Craftsman Club

[WheelsNT]

Hi Folks --

Up 'till now, I've mostly been a lurker, but I've learned a wealth of info from this forum -- finally I have a question I could use some help with:

From numerous threads about how to get started with tools, I learned about the Craftsman Club. So, I joined the club, waited a few weeks, and received my card in the mail. Last week, I was able to use the Club card to buy some torque wrenches, getting 20% off through the regular sale, then an additional 20% off through the Club -- presto, $80 wrench for $48! Super.

Now, though, I can't seem to get the Club discount to come up on anything on sears.com, even items that are listed in the online monthly newsletter. Is there some quota of items per month, or something? How does this work? Is it different if you are physically in the store as opposed to online? I can't seem to find any instructions on craftsman.com or sears.com that explain the normal procedures.

Thanks so much!

WheelsNT

 

[ni[x]it]

make sure you are logged in.
make sure your profile has your club member number in it.
then, add what ever it is you want to your cart.
then look at your cart.

it takes some work to see the savings.

 

[billymade]

The club ENDED last Saturday, it is on for 1 week out of every month (the particular week changes every time, no set week) and only for the items listed in the flyer you get in the mail. In the past, you got the discount on everything and all the time; this has changed in the post Kmart buyout era. If you buy tools at Sears, you might as well save some dough; keep your eyes out for deals. The only down side is typically only certain items come up in the flyer and they keep coming up over/over (can you say "loss leader"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader) ; so once you get the typical items you run out of things to get and the items your REALLY want typically don't come up in the flyer. In that case, get one of the Craftsman club calenders that have % off coupons, special sales; e.g. fathers day, 4th of july, christmas etc., certain times of the year there will be a % off of all the hand tools and special coupons in the printed ad in the local newspaper as well. Sign up for the email specials too, as lately they are getting pretty aggressive and have things that are on sale for one day or even for only so many hours. Sign up here for email/craftsman club : http://www.craftsman.com/cc_decision.html
Other tips for deals inside the store are the "clearance" areas which are typically at the end of the aisles, items will have marked down price tags that are "pink" in color; if they are 50% or less jump on it; they will go to "ZERO" and have to be RTV'd (returned to vendor) and pulled from the floor.
Other sources for Craftsman tools are the used market; Craftsman tools are so ubiquitous that you can find them everywhere; pawn shops, flea markets and garage sales. These are good sources for these tools because you can find pre 1980s vintage tools which are of much better quality then the stuff sold today IMHO; typically they are cheap! Good luck and happy bargain hunting!

 

[c130herc]

Our local sears hardware employees have never even heard of the club calanders... Do they only have them at the beginning of the year? Every time I walk into Sears I always end up wanting to strangle there workers.

 

[billymade]

The calender typically ships to the stores early in the year and runs out fast, in my experience doesn't get shipped out again. Your store probably doesn't have any left but you can download the calender here: http://www.craftsman.com/pdf/2008_Craftsman_Calendar.pdf
It is a .pdf file (requires adobe acrobat reader; available at adobe.com) and you can print it out; hope this helps!

 

[wrigh003]

Pay attention here- there's usually a discussion thread about the club flyer. That helps if you don't get a flyer, spouse tosses it as junk mail, etc. Usually within that thread, there'll be heated discussion of what's a deal, usually there's at least one or two folks with rants or raves about whatever's on deep discount, etc. Good resource.

I got a screaming deal on a 2007 leftover lawn tractor this past spring courtesy a closeout-sale-plus-Craftsman-Club-discount, so if they make an extra buck on me here or there, I won't feel too bad. The same stuff does tend to come up over and over again, though, as mentioned. You'll get a feel for that pretty early on.

 

[c130herc]

pulled up the pdf calender and couldn't locate the coupons. Would probably take the cashier a half hour to input the coupon anyway..

 

[Coach James]

Actually Sears did away with the 10% off all craftsman during Club days 3 or 4 years before K mart bought them out. I think it was a bad decision. Many of my friends and I would pick up a couple items from the flyer then a few more for the 10% off. When they did away with the 10% off everything, most of us just bought what was in the flyer. And now since the flyer is so often the same things, I buy few things from it at all.

Coach

 

[ImportTuner]

Actually Sears did away with the 10% off all craftsman during Club days 3 or 4 years before K mart bought them out. I think it was a bad decision. Many of my friends and I would pick up a couple items from the flyer then a few more for the 10% off. When they did away with the 10% off everything, most of us just bought what was in the flyer. And now since the flyer is so often the same things, I buy few things from it at all.

Coach

I have the exact same feelings ...

 

[eschoendorff]

I exact same feelings ...

x2








............

 

[Joe B.]

So, I joined the club, waited a few weeks, and received my card in the mail.

At least some things are improving. It used to take months. Maybe adding some new items to the flyer will come next.