Craftsman now mostly made in China. Bummer.

[lippy]

I bought a set of Craftsman racheting box-end wrenches from Sears yesterday and realized at home they are made in China. Upon searching the web, I realized several folks are disappointed that Sears is using the Craftsman name on Chinese tools, and most of their tools are now imports. I can tell you the quality of this set isn't great, not like the old Craftsman. If I want disposable Chinese junk, I'll go to Harbor Freight but at least those tools are dirt cheap.

Does anyone know where I can get some sort of discount on SK or Snap-On? Seriously.

[Wisconsin_Snake]

More disappointing is that now if you happen to break one of your older made in the USA Craftsman pieces, you will get a Chinesse made replacement.

I had a fine toothed/bearing long handled rachet (more rollers that meant smoother turning) that went bad.. They offered me a rough toothed rachet because they did not offer those anymore.. I insisted that they upgrade me to the smooth handled rachet verus down grading me...
P.S. their torque wenches are way over priced with a poor warranty.

[rodneym]

This change started a while ago. A salesman hand picked a US set for me because they were selling both at the time. Let's just say I did a lot of hand picking and spent a ton that day.

[Dangerous Doug]

Sounds like Craftsman could take a lesson from Apple---who, hopefully, will be bringing a meaningful amount of work back to the U.S.

Are S.K. and Snap-On made in the U.S?

On bolts, I know that ARP gets flack for being expensive---but guess what? Made in the U.S.

DD

[dcdoug]

Don't ever buy a Crafstman torque wrench. Very poor quality and only 90 day warranty.

[Mastiff107]

Don't even get me started on China! Who got the idea that China is our friend? They continually ship toys to this counry that contain lead. Why, because lead won't leave your system leaving a generation who may experience serious health problems (accident?) I'm putting together their damn toys for my grandkids right now. Bastards never give you all the parts to construct whatever it is leading to a generation of grandparents who are aggravated and suspected by their grandchildren of having dementia (accident?) Not to mention there is a criptic note included in the item not to return it to the store but call a number in China! If the baloon ever does go up we are going to be running around trying to arm ourself with guns exported by them and trying to fix other Chinese export mechanical equipment with cappy Chinese tools that don't work. Someone out to closely examine who exactly is the asshole who set up the trade agreement with China and see who thinks it is a good deal for us. I retired from the Government and am the first to admit that no one else would have employed me; I was lazy and confused; came in late and left early; took long lunches and was not generally well informed, but Christ, I never let one like this get by me. That's my rant...gotta go and call China for a part to the dollhouse....wonder what time it is there?

[ACademic]

Originally Posted by Wisconsin_Snake

P.S. their torque wenches are way over priced with a poor warranty.

Originally Posted by dcdoug

Don't ever buy a Craftsman torque wrench. Very poor quality and only 90 day warranty.

Totally agree! Anyone want to buy a couple?

I still like their "no questions asked" return and replacement policy, but I agree that you're getting in return a lesser product. If it wasn't for their ability to sell so much volume they'd be out of business.

[MOTORHEAD]

last time (6 mos/1yr ago) I went to Sears for tools they had both chinese and american made tools with the "Craftsman" label but with 1 year warranty on the chinese product, and still lifetime on the american stuff.
What really irks me is that most people don't seem to make the connection between the comparitively "high" priced American goods and high cost American union labor costs !!!!

[joyridin']

Here is the problem with buying Craftsman crap these days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/bu...anted=all&_r=0

[venum14]

As much as we are frustrated with low quality imported ‘junk’ we are our often to blame when it comes to these goods filling the marketplace. Here is the problem, companies must provide consumers with the lowest cost product and continue to improve their profits.

Investors want to see their portfolios gain value, therefore forcing companies to look for ways to reduce the material and/or labor cost that goes into making products. I work for a Fortune 500 company and our customers want a cost reduction on their products every year. With increasing regulations, material and labor cost in the U.S. we are forced to move products off shore or we will lose our contracts. No contracts, no investors and no jobs it never ends the terrible cycle of businesses closing or moving!

The good news, with many years of off shoring and the lessons learned, we can bring manufacturing back to the U.S. if consumers are willing to pay a little more for the goods. The current low cost countries are not the low cost option they were several years ago because their cost of living and manufacturing has increased!

I support Apple and would pay more for any U.S. made product, but we most also convince the investors that their portfolio will take a hit as well. Less greed in corporate America will lead to more “Made in USA” goods at the store!

[G-Pete]

Originally Posted by venum14

...With increasing regulations, material and labor cost in the U.S. we are forced to move products off shore...

Sorry, this statement is not correct. I'm on the financial and manufacturing side on a automotive aftermarket accessory Manufacture here in the US.
Here is experience first hand speaking and not some internet block opinion.

You CAN manufacture and produce competitively in the US, is is just a matter of how.
Even before Kaizen came, lean manufacturing was a part of my German Engineering degree.

The company which hired me in 1999 had no own manufacturing. As of today our manufacturing spans over 73000 square foot and have 47 full time workers. Over the 2008-2010 down turn we cut back on hours to 32hrs/week for 6 weeks in the summer, but did not cut people.

I proved for over 13 years now - competitive manufacturing, even in economic downturns is possible.

Just lately we've been asked by one of our competitors to quote out some of their grille guards - because their Chinese ones are late and have bad quality.

The main reason hindering American manufacturing is ---

GREED --- period!

[CHANMADD]

Originally Posted by G-Pete

Sorry, this statement is not correct. I'm on the financial and manufacturing side on a automotive aftermarket accessory Manufacture here in the US.
Here is experience first hand speaking and not some internet block opinion.

