So how exactly does the Snap-On warranty get abused? I've read on this forum so many tines all the Snap-On faithfuls using the excuse for Snap-On ungodly high prices is that Snap-On adds convenience and warranty into the price. If this is the case what does it matter where a person gets there Snap-On tools the lifetime warranty has already been paid for and should it not be honered by Snap-On? I can see Snap-On not honaring the warranty of an abused tool but I don't see how the warranty itself can be abused being it has been paid for.
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Snap on gross revenues last year were about $2.8 billion Dollars. Snap On paid about $76 million in dividends to its investors. Snap On's CEO makes about $7.5 million when you figure in his total compensation package.
I think a lot of folks on this board tend to confuse "my local Snap On truck guy" with the Corporate Snap On located in Wisconsin. Snap On is a publically traded company. Snap On's CEO has a Harvard MBA and Snap On has a bunch of Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) folks helping it make financial decisions. If the CEO and the Board don't make the right dollar decisions, we the shareholders reserve the right to vote them off.
Snap On is a huge corporation run by a bunch of really smart men and women. The stock dividend return was very good last year and Snap On is trading around $72 a share up about $30 from its low earlier.
Snap On is a brand and a company. Its shareholders (many of who are its employees hire really smart people to make money for the company). Same buiness model as many of this board's readers use in their companies . . . but I suspect Snap On's is on a much bigger scale. Snap On has the same issues with health insurance, vehicle insurance, employee sick time, overhead costs as many of us do, just on a much larger scale. Snap On also has to comply with many government regs that many of us do not have to comply with.
Just like Craftsman, MATCO and, heck, even Jack Daniels -- all of these companies are corporations and they're all in the business to make money. Jack Daniels is owned by a company named Brown Foreman which used to own Hartmann Luggae Company and Mikisa Crystal. These companies use business models to make money (money for people like me and money for people like the Snap On truck driver who sells the tools and may be involved in the Snap On stock purchase policy.
Please do not think for one moment that the Snap On tool return policy is not discussed at the Kenosha, WI headquarters.
Does Snap On (or for that matter Sears, Lowe's, etc.) know that some folks are scamming the system - I'd vote yes.
BUT Snap On, in fixing its prices, takes this into account.
Snap On also takes into account that folks like me who have paid the higher price for the tools may never had to use the warranty. Snap On, when it sets its prices, considers the "warranty abuse" along with the fact that most Snap On tools won't ever be returned.
The big red tool box with the words "Snap On" is a brand. A great brand but it is a brand.
Read the all of the pro-Snap On posts vs. the Snap On haters. Lots of folks will tell you that C'Man and Kobalt are just as good for less money. Both of these have life time warranties. This debate will go on well after most of us are gone and my kids and grandson are trying to warranty a Snap On socket my father purchased before many of you were born.
Snap On figured this price into that socket when my dad bought it. Snap On also figured that odds are it would never have to warranty that socket because it would never break but since it was sold with the Snap On logo, it could be sold for a higher price.
I agree that folks should be honest in honoring the Snap On return policies but I think folks should also be honest in returning a wrench to Sears, a product to Lowe's (which I will state has a great return policy) and the list goes on.
Does "warranty abuse" equal dishonesty? I think you'd have to start a thread on exactly what "warranty abuse" is. I know what dishonesty is.
Anyway, that's my two cents. My disclaimer is I own Snap On stock and I own Snap On tools. I'm not a hater of Snap On but I think some times we equate the local guy in the truck and forget about the people like me who own Snap On stock. The local tool guy bought into the plan when he bought his truck. He knew about the warrant program and, while I'm sure at times he hates having to deal with it, at the same time, I bet he tells folks like me "and don't forget it has a life time warranty".