Mac Tool Trucks

[ServiceWithIntegrity]

Has anyone else noticed that MAC is treating their tool distributor/tool truck guys like ****? Today was very slow at my shop and when our Mac guy came by for his weekly visit, i had the time to hang out and talk with him on the truck. I was amazed at how horrible MAC tools treats their people, (i.e. taking forever to ship inventory, lacking tools advertised on flyers). Mac just seems to have really bad support for their franchisee tool truck guys. I used to really like Mac alot, but it seems their products are getting kind of chincy too. Was looking at the new "precision torque" combo wrenches today........was very leery of them, seem chinese made. The Snap On guy that comes to my shop is always well stocked, gets special order stuff in really fast and doesn't seem to be "beat down" like the Mac guy is.

 

[RLRRLRLL]

i havent seen a mac truck in my are for a long time. im a auto tech student now, so we get discounts from the companies. A lot of the diesel kids have mac boxes full of mac tools, guess they get a deal. I saw inside one kids box, alot of stuff...picked up a wrench, felt pretty good, picked up a ratchet...felt like a crapsman. They all got 3 grand into their tools at school, i got about 300 in to mine...and do pretty much all i need to do.

 

[JAKE-THE-TOOL-MAN]

I noticed with the S/O and Mac dealers that come to the shop I work at are slightly opposite from your experience. Yes the S/O guy has alot more tools on board his rig but isn't as friendly or as willing to deal as much as My Mac guy (not saying he's a jerk or anything). As far as Mac I get treated like a king while shopping on his rig, Never questions any broken tool, works deals with me even more so if I pay cash and is a fun guy to joke around with. He is however extremely understocked.

 

[nismomans13]

I have NEVER, literally NEVEr seen a Mac tools truck around here. I always see, cornwell, snap on, matco, and the occasional SK truck. Always thought it was weird to not see Mac at all.

 

[CBradio]

Our local Mac dealer went out of business. I was at another shop and saw the Mac guy pull up. I hopped on real quick in my uniform and explained the situation to him and asked if he had any catalogs. Apparently he hadnt recieved them in 'a few months' and couldnt help me. I hopped off the truck while he was trying to give me a spiel about some new flashlight gizmo. I like to look at catalogs and if you dont have one, my business will go elsewhere.

 

[ServiceWithIntegrity]

I really agree with the "extremely understocked" statement. Our Mac guy's truck is really lacking inventory-wise.

 

[CBradio]

I have NEVER, literally NEVEr seen a Mac tools truck around here. I always see, cornwell, snap on, matco, and the occasional SK truck. Always thought it was weird to not see Mac at all.

I would LOVE to see a cornwell truck. I have a 10mm cornwell wrench that I use exclusively because its so much longer than all my other ones.

 

[Skin]

I really agree with the "extremely understocked" statement. Our Mac guy's truck is really lacking inventory-wise.

Who's to say its MACs fault though? Maybe they're paranoid or their sales **** and they dont want to tie up thousands in inventory.

 

[JAKE-THE-TOOL-MAN]

I would LOVE to see a cornwell truck. I have a 10mm cornwell wrench that I use exclusively because its so much longer than all my other ones.

My Cornwell dealer is a real jerk and wont receive any business from me because of it!

 

[woody 73]

I seem to recall a story several years ago on the web of a very pissed off Mac tool truck distributor,who was being treated very badly by the people at Mac; Maybe things never got any better.

 

[mrshaun]

the Mac guy always griped about that,but I figured it was an excuse not to order tools for warranty for the guys around here. warranty times are 2 weeks to 6 months around here for mac.
he complained that they would not give them credit for warranty.
Glad I do not work for them.
cornwell is still good on their warranty here and matco is ok too.

 

[nismomans13]

I would LOVE to see a cornwell truck. I have a 10mm cornwell wrench that I use exclusively because its so much longer than all my other ones.

