In the 90's I purchased a Craftsman bit set.
I helped a friend screw down a subfloor and it was tough going. My bits looked fine when I was done. After my friend broke numerous bits (like 5) very early in the project I gave home one of mine. No more bits broken.
I still use that bit set btw.
Just goes to show the difference in peoples uses and expectations.
In the 90's I purchased a Craftsman bit set. I remember it, because it was somewhat unusual at that time to get nice full sets of all different types of drives, including the new TORX ones. Those bits were worn out and thrown away decades ago. Since then, I've purchased several 20 to 50 packs of dewalt or irwin or other bits, and those are worn out and thrown away. I've used up I don't know how many individual bits I've got here and there, some come in the screw packs, some with other tools, etc. They're long ago in the trash. I've purchased a couple 10 packs of Zephyr #2 phillips bits, which I think are the best you can get, and used up most of them. Every year or two I put in an order to Zephyr for sizes and styles I'm out of, buy 50 to 70 replacements in a wide range of styles to fill back in sets. Torx T25 and such I buy 20 at a time, and replace them often.
Point is, screwdriver bits are expendables, and if you do any appreciable amount of work, you go through them. I couldn't imagine tracking and remembering a bit I bought 30 years ago! Thus my perspective that I don't spend a lot of time and effort on trying to warranty one mediocre screwdriver. Just toss it, get another one out of supply, and replenish the supply when they run low. I can understand the perspective of someone that remembers a bit or a screwdriver they bought in 1990, and has enough love invested in that tool that they will go out and get it replaced under warranty. That's just not my model.
Here's what one of the spare bit stashes in my shop looks like today. Two years from now, a lot of those bits will be in the trash and gone. I'll have thrown a few dozen more that I pick up here and there into the bin, and they'll get used up also.
P.S. In looking at the second picture, I see that I still have the Craftsman gray plastic flat blade screwdriver bit guides that came in that 1990's set. I don't use flat drivers much, and those guided ones haven't been of much use in the past 30 years!
Not just the drill bits are expendables, the drills also. in the same 30+ years, I've worn out two Makita drywall screw guns, a Black and Decker Industrial one, Two Milwaukee screw guns, and a dewalt screw gun. That's the corded stuff, been through 3 generations of Dewalt cordless, and worn out several of each generation of those.
