Tool box Insanity

[warmpancakes]

doing the math with the stub you posted I come up with 52k per year thats with zero vacation still darn good money but how many hours per day?

 

[warmpancakes]

50k a year is real good money doing brakes and suspension you must hustle or are one hell of a upseller

 

[knotheads]

Who for and in what state does a company pay a 21yr old 60grand yr. to turn a wrench? and are they currently hiring? @ My place of employment the Head Mech Supervisor (the guy in his fifties with all the "been there, done that" xperience who now manages people, does paperwork, and sits in meetings all day) only makes that much on salary and ur making that @ 21. u got it made man

well BMW hired my nephew right out of tech school for 60 grand a year and promised to pay 50 percent of his schooling if he would stay with BMW for 5 years. he bought the big box and put his starter set of snap on tools in a couple of the drawers.bought a new BMW then quit after a year cause it wasnt his thing. hes in the service now, and Mom and Dad are paying the box payments

 

[pfbz]

I absolutely would rather have a cheapo (but large) tool chest with great tools than a great chest with cheapo tools...

Hey wait, that's what I do have! Some day I'll find a great deal on a 72" KRL roller, but until then I'll make do with my 56" Costco special (or maybe go buy the HF 72" box

The other thing that always amazes me is when people fill their cabinets with bulky blow-molded boxes filled with some cheap test tool or something. I can maybe understand in a employers shop environment where you have to lock up everything, but bulky power tools, test tools, clamps, etc. etc seem much better kept in clear plastic bins on shelves then taking up space in your high dollar tool cabinets!

 

[pep]

and Mom and Dad are paying the box payments

That sounds like a variant of the trade school / student loan scam.

Younger people are really in the crosshairs anymore. My guess is that a lot of my good habits were not just from having grouchy Great Depression/WWII era parents, but was sheer lack of opportunity to get in debt. While credit cards are kind of a no-brainer, there probably should be a whole separate thread on why those for-profit 'colleges' are a bad deal.

 

[crewchief888]

i started out with small 26" boxes, as i added tools i ran outta room pretty quick
i kept adding on to the 26" set with a side box, and a couple of 3 drawer mid boxes. all the weight was taking it's toll on the roller cab, so i traded up to a kr550/555, i figured i'd never need another tool box

once again.......... i was wrong.

as my storgae needs changed, i sold off one of the bigger roll cabs and side box to a young tech that i worked with, but kept everything else.

i have enough storage for tools in the shop, my service truck, the garage, basement, and have a small box thats big enough to load up, and toss in the back of my truck, and a couple of tool bags for the quicky jobs.
i guess if i HAD to have everything in one place, i'd possibly rethink my toolbox situation, but i cant envison myself spending $10,000 or more and have it sitting in a dusty, dirty shop or in my drafty windswept garage.

now if i won the lottery,
i just might place a call to my snappy dealer

 

[Wanna Ride]

Easy answer to this problem... Too many young guys spend more than they earn. Maxed out credit cards, maxed out accounts, $700 truck/car payments and steadily bitching why the 40-50 year old guys have boats, motorcycles, trucks, big garages, and nice houses. Easy answer to that too... we spent 25-30 years collecting all that stuff, not 2 or 3.

Nobody wants to "build up" anymore. They all want it and they want it NOW.

I'm not saying there's not any irresponsible 50 year olds out there, but there's just a lot more of them that are 22 years old doing it.

 

[speed bump]

Well i'm 23 and make pretty damn good money but I'm to lazy to do anything with credit so I buy cheap tool boxes, drive old trucks, and generally pay with cash. I do however work in a field where people buy expensive toys at 18 years old and get upside down in credit on them. I think it has a lot to do with with seeing older guys that did it right and wanting to be where the old guys right now.

For what its worth the company I work for pays mechanics $50k+ a year with the ability to make $100k a year with okay retirement, cheap health insurance, and no flat rate but you live in some ****** locations like Williston ND.

 

[Skin]

Yeah.. you was doing real good till you slid that "Could really care less. Just found the statements contradictory". It sounds like the kid has a good job and is doing alright for himself in the financial department. I dont know to many 21 year olds who would make anything more than the minimum payment on a Purchase. I think its great... Personally.

