Schneider at Harbor Freight

[Meursault74]

So it looks like HF has a new line named "Schneider".

Schneider - Harbor Freight Tools

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

www.harborfreight.com

So is this to make you think it's made by Schneider Electric or named in honor of this character?

 

[humber2]

I’ve seen trainloads of Schneider containers delivering the goods.

 

[Professional Tool User]

I have no idea what goes into the thought process when Harbor Freight introduces a new house brand name. The ones they already have are already confusing enough. If I were to guess, they write down a bunch of random brand name candidates on pieces of paper, put it in a hat, and randomly draw one every time they want to start a new tool line.

 

[Gurp]

Looking at the empty box on my desk for a contractor and OL...
Nah.
I love buying HF stuff. But my contactors and OLs... I don't think I would risk it.

 

[zendriver]

Well here we go again, bitching about - but clicking on the links looking at products that no one really cares what “brand name” they are.

Dumb Naming idea indeed.

Maybe they just want to scarf a naming recognition for a national trucking company or the fictional character of a TV sitcom that ended 38 years ago.

 

[Retroman]

Maybe it's supposed to sound German therefore people will think quality.

 

[lardy1]

When I see how far out of touch Americans are with reality, this stuff makes perfect sense. HF does a pretty good job of creating and maintaining an image. What's more American than that? In both business and personal affairs?

 

[yatg]

$1.99 for a little thin piece of sponge?

Soldering Tip Cleaning Sponge

Amazing deals on this Soldering Tip Cleaning Sponge at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Shouldn't complain too much. If it was snapon, it would be $3.99.

 

[zendriver]

When I see how far out of touch Americans are with reality, this stuff makes perfect sense. HF does a pretty good job of creating and maintaining an image. What's more American than that? In both business and personal affairs?

Who’s reality?

There is literally no retail product, on any shelf, in any store that doesn’t have a “brand name” attached to it, regardless of weather the company made it themselves or just put their name on it, since it was imported.

Why would they want to do anything different?

It would be dumb to put “HarborFreight” on them, because they are a retail tool store and the actual products are made elsewhere

 

[vavet]

Somewhere they have a marketing major or MBA that tells them to offer all these different brands. I don’t understand it, although I am pretty impressed. Go into Lowes. Most of their house brand stuff is Kobalt, but now they also have Craftsman. For the most part though, it doesn't matter if it's a screwdriver, garden hose, wire brush, or specialty plumbing tool - it's Kobalt.
HF has turned into a viable business, despite being a complete laughing stock at one point not that long ago, they don’t advertise on TV that I've ever seen. They used to advertise in magazines a lot and I think I've seen them on YouTube.

 

[Bubba Fett]

I have no idea what goes into the thought process when Harbor Freight introduces a new house brand name. The ones they already have are already confusing enough. If I were to guess, they write down a bunch of random brand name candidates on pieces of paper, put it in a hat, and randomly draw one every time they want to start a new tool line.

My theory is they write a bunch of names on a white board, and then randomly shoot a sucker dart. Wherever it lands, there's the new "brand name".

 

[zendriver]

Maybe they select them like a parent would select a weird baby name.

Go into the closet and shout it out 15,000 times if it still sounds good, then you know you have a winner.

 

[Meursault74]

$1.99 for a little thin piece of sponge?

Soldering Tip Cleaning Sponge

Amazing deals on this Soldering Tip Cleaning Sponge at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Shouldn't complain too much. If it was snapon, it would be $3.99.

well it seems it's already cut to fit into their soldering station.

Last time I needed a sponge for mine I just took one we had for kitchen use and cut it to fit. Cutting to fit required another tool and some skill and time. That's value added to the purchase price you know. You priced a bag of cut up lettuce lately

 

[M635_Guy]

I don't get why people are butthurt about HF's naming. They're kinda doing the opposite of Costo and their Kirkland brand, but I see the general structure of their Good/Better/Best when it comes to their naming and for some like Schneider for electrical stuff they're just putting in a name for a general category.

They do seem to be a little loose (or in transition) in a few spots, but overall it seems fine to me

 

[BarrelRoll]

This one seems like they are trying to piggy back off of Schneider electric's name even though there's no relation. They already have their central pneumatic brand abbreviated as CP piggy backing off of Chicago pneumatic also abbreviated as CP.

It's the common tactic of using another brands prestige to get customers to buy a different brand while they don't realize the brands aren't related.

 

[Snapped-off]

Coming soon to a tool truck near you.

 

[engineer2]

If you understand how the US trademark system works, you will understand why HF is doing it. Went though the same thing at work. Once the boss found out how cheap trademarks were, every product line needed its own trademark and website name. What a PITA to manage.

