Harbor Freight Stinks

[Indy_500]

the smell is from rubber AND the oilish coating they put on many of their tools.

 

[eborcim]

Thats the smell of Money............

I've heard that about animal confinement lagoons too....

 

[sselander]

It is a big deal for car companies, and there have been efforts to lower the smell

I have read some good articles in the past.

the wikipedia page on new car smell is succint.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_car_smell

 

[rsieracki]

...what is the appeal man the place is filled with **** maybe that's why it smells?

I am with the guy that says it's the chinese buffet to avoid!

truer words rarely spoken, but i still buy **** there its hard to avoid. i get the cheap rubber gloves for $6 a box less20% when on sale and the cheap brushes for one time use n cleaning stuff. a few other things but nothing where in expecting longevity but i will say some of their stuff aint bad... except for the 4 foot level i bought that wasnt straight but what do i expect for $15

 

[Garage_Mahal]

It's the smell of failure, man.

 

[bobadame]

I suppose that the time from manufacturing to store delivery is pretty short with the HF stuff and so it is still out gassing. A few years ago I bought a new Geo Metro to commute 130 miles a day. It was in the winter so I had to keep the windows mostly closed. The plastic in that car out gassed and stunk so bad the first few weeks it gave me head aches. The out gassing would coat the inside surface if the windows.

 

[t100]

bet you guys never been to chinese supermarket, talk about dead fish smell. every time my wife goes there I always just drop her off at the door, I'd rather go to sears.

 

[pep]

On a related matter, I wandered into a Dollar Store to see just what a store that sells $1.00 actually might carry, and was checking out some screwdrivers. The packaging had quite a large warning that you should wash your hands after using them.

Gotta love it. Probably made in the same factory that produced the poison drywall.

 

[Givl Reggin]

Ever wish a thread has scratch and sniff, it's this one! There are no Harbor Freights in my neck of the woods.

 

[racer1735]

yep. its rubber. Don't have a 'funky' smell to any of the stores I've visited, but it sure smells a LOT like the tire racks in back of the motorcycle parts stores I used to work at.

 

[MartinTech]

My HF smells awesome... no touch of funk whatsoever.

You poor bastards.

 

[harryhood]

Manager's Response? "Well, I don't know what to tell you then".....and he simply WALKED AWAY!!!

what do you want. a lot of their stuff is pure ****. He knows better than anyone.

 

[MrMark]

I heard from my wife's cousin's brother that his neighbor told him that this guy he knew went into a Harbor Freight and the manager told him that there was no smell and the tools were just as good as Snap-on, which breaks all the time as posted on Facebook by at least one Matco Dealer.

 

[dankicksass]

The only time I went to HF, I took my father with me and the whole way back he wouldn't stop talking about the smell. I didn't get anything plastic so it didn't come home with me.

 

[Zach90Turbo]

Perhaps "let me check with another store and see if they have one in stock", or "let me check with the warehouse and see if they have another one that isn't defective"

His attitude effectively gave me a map to Panama City Beach, and instructions on what to do with the sand once I arrived there....

So you bought bargain tools, then complained about the quality of the case. I'd be prone to tell somebody to pound sand if they complained about the packaging, too.



The HF smell just reminds me of opening new Ninja Turtle action figures as a kid. Probably explains the subconscious desire to return every couple of months.

 

[Miter Wrench]

My HF smells like bargains and cheap but sometimes reliable tools and stacks and stacks of clipped 20% coupons from every magazine and newspaper and overcrowded checkout lines with not enough cashiers all rolled into one addictive Saturday afternoon odor. I enter at my own risk and exit with a bag full of stuff with that same odor. Usually by the time the ink disappears on the receipt, the smell goes away.

 

[ADaughen]

Both of mine smell like vulcanized rubber.

It tends to keep the women away so I can buy more tools.

 

[c39er]

I think the smell is from the deadly Chinese chemicals used to kill all the rodents and bugs in the shipping containers that all the garbage freight stuff is shipped in.. It saturates all the packaging and products inside of the packaging. What are these chemicals doing to the patrons of Horror Freight? I have seen a few guys walking in with walkers and oxygen masks! I go there once a year to buy 2" cutoff wheels after seeing my accountant.

 

[Scout Driver]

My HF smells like bargains and cheap but sometimes reliable tools and stacks and stacks of clipped 20% coupons from every magazine and newspaper and overcrowded checkout lines with not enough cashiers all rolled into one addictive Saturday afternoon odor. I enter at my own risk and exit with a bag full of stuff with that same odor. Usually by the time the ink disappears on the receipt, the smell goes away.

My Harbor Freight is just like yours.

Scott

 

[dlc]

If rubber smell bothers you, whatever you do...don't buy these. I kept them in my shed outdoors for 6 months before the smell was bearable:

 

[american lockpicker]

If rubber smell bothers you, whatever you do...don't buy these. I kept them in my shed outdoors for 6 months before the smell was bearable:

The english made ones have no smell and are cheap...

 

[rhastings80]

I wonder if part of it is some kind of anti rust stuff like cosmoline. I also think it kind of smells like some of my Xcelite nut drivers that I think off gass butyric acid. I also found the Rubber Wheel Chock's at HF smell really bad.

 

[pep]

I think the smell is from the deadly Chinese chemicals used to kill all the rodents and bugs in the shipping containers that all the garbage freight stuff is shipped in.. It saturates all the packaging and products inside of the packaging. What are these chemicals doing to the patrons of Horror Freight.

The Chinese are just doing their part.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...s-finding-trace-disease-Egyptian-mummies.html

 

[Andy Griffith]

If you want to get the full smell effect go take a whiff of a rubber wheel in HF. You'll get the smell full on.

Oh yeah, or better yet buy one of those garden wagon deals with the four pneumatic rubber tires that comes enclosed in a box. Unbelievable strong smell from those Chinese rubbers when you open that box.

 

[dlc]

Unbelievable strong smell from those Chinese rubbers

Maybe that's why they have over 1.3 billion people

 

[knobby]

For the Canadians that feel left out Princess Auto stores smell the same. I thank God that I don't work there.

 

[rayzor32]

Mine dont have a smell

 

[jay50]

smell reminds me of skanky women i once knew.

 

[rickey1013]

Newark, CA - smells
Modesto, CA - smells
Santa Rosa, CA - smells
Going to go to Pleasant hill next but my guess is smells......

 

[Danglerb]

What it is is FRESH rubber products, same as a tire store, and for the same reason, they sell a lot of product so new stuff is always arriving.

Just because something stinks doesn't mean it doesn't stink in an interesting way, as in, "Dude this really stinks", "Oh yeah, let me smell it".

I'm slowly getting so I like the sulfur smell from gear oil.

 

[spartyon8]

I'm slowly getting so I like the sulfur smell from gear oil.

Ain't nothing better than the smell of burnt gear oil. mmmmmmmmmm!

 

[Kenwc]

The stank of HF reminds me of that stank that a set of my Craftsman screwdriver handles have had since I bought them years ago.

 

[premierplayer]

Sears is begining to smell the same