I noticed something different on Harbor Freight’s website today, aside from how annoying their paid membership Inside Track Club pop-ups are.
Apparently Harbor Freight recently updated their logo.
Looking at my email newsletters, Harbor Freight changed their logo there too, starting around June 12th.
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This isn’t their first logo change in recent years.
At the front of their 2012 Black Friday sales flyer, Harbor Freight’s logo read “Harbor Freight Tools,” with “Quality Tools at Ridiculously Low Prices” underneath.
They dropped the “Tools” part of the store name and logo sometime between then and the 2015 holiday shopping season.
Shown here is the front page from their 2019 Black Friday sales flyer front page, the last season that “Quality Tools at ridiculously Low Prices” was part of the logo.
Sometime around 2020, the logo changed to read “Quality Tools Lowest Prices.”
And now, it’s just Harbor Freight with a solid blue underline.
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I find this interesting, and am wondering if any other changes are coming.
Rascally
I’ve been buying Harbor Freight since they were mail order in 1978. I still use impact sockets purchased back then. I’m really glad they sell multi level grade tools now. I generally don’t loan tools, but if I do, I have certain tools I will loan and their higher grade counterparts that will not get loaned. Logo change doesn’t really matter to me.
Jonatan Gonzalez
I think, considering the retail industry, it should matter to us. With this “insignificant”change, could bring us higher prices. The last thing any store wants is to be caught up in a lie, scam, or even lawsuit for predatory claims or whatever. It sounds like I’m reaching, I’ll admit, but….nothing is too crazy nowadays. Just a thought
John
Their prices have been creeping up quickly over the past 4-5 years. Strategy on their part to remove the low price moniker. Removing ‘Tools’ must have future intent as well.
HF fills a purpose in the market, but as their near infinite house brand names get more expensive, other sources become necessary.
Bonnie
Yeah. My only reason to go into HF traditionally has been to get something cheap (clamps, dust collector, etc). As their prices have risen to rival the name-brands (and consumables like nitrile gloves I’ve found are now even more expensive at HF) I find less and less reason to ever go in.
They still have a few cheap handy items, like the truck-bed unloader, that aren’t easily found elsewhere.
Berg
I’m not sure these logo changes really say THAT much about their strategy. I think it just makes sense as they grow to be bigger and more recognized to have simpler cleaner branding. They no longer need the logo to inform people that they sell tools or that they have low prices because more people are already familiar with their m.o. than when those older logos were made.
MCP
Agreed 100%
Steve L
Wal-Mart Discount City over time became Walmart
Keep it simple.
Scott
I STILL view them as the cheap tool store that sells “disposable tools”. I tend to go there when I need tools that I only plan on using once or twice. And I also buy consumables like gloves.
fred
This year I am suddenly noticing that they are advertising on television. The emphasis on the commercials seems to be – get the job well done and still have money left in your wallet. The ad that I’ve seen seem to feature some Icon mechanics tools, a Hercules impact wrench and a Bauer circular saw. I may be wrong – but think that TV and radio advertising is a relatively new thing for HF – perhaps going along with their trying to reach a different or larger market.
PW
That’s fascinating, I had no idea they have broadcast television ads. I have noticed Youtube video ads this past year, presumably from the same ad content pool.
That seems like a marketing shift. I think they’ve been wanting to pivot from their old marketing approaches (giant coupon circulars) for a while now. I am surprised by the decision to take out expensive TV ads.
Bonnie
Broadcast TV ads seem like they’d end up targetting the same population as circulars. Older homeowners mostly (I don’t know any Millenials or Zoomers who even have TV antennas or listen to terrestrial radio).
fred
I’m certainly in that demographic. I’m told we’re called the silent generation. The broadcast ads I’ve heard or seen were on a news radio station and via the Smithsonian channel on TV.
Doc
I’m a Millenial, and I listen to terrestrial radio. But I’m also a broadcast engineer, so that may play a part in that (lol). You’re correct, most my age stream all media.
Mike
Are they broadcast TV ads, or are you using cable or streaming services (like YouTube TV)? Because during commercial breaks, the networks leave space for the local station to drop in ads, and the cable and streamers often use that slot to drop in their own ads.
Likewise, are you seeing the ads during prime time TV, or during local channel programming, like 4pm-8pm? Again, that’s ad revenue for your local station.
fred
The radio ad was on a local all-news format broadcast (both AM and FM) station. The TV – was on a TV station (Smithsonian channel) provide via a cable network.
TomD
It could also be that broadcast ad rates have dropped low enough that they might as well.
They’re also expanding significantly – used to be one or two in a metro now there’s tons.
CMF
Add to this, is where there ads are placed.
When you watch most prime time shows, you get middle of the road ads; McDonald’s, Old Navy, and other ads aimed at family.
Watch a football or baseball game, you see prime time ads + lots of beer commercials.
Watch PGA golf or CNN, they tend to be a bit more high brow, like investment firms, sometimes Tag Heuer watches and similar.
So when I saw HF on CNN, I was a bit surprised.
Kent
football games are also half commercials for trucks!
Rog
Definitely an intentional move to start going upmarket.
I hope their quality continues to increase but I miss
some of the old “quaint charm” that HF used to have. Their stores felt like a Mom and Pop collection of things rather than a big corporate entity
fred
I have not been to a HF since before the pandemic. I used to go to buy boxes of chip brushes and nitrile gloves. The closest HF to me was sort of “on the other side of the tracks” – in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood. The store always seemed clean and well lit – sometimes with a line of customers waiting to pay. But the place always had a smell – perhaps from the packaging or oil use to protect some of the tools in transit from China.
