Menards Masterforce stock very low

[Wes J]

We have a few Menards stores in the area. I like the Masterforce hand tools. They are pretty much the same as the old Allen brand tools and I have a lot of them. However, stock on sockets, ratchets, and other accessories is really low. I'd say 1/4 of the stock is completely out and has a tag on the hook. Some of them have been out of stock for over a month.

Does anyone know what is going on? It's the same at at least 3 stores I have been into. Other tools like screwdrivers don't seem to be affected. I really hope they are not getting rid of the Masterforce tools. They used to have a lot more selection when they carried Allen tools. They have been moving in more and more Crescent brand tools which are all China.

I'm hoping for the best. I think Menards is the last large store where you can walk in and buy made in USA hand tools.

 

[Tellingthem]

Apex tool group has been pretty behind on production because of plant closures, moving production and floods. But my store has started getting restocked so I imagine some of those issues are resolved.

 

[B_Bimmer]

My store is the same. Apex better get their head out of their ... before it's too late and companies stop carrying their brands. I have a hard time not believing the incompetent move didn't already cost them many sales and more than a couple customers.

 

[AA/FC]

Menards stores around me are the same way. I can't help but wonder if it's a supply issue on the manufacturers end, or if it's Menard's way of slowly phasing out that line of tools? There was never a shortage of USA Masterforce until Menard's started carrying the Cressent brand. Coincidence?

 

[Loscaldazar]

Menards stores around me are the same way. I can't help but wonder if it's a supply issue on the manufacturers end, or if it's Menard's way of slowly phasing out that line of tools? There was never a shortage of USA Masterforce until Menard's started carrying the Cressent brand. Coincidence?

Check the posts above you again. It is a problem with the Manufacturer (Apex). They consolidated three plants into one, and had to move all the machinery to that plant. Then they discovered that most of the machinery needed to be replaced/fixed badly, and so have not gotten operating yet. Then they also had some weather/natural disaster related issues (I believe a flood was one of them). It's been a several month mess and all of the US made brands fulfilled by apex are suffering badly. Several have reported near empty Matco trucks, waiting months for warranty on armstrong tools, now masterforce being low on stock, and the 2016 Craftsman Industrial line has been greatly delayed.

The screwdrivers are made by Pratt Read (owned by Ideal Industries, also owns SK), so that is why there are no supply issues with the screwdrivers.

 

[guy48065]

Another move for Apex? Great--I just sent in 3 electronic torque wrenches for repair. Last batch I sent in during the previous move took 2 months to return.

 

[cesski]

I wish they would stock more of their tool boxes/chests in-store. I own a couple of their hand tools, and they're not bad at all. The Menards store close to me has the same situation, either one left or out of stock.

 

[Empty Pockets]

My Employer does a lot of work for Menards.

I truly believe that they are making an effort to sell USA made products. That said, they are still having to deal with the competition from the other big box stores.

Nothing would please me more than if they would continue with their "Tool Shop" brand of tools for those that are shopping price, and price alone, while having better quality USA made tools available as a mid-range option, and a high quality brand like SK or Wright for those of us who like real tools. The "Good, Better, Best" model worked for Sears for decades, before they got involved with KMart.

Just my never to be humble opinion

 

[indy2door]

My employer formerly did work for Menards. Couldn't afford to do it anymore. Kind of like working for Walmart. You are in business going out of business.

 

[pauls_workshop]

My Employer does a lot of work for Menards.

I truly believe that they are making an effort to sell USA made products. That said, they are still having to deal with the competition from the other big box stores.

Nothing would please me more than if they would continue with their "Tool Shop" brand of tools for those that are shopping price, and price alone, while having better quality USA made tools available as a mid-range option, and a high quality brand like SK or Wright for those of us who like real tools. The "Good, Better, Best" model worked for Sears for decades, before they got involved with KMart.

Just my never to be humble opinion

Hey guys, come join us on the Menards Permathread! over in Hot Deals section. Menards already has a three tier level tool selection in house, with the Tool Shop at the bottom, Performax in the middle, and MasterForce on top. Tool Shop is pretty much all China or India, Performax mostly china now too but some Taiwan still, and MasterForce some US and some China and some Taiwan, but of a higher quality level than the lower tiers. Confirmed US made things in MF are the screwdrivers from Pratt-Reed, reciprocating saw bits from Morse, and hole saw bits from Morse, drywall tools from USA (not sure of source), but pliers and hammers are now all China for MF. - Paul

 

[AA/FC]

Hey guys, come join us on the Menards Permathread! over in Hot Deals section. Menards already has a three tier level tool selection in house, with the Tool Shop at the bottom, Performax in the middle, and MasterForce on top.....

