Stanley Black & Decker buys Craftsman

[Beater5liter]

Re: Craftsman sold to Stanley/B&D- good or bad?

Sad to see, but hopefully they treat them like DeWalt, not Stanley or B&D tools...keep the quality there. I'm guessing their cordless tools will quickly become 20v.

Never been much of a fan of Stanley or B&D here as well, although some of there old stuff is pretty cool. I'm guessing once Sears goes belly up that will be the end of the lifetime warranty.

 

[jd_1138]

Reading 9 pages of this speculative nonsense and I have to ask, who cares? Let it go.

It's more fun discussing tools and such than watching the depressing **** on the news. That's why a lot of us care.

 

[EOC_Jason]

This is all very interesting, but i didnt see any of the articles even mention hand tools, only yard and garden stuff. Maybe they will die with sears?

From WSJ:

"The $900 million acquisition will add Sears’s famous wrenches, tool chests and signature lifetime warranty to its sprawling portfolio that already includes Stanley’s familiar black-and-yellow tools, Mac Tools for auto mechanics, and the Black & Decker, DeWalt, Lenox and Irwin brands. It also represents a significant expansion into other business lines, since just 35% of Craftsman’s sales come from tools."

From ABC:

"Stanley will pay Sears about $900 million for Craftsman, which includes $525 million when the deal closes this year, $250 million after three years and a percentage of sales for 15 years. After 15 years, Sears will start paying Stanley 3 percent of the Craftsman sales it makes. "

Sears is selling Craftsman and no longer in control of it... I never saw any article mentioning only Lawn & Garden... Stanley is getting it all, Sears is wiping their hands clean and essentially taking the money and running. In 15 years (assuming Sears is still around), they will have to pay Stanley 3% of every CMan sale...

 

[davewo]

Re: Craftsman sold to Stanley/B&D- good or bad?

This is strangely unfortunate to me. It was a long and good run until they went all in for China. I can't mentally separate Craftsman from Sears.

 

[Spdfreak91]

so some international toolbox's were rebadged as a craftsman and the stanley ones were also rebadged odd....

 

[EOC_Jason]

Lowe's and HD probably don't care what brands they sell, as long as the profit margins are sufficient. There is a certain percentage of people who see Husky and Cobalt as being **** and would never buy it, but they see Craftsman as "the quality brand I grew up with. Dad used CM tools to fix the family car and the lawnmower."

Kobalt seems a little more extensive than Husky in that they also have a considerable lineup of power tools. Husky has some pneumatic, but that's all I can think of. Stanley does make some of the Husky products...

Honestly, I think it will just be business as usual... I don't think there is going to be any big paradigm shift in tool availability of any major chain. I think we will end up seeing more tools looking alike but just stamped with different brands. This gives Stanley the best of both worlds... Different visual brand names that different individuals prefer, while at the same time more economies of scale because they are producing the exact same thing...

 

[bcexplorer]

From WSJ:

"The $900 million acquisition will add Sears’s famous wrenches, tool chests and signature lifetime warranty to its sprawling portfolio that already includes Stanley’s familiar black-and-yellow tools, Mac Tools for auto mechanics, and the Black & Decker, DeWalt, Lenox and Irwin brands. It also represents a significant expansion into other business lines, since just 35% of Craftsman’s sales come from Sears will start paying Stanley 3 percent of the Craftsman sales it makes. "

heres to hoping it survives, flourishes, and some of it makes its way up here!

 

[Revelations]

Looks like a $900 MM cash deal. That is well under the reported asking price. I wonder what the terms of the current Craftsman manufacturing deals look like. How long will Stanley B&D have to pay some of their competitors to continue manufacturing certain lines?

This is probably a positive development for the Craftsman line continuing to be widely distributed for years to come. I like it better than a retailer buying it to be their house brand.

Sears will take the 900M and dump it into the money pit they call retail stores. This will buy them 5 more years.

Its like a lotto winner taking his winnings, and buying more lotto tickets.

