Mac tools in trouble?

[Hootbro]

Cornwell was always a drop in the bucket, I think they are happy as such and put little effort to grow.

That is the impression I get also. Some companies seem to be happy being static or with very little growth and Cornwell is one of them.

 

[Hyster Gareth]

Mac Tools used to be good years ago and they seem to have lost their way which is a shame as they had a very loyal following. I have heard they are trying to reinvigorate the brand which is great.

It's a shame they stopped the hard handle ratchets and I agree with Bobcat Dan they have too many gimmicky ratchets.

I have no respect for Cornwell Tools as their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Wamsutta]

I have no respect for Cornwell Tools as their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Their soul customer is the dealer himself; they say that right in their video.

 

[Skin]

Cornwell is employee owned. There is no drive to massively expand and no share holders expecting return on investments. Unfortunately I think we as customers suffer also. Even something as simple as their socket retention design is antiquated yet they persist in using it, most likely due to the cost of new tooling. Upgrade the ratchets after nearly 100 years of the same design? Taiwan is chosen for the mechanicals (good ratchets, but still that's besides the point).

Cornwell makes only the basics under their roof. What imports they sell though are not unreasonably priced and their monthly flier prices are far and away the best of any truck brand. The person who said they'd just assume step on a HF truck has, apparently, no clue how popular Blue-Point is.

 

[devoncoolman]

Yeah cornwell blows as a customer service company. They are family owned and run and care little about growing or support of thier product. Hense why they change tool box manufacturers more then their underwear. The discontinue products frequintly change suppliers frequintly. I feel bad for my dealer. Nice guy i buy alot of non cornwell branded tools off him to help him out. But i cant bring my self to buy cornwell tools for all of those reasons.

 

[Wamsutta]

Cornwell is a small employee owned company, but by keeping their overhead low, they managed to weather the 2008 recession; a lot of companies didn't make it.

 

[kiatech]

Both Mac guys I knew had truck that was 95% empty.

 

[Brownsfan]

I have one Mac guy that I have seen in the entire cleveland area. I have seen more Cornwell in my area. We have a Independant SK guy and snap on and Matco own the market share here. That said the only truck tool brands I own are snap on an Cornwell. Matco guy would not come to the shop for some reason. I did buy some 16" long needle nose Mac pliers from the pawn shop(nos USA made) for $15. Brand new set. I would own more mac if I would actually step on a truck. The new screwdrivers look awesome. I really wat the nut driver version

 

[skylinegtr20]

Snappy dealer here is a joke. He only goes to the big dealers (15+ techs) and heavy duty shops. Rest of the time he just sits at coffee shops and you always gotta chase him down. When you do he is sleezy, always trying to sell you other **** you don't want, or says he will sell you a specific socket only in a set (know he has a full drawer of individual sockets)

If you need to warranty something it's a absolute hassle... Looks in customer history to see if you purchased the tool from him if not says he will have to send the tool to snappy to get warranty and have to wait a couple weeks for it. Even if he has the tool in stock he won't just replace it. Orrrr if you got old logo items he simply wouldn't warranty them what so ever.... It's a shame cause I love SO tools and have a lot of money invested in them (former retired dealer)

Here our Mac dealer is outstanding, has been in the business 20 years, has 3 trucks on the go... His sons run the other 2. They are packed with tools & if he doesn't have what you want chances are its on his other trucks or in his warehouse so you get it same day. He is outstanding with warranty, any brand he sells he will warranty even if it wasn't purchased from him no questions asked.

Needless to say myself and basically everyone in town buys Mac besides people at the 10-15 places the SO dealer visits.

 

[Brownsfan]

That's how it should be. But I have to ask. Joined in 2010 and that was your first post? How in the hell did you remember your password?

 

[zcbauer89]

Off topic, but Century Trading Company in Van Wert, Ohio is a great family run business. They sell the full line of SK in the store as well as the full line of Milwaukee tools, plus tons of other odds and ends. Great place, Linda the owner is one of the nicest women you will ever meet. If anybody is ever in Van Wert stop by the store, and yes Van Wert Ohio is still the home of Kennedy Tool boxes. My home town.

