Does Auto Nation still exist? There were 5 or 6 in the Houston area several years ago but have been gone for at least 3 or 4 years.
About 15 years ago a financial advisor told me that Kmart's biggest problem was similar to the American auto industry, too many non productive people getting paid way too much money. On a store level the company was profitable but the profit turned into losses after paying the bloated list of recipients.
the past couple years.
Again, Krispy Cream is no longer in Houston. Did you dump their stock?
And I guess we are getting tougher. We have two things going for us:
1) As old farts we feel a more than a little animosity toward Sears. Years ago, many of us didn't even shop for tools, we just went to Sears because we thought we were getting good equipment at a good price. They betrayed us.
2) I'm reaching that age: "Anybody can have more birthdays; but it takes balls to get old!"
Never bought it; I considered it when it was heading upward and the company was rapidly expanding. I didn't buy because it seemed to be going up too fast.
They also closed their franchise in Tucson. Apparently their success really was too good to be true -- a few too many sweetheart deals with some of the franchisees as well as just bad luck, the "low-carb" craze hit during their march upward and really hit their sales.
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I remember a time when I was a boy and my parents wanted anything, they went to Sears. Everybody seemed to. During the holiday season, the local store employed a guy that stood on top of the building and directed people to parking spots during the holiday season.
When I got married, wifey and I bought most of our stuff there. When we needed anything, we went to Sears. Clothes, appliances, tools, anything.
Then not long after getting married, Sears decided quality cost too much. Maybe they though they saw Wal-Mart making lots of money selling crap so they would too. Big mistake. People that remember when Sears was really good for everything feel let down. Cheated if you will.
Yep. Mail-order for those in rural areas was a huge draw also. My dad grew up on the Eastern plains of Colorado, several hundred miles from Denver. He said they could fill out an order, put it in the mail one day and receive their orders two days later (one day to Denver, one day to process, one day to deliver).
I grew up in Sears, Penney's and Wards clothes
Yep. Bet you bought some of those "value-engineered" tools before finding out what pieces of junk they were -- a reasonable justification to feel cheated.
The first tools I bought when I got out of college were Craftman. When I decided to get into woodworking, my first thought was to go to Sears. Luckily I found this newsgroup first and learned about the automatic random height adjusting features of Sears routers. In addition, I already had experience with those tools I had bought earlier and was more than a little disappointed with. They weren't like Dad's Sabre Saw at all.
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Craftsman wrenches, screw drivers, and such without any moving parts are average or above average. I attempted to return a Craftsman hand-screw wooden clamp and a sales man told me that the lifetime warranty does not include items with moving parts. The handle of the clamp became loose, even after a few epoxy attempts. My personal policy is to stay away from Taiwan and China-made tools (baskets, clothes and shoes are okay), no matter what the brand.
Yep. I'm not going to chime in about any Sears power tools, because I neither own nor use any, but when it comes to chisels, hand saws or tape measures, they almost always get my $$$. (Well, maybe not in the case of the tape measure- technically, I only bought one, but it's been exchanged many times over the years.)
Especially their black handled chisels.... if you haven't looked at them, I'd suggest doing so. They may not be as good as some million-dollar hand forged Japanese chisel made by a guy whose family forged samuri swords for a thousand years, but they're awfully nice for anyone with realistic expectations- they'll shave your arm hair after a few passes on an oil stone, and they've got a lot of steel on them for the money. They hold that sharp edge pretty well, too.
For Christmas this year I (take a deep breath) asked for a Craftsman combination wrench set. In metric sizes. Yeah, Santa brought one. They look as nice as the inch size ones I bought 30 years ago.
Sorry to hear about the hand screw problem. Maybe you should go back with it and talk to a different rep.
I think the same, but nowadays I'll usually choose Husky or Cobalt over Craftsman, simply because Lowes and HD better to deal with locally than Sears. Coastal Tool also carries SK, for another option over Craftsman.
My local Sears and Sears Hardware stores are the worst run retail operations on the planet. They truly suck! How they stay in business baffles me, as I never see anyone buying anything. I really wonder who does their hiring.
I recently needed some large open-end wrenches to install a BS riser block, and Sears Hardware (Wallingford, CT) was the only local store to have cheap versions. So, for the first time in over a year, I had to go there. The stores employees truly act like they wish you didn't even come into the store. The wrenches are under lock and key, so it took me _35 minutes_ and 3 polite requests to get a keyholder to give me the wrenches. I was one of two customers in the store, there were 6-8 employees milling about.
Oddly enough, the $60 wrench set, stored securely under lock and key, had a security device in the package. The device went off as I exited the store, because the cashier was too distracted with her personal tale of woe on her cell phone to disengage the device. I was simply waved on...
I too have a shop full of Craftsman hand, portable power, and stationary power tools. Most of them are old and all are pretty good. Some of them I can remember buying as far back as the 1960's. Some of them I inherited from my father. With reluctance, I have come to the conclusion that the current Craftsman stuff is of uneven quality. Some of it is OK, some of it is not, and it is difficult to tell one from the other while standing in the aisle at Sears. So I don't buy much Craftsman stuff anymore. Perhaps this is why Kmart bought Sears rather than the other way round. There are a few things still going for Sears. The "if it breaks we'll give you a new one" guarantee still works far as I know. And you can get parts for old Craftsman stuff. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to order a replacement speed control assembly for a 20 year old variable speed drill and receive it, snail mail, inside of three days. And it fit. The Sears website has customer written reviews of tools. You can read some very harsh reviews there. As far as that computer driven milling/carving machine for $2k, I'd worry that it would not be rugged enough to last, or that it would not be accurate enough to be worthwhile. I'd wait a year and see if it is still offered for sale. And wait for a review in the magazines.
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