ralper

I went back and got my money back but I didn't give them too much of a hard time. The Honda shop was owned by a nice older (actually they were probably middle aged but at 20 everyone over 35 looked old to me) couple. They tried to make excuses by I didn't want to hear. I never brought the bike back to them for anything else.

ralper

Those of you who have met my son Adam know that there still is hope. Adam and his friends like nothing more than to take cars apart and put them back together again. He's completely rebuilt the suspension and brakes on his Si and his friends at college have done the same to their cars. A fun day for them is spend at a U-Pick-It junk yard, stripping cars of parts to use on their own cars. Whereas we grew up with much simpler cars and as a result are intimidated by the more complex vehicles of today, they are less intimidated. They think nothing of working on their cars, and not knowing how simple the cars of the past were, they don't think that today's cars are overly complicated. They are not intimidated by the electronics, the lack of working space or the complexity. They somehow manage to figure it out.

As I mentioned I just passed to him a 3/4 inch Craftsman ratchet wrench that I inherited from my father. Between the tools that I've given him and those that he's bought he has quite a collection.

Where I think Sears has a problem is that while he and his friends like Craftsman tools, they don't have the brand loyalty to them that we had. They are just as happy to be using Husky Tools from Home Depot or Kobalt tools from Lowe's. They'd buy Snap-on or Mac but being college students, they just don't have the money.

I think that's one of the major problems that Sear's has. The brand loyalty that they once thrived on no longer exists.

boltonblue

The rear fog is a halogen in some. but MB are going over to bright LEDs in most cases now.
they are quicker to turn on and way more reliable.
as a design element they are also substantially shallower.
plastic lens and LED circuit board are only 1/2 to and inch thick versus the ~4-5 inches for the old bulb style.
gives you back a lot of trunk space.

Growing up we were certainly never confused for the wealthy or even middle class.
So when my dad passed away when i was 17 he didn't have a lot of effects in his estate.
My brother and I split the tools. I still have his old 4" slip lock pliers and the 18" 1/2 inch drive breaker bar and the 1/2 inch speeder.
don't have much else from him and I'll never give away those tools.

fltsfshr

Two things affected Sears in the long run. First was urbanization and the second was technology Sears started as a catalog and a franchised catalog store. Every small town had one. The catalog stores began as shipping and delivery places and they morphed into a product showroom.

When the small farmers began to fail and rural populations decreased, so did their market. The catalog business hung around until the internet came along. Sears like may others went to the malls with anchoring box stores. These are failing as well. (Macy's closed 40 stores today and laid off 4500 people). Sear's value when it was sold was in it's real estate more so than it's marketplace.

Market evolution is ongoing.

fltsfshr

Conedodger

If NY had that rule, 25% of the cars in my area would not pass.

MAGGIEMAE

Last year my Craftsman Lawn mower needed a new wheel so I went to my local lawnmower/small engine guy to get a new one. He said "why don't you just go to Sears" My answer "Where" his reply "Ok I will order one" There were three within 10 miles a few years ago but no more !!

MsPerky

Sears is selling its Craftsman tools for $900M to try to keep the company afloat. They are closing multiple stores across the US (some are K-Marts). Macy's is also closing many stores and laying off almost 10K people. Online sales are where it's at these days. Kinda sad...

gomarlins3

I needed a tool last week for a project and Mrs. GM3 said we should go to Sears as when we first got married 20+ years ago, I use to go there often for tools. I said we will check Lowe's and home Depot first since they are closer. Lowe's didn't have what I want and Home Depot only had a limited supply. We finally made it to Sears and sh was stunned how small the tool department had become. She had suggested Sears because she was convinced they would have a huge selection. They had what I was looking for, just not big enough so it was a fail all around. It is kind of sad really as I was SOOOO excited to be able to by my first red roller tool box from Sears 25 years ago. Still have it and have added levels onto it.

Scooterboy

The Craftsman tools of today are not the Craftsman tool I grew up with. Their quality has slipped considerable. For home use they may be ok but in a professional setting I don't waste my money on them.

boltonblue