 

[turdferguson13]

Snappy dealer here is a joke. He only goes to the big dealers (15+ techs) and heavy duty shops. Rest of the time he just sits at coffee shops and you always gotta chase him down. When you do he is sleezy, always trying to sell you other **** you don't want, or says he will sell you a specific socket only in a set (know he has a full drawer of individual sockets)

If you need to warranty something it's a absolute hassle... Looks in customer history to see if you purchased the tool from him if not says he will have to send the tool to snappy to get warranty and have to wait a couple weeks for it. Even if he has the tool in stock he won't just replace it. Orrrr if you got old logo items he simply wouldn't warranty them what so ever.... It's a shame cause I love SO tools and have a lot of money invested in them (former retired dealer)

Here our Mac dealer is outstanding, has been in the business 20 years, has 3 trucks on the go... His sons run the other 2. They are packed with tools & if he doesn't have what you want chances are its on his other trucks or in his warehouse so you get it same day. He is outstanding with warranty, any brand he sells he will warranty even if it wasn't purchased from him no questions asked.

Needless to say myself and basically everyone in town buys Mac besides people at the 10-15 places the SO dealer visits.

If my snap-on dealer was like that I would probably own a lot more mac tools lol

 

[cburnscrx]

Off topic, but Century Trading Company in Van Wert, Ohio is a great family run business. They sell the full line of SK in the store as well as the full line of Milwaukee tools, plus tons of other odds and ends. Great place, Linda the owner is one of the nicest women you will ever meet. If anybody is ever in Van Wert stop by the store, and yes Van Wert Ohio is still the home of Kennedy Tool boxes. My home town.

Until I got on Garage Journal I didn't know much about Kennedy and certainly didn't know it was in Van Wert. I've been meaning to head over on the 1st Saturday of the month, but haven't made it in a year. In laws are from Decatur. Now I have something else to check out when I am in the area.

 

[Hammell]

Ive never been on a Mac truck so I have very little to say about them. I had a set of their prybars for a few years and was impressed. And a co worker has a set of mac combo wrenches that are offset and zero offset both built into the box end. I like them, i think its very cleaver.

Now my story about Mac, I was in a antique store in Regina Saskatchewan not long ago shopping with the Mrs. I was looking at odds and ends and behind a curtain I noticed a bunch of hand tools. Shelves and shleves of hand tools, socket sets, combo wrenches etc. Cool! All Mac. The Lady from the store informed me she shared her building with the store next door, a industial tool suppy store. Her son being the owner. I never knew Mac used to have stores so in enquired further. ( I persumed MAC was always mobile ie. trucks )
Turns out her husband (the current owners father) was a Mac dealer and it was his store before the son took over. Then in the late 70's Mac told the father he could not sell their tools anymore. That they were going 100% mobile but they (Mac) would buy them back at 50 cents to the dollar upon which he had paid for them already. Or just keep them. So he kept them and there they have been sitting in the back since 78-79 when this occured. The son now sells Proto.
I found this interesting and thought id pass it along.

 

[otis66]

That looks like a Snap ON wrench rebranded MAC. LOL

 

[Hyster Gareth]

We have had dealing with their customer service in Wadsworth Ohio and it was non existent. After that experience I refuse to purchase anymore from Cornwell!

Their soul customer is the dealer himself; they say that right in their video.

 

[Wamsutta]

We have had dealing with their customer service in Wadsworth Ohio and it was non existent. After that experience I refuse to purchase anymore from Cornwell!

Their whole philosophy is you're not the customer; the dealer is. If I need a Cornwell tool replaced, I just box it up and send it in with a note. I don't call them at all.

 

[rr361]

I ran into the Mac guy here at a gas station and got his card. He's been real responsive when I've called and needed something. Calls me back quickly and lets me know where he's going and how long he'll be there so catching him is easy. Truck is nice and well stocked. I ended up with a lot of Mac when my son was in tech school and I could buy it for 1/2 price. I'm happy with everything I've got from them.

