Why Buy Snap-on?

[ATC]

I cleared $42k in a warehouse just 2 years out of HS with no college...


I did go to college (local community college) with a major in welding. I could have spent less than $10k in education costs, and came out making $40-$60/hr union job (my friend in class did). I didn't finish my degree (2-3 classroom classes short) because life got in the way...

 

[jd_1138]

Not for 100K in school it isn't... Heck, 10K at a tech school will get you that.

It's sort of apples and oranges to compare college education and white collar careers to vocational schools and blue collar work. I know people with college degrees with easy jobs pushing paper half the day then spending the other half of the day surfing the web -- all in the comfort of a climate controlled office. While a technician is busting his *** turning wrenches his entire shift. So, sure, the tech's education might be a better "bang for the buck", but making 50-90k at an office job is not too shabby. And most people with college educations go to state schools which are cheap compared to Ivy League schools. I think the average debt is about 50k for a college education.

 

[Ruger_556]

It's sort of apples and oranges to compare college education and white collar careers to vocational schools and blue collar work.

I know people with college degrees with easy jobs pushing paper half the day then spending the other half of the day surfing the web. While a technician is busting his *** turning wrenches his entire shift. So, sure, the tech's education might be a better "bang for the buck", but making 50-90k at an office job is not too shabby. And most people with college educations go to state schools which are cheap compared to Ivy League schools.

Not really, it's a job isn't it? If you like doing the job then go for it, whatever makes you happy But if you just want to make a living, why go to school to get a job to pay for school? That seems stupid to me... Most don't even end up working at that job anyway (There are some well educated Walmart cashiers let me tell you what).

You can't really even say that about wrenching anymore... I spent 3 hours looking at a laptop screen clicking a pen to pass the time yesterday (Programing an ECM and some electrical diag).

 

[Hiball]

Who's Winning?

 

[spoon671]

University of California - Average 2014-2015 in-state tuition costs (on-campus living) - $33100 ($55978 for non-resident)

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/tuition-and-cost/


California Polytechnic State University SLO - Average 2014-2015 tuition costs (off-campus living) - $24684

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/costofattendance/


San Francisco State University - Average 2014-2015 tuition costs (off-campus living) - $24206

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/costofattendance/


Stanford University - Average 2014-2015 tuition costs (on-campus living) - $62801

http://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/budget/


Harvard College - Average 2013-2014 tuition costs - $38891 tuition only (59950 on-campus living)

http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance


Princeton University - estimated cost of attendance for 2015-2016 - $61275 (on-campus living)

http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/cost/

 

[ZRX61]

But after 22 pages I am still waiting for somebody to tell me who makes better 1/4 flex sockets.

The ones I have are Craftsman, they are 20 years old, haven't broken one yet. Have you had to replace any of yours?

 

[ZRX61]

College is the biggest scam currently going on in our country IMO. Their prices are ridiculous, and only going up! False promises of a steady career making $** per year or hour.

You can sit in a classroom for years and not learn a thing.
OR
You can work in your career field for a week and learn A LOT more...

In Germany & Poland, tuition is free... of course you have to pass a test to get into the college or university.. but that keeps out the thickheaded dipshits who spend the first 2 years of college taking math & english classes that they should have passed when they were in 5th grade.

 

[kctyphoon]

Listen, the college thing is all relative.. People go, or don't go, for different reasons. Likewise, some kids amass pretty steep debt in loans while trying to "find themselves" in school.. While expensive, such is life, and no one is really equipped to make these decisions at such a young age.. We can all make cases of people that spent too much on school and wind up not making what WE think they should.. HOWEVER - you will be hard pressed to find many people making $250k a year that DIDNT goto college. Also, what u need to keep in mind for those of us that are middle aged, the people you know with corporate work that have degrees may still be progressing in their careers.. So what they make now may just be a stepping stone, while mechanics will pretty much make they same wage from now until retirement except for inflation wage increases. There was a time my older sister gave me hell that I made as much as she did. I have no degree, but a union job, while she spent years in school and is still paying for it.. Fast forward 10 years and her quarterly bonus are now almost half my annual salary..

Getting back to the point I was trying to make, is snap on has iNts place. I just honestly don't feel it's in the hands of a work for someone else $25/hr mechanic - and that's being generous. Certainly not in the hands of students being lured in with the promise of high paying careers and the "idea" that going into debt to buy as many snap on tools as possible while still in school is a "good idea". many of these guys work for cash with no 401k or benefits, yet they spend $200 on a set of 3/8 extensions cause the $20 set from craftsman is "beneath" them..

