Hot take: I think Craftsman tools have gone downhill since they stopped being made in the USA

My old man's ratchet from 1982 still clicks smooth as butter, but the one I bought at Lowe's last month stripped a gear on a simple bolt swap and I had to drive 40 minutes to get it replaced, anyone else notice the difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_john1mo ago

Man, you hit the nail on the head. @william_carter I see the same thing everywhere now, not just tools. Look at refrigerators, washing machines, even sneakers. Everything feels built to last exactly as long as the warranty, then fall apart. It's like companies figured out they make more money selling you the same thing twice instead of once every 30 years.

lily_singh229d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, this hits close to home. I recently spent a whole Saturday trying to fix my blender that just stopped working after like 18 months. Opened it up and found this tiny little plastic gear that was clearly designed to strip out under normal use. You could buy a whole new blender for what the replacement part cost, plus shipping. I stood there in my kitchen holding this little piece of broken plastic and just laughed. Felt like I was looking at a conspiracy theory come to life, except it's just regular business now.

william_carter1mo ago

... but my granddad's old Craftsman socket set has outlived three of his trucks, and I'm pretty sure it'll outlive me and my bad back. The new stuff feels like they're banking on the name to sell cheap metal to guys like me who don't know better. Guess that's what I get for thinking a ratchet could survive a Saturday afternoon project.