Black Friday in the Tool World

[bagsanthony]

Well I want out Black Friday because i was interested in some of the less popular things out there (not the tvs, tablets, ipads, etc.) I got a ton of oil and filters at pep boys. I then decided to head to Sears and Home Depot..... well what a site to remember.....

All I saw were a bunch of people out to get the cheapest, shittiest, and most gimmicky tools known to man. If anyone on this forum thinks that there going to put up a stink by not buying chinese craftsman tools and sears will get the picture, think again. The general public could honestly care less. And a good chunk of people, based on former reputation, still swear all their tools are made in the USA. It was really disturbing to think that this is just the way of the world today...... Anyone else notice this???

 

[DallasRusk]

If the majority of Americans knew anything about tools or quality and gave a thought to purchasing a tool the same way people on this site do then major retailers wouldn't be selling cheap Chinese goods in the first place.

But the vast majority of people in this country want the most stuff they can get for the littlest amount of money they can part with. What they get is really not important.

In a year when it breaks they'll just chuck it in a landfill and buy another cheap piece of ****.

There is really no point in fighting it. It's part of American culture now. The folks that see a tool as more than a consumable good are a minority subset. And that's ok.

 

[Harrison2]

I did think to myself these people clearly have no idea about tools as I walked around harbor freight today, people buying drill drivers, other assorted generally poor made items but quite high prices considering the quality. the $15 drills were selling like hot cakes, personally id go to home depot and buy a ryobi for not much more.

there was one kid looking at toolboxes, his Mom looking more at the discounts rather than quality. she kept saying this one is more discounted and holds more pointing to the black roller cabs $150 reduced from $300 compared to the red tool cart he was more interested in. he left with a cart after all which was certainly the better option.

I did notice a few people at sears hunting the usa made stuff rather than just picking up the china stuff that was in plain sight. but i mainly saw women buying stuff for what looked like Christmas presents for their husbands and not looking at COO or overall quality just cheap toolsets.

 

[fordbroncodave]

the people you saw buying things were people shopping FOR someone else. I think most people care what they are buying with hard earned money, not thoughtless shopping.

I went to home depot for a 4 piece USA stanley tape measure set. that was all.

 

[blackhawkdriver]

I bought a rug for the wife at home depot, that's it. However I did go to Harbor freight and pickup some good stuff including a 1/2 in earthquake impact wrench for 59 bucks.

 

[RedneckWelder]

I popped into Lowes...only tools I saw being sold were being brought by well meaning but uninformed people for gifts and/or really light duty personal use...they had a couple of more professional tools on sale.

They had this set which would be a great starter set for someone without tools or looking for an emergency set to keep in the car/truck. http://www.lowes.com/pd_338518-2232...L=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

 

[comedyman809]

bunch of older couples in the commack sears asking questions to the uninformed staff, salesman trying to pitch snow blowers and air compressor, clearly not knowing anything about the products they sell, and some moms and kids getting cheap tool sets and gimmicky **** for their soon to be disappointed husbands!!

 

[kenburkholz]

Not just recently, but Sears has always been into the craptastic tool that will replace every other tool in the universe and fit every fastener known to man. If you want to tighten a one quarter inch nut in the middle of a football field you will have adequate clearance. ken.

 

[BearCuda]

I'm just glad my wife's not into the commercialism and out there trying to buy me a bunch of ****.

 

[cinco]

I wasn't planning on doing any shopping at all but this thread stoked my curiosity, so I headed to Home Depot just to see what I could see. As far as I could tell, being a guy who doesn't tend to buy tools from local retailers, their sale prices were higher than both HF's regular prices and Home Depot's regular prices from back when Husky was USA. I may be wrong about that, but I didn't need anything anyway so I came home empty-handed.

 

[blacksuit99]

I spent $40 at ace hardware for a metric set of craftsman wrenches USA made. These are fort son for Xmas and will go in his toolbox. He isn't into tools yet but will be someday.
I later went to Sears and the we're selling a simular set of wrenches for $20. Of course these were china wrenches. Had to explain to the wife that I didn't give a **** if they were double the price or not, my son will be using these for the next 50 years and should have USA wrenches...