"Got a problem with that"?? LMAO Easy on my Monitor there.. I dont need any fist's of fury flying thru it.

No fists, you seemed to take such offense to something that wasnt even directed at you. If you're asking I think thats great money for someone that young working at an NTB. Normally those places **** all over their employees.

anyway back on topic

Looking at a few tool box threads and being in the business since Jesus's 3 birthday I notice a disturbing trend with many technicians. The will buy a +-10,000 dollar toolbox and looking in the boxes they will have tools laid out where there is 2 inches of room between each tool. Things like a set of 8 screwdrivers in one 16X28 drawer. or 12 extentions in a 40X28 drawer, then a bottom drawer filled with papers, old parts, etc. You see where I'm going.

Personally i dont think its a bad thing if someone has a huge box and may have empty drawers. If i were getting in right now i'd easily have a 72" HF and/or a 32 montezuma [really like the crossover design]. As i'm sure you're well aware the space would get used eventually for a tool collector in the business. You cannot have too much space. I've been around guys who have done the whole drawer mess thing and honestly i cannot work like that. It drives me nuts. Empty space does not. If anything its the price of truck boxes that should be the concern, not the size, shape, or design of the box.

 

[Wanna Ride]

Well i'm 23 and make pretty damn good money but I'm to lazy to do anything with credit so I buy cheap tool boxes, drive old trucks, and generally pay with cash. I do however work in a field where people buy expensive toys at 18 years old and get upside down in credit on them. I think it has a lot to do with with seeing older guys that did it right and wanting to be where the old guys right now.

For what its worth the company I work for pays mechanics $50k+ a year with the ability to make $100k a year with okay retirement, cheap health insurance, and no flat rate but you live in some ****** locations like Williston ND.

That's awesome, good for you! Good things will come to you in time, your patience and wisdom exceed your years.

 

[metal1313]

i was making great money, but returned to college after taking time off to figure out wat i really wanted to do with my life. i was making 45k+ a year before over time, and yea i bought alot of stuff. although i worked in high school i saved it, i bought a 4k truck with cash and didnt pour crazy money into it, i did spend maybe 4k on upgrades, and then too much on a trans, but that was where i spent. i have a crappy part time job now, make nothing close to what i used to, yet bought a 23k truck in may. 10k down, great financing on the rest, and its been paid off. i was lucky and had some good jobs come my way over summer and made the extra money. if not i was prepared to pay it monthly.

this thread is way off track, but i gotta say all the ITS THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS FAULT **** needs to stop, older folks did stupid stuff too, and that generation spawned this one, im 23, have an 07 f150, and my debt totals a blistering 30bucks to my dad for buying me some printer ink next to his office. i pay for school, my clothes, my life really, and my tools unless i get them as gifts. a good portion of my generation was young enough to see what was happening and was smart enough to avoid debt, its just easier to hide debt when your older and have more visible assets.

 

[alex71]

Cough cough. I'm a firm beleiver in ASE and demanded it from my techs. At 21 you are still wet behind the ears. Quailfied doesn't mean experianced. My mastertechs had over 20 years experiance, made 37.50 per hour (50%) stayed busy all day and still could hit 6 figures.

They could if they worked 1.5 hours of OT every day.

 

[Boiler]

Some people think they have it all figured out don't they. I know I don't. But I do know this, sock it away when you're young. Its not good enough to not have debt. If you make 30-50k and you live with your parents, you should be saving a TON and helping them out as well. You'll be so glad you did both when you get older. I should have lived at home after college for a while and built up some savings instead of overextending myself. I got it all taken care of but now it is back, and it isn't because I went on a spending spree. Life is expensive and it throws you lots of curveballs, especially as you age and are on your own.

In three years I had about 2k worth of dental work, back surgery, bladder cancer, a transmission, and two births to pay for. Wife and I were making 65k a year total and with her reducing hours and all of that things are much tougher and debts happen. Now I'm 20 grand in debt with a 401k loan, but at least in 4 years we'll be out of it assuming we can mitigate whatever comes our way in the meantime.

