Your right on the first part the managment droped the catalog just as it was about to find a new life. For the most part there is little difference between a sears catalog and Amazon's web site. Just a different format for using it.
Oh that and they started selling junk.
Yeah I think they went the wrong way on that idea. I think they should have charged MORE and brought in their Industrial and Professional lines to sell tools to us that more closely resembled tool truck tools. We could then enjoy the high quality materials, metallurgy and craftsmanship that only the big tool trucks seem to have. Regular homeowners, enthusiasts, DIYer, etc never had real access to high qualitytools, but Sears always had good stuff and even replaced it no questions asked when we abused them.
Then, the internet, eBay, Harbor Freight (and Chinese pollution, stanky steel and illegal labor) helped seal the deal, I think.
Now, anyone can buy just about any tool made with an internet connection, shipping address and a credit card. It appears you no longer have to work on the tool truck's route to get superb quality. Now, where do you want your Chinese tools from? HD, HF, Lowe's, parts houses, WM and now Sears. We, the ignorant consumer, focused all of our intellect on the numbers after the $ sign. Now, some of us, are realizing the metal miners, foundries, refineries, metallurgists, machines to shape the tools, techniques to shape and form the tools, paying all these Americans a decent and happy liveable wage, AND, then packaging it, transporting it, and giving the store and/or salesman a commission costs money, time, labor, resources. And doing it all without ****** and pillaging the environment.
It does seem odd that a tool that 'does the same thing' from the next state over costs 5-10 times the monetary value of one that comes from halfway around the world.
Alot of pollutions apparently stems from having an ocean liner span the entire length of the Pacific and then USPS bring it to a local store or shipped to your home.
We should probably try to have 'less is more' , quality over quantity and support our neighbor who is trying to help make a quality product that will enrich our lives and help us enjoy using it instead of cussing it and throwing it in the trash when it causes more harm than good.
Pony up the dough and let us try to pay GM sticker price. Give the companies what they want! I think they are NOT trying to screw us by overcharging. They just want fair trade IMO. Instead of Jewing them down a few grand off sticker price and having them ship even more jobs out of the country and make live worse.
Is not that what it is all about! Making our lives AND the Earth a happier, healthier, all together better place to live and give our offspring more time to smell the roses than we did.
Btw, where are all of these tools going? You would figure by now, we would all have quality tools passed down from our ancestors. When will Snap-on get a break and get caught up? Are we losing the tools, wearing them out, thieves?, or what
