More PRC Made Craftsman Wrenches

[Fedwrench]

Cruised a local Sears today seeing if there was anything I couldn't live without and noticed on the wall of wrenches, that the fully polished deep offset boxed end wrench sets are now made in the PRC.
I guess the march to all of the Craftsman polished wrench sets being made in the PRC is nearly complete. The wrench wall was well stocked and the only polished set still US made on the rack was the fine tooth reversible ratcheting wrenches. On the wall were flare nut wrench, flare crowfeet, locking ratcheting combination, cross force, ractheting cross force, long combination wrench, long ratcheting combination, and the boxed wrench sets all made in the PRC. Whoever makes them for Sears sure has a funky fat looking open end.

 

[Skin]

like i said in your last thread, its becoming one and the same with the current GW versions. I suspect they'll stop selling the GW brand wrenches as their house brand stamped ones replace them and then they can run those 50% sales on Craftsman wrenches. Then people can run to the stores to pick-up the Craftsman wrenches instead of GW which sell extremely well when they do those sales.

Certainly ***** for those who care about COO with regards to warranty. Then again how often do you really break a wrench.

 

[bchee]

I believe the deep box offsets were usually very well reviewed. I assume the price was the same, around $40?

Did they look markedly different?

Where I am, I still have a lot of old US made stuff. I guess the inventory doesn't move much here.

Which mall are you checking in phoenix?

 

[Fedwrench]

This is what I don't understand. If Sears is marching to sell mostly PRC made Craftsman tools why not just rebrand the existing Gearwrench line? It's a known quality and in some areas it would be an expansion of current Craftsman offerings. You also wouldn't have that funky fat open end that you see on Craftsman's PRC made wrenches. I'm just confused.

 

[philw]

All for the same price as prior to the move to China

Sears management is incompetent.

The Craftsman hand tool line has been known for 2 major things.
1. Lifetime/Satisfaction guaranteed warranty

2. Made in the USA.

Sears never has (that I can remember) put an emphasis on being the lowest priced tool on the market. They have always maintained their status as one of the least expensive American tool lines although they really haven't had any competition for the spot for a couple of decades or more (remember Indestro, Thorsen, Fleet).

You can scratch #2 for a good chunk of the line now.

I would not agree but could understand why management may try to go the China route but the insane part is that they just redesigned their ratchets to compete with tool truck brands.

Are you going to buy a $50 ratchet and then a bunch of expensive Chinese wrenches?

Maybe the Chinese wrenches are a temporary filler until they can redesign the wrench line? I doubt it, but if so then I can at least see the plan which would be to make superior tools and beat the tool truck prices by a few dollars.

Otherwise they are going to end up with a huge hodge-podge of tools. Everyone I have talked to has stated that if Sears went import then they would either switch to a tool truck brand or more likely buy a good quality tool at the lowest price whether it be from Autozone, Advanced or an internet purchase such as Genius or Toptul etc.
The consensus also seemed to be they they would avoid Sears for the most part unless they had a huge sale because it would be more convenient to pickup a tool at the parts store or have it delivered to your door.

 

[jmauld]

gearwrench won't let them rebrand it.

 

[Fedwrench]

I believe the deep box offsets were usually very well reviewed. I assume the price was the same, around $40?

Did they look markedly different?

Where I am, I still have a lot of old US made stuff. I guess the inventory doesn't move much here.

Which mall are you checking in phoenix?

Price was the same. packaging changed from the black and gold professional markings to the newer red and black letters on white background with Polished replacing Professional. The only difference as viewed through the plastic cover was the font for marking was different and not as crisp/deep and they seemed thinner but, I could be wrong about the thickness. Arrowhead mall. the only polished US made stuff seems to be the one set of wrenches I mentioned and most of the open stock. I'm not mad at Sears. I surprised they held out as long as they have selling US made tools. I will miss the older US made polished wrenches though in time.

 

[woody 73]

I am so confused if I can walk into HF and get the same warranty as sears,then why not just avoid the price that sears charges for their chinese tools altogether. I thought the whole point of sears was to show people the made in the USA with pride sticker.