Save up 20-30 grand right after school and really put it away for those big life changing bills, and maybe spend half of it for a down payment on a house when you're ready. It will put you way more than that ahead in 20 years since that whole time you won't have to dig and fight to pay those big suprises off.

 

[Stick Figure]

I didn't make it all the way through this thread, but how many of these techs that have the huge empty box are also too good to use something vintage, or "cheap"? I only have a KRL722 (my cart) an a mid 70's Craftsman top and bottom at work but they are both pretty full. There are some drawers that are at higher capacity than others of course, but i am organized. I also have a good amount of older tools that i actually use on a regular basis. I have no problem grabbing a ratchet older than i am to do a job, some see it as beneath them. Imagine how much it really would cost to fill some of these boxes with nothing but brand new top of the line tools.

 

[mrholeshot]

They could if they worked 1.5 hours of OT every day.

Not that simple. Getting paid on flat rate in a seasonal area can be tough. The spring/summer months have to carry you through the really tough months from Sep-Mid Feb when most people are getting tax checkes. That can be a rough time and tough to carve out 20-30 hours per week during that period. There is no time and a half or overtime on flat rate. It got so tight during those months I didn't even pay myself a salary because I gave the work I normally did to my techs. I loved working in the shop and in order to keep things afloat and keep my best techs from having to find work elsewhere I just let them have it. My best techs best year was about 88K and the other 84K. I never drew more than a 50K salery and have gone an entire year without a paycheck when things were tough during the entire time I had my business because I put money back into new equiptment, etc, etc. It's a tough business to keep the doors open.

 

[mrholeshot]

OK guys only a few of you guys seemed to get the spirt of the thread. It isn't about the high cost of toolbox, It isn't about how much you make, it isn't about experiance or training. My question was simply:

Why would someone buy a 10K+ toolbox when they realisticly can only fill one drawer. Thats it. I was just trying to gain some insight on that train of thought because I just didnt understand it. I understand most people want a nice toolbox. Been there done that enough to understand the appeal, got no problem with it. I don't need to see anyones pay stub and if I'm not buying what you say thats my problem. Didn't ask for it, don't care and easy enough to fake. What you make is between you and your employer and you should keep it that way. Just because I don't beleive some things doesn't mean it isn't true.

Can we please get back on topic and keep out of personal finances? I'm getting kind of tired of getting my threads shut down because some of you(us) can't stay in control an on topic.

 

[wbclassics]

Why would someone buy a 10K+ toolbox when they realisticly can only fill one drawer.

For the same reason that some of my friends have 3500sq ft houses, no children and 70% of the rooms in the house have no furniture. If you're walking down their street and look at their home from the sidewalk, you're never going to know how empty it is inside. Same with the massively oversized, expensive name brand toolbox... quite often they're bought for the impression and assumed status it provides rather than an actual need.

 

[Mstrfxit12]

When I bought my KRL761 I had been looking for some time and my employer was going to kick in a grand for 15 years of service to them. I had looked around the used magazines (before craigslist) and found one for $2400 and it was reported to be in perfect shape no defects. When i went to look at it it was certainly as billed. In talking with the guy selling it he was going to school to be a nurse and didnt need it anymore. When I opened the drawers and looked in it was obvious from the dust traces in there that he had very little in the way of tools in it. I had asked him why he went for such a box with nothing really in it and he said he had "just wanted a Snap-on box". This guy took at least a $2600 hit plus whatever he had in for interest at the time. To each his own but I did pretty well in the deal so I'm with the opinion that its good that there are those types out there too....

 

[Stuart in MN]

OK guys only a few of you guys seemed to get the spirt of the thread. It isn't about the high cost of toolbox, It isn't about how much you make, it isn't about experiance or training. My question was simply:

Why would someone buy a 10K+ toolbox when they realisticly can only fill one drawer.

I have a Snap-On roller cabinet, but it's a small one (I don't know the part number but I'll guess it's the smallest one they made, I bought it used 25 years ago.) Anyway, my tools are more or less piled in there, so I have to dig around a while to find the right screwdriver or hammer or whatever. It may not be neat, but I sure have a lot of tools crammed in there.

