Tekton tool trucks?

[lardy1]

MSN

 

[Hohn]

Meh, I think this is a step backward for Tekton. But maybe in a couple test markets it might maybe sorta perhaps make sense?

 

[slowtwitch73]

That's a photo shopped image, it's on MSN , It's a click bate looking video, and it seems unlikely, so I'm calling BS.

 

[lardy1]

I don't watch tool videos so I don't know which of these guys are credible and which aren't. I watched this one and he does claim to have talked to people at Tekton about it and that it's their project. Not contractors. I'm neither promoting nor dissing it. I just thought it was something to add to the forum.

I think it would work in the right market. I seriously doubt they cut into Snap-On's dominance of that market but in some cities it just may work. I've seen a Gearwrench truck in Saginaw before and, other than a broader line and that they produce their own tools, I don't see that as anything different than this.

 

[Davefr]

Makes no sense. They likely don't have the margin to provide transparent pricing for dedicated dealer trucks. And if they double the truck pricing over their online pricing it'll repel their customer base.

 

[Benito]

You can just link directly to the Den of Tools video from a couple months ago:

 

[bkdc]

Unless it company owned (not franchised) to act like mobile advertisement in very busy routes. It won’t make money. It would be like a luxury boutique on Park Avenue. Those boutiques don’t make money as the overhead/rent is crazy. I could see a money-losing truck being used on very busy routes to act like an advertising presence to build a customer base for people used to the Tool Truck model.

 

[GeoBruin]

Unless it company owned (not franchised) to act like mobile advertisement in very busy routes. It won’t make money. It would be like a luxury boutique on Park Avenue. Those boutiques don’t make money as the overhead/rent is crazy. I could see a money-losing truck being used on very busy routes to act like an advertising presence to build a customer base for people used to the Tool Truck model.

That seems to be the current model based on the video. Not franchised trucks. All corporate owned, and currently a limited number in the area of their headquarters.

In any case, it's working. Den of Tools picked it up, which is about as mainstream as it gets for tool related content. And now MSN has picked it up, which means it has hit the default home screen of every Boomer who uses the internet.

And of course we're now discussing it on GJ.

 

[kctgb]

I heard they are testing three trucks in the grand rapids area. Their headquarters are in Grand Rapids. I was originally from Michigan, don’t live there now. Still have friends in the GR area. This is the story they tell me.

 

[mikey03]

I get all my tool news from a 400 pound guy on the internet who is bought and paid for by harbor freight and never had a job turning a wrench in his life.

i used to get my tool news from a guy on the internet with a Rolex watch who doesn’t use any of his $100k of snap on tools who is bought and paid for by county comm.

 

[mattstevens]

I think these have been around for a while, they mentioned some time back that they sell an 84" version of their toolboxes exclusively on their trucks.

 

[bkdc]

Tekton has the best tool cabinet in my opinion (made by Rousseau of Canada). You rarely see a used Rousseau cabinet for sale. They aren’t as ubiquitous as Snappys or other brands but I would love to score a deal.

 

[liliysdad]

I get all my tool news from a 400 pound guy on the internet who is bought and paid for by harbor freight and never had a job turning a wrench in his life.

i used to get my tool news from a guy on the internet with a Rolex watch who doesn’t use any of his $100k of snap on tools who is bought and paid for by county comm.

At least the Rolex guy is moderately interesting and can get through a whole sentence without hyperventilating.

 

[Steve_P]

I get all my tool news from a 400 pound guy on the internet who is bought and paid for by harbor freight and never had a job turning a wrench in his life.

i used to get my tool news from a guy on the internet with a Rolex watch who doesn’t use any of his $100k of snap on tools who is bought and paid for by county comm.

Youngster, you've developed quite the attitude and have become quite the wise *** here in the last few months.
Ok, I personally love it!

edit: who is the Rolex guy? I don't watch a lot of tool videos as 99% are too annoying.

