 'stock on-hand.' Two ways to see inventory: 'warehouse' and 'manufacturer.' Once the 'manufacturer' is out of stock, they are not getting any-more from them. The screen showed none available from the manufacturer, thus, none to be ordered.
The 'warehouse' regional distribution list I saw went up the east coast, I saw as-far as Buffalo NY, no SAE sets were in inventory. A location in TX had some sets. To get the set sent would entail additional shipping via their carrier, UPS, which would cost more-than the cost of the set. That was the story at the south Florida regional distribution center.
I did have the original store designated as my pick-up location tell me if I wanted to pay $10 for shipping, they would order the SAE set for me, so taking the two sets together for $30 doesn't seem like such a bad deal, they want payment up-front, which is not what the online ad says. But if it gets me the missing SAE set, I'll pay an additional $10.
There seems to be some difference among stores as to what lengths they will go for this deal.