 

[HandyManny]

Who's fault is that? At some point, the person signing the contract agreeing to the payments has to take a little responsibility.

I'll go a step further. To me the person signing the contract bares all the responsibility in determining what they can and can't afford. Same goes for tool buying.

 

[NWphotog]

I'll go a step further. To me the person signing the contract bares all the responsibility in determining what they can and can't afford. Same goes for tool buying.

Ultimately they do. Either they pay up or deal with the consequences. Do you think that companies that extend credit to those that clearly can't afford it at exorbinate rates have no responsibility? Would a tool company extending $20k credit to a student with no credit be a responsible thing? If so why punish drug dealers? Just punish the buyers!

Ultima

 

[Rockford514]

No bling,just quietly doing there job

 

[brian90505]

I worked my way up the tool storage ladder. I wish I had pics of my toolbox timeline, but I filled every smaller box and rollaway before upgrading.

 

[mrholeshot]

Ultimately they do. Either they pay up or deal with the consequences. Do you think that companies that extend credit to those that clearly can't afford it at exorbinate rates have no responsibility? Would a tool company extending $20k credit to a student with no credit be a responsible thing? If so why punish drug dealers? Just punish the buyers!

Ultima

It's a good way of putting it. I had to go to school for 16 weekends to get a Commercial drivers licence.(for my large wrecker and to be able to drive tractor trailers) and while I was attending classes a rep from a trucking company would come in and tell you that they would sell you a brand new 150K truck if you would work for that company. You could have a Brand new Volvo sitting waiting for you to drive home as soon as you graduate. Crazy!

 

[X1 Mike]

People are stupid and the stupid ones breed more than the smart ones. You see this behavior in many aspects of life. Dude at the grocery store wearing $1000 in clothes/shoes using WIC or food stamps to feed his kids.

You know what happens when you assume don't you?

I know someone who makes a very respectable income but also gets WIC. Oh yeah I forgot to say him and his wife are fostering an infant who was abused and taken from his family. The state gives him WIC for baby formula because this kid is less than 3 months old.

I guess not everyone on WIC is a dirtball.

 

[Skyline]

I now have a toolbox that would be about $13k off the Snap-on truck. But I bought it used for $7,500 FILLED with Snap-on tools. Since I already had enough tools to pretty much fill about 3/4s of this new-to-me box, after selling all the remaining tools....toolbox was basically free. This was my third big box: KRA double bank w/matching top box>>>Macsimixer double bank w/ slightly smaller Mac top>>>current KRL 29" deep double bank w/ matching top and locker.

I have never ever bought a single tool or box on credit. All the boxes I have I bought were used, but mint condition, and I probably averaged about 25% of new price. The ones that were sold, were sold in considerably cleaner condition than when I got them, so I have made modest amounts of money on each one.

But back to the OP's question...if you insist on buying big boxes from the Snap-on truck, if you move up as your tool collection grows, (like I did), you will get taken to the cleaners again and again in terms of eating the depreciation on each box you sell. May as well buy the monster box right up front and never take the depreciation hit.

Think about my pattern of boxes:

KRA $5400 new, sold for $1500 mint
Macsimizer $9,800 new, sold for $2500 VG
KRLcombo $13,000 new if sold....~$4,000???

So by going right to the big box, a tech can avoid taking the $11,200 in depreciation hits over the next few years. And if he plans a track that will take him to "A" tech, chances are he's going to NEED the storage of a big box, be it Snap-on or HF. But the final determining factor really boils down to how much diagnostic equipment the shop provides. When you have to own and store all those cased specialty diagnostic tools, storage requirements really escalate; kind of seperates the BIG BOX buyers from the HUMONGO BOX buyers.

 

[meissen]

I'm 24 and I hardly have any tools compared to most on here but my first toolbox purchase is coming up soon and will be one of the 45" Harbor Freight bottom chests. Not so much about keeping up with the Joneses for me. I want one of the 45" Harbor Freight bottom chests so I can put a top on it and use it as a work bench for a vice, bench grinder, and drill press. Plus since I've only been in my house for 5 months, I know within the next couple of years my tools inventory will start growing more and more since I don't have dad's tools to use.