If you work off a service truck traveling to remote locations, buy snap on.. If your a mechanic in a pit crew rebuilding the same engine every 2 weeks, and u have real concerns rounding off bolts since you are turning THE SAME BOLTS all the time, buy snap on.. If your working in a corner garage doing oil changes and brakes on 20 year old Hondas, MAYBE gearwrench might be a wiser choice for you. If you are worried that the $15 harbor freight extensions MIGHT break one day - buy 2 sets- they still have a lifetime warranty and you can buy extras and still have spend 2/3 less than a snap on set you might break or loose anyway.. If you are going to swear it's all about making money, then saving money should be an equal concern too..

Finally, you guys DO REALIZE that this whole tool truck thing only came to be because there was no internet to shop on years ago right? These guys don't show up every week out of the kindness of their hearts. They only show up to collect money from all the people that owe weekly payments..

 

[MagnumForce]

Listen, the college thing is all relative.. People go, or don't go, for different reasons. Likewise, some kids amass pretty steep debt in loans while trying to "find themselves" in school.. While expensive, such is life, and no one is really equipped to make these decisions at such a young age.. We can all make cases of people that spent too much on school and wind up not making what WE think they should.. HOWEVER - you will be hard pressed to find many people making $250k a year that DIDNT goto college. Also, what u need to keep in mind for those of us that are middle aged, the people you know with corporate work that have degrees may still be progressing in their careers.. So what they make now may just be a stepping stone, while mechanics will pretty much make they same wage from now until retirement except for inflation wage increases. There was a time my older sister gave me hell that I made as much as she did. I have no degree, but a union job, while she spent years in school and is still paying for it.. Fast forward 10 years and her quarterly bonus are now almost half my annual salary..

Getting back to the point I was trying to make, is snap on has iNts place. I just honestly don't feel it's in the hands of a work for someone else $25/hr mechanic - and that's being generous. many of these guys work for cash with no 401k or benefits, yet they spend $200 on a set of 3/8 extensions cause the $20 set from craftsman is "beneath" them..

If you work off a service truck traveling to remote locations, buy snap on.. If your a mechanic in a pit crew rebuilding the same engine every 2 weeks, and u have real concerns rounding off bolts since you are turning THE SAME BOLTS all the time, buy snap on.. If your working in a corner garage doing oil changes and brakes on 20 year old Hondas, MAYBE gearwrench might be a wiser choice for you. If you are worried that the $15 harbor freight extensions MIGHT break one day - buy 2 sets- they still have a lifetime warranty and you can buy extras and still have spend 2/3 less than a snap on set you might break or loose anyway..

Quoted for truth

 

[MagnumForce]

University of California - Average 2014-2015 in-state tuition costs (on-campus living) - $33100 ($55978 for non-resident)

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/tuition-and-cost/


California Polytechnic State University SLO - Average 2014-2015 tuition costs (off-campus living) - $24684

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/costofattendance/


San Francisco State University - Average 2014-2015 tuition costs (off-campus living) - $24206

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/costofattendance/


Stanford University - Average 2014-2015 tuition costs (on-campus living) - $62801

http://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/budget/


Harvard College - Average 2013-2014 tuition costs - $38891 tuition only (59950 on-campus living)

http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance


Princeton University - estimated cost of attendance for 2015-2016 - $61275 (on-campus living)

http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/cost/

And with scholarships and such who do you think is actually paying that much? I agree that learning a trade is great, in fact I spent 3 years towards an education degree I never finished but am still paying for and wish I would have went to vo tech and been doing what I am doing now instead of originally going that route, hell I even had 2/3 of my tuition paid as a scholarship and it's all wasted. But there is nothing wrong with a college education either. My wife makes way more than I do with her college degree and would make even more if she hadn't decided to work for a college herself.

Basically you need to either learn a trade or get a 4 year degree at all costs. The days of having no skills and still making 30 dollars an hour pushing a button or assembling snap on ratchets is over, and rightfully so.

If you are in that situation then you only have yourself to blame in this day and age.

 

[spoon671]

@kctyphoon, very very good points! Pretty much the truth right there!

And with scholarships and such who do you think is actually paying that much?

Most folks obviously get some aid via scholarships, and the amount of aid varies widely. There are also those who receive zero aid, and have to foot the entire bill themselves.

The example I posted earlier about the UC Berkeley PhD, she had her entire education paid for via scholarships. My wife graduated from Stanford with about $100k in debt to her education, and she paid it all off using her first two bonuses working at Google. Everyone's experience differs, right?

In relation to the funny story about @kctyphoon and his sister, my wife and I laugh all the time come tax season; she maxes out her 401k and still pays more in taxes than what I make all year. I bust my *** all day at work (not to say that she doesn't), lots of times working 12hr days for weeks at a time, and traveling, and I'm the one who cooks, cleans, does the laundry and the grocery shopping too.

