Craftsman (tools)

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Craftsman is a line of tools and lawn and garden equipment, owned by The KCD IP, LLC. The tools are sold in Sears and Kmart stores, and also at Fastenal. Craftsman® is ranked by men as the No. 1 brand in America for overall quality, according to a recent brand survey. Consumers in general ranked Craftsman No. 2 in terms of quality - preceded only by Waterford crystal. (Source: Nov. 2002 EquiTrend(SM) survey by Harris Interactive).Workers in more than 100 towns across America work together to produce 80 percent of the over 5,100 Craftsman tools. Since 1927, Craftsman has sold more hammers and other striking tools than any other brand.

1 Sales
2 History
3 Warranty
4 Legal Battles

[edit] Sales

Craftsman sells more mechanics' tools than any other brand. For example, more than one million Craftsman sockets are manufactured in a day, and 30 million Craftsman wrenches are sold each year. Since 1927, Craftsman has sold more than 85 million pairs of pliers, 725 million screwdrivers and 28 million adjustable wrenches.

Sears sells more lawn mowers and tractors than any other U.S. retailer. Craftsman lawn mowers and tractors are produced by Husqvarna AB and are slightly altered versions of their Poulan, Poulan Pro, and Husqvarna products. By far, the majority of Electrolux's lawn mowers and tractors are sold through Sears. The products were sold all in silver at one time, recently Sears divided the product lines into 3 colors. For unknown reasons, the top color progressively moves down the lineup, moving to less expensive products. Green was the high-end color, but was replaced by silver, then red, and, most recently, black. Sears utilizes the color code system of good, better, best. Green and silver being good, red and orange being better, black being best. All tools and lawn and garden items use this color code system.

Craftsman markets more than 5,000 products in 80 tool and equipment categories.

[edit] History

Sears has sold its best hand tools under the "Craftsman" name since 1927. Into the 1970s, their secondary line of hand tools were called simply "Sears," and were of above average quality. Sears' bargain line of tools was (and is) called "Companion." The "Sears" line was discontinued around 1980. In recent years, a subset of the Craftsman line, known as "Craftsman Professional" has been introduced as a "highest quality" line under the Craftsman logo, and they are billed as "Only The Best." The "Companion" line continues on as the bargain priced tools.

[edit] Warranty

Craftsman hand tools have an unlimited lifetime warranty; however, some items are considered specialty tools, and thus not covered under the warranty. Examples include drill bits, and knives which will get dull with use no matter what.

Craftsman Portable Power Tools, Bench Power Tools, Air Compressors and other items carry a one-year warranty; however, Sears offers replacement agreements and master protection agreements, on most of their tools. Replacement agreements is one in store replacement within 2 years of the purchase of a product. A master protection agreement is either in home or in store repair of a product, either 3 years or 5 years, depending on the product.

After the merger K-Mart began selling Craftsman products; K-Mart stores do honor the life-time warranties (only on hand tools).

The unlimited lifetime warranty is voided if the tool is used in an industrial or commercial environment. For these situations, there is a special unlimited warranty program, but the tools cost more because the warranty would likely be invoked more often.

[edit] Legal Battles

Craftsman tools came under fire in 2004 in a lawsuit accusing Sears, Roebuck and Co of false advertising and consumer fraud for questionable use of the "Made in USA" slogan.[1]

Sears Holdings Corporation

People: Floyd Hall | Alan J. Lacy | Sebastian S. Kresge | Alvah C. Roebuck | Richard Sears