Sears sells the Craftsman Brand

[Every Road Leads Home]

Looks like Sears is finally selling Craftsman.  Truly an end of an era.  Although from reading the article, sounds like they might bring some of it's manufacturing back to the US and it wouldn't hurt to see that.  

http://bestride.com/news/entertainment/sears-sells-craftsman

 

[Queen]

Broke my heart a little when I read that earlier.

 

[LeeRevell]

Broke my heart a little when I read that earlier.

Bravo! Hopefully this will revive Craftsman's sadly sullied reputation, and improve brand quality again. Returning production to America is a good thing. Easier to ensure proper QC.

 

[Queen]

Agreed, Lee. I've owned a lot of Craftsman over the years and the more recent sockets (for example) were junk compared to the stuff I bought in the 70's and 80's.

 

[MrNoodly]

Sears wasn't "making" Craftsman products anyway. They just marketed them. It was all engineered and manufactured by various companies. Sears would set general product goals, like, "We want a circular saw that's at least as good as So And So, with a distinguishing feature we can promote, and we want it to cost us no more than $XX.XX a unit."

I used to do advertising and corporate videos for a high end lawn tractor company. I went to their plant in Georgia to shoot the manufacturing process. They were building Craftsman tractors over on a parallel assembly line. The engineering specs were slightly different, but many of the parts were interchangeable, just painted a different color. The part that made me laugh was the big stack of batteries both assembly lines were using. Before putting them in the Craftsman tractors, they'd slap Sears DieHard labels on them.

 

[GotSmart]

I worked for a Sears Plumbing franchise in CA a number of years ago.  The "satisfaction guaranteed" meant that if any customer had the slightest complaint, Chicago would tell us not to collect or refund the charge.  

It got so that any unhappy customer became my project.  

I would show up at the door in my company shirt and truck.  Everyone was mad, and I had to make them happy.  Most of them started out telling me they would not pay.  I had to tell them that I was not a collections agent, but a troubleshooter sent to make them happy.  After fixing the original problem, (as well as a few other little things) I would ask if they were happy.  Then I would present them with the original bill.  No extra charge for the additional labor  Everyone paid.  

We had a joke around the office, that the gangsters in Chicago figured out they could steal 10 X the money with a briefcase instead of a gun.  They all sent their kids to law school, and they went to work for Sears.

 

[LeeRevell]

My late Father was a consumate DIYer, and really liked the Craftsman brand, and Sears in general. He bought their home appliances, and their lawn tractors. When something broke, we'd get the part number from the manual, and go to the Sears warehouse to get the part. Dad would fix it himself.
Back in The Day, before the GCA of 1968, he bought a few guns from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Some the year I was born. I still have them.
Still have one of the lawn tractors. Still runs and cuts grass, but the brakes are shot.
The local Sears store is way across town from me, and their prices tend to be no better than other box stores. Since I have Lowes, HD and Tractor Supply on my side of town, I haven't been in Sears in many years. They simply aren't relevant for me.
I was shocked when K-Mart bought them out. K-Mart is dead here, and I didn't think they had the resources to buy Sears. I believe it's only a matter of time that Sears dies. I will mourn the loss of what they were, but not what they are now.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I will mourn the loss of what they were, but not what they are now.

Well said

 

[Queen]

The reprints of the early mail order Sears catalogs make for some fascinating browsing. EVERYTHING from clothing, hunting, fishing, tools, farming..... you could even buy a house (some assembly required).
http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm

Guy

Our first house was a Sears mail order one, we were in a neighborhood full of them, all ordered and built after WWII.  In the basement you could still see the stamps that read things like A2 - HERE on beams/joists.

 

[LeeRevell]

The reprints of the early mail order Sears catalogs make for some fascinating browsing. EVERYTHING from clothing, hunting, fishing, tools, farming..... you could even buy a house (some assembly required).
http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm

Guy

And a car, the Sears Allstate, really a Kaiser Henry J with Sears badging. The Pinto of the fifties. ;-)

 

[squatting dog2]

And a car, the Sears Allstate, really a Kaiser Henry J with Sears badging.  The Pinto of the fifties.  ;-)

Ahhh, the Henry J, a car way before it's time. think about it, a hatchback, 4 cyl. gas miser sub compact built in the fifties.
And, speaking of Sears, did you know you could purchase a kit that turned the shipping crate into a garage for your new Sears Allstate?   :shy:

 

[LeeRevell]

I did not know that about the crate! Cool.
Or, maybe use it for a MIL Room. ;-)

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

The reprints of the early mail order Sears catalogs make for some fascinating browsing. EVERYTHING from clothing, hunting, fishing, tools, farming..... you could even buy a house (some assembly required).
http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm

Guy

Ha, So I took  my dog for a walk down a few side streets i've not been down yet. One of the neighbors introduced himself.  Long story short, his grandfather was the original owner and bought the house kit from Sears in the late 40's/early 50's.  So I'm living in a Sear's house myself!  

However time did take it's toll.  Here's a pic of how involved the remodeling got.  All 4 sides needed similar repairs. If you notice, you can see clear through the house into the backyard!   And how it's looking now photo.  Wonder if it's still under warranty?  The real issue was someone put replacement windows in about 15 years ago.  They had no idea what they were doing and water leaked through every window in the house, causing the catastrophic rot issues.