For a college grad, I feel the ceiling is very, very high. Of course, the graduate needs to possess the drive, the motivation to succeed, otherwise they will remain struggling and between jobs or unemployed with mountains of debt, just like my buddy and my brother's friend.

 

[KamiCrit]

Who's Winning?

It's hard to tell, it seems the thread has shifted from snap-on to collages vs. tech schools.

 

[MagnumForce]

My wife had me make a collage once, it was horrible.

 

[Hiball]

It's hard to tell, it seems the thread has shifted from snap-on to collages vs. tech schools.

You would think they would keep us in the loop of at least the score.. Btw wait to edumacated <--- Lol guys show up and let you know you missspelled college.

My wife had me make a collage once, it wad horrible.

Too late..

 

[pi_guy]

The ones I have are Craftsman, they are 20 years old, haven't broken one yet. Have you had to replace any of yours?

My are over 30 years old and only replaced two 10mm and 7/16 because they kept flopping over from use.

Bought the craftsman set about 5 years ago for the truck box, they do not compare to the snap-on ones. Very unhappy with them they would bind up where the snap-on ones would have no issue.

Still waiting for somebody to tell me about a better 1/4 flex set.

 

[BFHtime]

The ones I have are Craftsman, they are 20 years old, haven't broken one yet. Have you had to replace any of yours?

There was a response to this, with an explanation.

 

[supersteve]

The ones I have are Craftsman, they are 20 years old, haven't broken one yet. Have you had to replace any of yours?

My are over 30 years old and only replaced two 10mm and 7/16 because they kept flopping over from use.

Bought the craftsman set about 5 years ago for the truck box, they do not compare to the snap-on ones. Very unhappy with them they would bind up where the snap-on ones would have no issue.

Still waiting for somebody to tell me about a better 1/4 flex set.

I've seen several aircraft techs on this board who have been perfectly happy with their Craftsman tools and quite a few auto techs who ditched the CM stuff and moved on because it wouldn't hold up (myself included). I think this is likely just a product of two different environments: for me, auto fasteners are much more likely to be rusted, greasy, and pre-rounded from some chowderhead who was already there before you. Not to mention you're also trying to beat the clock, and just 'good enough' just isn't good enough in many cases.

I say this as a guy who fixed Uncle Sam's planes for a while and then went on to cars on the outside. I've seen both worlds.

 

[SantaAna12]

AIIIIIII YIIIIIIII YIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!


After reading this thread I thought I ought to contribute......not on tool polishing......or my take on the U.S. educational system......but just to help this thread get more posts than the HF thread.

P.S. I have some floppy 3/8 CMAN swivels too......but they are old CMAN....and I would not part with them.

 

[BFHtime]

what type of polish would you suggest? I have thought starting a thread on this for those people that, like to accuse people of being tool polishers. I would think the accusers would have experience with polishing there tools. I saw a recent post where some guy made his well worn wrenches look brand new.

A better question may be what cuts the grease off of tools the best. I hate when they get so slick that I start to drop stuff, but some jobs are dirty. I usually just use a red rag.

 

[BirdMobile]

what type of polish would you suggest? I have thought starting a thread on this for those people that, like to accuse people of being tool polishers. I would think the accusers would have experience with polishing there tools. I saw a recent post where some guy made his well worn wrenches look brand new.

A better question may be what cuts the grease off of tools the best. I hate when they get so slick that I start to drop stuff, but some jobs are dirty. I usually just use a red rag.

Brake cleaner in a spray can, followed immediately with paper towel or rag wipedown. Cleans 'em good and fast.

 

[trpearcy]

Can we argue about polishing techniques and the necessity or lack thereof now?

 

[BFHtime]

And really what about the polish?

I usually use what ever is handy to wipe down, meaning any spray lube or cleaner.

Is there a best tool polish? Who makes it? Where can I buy it cheap?

Thanks for the post.

 

[BirdMobile]

Can we argue about polishing techniques and the necessity or lack thereof now?

Hey... it's the internet! We can argue about anything and everything!

 

[BFHtime]

Why polish tools, unless you are going to sell them? Maybe a smoother tool is easier to clean?

 

[BFHtime]

Lol!

 

[SantaAna12]

Sure.

Lets rant (sorry), talk about polishing tools missing chrome and somehow they then have chrome!

Pffffffffffffft!

 

[BirdMobile]

Let's turn this thread into a "I got a college education so now I polish wrenches so they're easier to clean the grease off so I can pay off my student loan and my Snap On tool bill" thread.

Oh... wait...

 

[Gmonkee]

I'm with SantaAna, gotta keep these threads rolling.

Supersteve, you can't add logic and reason to these threads, or try to explain variables like use patterns and the envoirment changes each works in.
In the black and white world of my _______ brand stuff will always be better than any other brand or worse the import/domestic made wars all that matters is the opinion of the poster.

