Harbor Freight ratchet pricing.

[lardy1]

I'm not a HF freight shopper so maybe I'm thinking wrong. But it seems to me that their Pittsburgh ratchets took a significant price hike recently. Didn't I see a 3/8" drive flex head ratchet for under $25.00 recently?

This morning I was looking into a cheap flex ratchet for my junkyard/travel/emergency/blah, blah, blah box and thought about seeing that low price and calculating the $5.00 off any ratchet coupon and about **** when I see that ratchet listed at $39.99 this morning.

WTF???? Is my memory that bad or did the price jump that much recently?

 

[LB-1911]

HF October 1st price changes can be found @
https://www.hfqpdb.com/price_changes

 

[seber]

Interesting that they raised the price of nitrile gloves. They don't even have a place for them on the shelf any more. It has been almost a year since either of the two places I can get to have had any.

 

[lardy1]

HF October 1st price changes can be found @
https://www.hfqpdb.com/price_changes

Holy Moly!!!! Thanks for the link.

 

[driftpin]

I was in HFT yesterday and I bought tools! Horrors!

I went-in to buy some of their larger-sized furniture dollies, those things are a great deal on-sale. I also buy the orange ratcheting tie-down straps, the 15' ones, and I use 'em to tie things to the furniture dollies, making it quick and safe to roll-around stuff in my small workspace, a 2-car which only sees a vehicle inside when a Category 4 or 5 hurricane threatens us.

Because I'd recently taken purchase of the NAPA Carlyle 3/8" flex-head ratchet @ $25, I was curious to see what their pricing was for their offerings. To my surprise, not a single flex-head ratchet of any-size was on the shelves.

I also bought some drill bit multi packs to fill in the holes where I've used-up one or another of the bits in my drill index. I like the HFT plastic drill index, the Warrior one which they sell filled, for $11 on-sale. For most of the work I do, they work fine. I do have a couple other drill indexes of higher-quality bits for harder materials.

I also bought a hole saw mandrel, to use for a project where I wasn't sure if I had a mandrel on the jobsite. I had purchased a Milwaukee hole saw at H-D but decided not to purchase the mandrel there. The one I got at HFT fit the Milwaukee 1" bi-metal hole saw perfectly.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Are they still giving out the 20% off coupons?

 

[gungatim]

Are they still giving out the 20% off coupons?

yes, but you can only use them on tools that do not have any vowels in their name.

 

[Fedwrench]

It's all a plan to make their Icon tools appear less expensive

 

[m6z]

Wow. This breaker bar doubled in price. I picked it up for $40 after coupon a few months back.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-drive-25-in-breaker-bar-with-tpr-grip-64821.html

I guess they figure with all of the Sears closed they can raise prices.

 

[m6z]

Still seem to have a valid $5.99 coupon for the nitrile gloves. I need some more, but no way at $14.99 a box.

https://www.hfqpdb.com/coupons/1858_ITEM_5_MIL_NITRILE_GLOVES_100_PK_1600436319.1266.png

 

[emeraldcoupe]

the yellow daytona 3 ton jack is up to $499.99!!

is it already April 1st?

 

[m6z]

the yellow daytona 3 ton jack is up to $499.99!!

is it already April 1st?

Those were $200 with coupon right?

Raising prices so that you have to have a coupon before you even set foot in the store doesn't seem like a smart move.

 

[AFSOC]

Geesch! the HF prices are INSANE!

 

[m6z]

https://www.harborfreight.com/72-in-x-22-in-triple-bank-roller-cabinet-blue-64004.html

LOL $2k for a US General 72"

I guess they're pushing everyone to their new credit card?

 

[m6z]

This is almost double the price I pad for an actual Mityvac.

https://www.harborfreight.com/merch...matic-air-operated-fluid-extractor-57056.html

 

[pepi]

Wait, What ! you mean they charge for those, and folks pay for em..

 

[mwritter]

https://www.harborfreight.com/72-in-x-22-in-triple-bank-roller-cabinet-blue-64004.html

LOL $2k for a US General 72"

I guess they're pushing everyone to their new credit card?

I finally caved and ordered my 72" cabinet yesterday using a $999 inside track coupon. If I'd waited a day I would have spent more than double. Crazy!

Really wish I'd grabbed a few matching accessories as those are all way up in price today. I almost bought a matching service cart (they had two in green in stock) for $99. One day later they are $149. Blast cabinet from $139.99 to $299.99 overnight, and 3/8" air hose reel from $59.99 to $149.99. I wish I'd had a crystal ball!

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

They used to be $19.99 but I think those days are long gone by now. I’ll stick with my Matco. The only Harbor Freight ratchet I like is the one with the double flex handle but still the levers are reversed.


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[DerekV]

Holy ****...the new prices across the board are insane...

 

[kenc184]

Holy ****...the new prices across the board are insane...

Same old junk though....with fancy new in house names, Quinn, Doyle, Icon etc etc.

 

[mille755]

Wow, wonder how much of this is due to tariffs catching up to us and covid, vs greed.
Since HF has no shareholders i have to imagine that most of this is due to passing costs along to the consumer. Either way i'd imagine sales will be down proportionally to the increase in cost. The stuff isnt even a good deal anymore. HF customers are probably the most cost sensitive customers there are, i see empty parking lots in their future.

