Tool Chests - Why So Expensive?

[01-7700]

I have tried to study tool chests and why this one costs more or less than that one. It makes no sense. Doesn't matter who the manufacturer is, you can't make a comparison that has any logic based on cubic inches, number of drawers, face square feet, wheels, bearings, etc.

Here's an example of ridiculous... Snap-On toolbox that you can buy for $5 anywhere else. At Snap-On it's $293

 

[zktk01]

The Snap on paint is mixed with Unicorn tears, and made of superior metals that won't rust.

 

[01-7700]

The Snap on paint is mixed with Unicorn tears, and made of superior metals that won't rust.

Never rust you say - that is worth something - maybe gold or silver.

 

[cuog]

I'm going to need a link to the $5 version of that box.

 

[KEH]

Not a good example. A few years ago I picked up a SO box like that of unknown age but good condition. It is much heavier than even the old good Craftsman Crown boxes of that size. OTH roller cabinets of different makes are overpriced IMO. However, just follow the weight specs and you will have a fair approxamation of quality.

KEH

 

[kd3pc]

It seems you are paying a premium for the name, no matter whose name it is.

If you look closely at boxes,

construction is vastly different as is the finish and workmanship of that finish.
material used in that construction is of a much better quality, thickness, etc
welds are 100% and of professional quality and looks

drawers support the specified load, and then some with out bending, sagging, warping, etc
drawers use bearings or quality slides, and are fit to be square, and equidistant from each other - both when empty and fully loaded.

Drawer paint is as good as the cabinet, as are the lift hardware and closures

casters support the box, and it's load and the box is not prone to tip over

IF you look closely you could easily see what makes a box a much better value than another box.

bests.

 

[jdsac]

Snap On, Mac etc= overpriced. Check Lista / Vidmar -built tougher for 1/2 or less price wise. One reason that guys buy Snap On is the EZ pay feature (pay by the month)

Lista example here: each drawer holds 400 + lbs fully extended

http://www.strictlytoolboxes.com/all-toolbox/toolboxes-by-manufacturer/all-lista-toolboxes.html

http://www.listabox.com/model-900/triple-bank/specs.php

http://www.listabox.com/model-1050/triple-bank/specs.php

 

[jd_1138]

I'm going to need a link to the $5 version of that box.

lol. Yep, I've never seen a $5 metal toolbox -- not even a tiny one. Even the metal ones at HF are like $40 I think.

I bought a circa 1980's K-Mart/Bench top branded metal box for $10 at a yard sale. It's my general portable box that I keep all my basic tools in for general purpose repairs.

That Snap-On box may sound pricey but it will last a lifetime. Nice stuff that's made in ethical factories and built to a certain standard isn't cheap.

 

[WhiffySpark]

Snap On, Mac etc= overpriced. Check Lista / Vidmar -built tougher for 1/2 or less price wise. One reason that guys buy Snap On is the EZ pay feature (pay by the month)

Lista example here: each drawer holds 400 + lbs fully extended

http://www.strictlytoolboxes.com/all-toolbox/toolboxes-by-manufacturer/all-lista-toolboxes.html

http://www.listabox.com/model-900/triple-bank/specs.php

http://www.listabox.com/model-1050/triple-bank/specs.php

Highly doubt you’re fitting 450 pounds in those 24 deep drawers

I don’t know how much is in my top socket drawer but I’m sure it’s more than that. And I can pull it all the way open with 2 fingers and put some body weight on it and it’s not going anywhere

 

[jdsac]

You must never have seen a Lista- you CAN put 400 lbs/ drawer in them. They don't have wimpy slides - they use 1 inch bearings and the gauge of the metal is nearly twice as thick.
And, they are 28" deep. http://www.listabox.com/model-900/triple-bank/specs.php

 

[brownbagg]

we all agree that snap on is built better but not no $5000 better

 

[rburke65]

SO...built better? Well there is an opinion.

 

[Strouty]

Snap On, Mac etc= overpriced. Check Lista / Vidmar -built tougher for 1/2 or less price wise. One reason that guys buy Snap On is the EZ pay feature (pay by the month)

Lista example here: each drawer holds 400 + lbs fully extended

http://www.strictlytoolboxes.com/all-toolbox/toolboxes-by-manufacturer/all-lista-toolboxes.html

http://www.listabox.com/model-900/triple-bank/specs.php

http://www.listabox.com/model-1050/triple-bank/specs.php

Listas are terrible, who would ever buy one of their boxes.

 

[Mikeske]

There are 2 things to remember:

The Snap-on boxes are not built and or sold for the do it yer selfer. Those boxes are to serve the professional mechanic in a harsh environment and they are made to last.

