Sears Flash Sale

[Jorn]

With Sears going bankrupt soon, they have a flash sale ending today, some craftsman tools are 60% off.

https://www.sears.com/deals/center/hot-deals.html/dealGrid?event=Flash%20Sale&department=Tools

[vwnate1]

Too bad they sold off the craftsman line and now it's all Chinese made......

[Dudesky]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

Too bad they sold off the craftsman line and now it's all Chinese made......

Aren't many made here anymore....can't compete.

[vwnate1]

Yes, they can compete they just have to want to and accept reasonable ROE instead of peddling junk .

eddie lampert I hate you .

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

Yes, they can compete they just have to want to and accept reasonable ROE instead of peddling junk .

eddie lampert I hate you .

Sounds plausible in theory. False in practice. No yanks are going to pay prices for tools made in America. The situation is way to far gone for that.

- Peter.

[Mxfrank]

Truth is, this is no longer a nation of tool users. Ask your grandkids if the want to accompany you to the Sears tool sale, and see the reaction.

[Mike Murrell]

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

Truth is, this is no longer a nation of tool users. Ask your grandkids if the want to accompany you to the Sears tool sale, and see the reaction.

Yep. Young people today have no interest in auto maint/repair or doing anything with their hands other than fiddling with the latest electronic gadget.

[Jorn]

Originally Posted by Mike Murrell

Yep. Young people today have no interest in auto maint/repair or doing anything with their hands other than fiddling with the latest electronic gadget.

I started later in life working on cars, now I take an engine apart, there is hope.

[vwnate1]

You're wrong but why deal with facts when you can parrot alt-right talking points, right ? .

-Nate

Originally Posted by pj67coll

Sounds plausible in theory. False in practice. No yanks are going to pay prices for tools made in America. The situation is way to far gone for that.

- Peter.

[vwnate1]

Yessir, indeed there is hope ! .

I try to interest my Foster boys but the electronic invasion makes it a second choice .

I'd hope that in Farming and other Blue Collar areas the draw of working with one's hands (mechanical things, carpentry, boats etc.) will remain and nebver quite go away .


-Nate

Originally Posted by Jorn

I started later in life working on cars, now I take an engine apart, there is hope.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

You're wrong but why deal with facts when you can parrot alt-right talking points, right ? .

-Nate

No. I'm correct. There are people who will pay high prices for tools made in Germany. These people are mostly in Germany. Which is why companies such as Knipex, Gedore, Hazet, Stahlwille, RGS etc still exist.

There are not an equivalent percentage of Americans who will pay high prices for tools made in the USA. Which is why everything here is cheap chinese ****.

- Peter.

[vwnate1]

I see where SEARS / KMART filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday .

A sad day indeed, once upon a time SEARS was the world's largest retailer .

[barry12345]

Pretty much the end of an era in retailing in some ways. Sears in Canada went bankrupt some time ago. Sears in America was a much better run operation years ago than ours.

As for young people buying tools and equipment to repair todays cars. Even if they want to. The cost for what you need is high. With no sophisticated electronic test equipment. Many attempts will end up in failure.

Repairing things added self confidence to individuals as well I thought. In the later parts of the 1950s I could tackle most things with the contents of a carry along toolbox.

Today I have roll around toolboxes that would take a truck to carry. I have no ideal of what they would cost with their contents today. Still from time to time I still do not have the specific tool needed. That cannot be worked around.

Although by my buying of tools over the years. They have paid for themselves over and over again. Odd that in general you get so little money back if you resell them usually. I even still pick up the ocassional item at yard sales.

Last spring I stopped by a yard sale where they were disposing of all their tools. Most things where a dollar or two.

If you sat down today and added up the retail cost of tools needed to start servicing your cars and other things from scratch. I suspect you are talking real money.

I started with a simple half inch drive gray socket set of perhaps twenty pieces. A simple wrench set and misc screw drivers etc. You could do almost nothing on the more modern cars with only that assortment of tools today.

The early Asian tools where junk. This is not the case today with careful buying. The prices are rising in general as well. Or seem to be in Canada.

Some items like the titan brand are pretty decent at your American harbor freight. Oh they still sell junk as well so it is up to you to establish what is decent usable quality. .

We have the equivelant operation in Canada called Princess auto. They have seriously increased their prices in the last couple of years though.

Even if some of the younger guys have the inclination to work on even just their own cars. I can see a real financial hurdle could present itself today.

Also for some reason or other. My generation studied various areas of mechanical things in school. How can you repair things if they all look like a black box to you? If you do not understand or have any concept of how some things work. Your ability to diagnose and repair them is serious limited.

The electronic revolution had not even really started. When I did. Televison was quite common but that was about it. Solid state devices like basic transistors where uncommon as well. Basically non existant for all practical purposes.

Sites like ours and others help people a lot today.. At the same time when the users do not understand even the otto four stroke principal. They on occasion still are almost flying blind.

Also one has to allow that even just basic existence today is far more complex than it used to be. Plus the perspectives from an old guy like me are based on the awareness of another time. I was actually there.

[tjts1]

Good riddance.

[vwnate1]

@Barry ;

Let's hear it for the Geezers ! .

I too was there and am still spinning wrenches and learning.....


The tools Sears sold were a small part of their total sales .