All four trucks stop at the one service station down the street from me. Sometimes its all on the same day, it can get expensive if i see them all..haha

 

[Jbullfrog]

Mac has gotten horrible about hanging warranty returns on their dealers. The dealers have to send in the broken tools and wait to see if they get credit for them. This has alot to do with E-bay and the resale of damaged tools from dealers.

 

[mrshaun]

i bet that the productivity on that day is real bad. 4 trucks in 1 day.
we ( all the tool dealers ) have moved our days around so that we all show up on different days. this way the shop owners stay out of our hair if they are tool truck haters.

 

[Gearhead559]

well here is what i see, since i have always talked with most of my macs guys, and mainly all of the tool trucks, except the newer snappy guys that is. when you have customers buying stuff on payments, and in 2 weeks, that guy is no longer around to pay, then the dealer gets stuck with people owing him money. not good when it comes time to reorder the tools for the guys paying there bills. then he cant get your stuff in a timely fashion. i went thru this with my former Mac man. he got promoted up into the Mac company, but also got shafted by alot of customers not wanting to pay what they owe him. my guys was more then honest with me about it aswell. which is what i respected out of him. he told me thing im sure he didnt tell other customers. cause in the main stream of things, him and i was alot alike. we have both been shafted by customers. Hell he let me buy a smoke machine that he had sitting on the truck. he had already paid for it(been sitting on the truck for a while and no one but me showed interest in it), and he said he didnt care what i paid a week on it (cause i mainly run a truck account paying cash) so how many tools guys will let you buy $1000 worth of stuff on $20 weelky payments? hardly none. the cornwell guy i have is great aswell. i buy stuff and pay my bills. he cuts me deals. same i had with the mac man. altho, i cant say the matco guys have been real reliable. i had one coming around for a while, and when i stopped buying stuff coming close to winter this time last year, he just stopped coming around. now i have some broken stuff (broke of last winter mind you) and dont have someone to take care of it. my last matco guy was great. hell my old snappy guy was the ****, but he was one that was not on the newer system that they run now with there dealers. and would not send him tools. he had customer getting stuff, paying one or two payments, and then moving on to the next shop. thats how alot of the great tool guys in columbus have been shafted, and went under. i can say there was one MAC guy around that was just shady as hell.

 

[DanCo]

I've only been on a Mac truck twice, they are few and far in between. My old Matco guy was being shitted on by Matco so his truck was hardly ever stocked. He ended up selling off the route, truck included. Now the Snappy guys are always fully stocked. I've only had 3 things placed on back order in the last 3.5 years. I know the reasons why the Snappy trucks are always stocked, but out of respect for our resident Snappy dealers I'll keep that to myself. So no PM's please.

 

[billymade]

My local Mac guy was bizarre; hardly any stock on the truck, I had a couple of warranty items and asked him to order some little things to get the ball rolling; would not order any of it. Every time he showed up; I asked him if the stuff had come in! Said he just bought his wife a real expensive car; I guess, he didn't have the money? Something is definitely wrong; maybe he owes Mac too much, can't order or? I just can't see how you can survive in the biz; working with customers this way! Go, figure!

 

[stricht8]

Generally speaking, I've had a better experience with MAC dealers over SO. SO guys as a whole tend to not be as nice. There are obviously exceptions here. Perhaps it's because they are busier than the MAC guys?

 

[ovilla]

My Snap on guy is awesome. I'm not a tech (just an IT guy) so I call him on Thursday's, the day he's in my area, and ask him where he's going to be. Then I drive there, run on to his truck and buy my stuff, and get out. He is always busy so I'm respectful of his time, but he's also been very accommodating and has even shown me some new stuff, which I sometimes buy. I already have all the catalogs from him so by the time I get on the truck, I already know exactly what I'm getting. I also pay for everything in cash so that makes the transactions go quick.

I did get on a MAC truck once but the guy was out of catalogs so I window shopped for a few minutes and left.

 

[MattT]

Now the Snappy guys are always fully stocked. I've only had 3 things placed on back order in the last 3.5 years. I know the reasons why the Snappy trucks are always stocked, but out of respect for our resident Snappy dealers I'll keep that to myself. So no PM's please.