I'll be the first to say that I'm horrible with economics and I maxed out my credit cards and used student loans to finance my engine swap project in my Camaro. I have 40k in student loan debt from 6 years of school, a 16k car loan, and my house mortgage. I no longer have any credit cards (I actually rolled the credit card debt into my car loan so my APR went from 24% to 3%) and I never plan to have a credit card again. But I will admit, money in one hand goes immediately out the other.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I'll be the first to say that I'm horrible with economics and I maxed out my credit cards and used student loans to finance my engine swap project in my Camaro. I have 40k in student loan debt from 6 years of school, a 16k car loan, and my house mortgage. I no longer have any credit cards (I actually rolled the credit card debt into my car loan so my APR went from 24% to 3%) and I never plan to have a credit card again. But I will admit, money in one hand goes immediately out the other.

I'm pretty **** too. I'm great with money, when i don't have any. I can stretch out a small amount and make it last ages, but when i get paid it's gone in no time. My credit card is currently at the limit (Will be paid off in a few days when i get paid, no interest.) and i have pretty much no money, because i spent it all on tools. I've not just maxed out my credit card before, i've exceeded the limit..

But that's all my own fault. Can't blame no-one else for it. A victim of my own greed and impatience.

Thankfully i have no car or mortgage as well!

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Getting back to the original idea here: I always guessed (possibly wrong, I know in some cases) that those types who have tons of excess space in a box are one of 2 things: 1:building up and know they will fill the space (last box might have been overflowing) or 2:someone who has the money to spend - may not need it or do anything with it - just a hobbyist maybe.
At the same time, I've always felt the real working tech IS gonna buy tools first - they are what it takes to do the job. The box can come later when things are established.
The young techs I've seen / known who started with an excessive box usually didn't stick with the trade.
I know when I got out of the military and had one 2 drawer Craftsman carry around box with only the basics I used for my own cars - the first thing I did after getting hired was mail-order a bunch of economy tools I needed to get going in a civilian job - impact tools, big wrenches -- stuff I'd never used for the cars at home but knew I'd need for the job. It got me going and a couple months in, I got my first small roll around box - a trade-in from the SO man for a couple hundred bucks....it all grew from there.....looking at my own situation now, I'd say I have the most excess space in my new box ever - more than any other box trade-in / step up I made along the way in the past 15 years -- but it really is my only vice and took me about a year to talk myself into doing it / considering options before I took the plunge... Now I'm putting the list together to fill it, too...and I really do think at this point it will be my last box.

 

[pep]

I'm sure that my own situation is different than the professional wrenches here, but I greatly dislike owning any toolbox I can't carry.

 

[NJHandyGuy]

pep i agree with you on that however there are sometimes you need to go back to the big box and i want to have room in there to "breathe"

 

[PistolWhip]

Other than my house and my car, I don't buy anything I can't pay cash for. As a matter of fact, if I didn't win my Ranger top and bottom box's in a contest here on GJ, I'd still be over-flowing my christmas present from 5 years ago, a basic Craftsman 10 drawer stack.
That being said, that stack is full, my Ranger is practically full already, along with my Craftsman side box and Craftsman 5 drawer work bench. Since I'm not in the business and never have been, some would say its excessive just as your saying that these kids with the big expensive boxes are excessive, but for me my tools are just as much a hobby as my car is. I like to go into my garage and look at my "pretty" tool box's and growing collection of tools almost as much as I enjoy using them on my Shelby and my Titan. It gives me pleasure to see my tool collection grow just as it gives me pleasure knowing that I can tackle any job that comes my way with what I have packed into my little 1 car garage.

 

[Racr350]

Mrholeshot I have a very reasonable answer for you.

So I purchased one of these megabox's a KRL1024.

Three deciding factors went into purchasing it. Size and storage, i had recently purchased a lot of large case tools that you can't really take out of the storage case(slide hammer, hub tamer, others) and to put it bluntly my classic 78 was cramped as hell with all my tools in it. As well as my shop isn't built like fort knox so if someone decided to break in with ease they could pick up any of the 26" craftsman units my coworkers have and toss them into the back of a pickup. Trying to move a 9 foot long 1600lb box isn't an easy task.

