Harbor Freight (arrogance)

Their "Dubby" isn't anything like the real thing.

I always wondered how Kreg let them get away with the blue T-track parts.

I've seen the youtubes comparing them. Didn't see the point (of comparing them).

No it is not, much smaller first glance.

That German guy compares and I would say that he often sees issues with the copy cats. Tolerances are not the same.

This time of year I need a pair just to get to the pair that are in the van. ;-)

Bill is exactly right. For example, I bought a rubber mallet

I never once had an issue with customer service either.

Harbor Freight started changing after they threw out the old man. The writing was on the wall. Inventory selection has been at a constant decline ever since. Clearly the son was applying turn rate and margin principles learned in business classes that ignore the fact that if you don't have what a customer wants they buy the turn rate items elsewhere too. I get less and less at Harbor Freight simply because they don't have the huge array of single use specialty tools they used to have. At least now they have a website that usually tells me if what I want is in stock locally or not. Not always, but most of the time.

My own recent bad experience was kind of eye opening. I went in to buy a trash pump that I had checked stock on-line. Along with that trash pump I planned to buy hoses, ad other misc accessories It had one of those take this tag to the cashier pouches on the shelf, so I grabbed a tag and all the accessories. I made a point of handing the tag to the cashier first. I didn't set any of my other stuff on the counter. She took the tag and set it aside. Then she proceeded to take stuff out of my cart to ring it up. I stopped her and said, "Lets get somebody on that pump first."

She replied that she didn't need to check. She knew they didn't have any in stock. I let here know I'd checked the website before coming. She said, "I'm the store manager and I know we don't have any, but I'll check." Then she finally punched it in, and said, "Yeah only the display model." She immediately started ringing up the accessories and hoses again.

I asked, "Why do I need any of that stuff if you don't have the pump it goes with?" She just looked at me like I was an idiot. I walked around the cart and walked out.

I used an old sump pump to do the job instead. It took a couple days instead of a few hours, but I got it done.

Harbor Freight is trying to be something its not. Maybe its working for them, but it doesn't usually work for me.

FYI: There is an upcoming 10% off any single item coupon. (20% for In Track members).

I believe, currently, that HF is suffering from the same as most all manufacturers. That being the need from an enema at the California ship yards.

DerbyDad03 snipped-for-privacy@eznet.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

And another pair to change in to when the first ones get wet and you have to take them off for some reason.

I don't get why people like 28F degree weather. It's just too darn hot to be useful. Get it back down around 18F and you can actually work in it without building up too much sweat!

Puckdropper

Many years ago, I was playing Poker with friends, and my friend announced he had "2 pair", <pause> "2 pair of fives". I was saddened to learn of his "good fortune" at the time. But this morning it occurred to me that he didn't really figure his hand correctly, he had <wait for it> Comb(4,2) = C(4,2) = 6 pair of fives! Read 'em and weep! lol

When Old Man Schmidt ran the company and I was a kid hanging out in the back of my dad's hardware store I use to thumb through the Harbor Freight AND SALVAGE catalog with as much enjoyment as thumbing through an Alden's Christmas toy catalog. The Harbor Freight Catalog was almost as thick, and it was printed on almost bible thin paper. Now they couldn't fill a good newsletter.

Just look at one item. The used to sell 15-20 different metal lathes. Now they sell just 4 if you include wood lathes, and the 2 metal lathes they sell are the same machine with different length beds.

This applies to nearly everything they used to sell. It didn't happen from covid either. It clearly and definitely started when Old Man Schmidt was removed from the building.

In my opinion its a direct result of over application of some basic general business principles. In college even the business instructor who tried teach these as etched in stone brought down from the mountain grudgingly admitted there were exceptions. Maybe Harbor Freight needed to clean up a little bit, but removing more than 90% of their selection wasn't the right answer either.

Actually I solved that problem with another HF product: Their 5mm nitrile gloves. I wear them under gloves when I'm doing wet yardwork, blowing snow, etc. Keeps the wet away from the skin, keeps the hands clean, and keeps the wind off if I need to do something "delicate" and have to take outer gloves off.