Doesn't really matter what the reason(s) are. Whatever they are SO dealers for the most part have stocked trucks, can get product next week and rarely disappear without warning. MAC on the other hand........ These problems are way to widespread to be individual dealers screwing up. Whatever is wrong needs fixed by MAC corporate if they want to remain in the tool truck business.

 

[doctorschmullus]

Mac probably just ***** because its stanley, and stanley is lame and they are going around cocking up all brands, like australias sidchrome

 

[mrholeshot]

Seems as if MAC has been on a downward slope for 15 years. In the last ten years it's been hard to keep a dealer. Most of my dealers have been super nice guy but the frustration they show is very noticable. Around 2004 when a lot of China/Taiwan Mac branded tools showed up it was the Death call. We still have one local Mac dealer. It just goes to show you people will buy anything on credit.

 

[mrholeshot]

Mac probably just ***** because its stanley, and stanley is lame and they are going around cocking up all brands, like australias sidchrome

Not all Stanley products are bad, some are quite good. It;s when they sell the same product under the MAC name at 10X the price does it become really bad

 

[Billin21]

i bet that the productivity on that day is real bad. 4 trucks in 1 day.
we ( all the tool dealers ) have moved our days around so that we all show up on different days. this way the shop owners stay out of our hair if they are tool truck haters.

No kidding.. I don't think I have any shops where the owners would be okay with 4 of us showing up on the same day

 

[egdede]

As I recall, mactoolssuck.com used to tell the tale of an angry former mac dealer, and chronicled his legal fight against Stanley. Stanley counter-sued him. He had all of the pleadings posted. The link doesn't work now; probably part of the settlement.

 

[czgunner]

Don't see anybody but Snapon and Cornwell around here.
My Cornwell guy takes a while to get stuff in the monthly flier.

 

[billymade]

You can still see the website; through the use of the "way back time machine"; check it out here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080404035923/http://www.mactoolssuck.com/

This is kinda interesting too; "the tool guy", movie supposed to be a expose of the tool truck franchisee business:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/toolguymovie.com

 

[a390st]

Where I live and where I work are on opposite sides of a major city. On my side I see the Matco truck all the time, the Cornwell and SO truck regularly, and a Mac truck almost never. On the other side I see Cornwell all the time, Matco pretty regularly, SO occasionally, and Mac never. I'm out and around A LOT during the day.

 

[SpiderGearsMan]

Has anyone else noticed that MAC is treating their tool distributor/tool truck guys like ****? Today was very slow at my shop and when our Mac guy came by for his weekly visit, i had the time to hang out and talk with him on the truck. I was amazed at how horrible MAC tools treats their people, (i.e. taking forever to ship inventory, lacking tools advertised on flyers). Mac just seems to have really bad support for their franchisee tool truck guys. I used to really like Mac alot, but it seems their products are getting kind of chincy too. Was looking at the new "precision torque" combo wrenches today........was very leery of them, seem chinese made. The Snap On guy that comes to my shop is always well stocked, gets special order stuff in really fast and doesn't seem to be "beat down" like the Mac guy is.

my buddy had a mac truck 20 years ago
no different then

 

[jay50]

Mac guys should not be out of tools.
All he needs to do is go to Harbor Freight and stock up his truck

 

[scofo]

Seemed to me MAC TOOLS spent way too much sponsoring race teams then taking care of the rest of the business.

Dont know about the rest of the country but a MAC truck is as rare as a hens tooth in Austin.

 

[a390st]

From what you hear around these days, there is the rare Mac guy that is really good, otherwise they really ****. It seems like there are a few excellent ones out there, but they must be less than 1% or something.

 

[vssjim]

I seem to recall a story several years ago on the web of a very pissed off Mac tool truck distributor,who was being treated very badly by the people at Mac; Maybe things never got any better.

The websites were Mactoolssuck.com and Stanleysucks.com etc. he was making a movie but I think they were running out of donations to do it.