Sent from a Galaxy far far away.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Okay, just went to the http://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/ website, and it's interesting what it says on the front page. Stanley has the right to develop, manufacture, and sell. But Sears Holdings can ALSO develop, source, and sell... Not that Sears ever manufactured anything anyhow, but it seems like Stanley might double-dip by selling products it manufactures to Sears to then sell at their stores... lol.

http://swkcraftsman.transactionannouncement.com/


The way I view brands the mega-corp has now...

Proto & Mac Tools - Professional Auto Mechanics, those that use hand tools daily.
DeWalt - Contractors / Heavy Users, those that use power tools daily.
Porter Cable - Not quite as nice as DeWalt (or as expensive)
Bostitch - Mostly nailers & staplers comes to mind.
Craftsman - Home Users / DIY... The Weekend Warrior
Irwin - Odd hodgepodge of products, but mostly again for Home Users
Stanley, B&D - Maybe half a step above Harbor Freight at this point in time.

 

[Tellingthem]

I only hope they can keep it going. My grandfather used craftsman, my dad does, and I do as well. If I ever have kids it would be nice if they had the chance (besides old tools). It may be silly nostalgia but I'll always have a bit of love for the craftsman brand. Pure Americana really.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Sears will take the 900M and dump it into the money pit they call retail stores. This will buy them 5 more years.

Its like a lotto winner taking his winnings, and buying more lotto tickets.

5 more years for the CEO to collect a big fat paycheck and then turn around and loan it to the company with a crazy high interest rate and demand full payment within a year to take even more money...

The investors should have voted the CEO out the day after he took over. He's been nothing but a crook driving it into the ground.

 

[vssjim]

A financial analyst said the sale of Craftsman and some recent loans will NOT get Sears through the entire year even after closing those stores.

What they need to do is sell some real estate, if they really want to try and make a come back. I don't see this happening. I will bet that all of the real estate has been transferred in to a separate company so the when Sear DOES go bankrupt, those assets are protected.

(Ford did this during the recession. All real estate was transferred to Ford Land. All Intellectual Property (patents) was transferred to another company. Ford Motor Company has very few tangible assets.)

I'm fairly sure Eddie Lampert never want to save Sears or KMart he just strung along investors so he could acquire all the real estate from Sears and KMart that would end up costing him nothing and get paid for doing at the same time

 

[Parrothead]

Sears will take the 900M and dump it into the money pit they call retail stores. This will buy them 5 more years.

Its like a lotto winner taking his winnings, and buying more lotto tickets.

Sent from a Galaxy far far away.

Um...that $900 million won't even make it a year, they lost $750 million last QUARTER!

Baring selling both Kenmore and Die Hard soon, Sears as a retail store is done by the end of the year.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurahe...-plans-to-liquidate-more-stores/#1d17235a6b8d

 

[Parrothead]

I'm fairly sure Eddie Lampert never want to save Sears or KMart he just strung along investors so he could acquire all the real estate from Sears and KMart that would end up costing him nothing and get paid for doing at the same time

I've known that for a long time, you could see the writing on the wall years ago. I come from a retail management background so it was fairly easy to see.

 

[sparc]

Baring selling both Kenmore and Die Hard soon, Sears as a retail store is done by the end of the year.

the media has been saying that every year for at least five years (probably more). My guess is that there are at least a few years left of Lampert extracting every penny from Sears/Kmart.

If you look at this deal more closely, it seems like Sears actually came up ahead in the money department. Stanley just gets to sell in every other place except Sears. Sears still ends up with a "perpetual license agreement" and still controls Craftsman in their own stores.

 

[Parrothead]

the media has been saying that every year for at least five years (probably more). My guess is that there are at least a few years left of Lampert extracting every penny from Sears/Kmart.

If you look at this deal more closely, it seems like Sears actually came up ahead in the money department. Stanley just gets to sell in every other place except Sears. Sears still ends up with a "perpetual license agreement" and still controls Craftsman in their own stores.

While what you say is true, they've been bleeding money for years even with Craftsman. This was the first quarter that I am aware of that suppliers refused to sell to Sears, and that was toy suppliers for the Christmas season. It's also why Lampert had to issue a letter of credit just to reassure vendors.