A few HF names are similar to other manufacturers.

Schneider ≈ Schneider Electric​

McGraw ≈ McGraw Electric​

Chicago Electric ≈ Chicago Pneumatic​

Surprised Schneider Electric's lawyers didn't catch that since they are similar product classes. Schneider Electric is French, so they may not be monitoring USA trademark applications. I can tell you for sure Apple is. Forget about TM'ing anything with the word "pod" in it or an image of an apple with a leaf or a bite out of it.

Most of the other HF names evoke thoughts of strength or being American. They are probably getting close to 100 brand names.

 

[Hammer1963]

There is an easy explanation. By the time all the complainers (which I cannot understand) are dead, younger people who grow up with these names will never think about it. No different than any brand naming.

 

[Professional Tool User]

When I see how far out of touch Americans are with reality, this stuff makes perfect sense. HF does a pretty good job of creating and maintaining an image. What's more American than that? In both business and personal affairs?

I don't get why people are butthurt about HF's naming. They're kinda doing the opposite of Costo and their Kirkland brand, but I see the general structure of their Good/Better/Best when it comes to their naming and for some like Schneider for electrical stuff they're just putting in a name for a general category.

They do seem to be a little loose (or in transition) in a few spots, but overall it seems fine to me

All they are doing by using so many different brand names is diluting their overall identity. Brands like Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Pro, and even Icon could have been used to cover most of their tools. Goofy sounding brand names like Doyle, Braun, and Hercules just show that HF is trying make themselves look good with their "comparisons". Besides HF, I have yet to see more than 2-3 house brands being used at the same time. This sounds similar to what GM was doing when they didn't have enough market share to justify having all those makes.

 

[zendriver]

I don't get why people are butthurt about HF's naming. They're kinda doing the opposite of Costo and their Kirkland brand, but I see the general structure of their Good/Better/Best when it comes to their naming and for some like Schneider for electrical stuff they're just putting in a name for a general category.

They do seem to be a little loose (or in transition) in a few spots, but overall it seems fine to me

Well, prices are not bad. The quality is OK and nowadays everything is made in China.

Go to ***** about something. Naming a battery charger line after a US named models that went defunct 50 years ago was fair game

 

[zendriver]

There is an easy explanation. By the time all the complainers (which I cannot understand) are dead, younger people who grow up with these names will never think about it. No different than any brand naming.

Seems like the people that ***** about it the most, don’t even shop there.

 

[zendriver]

If you understand how the US trademark system works, you will understand why HF is doing it. Went though the same thing at work. Once the boss found out how cheap trademarks were, every product line needed its own trademark and website name. What a PITA to manage.

A few HF names are similar to other manufacturers.

Schneider ≈ Schneider Electric​

McGraw ≈ McGraw Electric​

Chicago Electric ≈ Chicago Pneumatic​

Surprised Schneider Electric's lawyers didn't catch that since they are similar product classes. Schneider Electric is French, so they may not be monitoring USA trademark applications. I can tell you for sure Apple is. Forget about TM'ing anything with the word "pod" in it or an image of an apple with a leaf or a bite out of it.

Most of the other HF names evoke thoughts of strength or being American. They are probably getting close to 100 brand names.

Name recognition with whom?

McGraw electric went out of business 65 years ago.

The obsession over the HarborFreight name game almost seems like “6° to Kevin bacon”

No matter what names they use they will be tied to some current or past American product. Somehow.

For their cheap soldering supply kits maybe they should’ve used the “Unocomplain” Gband name it be hard to tie to anything.

 

[Sumboodie]

$1.99 for a little thin piece of sponge?

Soldering Tip Cleaning Sponge

Amazing deals on this Soldering Tip Cleaning Sponge at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Shouldn't complain too much. If it was snapon, it would be $3.99.

$39.99 you mean. And people would brag about their "fancy" Snap On sponge too, and that "perfesshunials" can't use the "cheap" stuff.

 

[Bubba Fett]

The different "brands" are there to provide the illusion of a wide selection. They don't really matter. Just turn the package over: if it's made in Taiwan, it's probably not ****.

Some of their brands are deceptive, as stated above. Pittsburg implies the use of Pittsburg steel, for example. I'm surprised they didn't go with "Kline" or "Idea!" for their electrical tools.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

I have purchased an assortment of HF tools and equipment; and simply renamed it "My Harbor Freight Stuff". Works for Me

 

[American Locomotive]

Typical HF ripping off an already existing company's name.

The prices on this "Schneider" stuff aren't even good. I can get an 8 oz spool of lead free solder cheaper at Home Depot. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Oatey-Safe-Flo-8-oz-Lead-Free-Silver-Solder-Wire-290242/100342559

The soldering station is just a re-labeled Atten ST-80, you can buy it cheaper on AliExpress.