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[RedneckWelder]

I'm just glad my wife's not into the commercialism and out there trying to buy me a bunch of ****.

Oh come on now you know you want this year's iteration of the Dogbone wrench (it's the tool equivalent of a fruitcake!) and some ****** new miracle 50in1 wundertool that just appeared on the market, coincidentally in time for the holiday season...

 

[Fedwrench]

I swung by sears to pick up a couple of rectangular magnetic trays. You just can't have too many of those.
I think this was the first black Friday where most of the craftsman hardline tools on sale were from China, the peoples Repblic of.

There were some exceptions. Most noteably the classic cratsman screwdriver sets and the red handled pry bar sets were US made at the store I was at.

One thing hasn't changed at Sears though. You can still get Craftsman tools for pennies on the piece and they're warrantied forever. I think that's all the average Sears customer really cares about though.

 

[oldtools]

Can't expect everybody to chase down a Snap On truck just to buy one USA socket.

 

[Pumpman1968]

The only thing I bought was a set of SAE and Metric Gearwrench combos........for $10 each...at Ace Hardware. I actually PLANNED on buying a Made In Taiwan product.....who wudda thunk it?

 

[Coolguy83]

I bought a drill doctor from sears big spender.

 

[Flivver250]

I ordered some Wright tools online, sockets and a torque wrench. Also bought some tiny sized open end boexes. Won't see them until I get home next year, but I got a good tool junkie fix. Will get to use them someday.

 

[nicksnothereman]

Oh come on now you know you want this year's iteration of the Dogbone wrench (it's the tool equivalent of a fruitcake!) and some ****** new miracle 50in1 wundertool that just appeared on the market, coincidentally in time for the holiday season...

I thought it was the husky adjustable "6 point" wrench (the one for sockets). That should be the new "hotness" (though they've been making them for a while). Probably works okay too; it's just an adjustable wrench sized for bolt heads.

Most of the kobalt stuff isn't bad (by any stretch of the imagination) by the way. Just sayin'.

 

[reddog289]

For the last 3 years I have been eying a compound mitre saw, Not that I use it everyday yet, I wll have it when I need it.
I shopped around and got the better deal at Sears, As I had a gift card and rewards points.
Ordered it online and picked it up, Got a $5.00 off coupon cause I had to wait in line for more than 5 minutes. Other than that nothing has struck me as I need to buy it on Black Friday.

 

[toolaholic]

Bought a made in USA craftsman 15 adjustable at ace(20% off) and a made on USA 18 inch crescent on clearance from 69.97 to 42 something at lowes. Even started a thread about it. All the same stuff is on special every year. I have deep sockets, combo wrenches, wet/ dry vacs etc.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Most of the kobalt stuff isn't bad (by any stretch of the imagination) by the way. Just sayin'.

Currently my sockets and wrenches are Kobalt...I just don't buy their gimmicky **** like the self adjusting visegrips and the dangerous triple cut POS. I leave that stuff for wives and children to frustrate their husbands and fathers with.

 

[nicksnothereman]

Currently my sockets and wrenches are Kobalt...I just don't buy their gimmicky **** like the self adjusting visegrips and the dangerous triple cut POS. I leave that stuff for wives and children to frustrate their husbands and fathers with.

I hear ya.

I don't know about those holiday tools. Probably the razor cutters are okay.

 

[Brownsfan]

I'm glad my wife knows not to buy me any tools. Well unless I tell her what to buy. Every year we send each other links of stuff we want. We make sure we send a bunch of links of things so we can actually be a little surprised. Her buying tools for me blind for me is like me trying to buy a purse for or clothes for her. She knows I only buy quality stuff. She understands why every time I fix one of the cars or like yesterday(yes thanksgiving day) the freaking furnace. Last summer the central air. List goes on.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

went to ace and got the irwin clamp set and to sears for some folding saw horses before work. tried to get some stuff for the wife but i eather didn't have enough $ or it was complete ****

 

[brokeguy]

Our sears here in modesto ca still had some usa stamped wrenches!
So i got a 19mm and 20mm to finish my set.. and some usa torx t6 and t5.