Since we ventured into Cornwell then I think what "Wamsutta" stated is true in that we're not the customer. My issue was they couldn't even connect me to a truck guy. Not one in Huntsville so they call and tell me the closest truck is 350 miles away in south GA. Hmm, Atlanta is 175 miles, bet there is one there. Nashville is 110 miles, I know there is one there because Stacy David has to get his tools somewhere… They did offer to ship me tools if I did a minimum purchase of $300. How nice. So, needless to say all 3 of my Cornwell tools came from here and eBay.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

Ratchets for one thing, how many ratchet lines have they had in the last 15 years? Jam a high tooth count in their classic pearheads and be done with. Mac needs to gut their line leaving the hardline and rebuild from there.

It has always confused me why on earth they haven't updated the classic ratchets to a fine tooth design. I like the feel (and classic look) of their hard handled ratchets, but after years of using fine tooth ratchets there's no way to justify paying tool truck prices for a 30 tooth.

 

[skylinegtr20]

That's how it should be. But I have to ask. Joined in 2010 and that was your first post? How in the hell did you remember your password?

Ha, Good question! I have a generic name i used for a car forum like 10 years ago and use that on all forums i dont log into very much. Not to say I dont frequent the forum I just use the login to view pictures you guys post

If my snap-on dealer was like that I would probably own a lot more mac tools lol

Funny thing is that retired snap on dealer everyone used to buy from... is his dad. Just a shame!

We also dont have alot of selection here sadly (Canada) no Cornwell, Matco, SK, or Proto its basically just Mac & Snap On for professonal grade tools unless you order state side. We used to have a Hazet salesmen used to come by in a VW van back when I worked for MB but that was ages ago now.

Now my story about Mac, I was in a antique store in Regina Saskatchewan not long ago shopping with the Mrs. I was looking at odds and ends and behind a curtain I noticed a bunch of hand tools. Shelves and shleves of hand tools, socket sets, combo wrenches etc. Cool! All Mac. The Lady from the store informed me she shared her building with the store next door, a industial tool suppy store. Her son being the owner. I never knew Mac used to have stores so in enquired further. ( I persumed MAC was always mobile ie. trucks )
Turns out her husband (the current owners father) was a Mac dealer and it was his store before the son took over. Then in the late 70's Mac told the father he could not sell their tools anymore. That they were going 100% mobile but they (Mac) would buy them back at 50 cents to the dollar upon which he had paid for them already. Or just keep them. So he kept them and there they have been sitting in the back since 78-79 when this occured. The son now sells Proto.

Funny you say that, in my original post I was going go further into detail on his warehouse. On saturdays he runs it sorta like a store.. has 20-30 tool boxes of all sizes, all 3 of his trucks in there, clothing, random mac trinket ****, and a fully stocked fridge with beer to be drank

Buy some tools, drink some beer and chit chat with guys from different shops around town, he has created a great hang out spot and prospered in his business because of it.

 

[XxToolAholicxX]

Has anybody noticed why Snap-On don't stamp made in USA on some of their tools. Blue-Point is outsourced Taiwan or China. Another one of their products Williams is made in Taiwan. It is exactly the same thing as Blue-Point. Exact same thing in and out. Parts are interchangeable. But sells williams a lot cheaper and not out of the Snap-On trucks. If any of you are thinking of investing in Blue-Point buy Williams instead. As they are exactly the same thing and maybe made under the same roof and same tap and die. Maybe the same quality of steel. Just my opinion.



I am a Toolaholic,Sometimes I regret it,Especially when the Toolman wont give me no credit

 

[Brownsfan]

What does that have to do with Mac?

 

[AndrewV]

Let a dead thread, stay dead.

 

[bob15]

Has anybody noticed why Snap-On don't stamp made in USA on some of their tools. Blue-Point is outsourced Taiwan or China. Another one of their products Williams is made in Taiwan. It is exactly the same thing as Blue-Point. Exact same thing in and out. Parts are interchangeable. But sells williams a lot cheaper and not out of the Snap-On trucks. If any of you are thinking of investing in Blue-Point buy Williams instead. As they are exactly the same thing and maybe made under the same roof and same tap and die. Maybe the same quality of steel. Just my opinion.



I am a Toolaholic,Sometimes I regret it,Especially when the Toolman wont give me no credit

Uh, this thread is about Mac.....

And for the record, Williams also has a US made line of tools which is geared for industry, not the tool truck market. Also, the Williams stuff isn't identical to Snap-On, as the steel isn't as hard (Rockwell testing).