| Author | Message | ||
     Etennuly |
Don't know if anyone knows what is happening with the Irwin Manufacturing and Kobalt tools at Lowes. They are going Asian  (oh surprise)! Apparently by our financial votes WE told them that is what we wanted. Right now at Lowes stores they are selling off their Kobalt stuff for about twenty five cents on a dollar. I just touched up my socket sets and missing wrenches drawer with some pretty good stuff on the cheap. Jimmy Johnson will probably be racing a Daewoo next season!  | ||
| Fahren |
Hmmm. When you say "silent," your really mean it. I see no sign of any tool sales at any Lowes I can get to. Is it not published in weekly flyers or online? | ||
| Noone1569 |
It's not. They don't want to publicize the drop of American tools. Just go into the aisle by the Kobalt stuff and bingo. Great time to restock the lost sockets we have have been regretting. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Wow, thanks for the info! | ||
| Thumper74 |
Even rollaway tool boxes...? | ||
| Etennuly |
Go to the tool section and see all of the yellow clearance stickers!  I guess they don't want to sell tools anymore, just impressions of tools that cost less. I'm thinking Queen's song.....'Another One Bites The Dust'. Damn tough business competing with Craftsman for the home tool market. | ||
| Etennuly |
Seems like the larger pricer items like the tool boxes and power tools are hanging at the store prices for now. They will probably have an end date for dumping last minute stuff. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Hmm.. everything seems normal here at my Lowes, but all of there single sockets and wrenches are GONE. There isn't any yellow clearance stickers out of the norm. Lady working here said they where on sale but the are NOT getting rid of there Kobalt brand. Who knows. | ||
| Sifo |
Went to Lowes today. Yellow tags on the single socket stuff. Pretty much everything else was normal. Still picked up some tools at normal price. I was just tired of making due without a few items. It's about time I got some 1/4 drive deep well metric sockets!  | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
I actually picked up a socket about two months ago and it was the same deal - all single sockets were on sale for cheap, many were already gone. So apparently this is nothing new | ||
| Buellish |
No yellow tags at my Lowe's.It was business as usual. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Here is what the socket section looked like!  | ||
| Andymnelson |
That's about how mine looked as well- old stuff is long gone. That's the new display for the Taiwanese stuff. However, every Kobalt tool I've ever looked at was made in China....the new stuff is definitely cheap crap, and made in Taiwan. There are a few tools left at my Lowes on clearance, all made in China. What Kobalt tools were made in USA? | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Apparently by our financial votes WE told them that is what we wanted. Yes we say Buy American with our mouths, but scream Buy Asian with our wallets. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I get most of my tools at harbor freight nowadays. With their basement prices and my member discount, I get at least twice as many tools as I could anywhere else. Only managed to break a single piece and they replaced the whole SET, letting me keep the spares. | ||
| Fahren |
I love a quality tool to work with, no boutadoubtit. There's a real pleasure that we all know in doing the right job with the right tool. But I have to admit that my wallet doesn't always talk that same game. It is much more likely to lead me over to HF as well. Ah the dualities of being human! :-) | ||
| Svh |
Hand tools that I use often I get from Craftsmen and make sure they are made in USA as I do with pliers from Channel Lock and screwdrivers. But if I have to get a tool to use once a year HF it is. I have found a few made in USA products there but they are very very hard to find. Lowes by me looked like the above picture without any yellow tags and the remaining sockets were all made in Taiwan. I had never looked at tools at Lowes before and there were VERY few Made in USA products. | ||
| Spank |
I had heard that Lowe's is going to be selling Craftsmen stuff. I don't go to Lowe's because most of them around here are in the hood, but I might have to check one out! | ||
| Svh |
Home Depot's Husky brand I believe is rebranded Craftsmen stuff. Their socket sets and ratchets are for sure not sure about the rest of the hand tools | ||
| Biffdotorg |
Nothing on sale in our Lowe's here in Fargo. Business as usual. I will have to keep an eye on it though. | ||
| Closetbueller |
All the singles were already gone at my local Lowes, but scored some 75% off deals on a 1/4" drive set and a 3/8" drive set. I'm a sucker for a clearance item. | ||
| Spank |
Now that I think of it, maybe it was Home depot that I heard was selling Craftsmen. I know (and hope) they go somewhere as Kmarts are closing all over the place around here and Sears stores are hard to come by. | ||
| Romanrider |
Our local Ace Hardware sells Craftsman tools and toolboxes now. Not a full selection like at Sears, but probably what they expect they can sell. | ||
| Spank |
I wish my local Ace did...it's only a block away. Had to go buy a socket recently and it costs twice as much there than most places... | ||
| Ohbueller |
I noticed the Kobalt sockets on clearance about a month ago and a few wrenches at my local Lowes, the selection was sparse already then. They said they were changing manufacturers, didn't mention Asia though. I have also seen Craftsman at ACE Hardware. | ||
| Kuuud |
AFAIK Kobalt has always been Chinese crap and I won't buy it. When Irwin bought Vise-Grip (about 3 years ago)it was announced they were closing the American factory(ies) and moving production to China. I will never buy another VG product. I only but Craftsman, Channel-lock, Lisle, etc. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Where is craftsmen made? | ||
| Rah7777777 |
I've been to 3 lowes in the Dallas area over the past couple weeks and none of them had jack on sale except some drill bits and a very very small handful other small tool accesories. All had fully stocked shelves.. | ||
| Etennuly |
From what I have seen they were moving all of the ratchets, sockets and wrenches. I think it was all done as of June 30. Everything that was discounted at the local Lowes here was gone last week. | ||
| Jayvee |
Yeah, I was sad to see Vice-Grip go away. We have local Orchard Supply Hardware, and they were bought by Sears a few years ago, so of course they sell Craftsman stuff. Not all of it, but some basics. | ||
| Biffdotorg |
So I was in Lowes this week and took a look at the sockets. All the individual sockets in the Fargo store said "Made in Taiwan" on the back. They had already cleared all the US made stuff out! I went down a couple more aisles and sure enough, there was a small clearance section with the remaining of the US made sockets and handtools all marked at 75% off to move quickly. Nothing was really left of value. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I always thought the big Cobalt rolling boxes would make appropriate bachelor 'kitchen' cabinets. I have seen it done with Craftsman as well, but I am not a fan of RED. |