You seem to be forgetting the Cressent brand of tools..... which now seem to be consuming the majority of the tool shelf space at Menards. At least the Menards here in Minnesota anyway....

 

[CNGsaves]

Probably due to the flood at South Carolina plant that killed their production.

Site selection wasn't so great . . . .huh !!

 

[AA/FC]

Check the posts above you again....

No need to. I stand by what I said. (typed)

About 2 years ago Menards blew out the majority of their Gearwrench inventory, along with a BUNCH of Masterforce wrenches. The blowout was to make shelf space for the new "Brand Name" tool line, which was Cressent. Ever since Cressent arrived on the shelf is when the Masterfore inventory went down hill.

Like I said, the Masterforce hand tool decline started about 2 years ago, when did the APEX move/broken machines/flood/other excuses/etc start happening?

 

[Wes J]

I really miss the old day of Allen brand tools. You could get almost anything from Menards. Farm and Fleet also carried Allen. I bought a lot of those tools from both stores.

 

[AA/FC]

On a some what related note..... Another store here in Minnesota that once carried USA made APEX hand tools was Mills Fleet Farm, under the ALLEN brand name...... Not any longer! I was in FF a while back and there wasn't an ALLEN name tag to be found anywhere in the store. The shelves have been completely restocked with some other cheap no-name brand. (Chinese)

 

[bobcatdan]

Fleet farm dropped Allen for DeWalt. While I didn't buy a lot of Allen, I did here and there. For as long as I remember, Fleet always carried two brands, good and better. Before my time, they carried Wright. In the 90's, Allen and Truecraft. Then Truecraft was gone, and one cheap line after another. Allen was a soild constant. While the Apex mess may of lead to Allen's dropping, to be replaced by DeWalt to me is a joke. I also remember when Fleet had one hell of a Pratt Read display. Now they have Felo.

 

[Wes J]

Allen was dissolved in the great Danaher shake up about 5 years ago. Masterforce sockets, ratchets, and wrenches are the same as the old Allen stuff.

Back in the 2000-2010 era, Craftsman Pro, Napa, Allen, Matco, and Armstrong had a lot of overlap. All were in some way being made by Danaher.

 

[FOCUS.FREAK]

Apex has been bad like people have talked about. They supply Matco with stuff too. I talked to the Matco guy and he's had a ratchet on back order for 162 days [emoji15]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wes J]

Fleet farm dropped Allen for DeWalt.

Down here we have Farm and Fleet. I remember when they carried Wright tools as the premium and Thorsen was the cheap Taiwan brand. I still have some Thorsen stuff from my very first tool set my parents gave me when I was maybe 10.

Then they went to Allen as the premium and Duracraft as the cheap one.

Now they have Craftsman Chinese tools as the premium. They also have Dewalt, Performance Tool, Duracraft, and others.

 

[DSLTRK]

Out here in Cali, we have Orange, Blue, and recently, a Tractor Supply just opened.

All three have horrible hand tool selection if you want USA/quality built tools.

 

[AA/FC]

Allen was dissolved in the great Danaher shake up about 5 years ago.

I don't think this is correct. (the 5 year part) The tool shelves at Mills Fleet Farm were full of Allen tools until about a year ago. I specifically remember stopping into a FF store to pickup an ALLEN socket to fill a gap in a USA Craftsman set that I have. This was last winter...

Masterforce sockets, ratchets, and wrenches are the same as the old Allen stuff.

Yes. In fact, Menards sold ALLEN brand tools for several years until they decided they wanted the tools to have their own Masterforce name. It was not unusual to find NOS (new old stock) ALLEN tools hanging on the same hook as the Masterforce tools. If you looked hard enough you could probably still find a few ALLEN tools today in any given Menards location.

 

[B_Bimmer]

I don't have mill's fleet farm around me, but the idea of a farm store carrying wright tools is kinda awesome. I may have to plant the idea at theisens and brain's farm and fleet. 18% bag sale would become a lot more fun.

 

[reader2580]

My employer formerly did work for Menards. Couldn't afford to do it anymore. Kind of like working for Walmart. You are in business going out of business.

I have talked with folks who have done business with Menards and many won't do business ever again with Menards. Menards apparently stretches out payment as long as possible if it isn't merchandise to sell on the shelves.

