Tool allowance

[Bagherra]

My company gives us a $250 annual tool allowance. Bought a Posi-Lock puller off eBay for $100 but still gotta use $150 or i'll lose it...

But i have just about everything i need for work (and home)...gotta have this turned in by 6 Apr.

What you guys suggest??

 

[RoninB4]

You haven't stated what you do for a living, that might help. Otherwise I suggest getting a new pair of work shoes for when your old ones wear out.

 

[subroc]

What do you do, what trade? Upgrade something. Buy a smaller version of something. What battery platform? Go through your battery platform offerings you will find something.

 

[signcrafter]

All depends on what you do, at work and home. Could make a ton of suggestions. M12 tools, jack stands, consumables like roloc discs, specialty tools, m18 shop vac, tile cutter, yard tools, a nice caliper or micrometer, etc. Guess it also depends on if the company has rules on what you can buy. Theres never been a time in my life I havent had a list of tools I've wanted.

 

[CGarage]

A Zoro gift certificate to keep on hand for when you actually have a future tool need / requirement……

 

[Davefr]

My company gives us a $250 annual tool allowance. Bought a Posi-Lock puller off eBay for $100 but still gotta use $150 or i'll lose it...

But i have just about everything i need for work (and home)...gotta have this turned in by 6 Apr.

What you guys suggest??

A lot of guys seem to like the new SO LN47ACF needle nose. (about $100 shipped)

 

[unslow1]

Are you allowed to use it on consumables or glasses?

 

[GaryM909]

I would buy something and turn in the receipt. Then return it and bank the money until you find what you need.

 

[CGarage]

Buy an Amazon gift card. A lot of tools available off of Amazon.

 

[four.cycle]

$150 bucks will almost buy 3 pairs of brand-new Malco Eagle Grips from Harry J. Epstein, but maybe you should take another look at that Posi-Lock catalog and grab the puller that you know you will never need, because that will be the one you need on the next job.

 

[Vwpower]

I’d have that money spent in one second wether I needed something or not.

 

[AA/FC]

Buy duplicates or triplicates of everything you use the most.... You can own more than one tool of any given variety.

 

[four.cycle]

^ that's a great idea there.... grab a whole big bag full of 10mm sockets!

 

[Stobal]

If you don’t own any get a pair or knipex plier-wrenches. A 10” and a 7” is super convenient to have around. I use mine all the time and rarely reach for real wrenches unless I am doing something complicated like auto repair. A 10”offset is also nice to have in addition. The Knipex cobras are also great. Again 10” and 7” covers 90% of normal jobs.

 

[jayemm]

Maybe a new multimeter. Soldering station or crimping tools if you work with that stuff. Good set of digital calipers, mics, dial indicator or other inspection stuff. Hard to recommend if your profession isn't known here. Trying to recommend stuff that can be essential but pricey for an item not used daily.

 

[Rusted Nut]

Buy a set of Whitworth wrenches; then you can justify buying an old Triumph to use them on.

 

[JD6619A]

We were given a tool allowance starting this year of $800.00CAD. I'll be buying specialty tools. The only annoying fact is you need to order it yourself with your own money and submit it to get your money back which could take up to a few weeks. There is a time frame as well so you can't screw around as it's like a month. Has to go thru the approval of like 8 people as well.

 

[Bagherra]

My *******...i work as a maintenace tech in a large food processing plant. My old company was absorbed by this company, we didnt have an allowance with old company. Been with this company for 2 years, so most of the common tools, i already have. The way it works is we bring in receipts for tools and company reimburses us for it.

Can only be used for tools, not clothing, PPE, etc.....

 

[jd_1138]

A friend of mine's son is going to work for a local Mitsubishi dealership, and they offer a $750 voucher for tools for new techs. Some sort of incentive program to entice young techs just out of trade school.

Harbor Freight, Matco, and Snap-On are the options, and it can't be split up. Only pick one. My friend chuckled at the HF one and said "he can buy $750 of shop rags with it!" But heck the kid is lacking a ton of basics, and the Icon, Quinn, Doyle, and some of the Pittsburgh Pro stuff are decent. And the tool carts are great.

I'd rather have more basics covered in a less pricey brand. After he gets experience, he can upgrade the tools and take the other stuff home for the home box. I wish we pencil pushers got a tool allowance.

 

[CGarage]

Stupid that it can’t be split up.

Tell him to have them deliver the voucher via pre-paid credit card and he will submit the receipts back to them to show proof of purchase.

For $750, he should get a HF cart, some Astro Pneumatic ratchets, some GW locking flex heads, a socket set of some flavor (Tekton), and use the rest to fill out what is needed based on job description.

Edited: Spelling

 

[rust in the eye]

A friend of mine's son is going to work for a local Mitsubishi dealership, and they offer a $750 voucher for tools for new techs. Some sort of incentive program to entice young techs just out of trade school.

Harbor Freight, Matco, and Snap-On are the options, and it can't be split up. Only pick one. My friend chuckled at the HF one and said "he can buy $750 of shop rags with it!" But heck the kid is lacking a ton of basics, and the Icon, Quinn, Doyle, and some of the Pittsburgh Pro stuff are decent. And the tool carts are great.

I'd rather have more basics covered in a less pricey brand. After he gets experience, he can upgrade the tools and take the other stuff home for the home box. I wish we pencil pushers got a tool allowance.

I hope he wasn't serious. Instilling that sort of snobbery into a kid just getting started is so counterproductive.
Maybe pops would like to co-sign for an open acct. with on the tool trucks.

You do, its called office supplies.

 

[CGarage]

I hope he wasn't serious. Instilling that sort of snobbery into a kid just getting started is so counterproductive.
Maybe pops would like to co-sign for an open acct. with on the tool trucks.