 

[macs_rock]

Holy ****, RIP Harbor Freight. At these prices I'll just stick to real name brands now. Shame about the US General prices, I was planning on building a workbench out of the 44" boxes but at that price I'll look elsewhere.

 

[AFSOC]

I think I am done with HF. The only reason I shopped with them was value. Now that that value is seemingly gone, there isn't anything guiding me to Harbor Freight. I just feel fortunate to have purchased my Daytona SD on a $199 coupon and Tool cart on a $179 coupon.

 

[Ton ton]

Thanks , lardy 1 . I didn't know you liked harbor freight.

 

[lardy1]

They're opening new stores. One just opened or is about to open in Bay City, MI. I went by there the other day and that was how I got the thought of that ratchet in my head. Their other locations are nowhere near convenient for me.

 

[lardy1]

Thanks , lardy 1 . I didn't know you liked harbor freight.

Pretty much neutral.

 

[anavrinIV]

Tekton is about to get a lot of business.

I'm not fan of HF, my USG 44 is decent but that was when it was half the price it is now (series 1 box). My experience with most of the rest of their stuff is overwhelmingly negative. Now that their prices aren't even competitive I have no reason at all to consider them

 

[Ton ton]

Ok, my curiosity got the best of me. Every once in a while you find a hand tool @ harbor freight that actually works pretty decent. You have to take your time and sort through them sometimes.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Holy ****, RIP Harbor Freight. At these prices I'll just stick to real name brands now. Shame about the US General prices, I was planning on building a workbench out of the 44" boxes but at that price I'll look elsewhere.

I think that's going to be the consensus from a lot of HF shoppers. These dramatic price increases are a real dumb business strategy.

 

[dnschmidt]

This is crazy. Might have to get back into the TOPTUL game if Harbor Freight is going to go this route. 5% I understand 10% is tolerable but 50-100%? Has Eric lost his mind?

 

[Ton ton]

HF is trying to go head to head with Snappy. LOL.

 

[timoboy]

These prices are insane, but I'm not surprised.

You have to understand major metros like mine (8th largest in the country) we have limited shopping options due to high real estate costs, and as a result any store that sells tools has been DECIMATED for months. Just totally wiped out. Within the actual city of 1.5 million people, there exists only a single Harbor Freight. Only a single Lowes, etc.

The only way to sufficiently price in the demand is raise prices in a huge way. I've had to drive 50-60 miles in every direction to find building supplies, tools, etc in 50k population cities (which all each have their own store) lately because the central metro is so wiped out of everything.

It really ***** that people in lower cost remote areas don't have pricing to match those regional differences. I know Home Depot does this. Basically people here don't really care what it costs, they need it they buy it. I've been listing up spare tools and garage sale etc finds for nearly MSRP or above and have had no issues finding buyers. Homeowner grade basic Craftsman red boxes are incredibly hot right now, $250-300 with dents and wear is no problem for a setup that maybe cost that brand new. A 250k mile gas pickup can do $15k+ right now here. Everything has just gone insane.

Average home has gone up nearly 100k since Covid started and the frenzy to fix it up and get it on the market is wild. Many other population centers have to be the same and Harbor freight will cash in until the supply and demand comes back into balance. They would rather get their shelves stocked again so as not to loose customers for life, than keep prices low and keep empty stores open.

 

[Mr_B]

Wow
the box prices are just crazy .
used truck and masterforce just went to top value choice lol .
i guess this china price hike as seen a lot of china goods jump up around 80%
Better get that International plant in canada back running lol .
About time the west restarted manufacture as the ccp been playing the devil with greedy businesses loving the cheap manufacture costs and ignoring the long term western impact from it .

 

[Ign]

the yellow daytona 3 ton jack is up to $499.99!!

is it already April 1st?

I thought you were joking, but no:
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-ton-low-profile-super-duty-rapid-pump-floor-jack-63183.html

 

[qqzj]

Is there a list of decent stuff in HF that have not seen a price jump? I need to buy them while I still have time.

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[chevy302dz]

Part of this I'm sure is part of the supply chain disruptions due to tariffs and coronavirus however, this is what was predicted to happen by many here as Craftsman crashed and HF went upscale (albeit I'm sure most were expecting a slower rise).

 

[anavrinIV]

Part of this I'm sure is part of the supply chain disruptions due to tariffs and coronavirus however, this is what was predicted to happen by many here as Craftsman crashed and HF went upscale (albeit I'm sure most were expecting a slower rise).

The problem is they went upscale with a new line, ICON, that was higher priced and supposedly higher quality. Now that have jumped prices across the board on top of it. I don't think they are going go gain market share on their lower end tools by increasing price and expecting brand perception to move along with it - the perception will remain and sales will slip. The only positive would be if they closed the gap and sold more of the higher end tools that now seem to be a better deal, but I see that being a minimal gap and more people will shop elsewhere

 

[m6z]

Could they be raising the prices to turnaround and offer free shipping on tool boxes and other bulky items for the holiday season?

 

[Huzer]

A lot of the stuff is still in the monthly catalog at "normal" prices. Of course, it says those prices are valid until 10/31, so it'll be interesting to see what happens next month.

 

[65k10]

A lot of the stuff is still in the monthly catalog at "normal" prices. Of course, it says those prices are valid until 10/31, so it'll be interesting to see what happens next month.

I noticed that too. Prices look normal in their online catalog for October. Maybe it's a website issue? Guess I'll find out tomorrow if I have time to swing by HF and see if the store prices are different.