Craftsman tools at Costco

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by historyljc

If you think the Craftsman tools have gone downhill you should try the Kenmore applicances. Real cr - uh - junk.

I never liked Kenmore. I had a Kenmore washer and dishwasher I was constantly having to work on. It was odd that even though Kenmore, back then, was just rebranded Whirlpool, it still was poorer quality than Whirlpool.

[bluck]

ACE hardware is also selling Craftsman.

[w6pea]

Originally Posted by historyljc

If you think the Craftsman tools have gone downhill you should try the Kenmore applicances. Real cr - uh - junk.

You think Kenmore has gone down hill, the year my Mom & Dad moved from Navy Housing to our own house.....1954(now I really feel old) my Aunt & Uncle gave my parents a Maytag Washer and Dryer set. The year my Dad got remarried to the Wicked Witch of the North aka his wife. They moved into a new house, and when they moved they bought a new Maytag Washer & Dryer. They gave the old set to my cousin and her husband. (she has since given that washer & dryer to her Son and his Wife) My wife and I bought a Maytag Washer & Dryer when we moved into our condo in 1989, have never had any problems with them. So when we needed a new Refrigerator we bought a Maytag 22cf side by side....what a piece of junk. In the first year that we had it, had the Maytag Man out almost every month, not keeping food cool, freezing food in the refer side. Ice maker over flowing ice maker not working water dispenser in door leaking. you name it went wrong after 7years we bought a new LG yes it was made offshore.

I would not buy another refrigerator made by Maytag if my life depended on it.

Sorry about highjacking this thread.

[CJ7ole]

Kmart was facing bankruptcy so Sears bought out Kmart, not the other way around. That is when my opinion of Sears went south. Remember when Kmart used to be the old Walmart, everywhere and always busy? Now I don't know how they stay in business.

That being said, I still have a good opinion of Craftsman hand tools, but I stay away from their powered shop and lawn/garden tools, exception being the 14" Professional series bandsaw that looks like a Rikon. It had the features and price I was looking for. Bought one and no problem after several years. And I have had the digital 1/2" torque wrench for about 10 years, IMHO a fine tool.

[Route 66]

For the record, from an old news report;

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Kmart is buying Sears, Roebuck & Co. for $11 billion in a deal that will marry two of the nation's oldest retailers that had trouble keeping up with the changes in American culture around them.

The deal, announced Wednesday morning, will create the third-largest retailer in the country. The new company, known as Sears Holdings, will be based at Sears headquarters outside Chicago.

[VSPA]

Originally Posted by bluck

ACE hardware is also selling Craftsman.

here in Las Vegas! Stopped by an Ace Hardware several days ago for other than a Pelonis ceramic heater and noticed that the are now carring both the Craftsman hand and electric tools. The base exchange out at Nellis AFB has been carring them of over a year now.

[CJ7ole]

Originally Posted by Route 66

For the record, from an old news report;

Guess the old memory isn't what it used to be.

[Crabby Mike]

Kenmore appliances, for as long as I've been buying them at least, have always been built by "someone else," i.e. a major appliance manufacturer. We just purchased a new washer and dryer for our new house (leaving the old ones behind), and DW wanted the newer version of our 5-year-old Kenmore Elite front-loaders, which have been great. Turns out that Sears a couple of years ago switched the Kenmore laundry line from Whirlpool to LG, so we bought new Whirlpools. I think we were told these were built in Germany, whereas the Maytag line (Maytag and Whirlpool now under common ownership, I forget who bought who) are still built in the U.S. (I could have this wrong, so don't flame me.)

Bottom line -- we buy the products we perceive as the best combination of quality, features, and price, regardless where built. All other things being equal, we'd buy U.S.-made, but not for more money or less quality. And the line is so blurry now -- foreign manufacturers building plants in the U.S., while U.S. manufacturers "outsource" overseas. And forget the companies' "ownership" -- they're almost all publicly-held companies, with stockholders here and worldwide.