Pricing, at the time there was an instant 2000 dollar rebate on purchases over 10k. I got 3000 for my classic 78 which was pretty beat up and with my student discount I had only paid 2200 for my classic 78. That still wasn't enough for me my dealer then to seal the deal took another 1300 right out of his profit to make the sale. So i ended up paying 10500 with tax for my box.

Building my credit was my final deciding factor. I have a car that is in decent shape that i love so i don't need a new car. I plan on being in the industry so i invested in something that I need.

Everyone at my shop gives me **** about the box. One kid is like if I was gonna buy something like that I'd buy a house. He doesn't seem to comprehend the concept toolbox 10k, house several hundred thousand. A minimum toolbox payment is 280 a month, not a mortgage payment of 1000 or more.

In the end the box gives me a 9 foot personal work bench, all the storage room I need, security, a way to build credit for when I do want to take out a big loan for a house or a car when I need one. And being 21 making 60k a year living at home I can afford it.

I was gonna keep quite so i wouldnt get flamed, but you put it perfectly. everything you just stated was the exact reason i got my tank of a box. I started out with a basic 4 drawer cart in school. right before i graduated, i bought a classic 78 under student discount for $2200 + $400 snap on gift card. I never thought id need another box..until i became a master..THEN an MDT. I had so many specialty diagnostic tools i ran out of room in a couple mths. I had to cave and purchase a box. but for something im going to use day in and day out, i might as well work as happy as can be. now..people who buy mega boxes and fill up a few drawers makes absolutely no sense. but if you really do need the space, i see no problem in it. lifes to short to not be happy at a job you plan on having for awhile. if this is your career, make the most out of it

 

[Wanna Ride]

i was making great money, but returned to college after taking time off to figure out wat i really wanted to do with my life. i was making 45k+ a year before over time, and yea i bought alot of stuff. although i worked in high school i saved it, i bought a 4k truck with cash and didnt pour crazy money into it, i did spend maybe 4k on upgrades, and then too much on a trans, but that was where i spent. i have a crappy part time job now, make nothing close to what i used to, yet bought a 23k truck in may. 10k down, great financing on the rest, and its been paid off. i was lucky and had some good jobs come my way over summer and made the extra money. if not i was prepared to pay it monthly.

this thread is way off track, but i gotta say all the ITS THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS FAULT **** needs to stop, older folks did stupid stuff too, and that generation spawned this one, im 23, have an 07 f150, and my debt totals a blistering 30bucks to my dad for buying me some printer ink next to his office. i pay for school, my clothes, my life really, and my tools unless i get them as gifts. a good portion of my generation was young enough to see what was happening and was smart enough to avoid debt, its just easier to hide debt when your older and have more visible assets.

Isn't that cute? He thinks he has it all figured out.

I'm just bustin' your balls, don't get upset. Because it sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what's going on. And that's a good thing. You have a plan, and that's more than a lot of folks (at any age!).

But I have to ask... do you think you you'd be better off financially for the long run if you had that $18k in the bank, and drove a $5k truck? Don't get me wrong, it's great that you paid it off quickly. But doing it so quickly, I also have to ask... You live at home with the folks? I know at 45 years old, I earn a pretty good salary and there's no way I could pay off a $23k truck loan in about 6 months. Well, at least not without taking a considerable amount of cash out of the bank or somewhere that it's actually working for me, instead of me working for it.

Back on topic... I'd rather have a more affordable toolbox and plenty of hardware in it, than a toolbox condo with no need to open anything more than the top drawer. Wait a sec... that's how I've done it over the last 25+ years and it actually worked out pretty good.

 

[strnjss]

my toolbox is a $40 plastic bin I got from Home Depot a few years ago....When I need more room, I use cardboard boxes. Beat that!

 

[Dust]

I'm 26, and have been wrenching for just over two years. I have a single bay Matco rollaway that was given to me as part of an apprenticeship program (I think it's mine now, not sure), and a Harbor Freight tool cart that I bought myself. Before the cart I had a small Stack-On fliptop, and a cheapie 26" Waterloo that I got for forty bucks. And before I even got the Matco cart I worked out of my Stack-On box and a Craftsman three drawer roadbox.