They've lost 9 billion in 8 years...eventually the well runs dry.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ter-lining-up-200-million-to-help-stay-afloat

 

[1982fxr]

Okay, just went to the http://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/ website, and it's interesting what it says on the front page. Stanley has the right to develop, manufacture, and sell. But Sears Holdings can ALSO develop, source, and sell... Not that Sears ever manufactured anything anyhow, but it seems like Stanley might double-dip by selling products it manufactures to Sears to then sell at their stores... lol.

http://swkcraftsman.transactionannouncement.com/


The way I view brands the mega-corp has now...

Proto & Mac Tools - Professional Auto Mechanics, those that use hand tools daily.
DeWalt - Contractors / Heavy Users, those that use power tools daily.
Porter Cable - Not quite as nice as DeWalt (or as expensive)
Bostitch - Mostly nailers & staplers comes to mind.
Craftsman - Home Users / DIY... The Weekend Warrior
Irwin - Odd hodgepodge of products, but mostly again for Home Users
Stanley, B&D - Maybe half a step above Harbor Freight at this point in time.

I'm guessing the part about both being able to develop, etc means Sears can offer the gimmicky **** as exclusive seats only product. And Stanley probably has no interest in that aspect.

 

[Virgil Cain]

So then how does Sears survive as a brick and mortar entity? Is this the end of Sears for good?

Sears has been a "dead man walking" for years now.

This will not affect the outcome which is already a forgone conclusion.

 

[derosa]

Really haven't decided exactly what to think about this. On the one hand I was disappointed when I realized most their line was China that I wouldn't be able to buy my kids when they got older a "decent" set of wrenches and sockets that are us made and affordable. Now it might go back to being US and affordable but as a result of discovering theyd gone to China I also discovered that the older stuff I thought was decent really wasn't that great either. Which means I'll probably still end up slowly buying them wright and SK unless Stanley does some upgrades. I've got Stanley 750 chisels and have spent time with their sweetheart line of planes so I know they can bring quality back to a sinking line but doubt they will in this case.

 

[bczygan]

Wow!

This thread sure has fast legs!

 

[kctyphoon]

By page 30 people will be complaining about lawn mowers, and their craftsman jackets.. the wrenches will be made in Charlie's Choclate Factory, the tool boxes are gonna be made by ISIS, and buying anything from craftsman will indeed require a human sacrifice..

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Sears selling Craftsman to Stanley

Not just "small, out of the way towns". The store and automotive department in Charleston, WV is closing. It is located in one of the largest urban malls east of the Mississippi River in West Virginia's Capitol City.

They are closing one in a major mall in Buffalo, NY, as well

 

[mikegt4]

I wonder how this will play out at the Sears store nearest to me.

It was the flagship store when the mall was built in about 1960. My parents bought everything at Sears, appliances, clothing, shoes as well as lawn/garden and tools for my Dad.

Today, after going through a rough patch a decade ago, the mall is revitalized with big name retailers and heavy traffic.... except for Sears. Now one has to walk 100 yards from their car to the nearest mall entrance, not good in the winter cold/snow or the summer heat. But hold on, there is a way to avoid that, park by the Sears entrance. Guaranteed to get the parking spot right by the door (handicap parkers would be jealous), walk right in, no crowds only lonely salesmen to navigate though on the way to the door to the rest of the mall.

 

[Corndoggeh]

This could be good potential for craftsman since both stanley and B&D are well known in the consumer tool/electronics world. There might be a slight hope that Stanley is going to want a USA line of tools to pull in the old Cman market.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Sears still has Kenmore which is a major brand, and I'm not really sure what the value of DieHard is these days, I don't think many people are brand loyal to a battery that they could probably never get in-stock for their vehicle in the first place.

As long as they have stores to close and assets to liquidate the company will continue to operate. But as someone else said, eventually the well WILL run dry. Only dot-com's can run at a massive loss and still come out looking like a champ... lmao.

Why couldn't the owner of Google or Uber or Facebook be a Craftsman fanatic and buy it up???

I don't think Craftsman Lawn & Garden products really amount to much, I've never really seen them fly off the shelf, people buy Echo, Husqvarna, Honda, Toro, Briggs, or other brands from the big box stores. Not to mention now some people are going all battery powered on leaf blowers, weed eaters, and even mowers.