Any disagreement or real world experiences that differ make you a troll. But its fine to be a sheep and blindly agree with the other guy.

Former 831st squadron supply puke. The F4G Wild Weasels and the A10 Warthogs did all their training out of the base I was on before 1991.
They played in the little sandbox before going to the big one so far away.

 

[BFHtime]

We could try to turn this into a "I buy the cheapest tools I can find, so that makes me smart and wiser financially" thread.

Or "I can get by using the cheapest ****, so I am cool thread"

but I think I would like a "I was able to complete a certain task with these minimal expensive tools thread".

I think most of these types of threads end up where this thread seems to be going. A discussion to no where, but a discussion, none the less.

 

[bcradio]

bump

 

[ez-duzit]

If you go to a dentist who has all mis-matched, worn and/or cheap-looking tools, does that dim your confidence in his ability? It does for many. On the other hand it could be argued that many customers who view your comprehensive and efficiently organized Snap-On kit will assume that you are a professional and know what you are doing. Instant valor.

 

[Knuckle Buster]

I was just wondering why some people buy Apple computers. And that iPhone. Do any of you have one of those? I just can't justify the high price for all that good design and convenience.

One more thing, does anybody here vote Democrat?

I have an iPhone, but didn't buy it. Actually I have four iPhones and paid nothing for them. I've been with Verizon well over a decade and haven't even changed my number. When the contract runs out every two years, if you wait a little while they'll offer you free upgrades to get you reeled in for two more years. Some rush out to get a new phone soon as it comes out, but not me.. I know it costs nothing to wait a little while.

Vote Democrat? If the choices were really really bad, I'd not vote at all before doing that.

 

[chicane]

I was just wondering why my fellow mechanics all buy snap on and blue point. It Seems like a waste of money to me,

end thread.

 

[Boredmechanic]

yea.. who buys snap on? .__.

 

[Ruger_556]

18,660 views of this waste of a thread The need to justify how you spend your money to complete strangers is absolutely amazing... The best tool is the one in your box that does the job.

 

[Knuckle Buster]

*The best tool is the one in your box that does the job.*

And paid for without running a tab. At times it was very tempting though.. but wanted my first home paid off in ten years worse than I needed the fanciest tools.

 

[kctyphoon]

If you go to a dentist who has all mis-matched, worn and/or cheap-looking tools, does that dim your confidence in his ability? It does for many. On the other hand it could be argued that many customers who view your comprehensive and efficiently organized Snap-On kit will assume that you are a professional and know what you are doing. Instant valor.

Can we not start comparing mechanics to doctors.. I mean, I know the level of self importance is always HIGH on the message boards, but c'mon now..

I think it's fair to say most customers are worried about the bill before they worry about what kind of sockets you use. Besides, with all the untold stories of how bad, and how easy, it's been to take advantage of unknowing customers, what makes you think most even know what snap on is.. Personally I would be more impressed with a clean shop and how you kept YOUR OWN STUFF over what brand you like.. I think it's more telling in how you might treat my property if you don't bother to take care of your own.

 

[BirdMobile]

Can we not start comparing mechanics to doctors.. I mean, I know the level of self importance is always HIGH on the message boards, but c'mon now..

I think it's fair to say most customers are worried about the bill before they worry about what kind of sockets you use. Besides, with all the untold stories of how bad, and how easy, it's been to take advantage of unknowing customers, what makes you think most even know what snap on is.. Personally I would be more impressed with a clean shop and how you kept YOUR OWN STUFF over what brand you like.. I think it's more telling in how you might treat my property if you don't bother to take care of your own.

Some intelligent life posting there!

I don't think most people who take their car in for repairs know much of anything about tool brands, costs, or the so-called prestige of "truck brands". Those who actually bother to set foot in the shop area (if they're even allowed) are more likely to notice a grease spot on their carpeting than anything going on with tool carts or ratchets.
I don't wrench for a living, but my uncle has done it his entire life... so I'd like to think i know a few things about the industry.

 

[Herod]

We could try to turn this into a "I buy the cheapest tools I can find, so that makes me smart and wiser financially" thread.

Or "I can get by using the cheapest ****, so I am cool thread"

but I think I would like a "I was able to complete a certain task with these minimal expensive tools thread".

I think most of these types of threads end up where this thread seems to be going. A discussion to no where, but a discussion, none the less.

AWESOME......that's it in true form. You said it perfectly.

 

[whitecharger2014]

Is there no common sense here?

Snap on is like Harley Davidson. They do some things really well and some not so well.

I use the best tool for the situation. Not because it was made by a certain company.
To do otherwise because of brand loyalty is moronic.

Just sayin'