Both my Matco box and the cart are basically full, and yet I still buy tools. True, I have some cabinets at work, but I prefer using my boxes since I can actually lock those. I can't see the bottom of most of my drawers, but I manage.

My only debt is about $1000 in credit card (Took a couple vacations this year with my girlfriend) and I owe eight grand on my truck. I pay my bills on time every month, and try to get as much debt down as possible. I do not buy off the tool trucks unless they are the only option, and that's after at least three weeks of active searching for a good deal. I am really frugal with my money, at least in some respects. Unfortunately I don't get paid very much for what I do, but them's the breaks right now.

I take classes, do my job, and take my ASEs and Chrysler training courses. By the end of the year I'll be a Chrysler electrical master, and a specialist in brakes and suspension. Doesn't mean I'll know everything about those subjects, but at least I'll have some certifications under my belt and have a bit more clout when I ask for a raise.

My experience is it's best to start out with a small box and try to figure out how to maximize its use until it's impossible to fit anything more into it. Then upgrade to something really big. Not only does it force you to learn how to make do, but it strengthens your spacial abilities as well for when you work on a car. Trying to fit stuff into a box is the reverse of trying to access a horrifically obscured bolt or connector, and that makes you look at what you can move around. Kind of like those puzzles where you have to move things around in order to get one thing out of the box.

Anyway.

I'm saving up to buy a good 56" or 72" box. I have very specific requirements, so not many 72" boxes fit the bill, but that's fine. My little singe bay Matco will continue to work just fine while I save up the cash.

 

[mtkst19]

i am a big believer in buy the tools first, then the box as needed. i worked my way from a craftsman setup--two craftsman boxes, then a used taco wagon. Crammed that full, so added a side box. Crammed that, and upgraded to my current matco box. Less than 2 years it is jammed packed tight. So put the side box on it to free up specialty tools. Still tight. I see an upgrade n the future for the work box.

my home box is a 53 inch cornwell bottom. I just bought out a retiring mechanic of all of his tools. he had the 53 bottom w/ a 40 inch top. I just so happen to have the mate to his 40 inch top! As my home garage box was a 40 inch bottom cornwell that doubled as the race car trailer box when i travel for racing. I dont keep a top on it simply so i can work off the box at the races I wanted the 53 simple because the top drawer is long and i can still work off the top and get it in the trailer without issue.

I cherry picked the hell out of his 30 years of tools. my work box was already stocked well. yet his tool collection greatly improved my home garage collection. If i were to have paid retail for everything i kept, it would be around 6-8k worth of stuff. power probe 3, air tools, specialty tools, good meter, ratchets etc.

I still had a ton of stuff left-- figure 40 inch top and bottom. it was loaded w/ sockets--mac snap on cornwell. Im talking complete sets. there were torx, e-torx, metric and standard allens, 6 and 12 point sockets. Not one cheap tool in the box. Cheapest was craftsman. i sold it w/ 20 mac screwdrivers, ton of ratchets, extensions and a lot of good hand and air tools. The alignment equipment was mostly gm based, but it was very thorough. Hell, i sold every gm specialty tool i got off the retiring mechanic. As im a realist--i wont be working on domestics any time soon. I dont need **** cluttering my home garage.

I put it on craigslist last night at 4:30 am. that's when i got home from the garage. I mentioned i would cut a new tech a deal. I was willing to help them out and sale it for considerably less. I was asking 1500. I was prepared to go considerably lower to help a new guy out. As i was there and know how bad it ***** to not have anything. hell, it was only 10 years ago i started out.

I woke up at 9am to 10 emails already. 1st guy didint have enough money today, he was a diy guy. the next two to reply were tech kids. they were too lazy to come look at the ****. they wanted me to hold it. WTF? 4th guy had no money and wasted time. 5th guy in line was a do it yourself guy. He ;literally walked out the door the minute i called him to come over. He came and paid 1500 cash w/o question. He told me he thought it was to good to be true and thought i was drunk when i posted it due to being at 430am.

the 2 tech guys im in shock over. seriously, box had flex head s-k's, soft grip snap ons, 3/4 drive mac, the huge 22 inch knipex cobras, 2 gear wrench sets and tons of other stuff. Yet they couldnt be bothered to come look at it. I know i could have parted it out and made more money. But i wanted to try and help someone out. I did in the end, but this was a smoking deal for a tech kid and they flaked.

pics of what i sold loaded.