Craftsman cordless tools have become pretty stagnant compared to the competition, and a beefed up battery only provides so much. With all the other guys having brushless designs with increased power, and the C3 line I think has ONE brushless drill??? I don't expect that line to bring any huge sales in the future...

Hand tools can only make so much money, especially with so much competition out there and re-branding of every tool imaginable to be sold by every store imaginable.

I sincerely hope Stanley's vision is to ramp up the Pro / Industrial line making more solid USA tools. It could be a strategic play too if the next administration does start to put higher tariffs on imported goods (instead of giving them tax breaks and subsidies) it could really flip production fast even with all the naysayers crying that it won't work. Back during WWII we had a sewing machine company churn out firearms, a car maker producing tanks, and so much more. People just need the incentive to do something and they get it done.

 

[southalabama]

I wouldn't keep a lot of shop your rewards points on hand.

The old days of Craftsman are gone. Will be interesting to see what happens. Will be keeping my eyes open for deals.

 

[visionguru]

Really haven't decided exactly what to think about this. On the one hand I was disappointed when I realized most their line was China that I wouldn't be able to buy my kids when they got older a "decent" set of wrenches and sockets that are us made and affordable. Now it might go back to being US and affordable but as a result of discovering theyd gone to China I also discovered that the older stuff I thought was decent really wasn't that great either. Which means I'll probably still end up slowly buying them wright and SK unless Stanley does some upgrades. I've got Stanley 750 chisels and have spent time with their sweetheart line of planes so I know they can bring quality back to a sinking line but doubt they will in this case.

Exactly! Since more than 10 years ago, craftsman's Made-in-USA products are not that great comparing with Made-in-Taiwan competition. About 10 years ago, I bought a set of Duralast ratchets, they are seriously Snap-on like quality, much better than Craftsman.

One day I went to Autozone and looked at the tools. The quality is not as good as before. Nowadays, everybody seems to cut corners for more profit.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I wonder how this will play out at the Sears store nearest to me.

I *think* when I was talking to the HomeTown owner, he said any sears that didn't do at least a million in sales they were closing... Don't quote me on that, but it obviously has to do with profitability of the stores.

But yeah for the longest time I can remember, every mall we would go to since the 90's we would park at Sears because it had the closest parking. lol... Or if you are old enough to remember... Montgomery Ward!

 

[EOC_Jason]

Exactly! Since more than 10 years ago, craftsman's Made-in-USA products are not that great comparing with Made-in-Taiwan competition. About 10 years ago, I bought a set of Duralast ratchets, they are seriously Snap-on like quality, much better than Craftsman.

I read that post and thought in my head... Hey, I have a small socket set that was stamped from the mid 90's that was pretty darn good quality...

Then I realized the mid 90's was 20 years ago... I feel old...

 

[rickhigginshtbr]

Exactly! Since more than 10 years ago, craftsman's Made-in-USA products are not that great comparing with Made-in-Taiwan competition. About 10 years ago, I bought a set of Duralast ratchets, they are seriously Snap-on like quality, much better than Craftsman.

One day I went to Autozone and looked at the tools. The quality is not as good as before. Nowadays, everybody seems to cut corners for more profit.

Check again. Tools got a refresh a few months ago, Great Neck has really stepped their game up lately.

I think this is bad for Sears, good for Craftsman... Hell, maybe we'll see some (hopeful) quick movement to new tools in the C3 / Nextec lines.

 

[Empty Pockets]

My two closest Sears stores are closing starting tomorrow. A few years back I would have been rushing over there hoping to find some deals.

This change of hands is no surprise.

I know that they are closing Walden Galleria, which is the other one?

 

[pauls_workshop]

Stanley already has proto and facom, there's no way that cman will ever be a "premium brand".

What they can do is position it as a non-throwaway brand (which is where it belongs, IMHO). The key component is going to be getting COO issues sorted out--producing in USA and at worst Taiwan.

Craftsman would have a lot more value (vs Tekton and HF) if you coulc buy the tools and assume 100% not made in China.

