I might be in the minority here on this, but I didn't have a problem with people returning Craftsman tools that they didn't buy. I don't recall the warranty being extended only to the original purchaser. Was it? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Craftsman tools had a lifetime warranty on the tool - not the user. So if I found a ratchet in the street (which I did once) I could return it. The tool carried the warranty - not the dodo who dropped it off his truck. And what about gifted tools to your kids - or Craftsman tools you bought at a garage sale? That's one of the main reasons why people would buy used Craftsman tools - because they could get the warranty. It was one of Sears selling points. How can we nuke people for doing with a tool what the manufacturer sold it with?
I recall when Ideal bought S-K they held off on warranty claims at first (like 2 years as I recall), and that caused some headaches and complaints. And I personally had a dealer tell me S-K would not honor a warranty on any WAYNE tool. What? Tools from between 1962 and 1969 were out of luck, but back to the 1940's was fine? Offer a warranty or don't - don't dink around with people AFTER the tool has been bought. Perhaps the company's fickleness caused some of their sales problems.
I grab any decent Craftsman tools now even though the warranty is in question. I now don't buy the tools for the warranty - I buy them because they're reasonably priced and decent enough for use.
Anyway, rant over.
I had extended family that worked for Sears, in the late 70's to somewhere in the very early 80's. I believe early 81, and then they I think received a buyout offer and opened a Westlake hardware store.
I didn't start buying Craftsman tools until the 90's, as when I was a kid, Sears was more a clothing store (Toughskins anyone?) or the Sears Warehouse. We were more Montgomery Wards and also their warehouse people.
In 1977 Sears moved out of the Square and into the new Independence Center, mall. I started driving in the mid 80's and tried to buy some quality tools, and ended up with some import stuff that Monkey wards was selling as Powerkriaft was gone, however they were better then the $4.99 socket sets that I was used to "us kids" having and I had to keep my tools in my trunk.
In the early to mid 80's Sears did an experiment where they started selling Craftsman tools that were made in Japan, then they rebranded as Sears and finally went away when they started pushing made in the USA again. I think it was during that time frame, they dropped things that I would have grown up with such as replacement blades for your tape measures, replacement handles for your hammers, when you needed something.
In the 90's, I started wrenching and I needed some tools to get started, and Sears was a recommendation to keep me from doing the stupid truck thing, which I couldn't afford. Truck tools were specialty tools. (and many of them came via Ebay. I also was looking for adult toughskins for work pants.
I had a few warranty things (misprinted socket, not broached socket, wobble socket missing half a pin) and tried to buy the better things (regular ratchets were a huge step over the ones in the $4.99 socket kits, but the RHFT were a huge step up again, then they came out with the smooth ones). I remember once a person came in with a wheelbarrow full of rusty Craftsman tools and walked out with all new tools. Evaporust would have been great, but a few tools would have needed replacing, however the tools weren't actually turned in under warranty (which I believe is still actually the same) but were turned in under the "satisfaction guarantee" that so many forget about!!!!! The satisfaction guarantee was more the killer, IMHE.
It was around this time they started dropping the most returned tools, with the exception of the bent screwdrivers/paint stirrers that I tended to see and shake my head at.
I still have some of my grandfathers tools that go back to when he had a garage in the 20's. A Husky ratchet (long before Home Depot existed or bought the name) and an SK ratchet that doesn't even say SK on it. No idea where he acquired his stuff (died when I was six), but most are not around anymore.