When I was wrenching there was 2 or 3 classes of mechanics.

The first was the wanna be so they get hired on and they skip over to the box store and buy a box. 3 weeks later they trade it in a Snap-on box. These same guys struggle through a brake job. These guys drift in and out and for the most part don't last long but the payments follow them. They are the ones who end up returning the box to the dealer or having someone else assume the payments.

The 2nd is the guy that has been there for a while and is the one who all the mechanics go to and he has a really good tool collection in his Snap-on box. This guy is the expert.

The 3rd is the cheap Charlie who buys everything used, buys ratty old boxes fixes them so that they will work for him and gets the job done. He does buy some stuff off the trucks but for the most part will only buy if he has the cash on hand and will not get trapped in payments.

I was always the 3rd class of mechanics as I just never got the truck brand and I would make any cheap box work well enough for me to do the job, I had a Craftsman/Waterloo clone actually branded Bonney box for my entire career as I just refused the price of entry into the whole Snap-on boxes. Yeah I had to reenforce the bottom of the box and replace the casters as the years went on and it had been hit by a forklift, been dropped out of a service truck moving it from one area to another and I just get out a big hammer and get it squared up enough to lock it and away I go.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

I work as a technician professionally. I bought my Snap-On box half priced years ago when I was in college. I think I paid around 2200 dollars for it. I just recently bought 2 HF 44" boxes that cost around 300 dollars a piece. Yes, the Snap-On box is 10x better quality as far as the casters, drawers, paint, locks, etc. For the professional technician that will use the box for years I cannot imagine using anything less. For the DIY'er there's no way I'd buy anything but the HF boxes. I've had my Snap-On one for 10 years now and it works as perfect as the day I bought it and still cleans up nicely. In the end it's completely up to the use you will put it through, but NEVER would I pay full price for the Snap-On boxes. At the college half-priced sale though? For sure.

 

[-Brent-]

Listas are terrible, who would ever buy one of their boxes.

You certainly wouldn't buy one... hahah... you buy them by the dozen!

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

There are 2 things to remember:

The Snap-on boxes are not built and or sold for the do it yer selfer. Those boxes are to serve the professional mechanic in a harsh environment and they are made to last.

When I was wrenching there was 2 or 3 classes of mechanics.

The first was the wanna be so they get hired on and they skip over to the box store and buy a box. 3 weeks later they trade it in a Snap-on box. These same guys struggle through a brake job. These guys drift in and out and for the most part don't last long but the payments follow them. They are the ones who end up returning the box to the dealer or having someone else assume the payments.

The 2nd is the guy that has been there for a while and is the one who all the mechanics go to and he has a really good tool collection in his Snap-on box. This guy is the expert.

The 3rd is the cheap Charlie who buys everything used, buys ratty old boxes fixes them so that they will work for him and gets the job done. He does buy some stuff off the trucks but for the most part will only buy if he has the cash on hand and will not get trapped in payments.

I was always the 3rd class of mechanics as I just never got the truck brand and I would make any cheap box work well enough for me to do the job, I had a Craftsman/Waterloo clone actually branded Bonney box for my entire career as I just refused the price of entry into the whole Snap-on boxes. Yeah I had to reenforce the bottom of the box and replace the casters as the years went on and it had been hit by a forklift, been dropped out of a service truck moving it from one area to another and I just get out a big hammer and get it squared up enough to lock it and away I go.

I'd say that's pretty accurate. The new guys come in with some ****** **** box, think they're hot **** and buy an expensive box, and then get fired or quit after realizing they **** at it. Usually the box gets repo'd, given back, or sold to someone else for half of what they paid for it. You can usually find these boxes on Craigslist.

The 2nd guy thing is mostly accurate, but a lot of guys (myself included) have been in the industry long enough to realize that buying Snap-On everything isn't worth it. There's a lot of tools you can buy cheap that work just fine.

 

[Mikeske]

I was originally trained as a forklift mechanic in the Air Force. After a couple years I retrained in to aircraft maintenance and repair. Aircraft repair/maintenance/manufacture is where I spent my career and everything in my old Bonney/Waterloo box had to be shadowed. Yeah it was a crappy heavily modified box to take the loads I put on it. A lot of the newbies that came along and pass thru my area were amazed that the outside of my box was so crappy but inside was a pristine. It never bothered me as I did not ever have any payments.

Snap-on no doubt about it would have been nice but I wanted my money in other things and now that I am retired I still don't need a Snap-on, Mac, Matco quality box just to sit in the back of my garage a Harbor Freight box set up is fine for me and what I could of paid for a used Snap-on I got my stuff in it. Yes it does have Snap-on tools, it also has a lot of Bonney tools and every other brand of tools.