 

[Vinko]

....... The company that sold him his house and their finance sold him his home knowing he couldn't afford to keep it unless he worked two jobs.

Who's fault is that? At some point, the person signing the contract agreeing to the payments has to take a little responsibility.

I agree with both of you in that I think both parties need to accept risk. With the former example, selling the loans to others' after you've made them, gives you little if no accountability.

I'd like to see both parties accountable for what they do: the loaner should insure he's got a reasonable expectation that the loan will be paid back. This used to be the way it was. There was the risk of default, to be sure. But then you were making the interest, so it offset the risk.

 

[Vinko]

"Deceptive Lending" is deceptive.

selling bad loans back to yourself, at a loss, is even worse...

Well, what we're seeing is unfettered capitalism. Caveat emptor at its most ruthless.

Now, though, the lender has no risk and the public seems to be the holding the bag. Private profit, public bail out. Doesn't sound like a free market to me

 

[wrenchr]

Looking at a few tool box threads and being in the business since Jesus's 3 birthday I notice a disturbing trend with many technicians. The will buy a +-10,000 dollar toolbox and looking in the boxes they will have tools laid out where there is 2 inches of room between each tool. Things like a set of 8 screwdrivers in one 16X28 drawer. or 12 extentions in a 40X28 drawer, then a bottom drawer filled with papers, old parts, etc. You see where I'm going.

If you took every tool out of this box (like a Snap-On 1023) you would do good to moderatly fill a 26 wide 8 drawer Craftsman bottom box. Then when you look at the tools It has Craftsman, HF, Titan, Gearwrench (not knocking those brands) and just mediocre tools and then some real no name ****. (had a few of these guys roll through my shop). Why??

When I first started out I had a Silver with red drawers Craftman top box. When it got full I bought a bottom box. Now when I say full I mean full. There were no fancy wrench holders back then and a drawer was so full of wreches you had to shake them down to shut the drawer. Not the most organized but thats how it was. When that bottom box got full you bought another and set beside it. It was always nice to get a new toolbox but you bought it because you needed the room. If you have a tool box so big that your 24 inch 3/8 drive extention rolls from the front to the back of the drawer you have made a serious mistake in judgement. many people say "This toolbox will last me a lifetime and it will be the last toolbox I'll ever have to buy" I said the same thing about a set of Snap-On 550/555 I bought in the early 80's. I out grew them in 5 years (even with the 2 side boxes) and the toolboxes showed a substancial amount of wear.

i guess I just don't get it as to why some guys will spend 10,000 or more on a toolbox and only have 6-7 hundred dollars worth of tools in it. Thats a pretty radical example but I've seen it. I can see keeping some room to grow but when you could take every tool you own and put them all into one drawer youve made a serious error in judgement.

I had one new guy who had a Snap-On 1001 (not huge but nice size) ask me one day. "have you got a 3/8 ratchet I can borrow" Me "do you need a flex, stubby, long, what?" No just a reg 3/8 ratchet, I took mine home to work on a buddys car and forgot to bring it back this morning" Me "thats the only 3/8 ratchet you own?" "yeah,I'm going to get more when I get the toolbox paid down" I don't like to pry about what tools my employees had or what kind as long as they could get the job done. Their toolbox was like thier home so I didn't want to invade their privacy but I had to ask this kid to give me the tour of his box. It was pitiful. I ended up giving him some old (but very useable) tools to get him by but I am seeing a disturbing trend of guys just like this.

Do you see this? whats your thoughts? Snap-On men please chime in. (Not singleing you guys out but you just seem to be the only tool salesman on this forum.)

I'm the exact opposite, I have a crafty and kobalt filled with premium tools.
I'm in no way bashing craftsman and kobalt but I have around $700.00 into both top and bottom boxes and way more in tools.