 

[mikey03]

Youngster, you've developed quite the attitude and have become quite the wise *** here in the last few months.
Ok, I personally love it!

you guys are quite the influence in my personality as well as my tool hoarding

 

[dscheidt]

I don't watch tool videos so I don't know which of these guys are credible and which aren't.

Short answer to that is "no one posting tool videos is credible". They're all paid shills. The honest ones don't review stuff that's really ****, so they don't have to lie about it, but the only reason they're talking about a particular tool is because they're paid to do it, or they're hoping they'll get paid in the future.

edit: who is the Rolex guy? I don't watch a lot of tool videos as 99% are too annoying.

last best tool, I think. Don't waste your time, he doesn't use tools, just makes videos of stuff he's being paid to shill for. (some of his very early stuff was okay, he has used tools for real, and has some opinions about things, but it went all influencer garbage very fast.)

 

[Callelle]

People actually listen to the shill bear?

 

[mike93lx]

People actually listen to the shill bear?

Shills wouldn't be able to shill if people didn't watch it and buy the shilled ****

 

[SouthernIllinois]

I recently bought a set of 1981 boxes off the local Snap-On man after I built my shop.

They delivered them and as he was dropping them off asked if I wanted him to add me to his regular stops.

I told him if that truck showed up in my driveway without me calling him first, I'd get a restraining order on him....lol

 

[liliysdad]

last best tool, I think. Don't waste your time, he doesn't use tools, just makes videos of stuff he's being paid to shill for. (some of his very early stuff was okay, he has used tools for real, and has some opinions about things, but it went all influencer garbage very fast.)

I doubt SnapOn and Knipex are cutting him checks…

 

[M635_Guy]

It's a small test program of company-owned trucks.

I doubt it will work - it's a highly capital-intensive, even if you're not doing to same full-bore truck like Snap On, etc.

I did some napkin math a while back on the idea of an Icon truck - cost of trucks, handling of inventory, overhead of drivers and people to stock the trucks, higher warranty rates, gas, tariff costs, etc. and estimated you'd have to generate $700K a year to support a truck - $3500 a day (5 days a week).

I can't see it...

 

[mikey03]

People actually listen to the shill bear?

On the good, better, best scale of tool YouTubers he’s not on that list.

 

[mikey03]

I doubt SnapOn and Knipex are cutting him checks…

No but half his videos the last couple months are county comm tools that hadn’t been released yet. So…

 

[IRQVET]

New email from the Tekton CEO sent out today:

Hello, I'm Tekton's CEO and am writing today to keep you informed about how new tariffs could affect your future purchases from Tekton. Right now, the United States has imposed an extra 10 percent tariff rate on products coming from most countries. Our products come almost entirely from Taiwan, the United States, Canada, or Germany. We put the country of origin at the bottom of every product page on Tekton.com. We try to be specific about origin, down to individual components like the webbing on a pouch or the tube on a six-in-one driver. When we say a product is USA-made, we mean that the whole product is made here and that the materials are sourced in the United States. If the extra 10 percent tariff stays in effect, we'll have to raise prices about 4 percent on most products made outside the United States. However, if tariffs go to higher rates, then higher increases are likely. Tariffs directly increase our product costs. When we receive a new shipment from Taiwan, for example, we will have to pay the tariff rate on top of the cost of the product. We will give you at least one week of notice on our website before we raise prices—like usual, we will show the new upcoming price and the date when it goes into effect. As you may know, we are working very hard at Tekton to manufacture more of our products in the United States. We have growing CNC, plastic injection molding, electroless nickel plating, broaching, blasting, polishing, sewing, and assembly operations at Tekton. This manufacturing work started years before the new tariffs and it's going great. We also work with other U.S. companies to complete some manufacturing steps or make whole products for us. We have hundreds of items made in the United States. However, it's not easy or fast. Manufacturing things well with all the right people and equipment and figuring out all the best methods to make a highly refined tool repeatedly at an acceptable cost is a difficult process. We will keep going and we are succeeding at it. I strongly support making our tools ourselves. It's good for our company, good for you, and good for our country. We are in my view going about as fast as we can with the resources we have. In the coming months, you will see us introduce new products made in the USA. Our new service wrench line, which will be entirely USA-made and mostly done in-house, is coming out in several weeks and it will be a more impressive service wrench than I believe has been made before by any tool company. In some cases, however, we aren't ready or able to make the product we want here in the United States, and we have a great supply chain in Taiwan, Europe, or Canada that can do it. For example, having nothing to do with tariffs, we are about to move our screwdriver program to a premium supplier in Germany that makes drivers for the tool truck market. I don't expect us to save costs moving the screwdrivers to this supplier. We are doing it because it will be a better screwdriver line overall and will free up resources to keep working on other projects, especially new USA production. Thank you for your support. The new tariffs are not simple for us to navigate, but we have a strong company and a great user base. It's our intention to use our growth to find better and faster ways to make even more products in the United States. Sincerely, John Amash​