 

[zendriver]

Honestly, when I first heard of "McGraw" air compressors, McGraw-Hill publishers (worked in that field 35 years ago) and Quickdraw McGraw (cartoon character from my childhood) came to mind.




Otherwise, seriously, who gives a **** on the name? They look like all right air compressors at OK prices, that someone may or may not buy depending of if they feel it fit their needs or budget, like anything else. Maybe they could get a better deal on similar elsewhere but they like shopping at HF.

Otherwise should we expect "Hey Bob, why don't you come over to the garage and check out my really cool new McGraw air compressor?"

Bob will be beat-feet as to not miss out.

 

[Mhyde52]

Two random thoughts on the HF name game:

I agree that many on the names are silly, and could be better thought out.

The volume of different names makes sense. That are trying to up the game, quickly. They are putting out some truly decent new products, quickly. If they build a name for a decent large line of products, and somehow screw it up and that brand rep goes south it’s a bigger loss than if they were to screw up a smaller product line with its own brand name and pull it off the market.

 

[JesSharTucker]

I’ve seen trainloads of Schneider containers delivering the goods.

Would you be more worried if Swift were pulling containers OTR instead?

 

[scooby074]

I dont think there is a creative person at HF HQ. Pretty obviously they are knocking off Schneider electric. At least Princess Auto can come up with something unique. Pro-Point and the ever popular...

 

[The Cobbler]

I'm not sure I agree with the "dumb-asses that name this stuff "
there's a lot of names that relate to large, well known US cities . name recognition . HF is successful, would they be more so with different names ? they are selling stuff to a lot more folks than the few hundred that are active on this forum. It must be working for them .

 

[M635_Guy]

I'm not sure I agree with the "dumb-asses that name this stuff "
there's a lot of names that relate to large, well known US cities . name recognition . HF is successful, would they be more so with different names ? they are selling stuff to a lot more folks than the few hundred that are active on this forum. It must be working for them .

Haters gonna hate

 

[OGJordan]

You guys complain about EVERYTHING lol. Harbor freight tools are hands down better quality AND usually cheaper than anything you can walk in and grab at lowes or Home Depot. They filled the void left by craftsman at sears for the average Joe working on his lawn mower or family car on the weekends. and they have a bigger selection. AND they’re privately owned and….here’s the whole purpose of a business….PROFITABLE. They can come out with a brand of Cheap Chinese Caca Sockets if they want, they’re making money and fulfilling a big need.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

Why not just put " Name Brand " on the packaging ?

I think Forbes or WSJ recently was guessing Eric Schmidt ? is worth $5.3B.

That's allot Chyna junk laying around our garages... to make that happen at $9.99 a pop.

 

[fsae0607]

So it looks like HF has a new line named "Schneider".

Schneider - Harbor Freight Tools

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

www.harborfreight.com

So is this to make you think it's made by Schneider Electric or named in honor of this character?

Hey, that's the dude in egdede's avatar!

 

[Rabid Badger]

$129 for some generic Chinese soldering station when the Hakko FX888D goes for ~$105?

Why not just carry the Hakko?

 

[Meursault74]

Hey, that's the dude in egdede's avatar!

he was the super/handyman on this show

One Day at a Time (1975 TV series) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

$129 for some generic Chinese soldering station when the Hakko FX888D goes for ~$105?

Why not just carry the Hakko?

Educated consumer VS UN-educated ? Like, learn to shop ?

Im not hating on HF, but Ive learned, if i need some Chinesium item from there, I likely can find the EXACT same item on Ebay/Amazon/Other for less delivered. I tend to be a " planned " buyer, so I need very little " Today ". A skill that is acquired when you live in BFE and have next to nothing available without a good drive.

A couple days ago, I bought online, a 15hp Lifan branded engine with electric start for $354 from Menards, of all places, DELIVERED to my door.

Thats $70 less than the comparable 13hp 420ccPredator ( GX390 Clone ), but at HF its rated at 13HP and is NOT electric start, so that is really more like a $170 savings. And then there is FREE delivery to the door. I guess it gives you and idea of how cheap this stuff is wholesale...

Full disclosure, I really dont know or care if the extra 2hp is there, I wanted the electric start and enjoyed saving a c-note and I didnt have to go on a 1.5hr round trip to get it.

 

[fsae0607]

he was the super/handyman on this show

One Day at a Time (1975 TV series) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Before my time. I was born in '81. Never heard of that show.

 

[zendriver]

Harbor Freight is struggling so much they can only afford to open a new store every 47 minutes. (yes that's sarcasm)

They assign brand names only the haters can recognize.

Everyone else likely does not even know or care.