When I take off the nitrile pair, I leave them inside out so the perspiration dries. When I need to put them on again, I turn them inside in, blow into them to pop the fingers out and they're good to go.

I just bought a new snow blower. At 245 lbs, it's about 40 lbs heavier than my old one. I may need to shed a layer. ;-)

I've heard of that as "a pair of fives over fives".

I used to play cards with some real A-holes.

If you said "2 pair", <pause> "2 pair of fives" and one of them had 3 of a kind, trouble was a' brewing. "You called 2 pair, not

Depending on the amount of C2H5OH consumed, things might get ugly.

Might as well go out and work. My house won't maintain temperature below about 25F. Set-backs are a silly idea at anything below 40-50F.

I walk three hours every morning (when it's not raining). I get cold at anything between 35 and 50ish. Below 35, I don't sweat much and it doesn't matter above 50. This time of year the temperature can easily go up 20F during that time so it's hard to know whether to wear gloves.

Snow blowers usually have wheels. You're not supposed to lift them! ;-)

Shipping is done from a warehouse, not individual stores. They are not set up for it.

Hold with credit card? I bet they got screwed a few times doing that.

Arrogant? Could be, but maybe they seem that way because they cannot do what you want.

It's Harbor Freight. Maybe you should try Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman instad.

"Wheels" is kind of why I upgraded - differential steering actually - but I'm not sure that I made my life any easier. What I gained in "ease of steering" I lost with the extra weight.

Most of where I blow snow is in tight places that require a lot of steering but some places are still too tight and I have to muscle the machine around. The new machine is heavier and longer, so I find I'm still working at least as hard as I was before. Although, I have to say that the bigger machine does allow me to use the full width of the bucket without leaving a strip of snow. By that I mean that if I used more than 2/3's of the bucket on old machine, snow would come out of the top corner of the bucket and land next to where I just cleared. With the new machine I can use the full

They are both Ariens machines but the old one is a Ariens Sno-Tek, which is a line that they came out with about 11 years ago to compete with the (back then) $600 class of home center choices. It's been a great machine - never had a single problem with it. 1 pull start every time. Still looks good too. (It's for sale)

Ariens Deluxe 24" vs. Ariens Sno-Tek 24"

Check out the new wheels. ;-)

You stock what sells. Floor space is valuable.

And if I walk into your country hardware store for a grade 2 field bolt because a shear pin broke on my 800 million dollar combine and you tell me, we don't sell those because you are the only one who buys them and its not worth it for us. I'll say "ok," load my wife and kids back in the pickup truck and head into town. While I'm in town I'll buy all my groceries at the big supermarket instead of stopping next door at your grocery store for them. Since I'm already in town I buy the new stove the old lady wanted, and purchase that new rifle I had been eyeballing in your gun rack. So because you were to stubborn to stock what I needed I bought a bunch of high turn rate items and a couple high margin items from somebody else. Instead of having some stocking costs you lost a huge number of sales.

When I get back to the farm and my mechanic asks why it took so long to get the simple part she needed for the combine we get to talking. I tell her I had to run into town for it and how much cheaper groceries were in town instead of Leon's Grocery store, and how I bought this cool new rifle over at Joe's Gun Shop instead of Leon's hardware store. I might even mention how much the old lady is pleased about the new stove she got to pick out at Home Depot.

The farm mechanic heard two things in that. Leon doesn't have what we need, and things are cheaper in town. She tells her husband to go to town for groceries, and while you are there pop over to O'Reilly Auto for a new starter for the truck she is fixing up.

Floor space is valuable, but telling customers what they need is not important is stupid whether its said directly or indirectly.

Here is one of those truisms that came down from the mountain for you. Its a heck of a lot easier to sell to the customer who walks into your store than the one walking down the street, and its an order of magnitude easier than trying to sell to the one who had to leave to get what they really needed somewhere else.

You should have had that part in your own stock. Shear pins are made to shear and if you did not have a spare it is your incompetence and lack of planning. When one breaks, order from Grainger or McMaster.