 

[BearCuda]

Oh come on now you know you want this year's iteration of the Dogbone wrench (it's the tool equivalent of a fruitcake!) and some ****** new miracle 50in1 wundertool that just appeared on the market, coincidentally in time for the holiday season...

LOL on the tool equiv of fruitcake.

 

[Sheriff245]

I got a Mastercraft Maximum tool chest. I was eyeing it for quite a while and planned on buying it, and it went on sale for 55% off.

 

[mrjaw14]

I got a hf 3/8 earthquake with the 25% coupon. Wasn't on sale though. Come to think of it, none of the tools I got yesterday were on sale. You guys have ruined me over the last year or so, passed right by all the gimmick stuff and laughed when the wife asked me about any of it.

 

[Stuey]

the people you saw buying things were people shopping FOR someone else. I think most people care what they are buying with hard earned money, not thoughtless shopping.

I went to home depot for a 4 piece USA stanley tape measure set. that was all.

Check the fine print. I bought that Stanley tape measure set for $10 two years ago. Only the 25' one was made in USA with domestic and imported parts. The others were made in Asia.

 

[jjjrmx5]

One thing hasn't changed at Sears though. You can still get Craftsman tools for pennies on the piece and they're warrantied forever. I think that's all the average Sears customer really cares about though.

LOL but soooooo true!

I see it every year during this weekend.

Thanks to several psts on this forum (damn you!) I cleaned up at Menards and Bass Pro Shops and made a quick swing by my local Lowes, HD and Sears to see if any hour-by-hour specials. Some had goodies, others did not.

Sears had the tape meaures on deep discount as well as mechanics gloves to which both are disposables/consumables/OMG I lost it items in my world so I stock up.

Unless a pro user or very knowledgeable, most tool buyers are driven by brand or price, or both. If I spent all my time faulting them or trying to educate them I'd have no time for myself, LOL.

When younger, I used to have to spell out to a "t" or even product or SKU # what I wanted from my parents and family or else I ended up with something unuseable or , in some cases, unuseable and unreturnable since my mother loved to shop during the summer sales for Xmas and often out of town. A 30 day return policy tends to be mute 6 months later. Ha.

People learn quality over time and by making bad purchasing choices. I say let them learn then!

 

[Kracin]

you want deals, start stopping in the store a few days after black friday, and a few days after christmas/ new years when people start returning stuff and it gets clearanced.

 

[trailmix]

I bought another set of the gearwrench 7 piece flex head ratcheting wrenches, 39.99 each for sea and metric from sears. Also bought another set of their usa pry bars for 19.99 while I was there.

 

[carterbeauford]

I caught my wife ordering me a Gearwrench 84 tooth 1/2" long handle ratchet for $34. we'll call that a black Friday win.

agreed with the gimmicky tools, there is nothing I needed in a Sears or any other store yesterday.

 

[woody 73]

I picked up this set in HD which I might add is a very good price...

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-...ating-Saw-Blades-5-Pack-48-00-5026/100019437/

 

[GoodEnough]

I'll take the opposing view: If the tools were truly such **** that they didn't work "good enough" then people would stop buying. In reality, these "junk" tools work just fine for 99% of the people. And at the right price. That's why so many people are buying.

One needs to realize that tool fanatics who post on a tool forum are like .1% of tool buyers.
Not everyone cares to spend $100 on a single SO wrench. These Sears weekenders think you're just as foolish, in fact. Scouring want ads for 6 months for a used SO wrench (that still costs more than brand new one at Sears)? No way.

These are weekend guys who need basic tools to use a few times a year.
Not everyone needs a Ferrari to go to the grocery store.
Great thread.