 

[firebirdparts]

Snap on is more of a marketing scheme than it is a product. They can sell rollers for $5,000 or $10,000 because they aim to get a guy paying them $100 a week for the rest of his life. You could buy a cheap house for that. It's just a way to do business. Tools of course are good quality. They have to be.

Kind of like "buy here pay here" car lots. You might think that there's no way you can sell a $500 car for $10,000, but you'd be wrong. There is an entire industry built around the fact that you can actually pull it off if you package the financing a certain way. Does it make the cars better? Noooooooo.

 

[cvairwerks]

One thing to think about with the quality of a box or cabinet or cart is long term durability. Will a HF box last as long as a Snap/Mac/Lista level cabinet? The answer is maybe, depending on how it gets used. A quality built unit run side by side with a lower tier unit, identical loading and usage, in home/diy/light industrial use, there really isn't a big difference. Put them in a heavy use operation and the differences will show up in a hurry. For the most part, the lower quality will wear out and need repair or replacement long before the better unit.
I've got a pair of mid level C'man cabinets and top boxes that are 25 and 40 years old and they show the wear and tear of both light and heavy use. It's time to replace them and when it happens, it will be a quality unit that fits my needs and will last me until I can't turn a wrench anymore.

 

[WhiffySpark]

You must never have seen a Lista- you CAN put 400 lbs/ drawer in them. They don't have wimpy slides - they use 1 inch bearings and the gauge of the metal is nearly twice as thick.
And, they are 28" deep. http://www.listabox.com/model-900/triple-bank/specs.php

It says right on the bottom of that page 24 inches. I don’t think you’re physically going to fit 400 lbs in those tiny drawers.

And no I haven’t used a lista. I’ve beeb around some but don’t own one. I own what everyone on here hates

 

[MushCreek]

How much do mechanic's tools weigh? My work box is full of solid tool steel precision tools like vises, angle plates, 1-2-3 blocks, etc. I can tell by moving it around that it's a LOT heavier than my identical box of mechanic's tools in my barn. I've been using that work box professionally for at least ten years, and it's still going strong. Oh yeah- it's a Harbor Freight! Let's say it wears out in 10 years (it hasn't). I can buy a new one every ten years for 100 years before I spend as much as a 'real' tool box.

Machinist tools have their high end brands, too. Starrett in particular is just insane. I have several 1" micrometers. One is a cheap ($10) imported mike I bought many years ago. Another one is a $200 Etalon. They're both very accurate throughout their range. Sure, the Etalon is nice, but I'll admit that I bought it just to have the 'best'.

 

[cvairwerks]

When I had to provide my own tools at work, in the main plant, we had to fly my top box to a new work area via monorail. Scales showed something over 750 lbs in that C'man 10 drawer top chest. It's been at home for nearly 18 years now and needs to be overhauled again.

Mush, don't forget to add in your time to do it, unless you value your time at 0$......Mine is worth well more than that. It will cost me more upfront, but in the long run, it's less expensive for me to do it once and be done.

Bottom line is buy to fit your needs and future plans and not on name only.

 

[crewchief888]

One thing to think about with the quality of a box or cabinet or cart is long term durability. Will a HF box last as long as a Snap/Mac/Lista level cabinet? The answer is maybe, depending on how it gets used. A quality built unit run side by side with a lower tier unit, identical loading and usage, in home/diy/light industrial use, there really isn't a big difference. Put them in a heavy use operation and the differences will show up in a hurry. For the most part, the lower quality will wear out and need repair or replacement long before the better unit.

when buying tools or boxes i look at the long term "investment"
will i be replacing this in a year, 5 years, 10 years, or will it survive my (expected) lifetime?

ive been wrenching on const eq for over 30 years, the money i spent on a set of boxes in '86 was well worth it, they have survived with only 1 set of friction drawer slides being replaced....

lesser brands have come and gone in those years...

i have 3 sets of truck brand boxes in the garage right now, the newest of them i bought in '94-'95.
when i'm gone, someone will get another "lifetime" of use out of them....

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Why so expensive for what they are? For the same reason Harley Davidson prices are almost 4X what they were 30 years ago for a machine that basically has not changed-

They are popular so people will pay that much. It's called "supply & demand".

Tommy

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Like I said, when you buy them half off they are actually a damn good deal. When you can buy a box that normally costs 5,000 dollars for 2,500 dollars and it'll last 100 years you aren't worried about spending 2,500 dollars.

 

[Strouty]

It says right on the bottom of that page 24 inches. I don’t think you’re physically going to fit 400 lbs in those tiny drawers.