You do, its called office supplies.

I like the HF boxes and the Icon stuff, with immediate warranty support in the store, is hard to beat.

 

[mike93lx]

A friend of mine's son is going to work for a local Mitsubishi dealership, and they offer a $750 voucher for tools for new techs. Some sort of incentive program to entice young techs just out of trade school.

Harbor Freight, Matco, and Snap-On are the options, and it can't be split up. Only pick one. My friend chuckled at the HF one and said "he can buy $750 of shop rags with it!" But heck the kid is lacking a ton of basics, and the Icon, Quinn, Doyle, and some of the Pittsburgh Pro stuff are decent. And the tool carts are great.

I'd rather have more basics covered in a less pricey brand. After he gets experience, he can upgrade the tools and take the other stuff home for the home box. I wish we pencil pushers got a tool allowance.

$750 at harbor freight will help a new tech make a lot of money. That's an easy decision

Us pencil pushers don't need an allowance, even putting aside the higher pay. The day I have to provide supplies and equipment for my job is the day I find another one

 

[larry_g]

Harbor Freight, Matco, and Snap-On are the options, and it can't be split up. Only pick one. My friend chuckled at the HF one and said "he can buy $750 of shop rags with it!"

When I was working the company had a contract with Snap-on for tools. The cost of corporate tools is well below what the tool truck or retail order price is. If that applies then the SO tools could be a bargain. Have the kid check that out.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[jd_1138]

I hope he wasn't serious. Instilling that sort of snobbery into a kid just getting started is so counterproductive.
Maybe pops would like to co-sign for an open acct. with on the tool trucks.

You do, its called office supplies.

Yeah he was being a snob and being serious. He himself has CM USA for 75% of his tools and truck brands for 25% of rest and has never turned wrenches for a living. Just a weird belief truck brands are a must for a pro.

 

[Robinson1]

A bare tool from whichever brand you use. Either a duplicate of something you use often or something obscure that would be nice to have a few times a year. Either way it’s free.

Guarantee you can find something in the Milwaukee m12 line that would be useful

 

[speed bump]

As someone who buys a lot of tools for maintenance mechanics I would probably look at buying wedges, scrapers, another flashlight, spare wrenches in 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 15/16, 1-1/8 (or whatever metric sizes are common in your llant) and different length hex sockets.

If you frequently have to do a lot of making it fit bridge reamers are a handy tool.

 

[Zewnten]

HF all the way for a new tech. The. If he hates it he can fix his own stuff rather than owning a wrench set.

 

[MarcSeattle]

I want everyone to take a moment and have a quiet moment of reverence and respect... we have a unicorn in our midst. When was the last time you met a GJ member who has a toolbox so full that he can't find anything to buy?

 

[lugnut71]

It would be very easy for me to find something for 150 bucks that i dont need, lol . As far as the 750 for the new tech, can you imagine if they could split it up, there could be a stack of receipts bigger than a new york city phone book. I have a ton of snap on tools, but 750 on icon stuff and a cart would set up a new guy very nicely.

 

[jd_1138]

It would be very easy for me to find something for 150 bucks that i dont need, lol . As far as the 750 for the new tech, can you imagine if they could split it up, there could be a stack of receipts bigger than a new york city phone book. I have a ton of snap on tools, but 750 on icon stuff and a cart would set up a new guy very nicely.

Yeah, I suggested HF since his inventory of tools is low at the moment.

When I was working the company had a contract with Snap-on for tools. The cost of corporate tools is well below what the tool truck or retail order price is. If that applies then the SO tools could be a bargain. Have the kid check that out.

lg
no neat sig line

Hmmmm, good question, it's a family-owned group of dealerships so not sure if they have a corporate account or not. I imagine it's just Snap-On and Matco tool trucks coming to the dealership.

 

[richfinn]

My company gives us a $250 annual tool allowance. Bought a Posi-Lock puller off eBay for $100 but still gotta use $150 or i'll lose it...

But i have just about everything i need for work (and home)...gotta have this turned in by 6 Apr.

What you guys suggest??

Pick out a couple of tools that annoy you in some way and upgrade to a better version, or buy some power tools batteries with it.

 

[Wamsutta]

Get one Snap-on ratchet. That'll eat up the $150 pretty quick.

 

[garfunkle24]

I don't think I know a single person who uses tools for a living that would struggle with this!

 

[Southernbuild]

My *******...i work as a maintenace tech in a large food processing plant. My old company was absorbed by this company, we didnt have an allowance with old company. Been with this company for 2 years, so most of the common tools, i already have. The way it works is we bring in receipts for tools and company reimburses us for it.

Can only be used for tools, not clothing, PPE, etc.....

Veto bag maybe?

 

[Aileron]

Personally, i would look at the bigger items, meters ,etc and use the 250 to buy or at least knock the cost down. Weird though, you would think a food processing plant would be suppling the tools and ppe just to protect their own *** from a ecoli out break or something along those lines, just to know what items where in their plant.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Our problem at work is never what to buy, it's usually that we don't have the money to buy the tools we need. $1500 yearly tool budget for 8 guys and a new Ariens snowblower just ate up $1449 of that budget for 2024.

 

[rust in the eye]

Our problem at work is never what to buy, it's usually that we don't have the money to buy the tools we need. $1500 yearly tool budget for 8 guys and a new Ariens snowblower just ate up $1449 of that budget for 2024.

Eight shovels woulda been cheaper

 

[Ulrich1able]

Could see if you can use the tool allowance on consumables if they aren't supplied by your work (or more likely never kept in stock)

 

[Bagherra]

We cant use our allowance on consumables or PPE. Only tools...

The Snap On guy is here on a regular basis to help out anybody out when they need to spend $$...