No, Xerox was making photo copiers at least as bar back as 1962. My dad went to work for Coastal States Gas then and they had "Xerox Machines"/photo copiers. It was the first time my dad ever used one. I recall him taking me to work with him on a weekend and showing me.
We had Thermofax. The school in 1973 had a spitit duplicator. Try copying the warranty off the label of a set of tools with that. You could take a picture. Mabee even a polaroid, which will have faded to un-readable by now.
Sears NEVER made Craftsman tools. All they did is design (specify) and sell them. Not a lot will change at Sears as far as Craftsman Tools is concerned, at the store level.
Even Stanley /Black and Decker doesn't make all of their own tools. Much of their production is "farmed out" to the far east.
Husky tools are made by Stanley. Stanley also owns MAC tools. Until 1994 Stanley made much of the Craftsman tool line. Proto is also made by Stanley and is actually the highest quality line of tools Stanley makes. Stanley owns production in Taiwan as well - so technically I guess you COULD say Stanley produces virtually all of their own tools - but not necessarily in North America.
They got raked over the coals real good recently for marking toold "made in America" when they were really "assembled in America fron Globally Supplied Parts"
The Craftsman name is one of the most valuable brands in North America that Stanley did not already own. They didn't stand a chance of buing Snap-On and they already own or produce most of the rest. They produced Craftsman up untill at least the mid '90s so they know the market - - - - They CAN make a better Craftsman tool than Danaher has been making for the last roughly 20 years, as according to most users the pre-'95 Craftsman tools were better than the later ones..
Sure, if Sears continues to sell Craftsman tools, they'll have to honor their warranty. It doesn't transfer to Stanley, even if they use the "Craftsman" name (which one would suppose they will).
"Can" isn't the issue. Sears offered the tools they thought would make them the most money. I don't see anything changing in that regard.
IMO, the pre '80 (varied) hand tools were better than later tools. The power tools were always the pits. The rebadged ones were, in most cases, more expensive than their equivaents.
What other brand would someone pay 900 million for??? The brand has value, whether YOU think so or not. Stanley/ B&D will do very well with the product line unless they REALLY screw things up (and knowing B&D that is a very STRONG possibility)
My point is that it's highly unlikely that Stanley bought the "Craftsman" warranty liability from Sears. Sears is still on the hook for that, if it means anything at all.
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