I could easily see the new Craftsman having premium tools that are clones of existing Proto or Mac. That would not be bad at all for Craftsman Professional or Industrial lines. Really, Craftsman has "cloned" other pro lines before, namely SK and Armstrong for the high grade US made stuff. I view the sale to Stanley/B&D as a real positive here. Could have been much much worse! - Paul

 

[pauls_workshop]

What I wonder about is what will happen to the existing power tool lines.

Nextec hasn't seen a new tool come to market in years.

Bolt on is made by Stanley I believe so that will most likely remain.

C3 I don't know about. Isn't the OEM Ryobi?

C3 is mostly Ryobi. I can't really see Stanley/B&D continueing to support the Ryobi based C3 under Craftsman for long with the Black and Decker line of tools out there. I would think they would grow the B&D tools instead. - Paul

 

[Empty Pockets]

I have seen a lot of speculation about SBD marketing to WM, HD Lowes or Ace. Has anyone considered that they might market their tools to regional companies like Menards, Meijer or Farm & Fleet or some of the auto parts stores like Auto Zone, Advance, Parts Plus. Another possibility might be to sell a limited assortment of tools to one or more truck stop chain, replacing their Chinese imports.

Just my random thoughts

 

[Askme42]

Sears will take the 900M and dump it into the money pit they call retail stores. This will buy them 5 more years.

Its like a lotto winner taking his winnings, and buying more lotto tickets.

Sent from a Galaxy far far away.

5 years lol they are bleeding money so fast it won't get them much more than 5 months.

 

[rmsg0040]

Re: Sears selling Craftsman to Stanley

They are closing one in a major mall in Buffalo, NY, as well

Is that the Walden Galleria?

 

[Parrothead]

5 years lol they are bleeding money so fast it won't get them much more than 5 months.

Just have to make it till the end of July. This infusion of cash should get them that far but that's about it.

 

[nickelmore]

Will they honor the warranty?

I sarcastically say I doubt it. I found the process for warranty claims to be a joke with Stanley....just my personal experience.

Not worth the effort so it has become a throw it away when it wears out/breaks tool company.

They have a "rule" that if they no longer manufacture a certain model they will not honor the lifetime warranty with a similar model.

 

[four.cycle]

Not sure why some people are even speculating on a big "change in quality" over the hand tools. CRAFTSMAN is a successful brand AS IS. If it werent, then another huge tool company wouldn't have just paid close to a billion dollars for it.
The tools are not nearly as horrible as people in here make them sound. A socket or wrench shows up without the size on one side, and a thread gets created how "everything is junk" cause 1 $2 socket in a 250 piece set isn't perfect in every way.

We perceive Craftsman as being in the toilet. The general public does not. Craftsman is a very viable and highly respected brand, with great public recognition and trust.
Everybody here on GJ focuses on the warranty. For the company, that will be a very minor consideration. As much as we focus on warranty claims on this board, for most companies, that is less than 1/10 of a percent of their overall sales volume. Realistically, few people break tools, and even fewer bother to warranty them if they do.

Outside of this forum, the Craftsman name still carries a lot of weight.

95% of the people I know wouldn't know Proto from Frodo, and think Craftsman is the top of the food chain for tools.

^ All very salient and valid points.
To put things into proper perspective, the total membership of Garagejournal.com is just a hair over one-one-hundredth-of-one-percent of the total US population. (The active membership is about one hundredth of the total membership.)
In short: all of the speculation in this thread is happening inside a bubble.

I think Parrothead really nails it with "wouldn't know Proto from Frodo." Both the Craftsman and Stanley names have far greater brand recognition in the market than Snap-on, Matco, Proto, S-K, Williams, Wright, or any other US-based tool company you can name.
It doesn't matter a tinker's damn what your personal opinion is of the product itself, the buying public perceives both Craftsman and Stanley as "good US-made tools". Perception is reality for the retail buyer.

Clearly Stanley Black & Decker is not being run by idiots. Don't think for a minute they don't already have a strategy all cooked up for this and they'll be making money hand over fist with this one. For huge corporations like this - companies that can swallow up all "Newell Brands" tools for a cool $1.95 billion dollars - it's all about getting a bigger piece of the pie.
Multiple brands that already have market share and brand recognition are a great way to get more of that pie.

 

[jcfields]

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