 

[liliysdad]

No but half his videos the last couple months are county comm tools that hadn’t been released yet. So…

So…don’t listen to his CountyComm stuff.

You claimed he only makes videos about tools he’s shilling for, yet named only one particular company out of several he frequently reviews.

I’m not saying the guys a rock star, but claiming he only makes shill videos is a bit silly. I’m sure he uses those tools as much or more than most here…

 

[L.Cheapo]

No but half his videos the last couple months are county comm tools that hadn’t been released yet. So…

I have never heard of CountyComm tools before. Within 30 seconds of landing on their site I was bombarded with three separate popups. I'll never visit it again.

Good thing I don't have a pressing need for a small titanium $300 adjustable wrench.

 

[liliysdad]

CountyComm has been a thing for twenty years that I know of. I was buying cool **** from then when they were still the only place you could get Marathon watches.

 

[Stick-man]

New email from the Tekton CEO sent out today:

​

​ ​ Hello, I'm Tekton's CEO and am writing today to keep you informed about how new tariffs could affect your future purchases from Tekton. Right now, the United States has imposed an extra 10 percent tariff rate on products coming from most countries. Our products come almost entirely from Taiwan, the United States, Canada, or Germany. We put the country of origin at the bottom of every product page on Tekton.com. We try to be specific about origin, down to individual components like the webbing on a pouch or the tube on a six-in-one driver. When we say a product is USA-made, we mean that the whole product is made here and that the materials are sourced in the United States. If the extra 10 percent tariff stays in effect, we'll have to raise prices about 4 percent on most products made outside the United States. However, if tariffs go to higher rates, then higher increases are likely. Tariffs directly increase our product costs. When we receive a new shipment from Taiwan, for example, we will have to pay the tariff rate on top of the cost of the product. We will give you at least one week of notice on our website before we raise prices—like usual, we will show the new upcoming price and the date when it goes into effect. As you may know, we are working very hard at Tekton to manufacture more of our products in the United States. We have growing CNC, plastic injection molding, electroless nickel plating, broaching, blasting, polishing, sewing, and assembly operations at Tekton. This manufacturing work started years before the new tariffs and it's going great. We also work with other U.S. companies to complete some manufacturing steps or make whole products for us. We have hundreds of items made in the United States. However, it's not easy or fast. Manufacturing things well with all the right people and equipment and figuring out all the best methods to make a highly refined tool repeatedly at an acceptable cost is a difficult process. We will keep going and we are succeeding at it. I strongly support making our tools ourselves. It's good for our company, good for you, and good for our country. We are in my view going about as fast as we can with the resources we have. In the coming months, you will see us introduce new products made in the USA. Our new service wrench line, which will be entirely USA-made and mostly done in-house, is coming out in several weeks and it will be a more impressive service wrench than I believe has been made before by any tool company. In some cases, however, we aren't ready or able to make the product we want here in the United States, and we have a great supply chain in Taiwan, Europe, or Canada that can do it. For example, having nothing to do with tariffs, we are about to move our screwdriver program to a premium supplier in Germany that makes drivers for the tool truck market. I don't expect us to save costs moving the screwdrivers to this supplier. We are doing it because it will be a better screwdriver line overall and will free up resources to keep working on other projects, especially new USA production. Thank you for your support. The new tariffs are not simple for us to navigate, but we have a strong company and a great user base. It's our intention to use our growth to find better and faster ways to make even more products in the United States. Sincerely, John Amash​

I got that today also. I'll tell ya what, I like this company more and more. I appreciate their honesty, strive for quality and bringing USA made products.