And no I haven’t used a lista. I’ve beeb around some but don’t own one. I own what everyone on here hates

The drawer space is 24" deep, the overall box was 28" deep. That depth makes a lot of difference for sure. My brother has some HF 44 boxes, they work fine for him, he had a shallow area next to his garage door and they fit perfectly. He comes to my shop and I ask him to get a tool out of my box, he says "It isn't in that drawer", I tell him to open the drawer the rest of the way.

As for 400 pounds in a Lista drawer, I can and have done it, not in the shallow ones, but my hardware can really add up. I use Lista mostly for stockroom type stuff, I have a Snap On box that has all tools in it, had I not bought a Snap On first, I probably would have gone with Lista for that as well. I am too used to the the depth of the drawers and the latch on the Epiq drawers, I guess I have been ruined.

 

[JazzBlueRT]

They are popular so people will pay that much. It's called "supply & demand".

Tommy

When the demand is driven by suspect marketing, prices get out of alignment with reality.

 

[Farrier]

Guy with the most expensive tool box wins

 

[Lassen Forge]

Ask any divorced guy... even at 10 large, that's cheap compared to the price of some boxes...

(Sorry, I had to add that...)

 

[Bamafan]

Why so expensive for what they are? For the same reason Harley Davidson prices are almost 4X what they were 30 years ago for a machine that basically has not changed-

They are popular so people will pay that much. It's called "supply & demand".

Tommy

Unfortunately that's a bad analogy. Harley Davidson is in financial trouble again due to declining sales. They say it is due to overall softness in the industry but they seem to be slipping in the U.S. as other brands have greater appeal to younger drivers.

Now back to the tool box talk (which I am enjoying)...

 

[D45]

Buy used and buy often.....no reason to buy new

I scored this for $100, large 6" greaseable casters and ball bearing drawers

 

[Firebrick43]

Unfortunately that's a bad analogy. Harley Davidson is in financial trouble again due to declining sales. They say it is due to overall softness in the industry but they seem to be slipping in the U.S. as other brands have greater appeal to younger drivers.

Now back to the tool box talk (which I am enjoying)...

It's a bad analogy as Harley's don't leak a quart of oil or break down every 20 miles like the AMC year. (**** I just realized that was more like 40 years ago, I am getting old)

Actually all motorcyle sales are going to be in trouble. Two main demographics drive motorcycles. #1 is young 20~ year old males that have not had kids yet, the the other is 45+ year old males that their kids are out of the house. Ironically the younger group could care less about driving, let alone motorcyles. Only half of them want to get a license, to busy playing video games and texting on their smart phones in thier parents basement.

If your "that" parent do society good and kick them out! Maybe they will buy a tool box and a motorcycle

 

[B.S.A. (ret.)]

It's a bad analogy as Harley's don't leak a quart of oil or break down every 20 miles like the AMC year. (**** I just realized that was more like 40 years ago, I am getting old)...

I remember a guy in our shop who bought one of those leaky Harley's and spent Big Bucks to have it torn down and rebuilt to fix the oil leakage issues. For about three weeks after he got it back, one of the guy's would dribble a few drops of oil under it every couple of days..Gosh those were fun times!

 

[Tucko]

It's the same reason that women will be charged $100 for a haircut. Because men will PAY silly amounts for a metal box.

 

[01-7700]

I remember a guy in our shop who bought one of those leaky Harley's and spent Big Bucks to have it torn down and rebuilt to fix the oil leakage issues. For about three weeks after he got it back, one of the guy's would dribble a few drops of oil under it every couple of days..Gosh those were fun times!

reminds me of the "Car Talk" prank where the guy was bragging about his gas mileage...

 

[LS6 Tommy]

When the demand is driven by suspect marketing, prices get out of alignment with reality.

Although what I said was a relatively loose analogy, you have a very good point.

Tommy

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Unfortunately that's a bad analogy. Harley Davidson is in financial trouble again due to declining sales. They say it is due to overall softness in the industry but they seem to be slipping in the U.S. as other brands have greater appeal to younger drivers.

Now back to the tool box talk (which I am enjoying)...

The declining sales is because all the rich "Weekenders" who have bought Harleys as fashion/wealth statements have moved on to new fads after artificially inflating the price of the bikes and causing the overexpansion of the fashion end of the company. Dealers aren't allowed to get bikes unless they sell $XXXXXX amount of clothing/year.

That is also a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It's a good thing for buyers because now there a a LOT of really good deals on low mileage used Harleys in good condition. It's a bad thing for the company because it hurts new bike sales.

Sorry, Hijack over...

Tommy