 

[Skin]

I am so confused if I can walk into HF and get the same warranty as sears,then why not just avoid the price that sears charges for their chinese tools altogether. I thought the whole point of sears was to show people the made in the USA with pride sticker.

Because they noticed that the 50% off sales they could run on their imported products brought in the most customers? I imagine if they tried that on their USA made stuff they'd be taking a loss on each sale.

These places arent stupid. They know customers like to think they're getting a great deal and imported products simply give them the most margine to allow for that bi-weekly half off sale and still turn a profit.

Think about it, when was the last time you saw any of the Cman Pro anything sets with a decent nation wide sale? I never see that stuff get more than a $5 off tag stuck next to it. The best discounts for me are only when sears.com runs those 10% off sales.

 

[granitestater]

I have some Craftsman needle nose pliers that were made in Japan and an identical pair that was USA made. They were purchased in the early 1980s. The Japanese made pair was part of a set and the USA made was bought as a single piece. I also had a pair of 6 inch Craftsman diagonal cutters from the same set and I broke the jaw trying to cut a cotter pin. Sears replaced it with a US made one. The US made item had the same 5 digit item number.

Finally, I have a set of Craftsman raised panel combo wrenches, 1/4 - 1 inch bought in the early 1980s and made in Japan. They look very similar to the USA made wrenches BUT... they DO NOT have 5 digit item numbers on them. These were also bought as a set. Sears, has in the past, outsourced.

 

[GearJammer]

That ***** that the Offset Box Ends are now made in China. I bought a set last year, and was really suprised how nice the finish was on them. (US version) Should have ordered the bigger online set before they went overseas

 

[Toolhorder]

I have some Craftsman needle nose pliers that were made in Japan and an identical pair that was USA made. They were purchased in the early 1980s. The Japanese made pair was part of a set and the USA made was bought as a single piece. I also had a pair of 6 inch Craftsman diagonal cutters from the same set and I broke the jaw trying to cut a cotter pin. Sears replaced it with a US made one. The US made item had the same 5 digit item number.

Finally, I have a set of Craftsman raised panel combo wrenches, 1/4 - 1 inch bought in the early 1980s and made in Japan. They look very similar to the USA made wrenches BUT... they DO NOT have 5 digit item numbers on them. These were also bought as a set. Sears, has in the past, outsourced.

yeah but the Japanese ones were probably good

 

[granitestater]

yeah but the Japanese ones were probably good

Yes, they are very good tools. I have had no problems except for the broken diagonal cutting pliers. My point was that this is not the first time Sears has outsourced production.

I am no defender of China due to their labor practices and dumping of steel and other commodities on the world markets to drive competitors out of business. I do not hesitate to return poorly made Chinese products to send a message to retailers and manufacturers to raise quality or it will cost you in the long run.

However... in the 1950s and 1960s Japanese made products were considered junk. Now look at them. The Chinese are slowly improving quality. I can see it in C clamps bought at Harbor Freight in 2000 as opposed to ones bought in 2009 being far better. I would not pay normal Sears prices for Chinese products that should in fact cost 60%- 70% less due to the lower labor cost.

 

[griff99]

I had this same thought, I puchased the offsets a few weeks ago, I was in my local Sears and they had 2 sets each, metric and SAE, I don't remember which was which but on one or the other, one was USA and the other was PRC. I went back and forth on it and finally ordered them online when they were onsale and used a couple of online coupons, but I called the store and requested they pull the USA set for me, the guy I got was nice enough to do so. So now I have USA offsets, but I realized if anything ever happens to one I will most likely get a PRC wrench as a replacement.

It also looks like they are outsourcing the ratcheting line, pretty soon there won't be a USA made Craftsman tool. Once that happens I will probably thow in the towel and start buying PRC made tools, but at that point I won't spend the kind of money that Sears/Craftsman is asking for, I'll probably start buying Husky or HF tools. Or maybe by then I will have all the tools I need... oh wait that's just crazy talk.