 

[mikey03]

Interesting so I’m not great at math tbh but if tariff is 10% of manufacturing cost the factory charges tekton then supposing a $100 tool gets a 4% increase that’s 4 bucks

if 4 bucks is 10% of manufacturing cost that means for a $100 retail price tool they pay $40 which honestly is probably what I’d expect since it costs money to ship it from Taiwan and design it and bake in warranty cost and then a reasonable profit

really like that they say they will give a week advance warning. I saw a Milwaukee light I was thinking of buying it retailed at 70 but was always 10 off at HD for 60 and this week they made it 100 with no notice or warning.

 

[GeoBruin]

Interesting so I’m not great at math tbh but if tariff is 10% of manufacturing cost the factory charges tekton then supposing a $100 tool gets a 4% increase that’s 4 bucks

if 4 bucks is 10% of manufacturing cost that means for a $100 retail price tool they pay $40 which honestly is probably what I’d expect since it costs money to ship it from Taiwan and design it and bake in warranty cost and then a reasonable profit

really like that they say they will give a week advance warning. I saw a Milwaukee light I was thinking of buying it retailed at 70 but was always 10 off at HD for 60 and this week they made it 100 with no notice or warning.

That has been their policy regarding price changes for some time. Interestingly, it also includes price drops, not just increases. I was pricing out a tool chest a while back and I noticed on their site there was a note that the item would be decreasing in price in a week or so and sure enough, it dropped.

 

[rust in the eye]

A lot, dare I say most, Snap-On routes make little money, at THOSE prices. Nuff said.

 

[IRQVET]

I appreciate their honesty.

I had the same thought, puts me at ease when companies are up front and communicate (the good and bad) with their customer base.

 

[Semi-hole mechanic]

They’ve had this listing as an open position on their careers page for a while now

 

[Wyoming09]

I saw a Tekton Tool Truck yesterday. Being that I'm only about 2-3 miles from the warehouse I was surprised.

 

[mike93lx]

I saw a Tekton Tool Truck yesterday. Being that I'm only about 2-3 miles from the warehouse I was surprised.

Isn't that where you'd be most likely to see one if they are just getting started?

 

[IRQVET]

They’ve had this listing as an open position on their careers page for a while now

Sales job via a truck, making sales calls is not something I’d ever want to do. Better pay well cause it sounds like a headache

 

[Stick-man]

I got a text today, Fortis HD out of Canada has teamed up with Tekton and will now be a distributor.

 

[Hakeem]

We had a Tekton truck show up to our tool day at my school. It seemed mostly like a promotional device but they were selling some tools from it.

I’d think that a presence in a brick-and-mortar chain would be more lucrative than limited local truck service but who knows

 

[neophyte]

We had a Tekton truck show up to our tool day at my school. It seemed mostly like a promotional device but they were selling some tools from it.

I’d think that a presence in a brick-and-mortar chain would be more lucrative than limited local truck service but who knows

Brick and Mortar store with an internal garage for the truck, and storage for some extra stock.

 

[Steve_P]

I'm a Tekton fan, but IMO they don't have anywhere near the product-line necessary to support truck sales at repair shops. I'm guessing that anyone that has worked in a shop for even six months already has most of what they offer, unless they're just doing oil changes. I don't see how it could be a profitable endeavor at their pricing unless it's just an advertising effort they subsidize at a loss.

Edit- what would make more sense would be to go to trade schools.