 

[billymade]

I would have like to see that movie! I can only imagine that amount of guys who couldn't make it in the tool truck biz; could really give everyone a ear full!

 

[vssjim]

My Cornwell guy was an old Mac guy that is were we met, we became friends and we talked often of his troubles with Mac corp.. Huge back order lists for long times, warranties made on percentage of purchases same as catalogs would only send a number based on purchase volume. He talked for a couple years of changing and we spoke of my past with Cornwell and he switched ten years ago and never looked back he was a top ten Ironman (hardline) his first year and is our longest lasting tool man at fifteen years and counting. His truck is always full and gets stuff right away.
One thing I told him he still uses today always send tools to Mac as and end user and they will replace them with out question and they do even when they will turn down a dealer the same second on the same tool. Mac has always been bad about flyer stuff and actually having it before they put it on sale as he would be backordered when the flyer hit his door.Ps he has outlasted many So, Mac and Matco dealers in his years in the truck because he is honest and shots it to you sraight a real good dealer.

 

[iagsxr]

I had the same Mac man for thirteen years. We got to be good friends and had several business to business converations. Nothing, NOTHING he told be about the way Mac operates makes me think well of them as a company.

My Matco man informed me last week he's quitting. I really liked him and he tried hard. Tried to give him as much business as I could, but I've been at it long enough there's not a lot of things I need. Thought when he started that he had a route no one could make it on.(and that's irresponsible on the the company's part)

Anyhow been saying for awhile; We are at about the end of the tool truck era. It's not about CoO or my dealer's a *****, it's an outdated business model. I imagine in urban areas they'll keep going, but where I'm at don't expect there to be any in the next ten years.

 

[wafrederick]

What I have been told lately Stanley never wanted Mac tools the first place and is trying to get rid of them.Warranty problems too,change dealer $6.00 for each broken tool turned in for warranty.My Matco dealer has been taking them in to a dealer in the Manistee,Mi area and waiting on a socket and screwdriver for 6 weeks now.

 

[action fab]

I would LOVE to see a cornwell truck. I have a 10mm cornwell wrench that I use exclusively because its so much longer than all my other ones.

Me too!

All we have a is snap on and Matco. My Matco man is AWSOME! his truck has almost everything in the catalog, usualy two or three sets of the good stuff and rebuild kits for every tool thats rebuildable. He keeps atleast two boxes on the truck at all time and even they are stuffed full of new tools. The blow molded cases line his shelves like books at the library... its to the point that if you are looking for something you have to ask where its at or spent 30min looking for it. I would bet he has $500K in tool inventory aboard the truck. He is also very punctual too. He is at my shop every Thur. at 4:45 sharp.

Then there is Snap on, who is here maybe onece a month if he feels like it, has an old dirty *** truck with a VERY low enventory, and overall he is a real POS.

Now only if my Matco man sold Snap-On and Cornwell.

(I dont really care for Matco or Mac tools, But I have a **** ton Matco tools because my dealer is so grate.)

 

[DrkMtnDew]

last week was our MAC drivers last week. he was telling us that the higher ups were treating him like **** and were driving him into bankrupcy. it was easy to see because his truck was the worst stocked of the 4trucks and ordering something or getting replacements from him took forever. oh well, i'll have to spend more on the cornwell and matco truck.

 

[wafrederick]

I have a great Matco dealer too,comes in every Friday morning on time and looks like he is staying around.I seen a torque wrench on sale,I wanted one and he had to order it since he did not have one on the truck.Recieved it the next week after he ordered it.There is one tool my Matco dealer sells easily to Ford Garages,the spark plug extraction tool kit for the 2004 and up 3 valve tritons.Most of the techs at the Ford Garages like it over the Rotunda tool set up.Even warranties anything worn out.There are things Mac tools will not take back,incomplete sets and anything stapled to the sides.Had a Mac dealer he quit,it was lose his house or the franchise and has his remaining stock on Ebay,selling the incomplete sets.