After the weird terms of the agreement between SBD and Sears I suppose it was inevitable. SBD got a fire sale price for a reason. They left Sears a lot of liberty with the brand.
Whatever the terms of the agreement, Sears certainly took a shot at SBD, who has every right to be pissed IMO. It’s a shame Sears was so inept in the way they handled Craftsman. As quality dwindled to straight garbage I cringed every time I saw some crackhead looking bastard in there warranting a bucket full of tools that you know damn good and we’ll were either A: Purchased at a flea market or B: Stolen, because they were rusted or they’d stirred paint with a screwdriver. Sears ran off people like us, to cater to people like that.
As far as I’m concerned they are just reaping what the sowed. For years when we went to the mall I’d rummage around Sears while Mrs. Conductor shopped. I’d always find something worth taking home. But the last couple times I was in there the inventory was pitiful. Whole isles that were once filled with tools lay vacant. It was sad and eventually I quit even going.
I felt that SBD really had a chance to capitalize on the brand. It was well within their capabilities to come to market with a solid offering. All they had to do was make the wrenches, ratchets, sockets, and screwdrivers, in the USA and nobody would have cared about any of the rest. But they bombed. They put out teasers about USA products, but all we got at launch was the “Assembled in USA” on some power tools. If SBD can’t make a wrench in the USA and sell it at an affordable price, nobody can. They could have, they just didn’t.
I know it’s stubborn, maybe even ridiculous, but I have ZERO interest in a Craftsman hand tool not made in the United States. I guess it makes me a hypocrite because I’m fine with some Asian stuff, but if it’s chrome and it turns a fastener, it has to say USA.