You CAN manufacture and produce competitively in the US, is is just a matter of how.
Even before Kaizen came, lean manufacturing was a part of my German Engineering degree.

The company which hired me in 1999 had no own manufacturing. As of today our manufacturing spans over 73000 square foot and have 47 full time workers. Over the 2008-2010 down turn we cut back on hours to 32hrs/week for 6 weeks in the summer, but did not cut people. O

I proved for over 13 years now - competitive manufacturing, even in economic downturns is possible.

Just lately we've been asked by one of our competitors to quote out some of their grille guards - because their Chinese ones are late and have bad quality.

The main reason hindering American manufacturing is ---

GREED --- period!

I too have never seen so many good potential business ventures scuppered by the absolute greed of individuals. Where is the compassion for our fellow man????....

[joyridin']

Originally Posted by G-Pete

Sorry, this statement is not correct. I'm on the financial and manufacturing side on a automotive aftermarket accessory Manufacture here in the US.
Here is experience first hand speaking and not some internet block opinion.

You CAN manufacture and produce competitively in the US, is is just a matter of how.
Even before Kaizen came, lean manufacturing was a part of my German Engineering degree.

The company which hired me in 1999 had no own manufacturing. As of today our manufacturing spans over 73000 square foot and have 47 full time workers. Over the 2008-2010 down turn we cut back on hours to 32hrs/week for 6 weeks in the summer, but did not cut people.

I proved for over 13 years now - competitive manufacturing, even in economic downturns is possible.

Just lately we've been asked by one of our competitors to quote out some of their grille guards - because their Chinese ones are late and have bad quality.

The main reason hindering American manufacturing is ---

GREED --- period!

You hit that nail on the head. I visit hundreds of manufacturing companies. It is amazing how many times I hear..."the Chinese stole the job from us..". Then I look around and see old equipment, old tools, the place is a mess, and they haven't invested anything in years. Look out in the lot and there is a new Cadillac. Hmmm...The Chinese didn't TAKE or steal the job, it was given to them. Both use 25-30 year old technology. Now it is nothing more than an issue of labor costs. Guess who is cheaper?

I have been working with a 1st tier supplier for GM. Part after part is coming back from China. GM doesn't want to keep a 12-15 week supply on hand to cover the mess-ups in China manufacturing so they will pay a few dollars more (and I mean a few dollars, not hundreds) to have it made here. Automation is king.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by CHANMADD

Where is the compassion for our fellow man????....

Why shouldn't that compassion extend to overseas workers? Why does it have to stop at our borders? Like it or not, we are in a global economy, and performance, salaries, and standards of living must be judged on a global basis, not just be limited to US standards.

[G-Pete]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Why shouldn't that compassion extend to overseas workers? Why does it have to stop at our borders? Like it or not, we are in a global economy, and performance, salaries, and standards of living must be judged on a global basis, not just be limited to US standards.

Then they need to step up to our standards and stop sending very dangerous trash our way.

The USA did pretty good for 175 years until it got more and more involved to "help" the rest of the world and shifted towards """"global economy""" the result is just a chain reaction in negative influences. Any bank outside the US can and did by stocks and the European banks played a giant role in the housing collapse.

Without their money that house of cards had never risen that large.

The US need to look more to the inside than to the outside. Any $US spent in the east is to a high degree used to buy weapons. All these guys over there are not friendly to us - they never reached out and helped us in any way or shape.

Judged on global basis, global economy - workers united....
That's all socialism propaganda words.

Global?
Ask, Greece - France - Russia - Serbia - Ukraine - Poland - Slovakia - Armenia - Romania - et cetera et cetera how well that socialism work/worked for them - - global hehehe

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by G-Pete

Then they need to step up to our standards and stop sending very dangerous trash our way.

I'm preaching to the choir with you, but from a labor standpoint, domestic workers must be prepared to compete on the same plateau as foreign workers, or management will continue to move jobs overseas. It's as simple as that. We can't have assembly line workers making 75 grand with defined benefits pension plans anymore. It just can't continue to happen in our global economy or even the finest quality products will be made outside the US. You know that; I know you do.

[Richard Hudgins]

[lippy]

I'm fine with buying imported tools sometimes. The reason I wrote the post in the first place is that I'm disappointed that the Craftsman brand has been changed. If I had my way, Sears would sell its imported discount line and charge a premium for US made hand tools so I would know that Craftsman=domestic. The problem I'm having now is that the Chinese set I bought earlier this week was $40, and the equivalent SnapOn set is >$200. I checked SK, Mac, Armstrong, and Matco and the equivalent sets are either (1) fairly expensive eg $150-200 *and* imported, or (2) insanely expensive and domestic. I'm fine paying more for domestic, even 2x, but it seems that's not possible. Another issue is that it's often hard to tell where things are really made. For example, I had to dig to learn that the SK set is imported. I always went to Sears because the tools were good and domestic and fairly priced. I'll bet they lose a significant number of Craftsman customers now.

[lippy]

Originally Posted by Richard Hudgins

Very funny.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by lippy

I'll bet they lose a significant number of Craftsman customers now.

You're half right. They'll lose a number, but it won't be significant. I have no doubt that their analysis showed that the savings that would be reaped from moving production off shore will outweigh the loss in sales from "pros" and "serious amateurs" who will go elsewhere. Remember, their job is not to make the best tool possible, nor is it to "take care of their workers," it is to maximize profits in order to increase their dividends, while doing so in a legal and, hopefully, ethical manner. That's what business is all about.