 

[Wes J]

I don't have mill's fleet farm around me, but the idea of a farm store carrying wright tools is kinda awesome. I may have to plant the idea at theisens and brain's farm and fleet. 18% bag sale would become a lot more fun.

Like I said, Farm and Fleet use to carry Wright. That stopped around 2000.


Here in the rust belt, we still have old school industrial supply shops where you can walk in and buy quality brand tools. In Peoria, C&H carries Wright tools. Hagerty Industrial carries Proto and Blackhawk.

 

[Wes J]

I don't think this is correct. (the 5 year part) The tool shelves at Mills Fleet Farm were full of Allen tools until about a year ago.

I may be off a year or two, but either way, Allen is no longer a brand used by Apex except for hex keys. Those tools were sold under the brands Craftsman Pro, Napa, K-D, Matco, and Armstrong to some extent. Then things went to hell at Danaher and the party was over.

You can still find a few Allen tools here and there at Menards. I have not seen any new stock of Allen tools for at least 2 years. Masterforce seems to pick up where Allen left off, but selection is much more limited.

I remember that you used to be able to buy Allen brand ratcheting wrenches that were made by Gearwrench.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I thought maybe somebody was going to say that Menard's bought out Craftman,Kenmore and Diehard.

In the line of business that they are in, it would probably fit right in.

 

[davethorik]

I've bought a few sets of Allen branded sockets here and there. The last set I got was a deep 1/4 sae set off ebay, all the sockets had the plastic hang tag, and there was a date code on the hang tag. The set I have ranges from 2013 to 2015 production.

 

[drink]

We have a few Menards stores in the area. I like the Masterforce hand tools. They are pretty much the same as the old Allen brand tools and I have a lot of them. However, stock on sockets, ratchets, and other accessories is really low. I'd say 1/4 of the stock is completely out and has a tag on the hook. Some of them have been out of stock for over a month.

Does anyone know what is going on? It's the same at at least 3 stores I have been into. Other tools like screwdrivers don't seem to be affected. I really hope they are not getting rid of the Masterforce tools. They used to have a lot more selection when they carried Allen tools. They have been moving in more and more Crescent brand tools which are all China.

I'm hoping for the best. I think Menards is the last large store where you can walk in and buy made in USA hand tools.

I like the Allen brand tools also. Who knows why they dropped the Allen line and rebranded it? Wouldn't it be easier to stick with the Allen brand name rather than keep switching it around and clearing out the inventory? It looks like the tool company has made some poor decisions by going offshore, downsizing US production, and being a victim of mother nature's flooding. If the retailers of the Allen line of tools would have sold them cheaper I think a lot more of them would have sold much quicker. They are nice tools but it looks like the desire for bigger profit margins, or greed, has taken its toll on the industry.

 

[reader2580]

Companies close plants if they don't have enough business to keep them open. You can only cut prices so far in order to try to win more customers.

Retailers have a lot to do with switching to offshore too. Often they can sell offshore tools for less and still make more profit than selling USA made tools.

 

[Wes J]

I thought the Allen stuff was really reasonably priced for US made hard line tools. Have you been on a Snap-On truck recently?

 

[drink]

I thought the Allen stuff was really reasonably priced for US made hard line tools. Have you been on a Snap-On truck recently?

I am familiar with the pricing of Snap-On tools. They are really expensive but they have some very nice tools. The point I was trying to make about the high prices some retailers had on Allen tools was they could have sold them at a much more affordable price. Then more people would be able to afford them. Here is an example.

http://www.wylaco.com/Allen-19210-23-Piece-6-Point-and-12-Point-1-2-Drive-Socket-Set

A lot of places would probably have listed them at $262.09 instead of $141.99 or less. Northern Tool had what might have been the best deal at about $1700 with free shipping for the 307 pc set in the picture. If a lot of retailers sold them like NT then they might still be on the market. You have to have a lot of sales to keep production lines busy. If you sell one socket set per year at full retail price then the production lines will likely halt from lack of demand.

 

[davethorik]

Just went to the "local" (35 minute 1 way drive) Menard's for the 1st time. Pretty decent selection of USA made tools. There was plenty of Masterforce USA on the shelves, with the exception of extensions (no 1/4, only 10" in 3/8 and 1/2).

There were a few Allen sockets in the onesies, only a few sizes in 1/2 impacts, mm and sae.

Aside from Masterforce, they offered Wilde punches and chisels, Channellock and Knipex pliers, Vaughan hammers, and Stack-On tool boxes. I wish I had more $...I'll be back.