Goodie
I’ve noticed the smell as well. Reminds me of the smell of cosmoline.
Bonnie
It’s the oil/grease from tool packaging. I think that’s the pretty universal environment for a Harbor Freight. Slightly sketchy strip malls, often near the user car dealership and budget food stores. But the stores themselves have always been clean and well organized (better than the home centers often).
PW
I think HF has always sought locations with cheap rent. I think it also tended to put them close to their core demographic – people without a lot of money for fancy tools, but working class / handy.
I’ve been in HFs where there are bars for the windows and stuff was stolen off my transportation in the parking lot, but the store was still clean and well organized.
Now that you mention it, I’ve never been to a dirty or disorganized HF. That’s kind of remarkable.
Coach James
HF built a standalone store here as well as a town 30 miles north of here. Nice exteriors and well-maintained parking lots at both.
Yadda
The Harbor Freight near me is located in a former Hancock Fabric store front.
Joe E.
I still struggle to move past their brand names. There’s too much crossover which creates confusion. Just pick 2 or 3 names and be done with it.
That being said, they’re still the cheapest place to buy zip ties and shop rags, which is all I buy there.
Goodie
Tarps, bungees, ratchet straps. They have a lot of good stuff there.
I’ve also tend to buy “beater” tools there that I don’t want to worry about. This includes inexpensive wrenches and “beater” drill bits.
Wayne R.
Having come up using T&B and Panduit cable tyes, and with some parallel experience with cheapos, I’ll only ever use the good stuff.
Spearhead91
Same here. Hellermann Tyton as well.
fred
My take was that their original brand names might have been selected to suggest a different COO than China – and perhaps convey a USA heritage. I’m thinking of brands like Chicago Electric, Pittsburgh and Western Safety. The newer brand name Bauer may have been picked for its Germanic sound (bauer = farmer in German). Some of their other brand names (like Diamond Life, Hercules, Icon, Lifetime Carbide, Merlin, Voyager, Warrior) were probably picked because of the mental image they might convey.
Bonnie
One hundred percent. They were trying to appear “all American” in branding and not just a retailer for Chinese knockoffs.
Robert
Honestly, I wouldn’t have noticed the changes in logo, and it wouldn’t matter for what I occasionally buy from HF. Cheap consumables that are not critical.
Mike
Ditto – nitrile gloves, zip ties, tarps, moving blankets, foam floor mats, and an occasional hand tool.
Do not buy power tools at HF. While the quality has improved, their prices are not that much lower than tools at HD or Lowes that have better warranties.
Jolly wood
The Hercules brushless line has a 5 year warranty on the tool and 3 years on the batteries. My Hercules impact driver was $70 for the bare tool or $100 for tool, battery and charger combo. It replaced my 1st gen Milwaukee Fuel impact after it died and I couldn’t be happier with it! I drove multiple 8″ lags into 4×6 with ease and no stalling like the milwaukee.
Bonnie
My local Harbor Freight only carries 50-packs of nitrile gloves as far as I can tell, for the same price I can get a better 100 pack elsewhere. They used to be the main thing I bought there.
Lincoln
They are still the best place for disposable nitrile gloves when they are on sale like this weekend, otherwise look elsewhere.
Robert
Costco has “Medicom Vulcan” nitrile gloves on sale at $10 for 150. Frustratingly, it doesn’t say the mil thickness, but I’ve found they don’t tear on me when my hands are a bit sweaty and I am trying to pull them on, unlike many others.
Nathan
Haven’t they started to carry stuff that’s not tools? Like home Depot and Lowe’s. That’s now I see it
PW
I haven’t noticed a major shift in the types of products they carry. They’ve always had a bunch of tool-adjacent stuff, from cast iron pans to wheel casters.
If anything, I think they’ve been culling some of the more oddball stuff to make room for their new “premium” tools.
I wouldn’t compare HF to HD or Lowe’s, and I don’t think they’ll ever be a complete competitor. Their stores are too small form factor, they’re the size of a couple departments at the BORG.
They might ultimately out-compete on tools and certain supplies, but the BORG is still where you’ll go for a load of lumber, Simpson ties, structural screws, and some concrete mix.
Scottie
I can see Harbor Freight tool trucks in the near future.😭….That’ll really give the Snap On fanboys many a sleepless night.
Mike
Most of the time, I only visit Harbor Freight if there’s a coupon on something I want. Even if I want something, I’ll wait for a coupon, either on that item or a general %off coupon. And the HF is probably 10 minutes away from me.
scott
best 10 grinder ever. I have four with different wheels, A welder friend of mine was like at 10 each they are consumables . I have tried to kill the drill master that is 15+ years old, even replaced the brushes. Damn thing is indestructible.
Scott F
I was able to kill one after 6 years, the old red bodied, slide switch, cheapest option available in 2012 kind. I was using a grinding disc as a cutoff wheel in 3/8″ steel to make slots for trailer ramps to sit into. The grinder overheated and the motor literally flamed up (probably wire insulation burning). I was not surprised or let down, that grinder cost me $12 and was given hell every time I used it.
scott
Speaking of tool trucks if HF does that with credit the tool truck guys are screwed,
CMF
This would be interesting to see. Either, they would make a killing and put SO and the others out of business, or no one would buy from the HF trucks, no matter how good the tools and service are because of how they would be looked down upon by other mechanics.
Certainly would be interesting to see which way it would go.
PW
I thought that was part of the intent of their store credit card? I haven’t paid attention to the ins and outs, but I thought they were intending their CC to try and give a similar facility to people. It seemed to correspond with their upmarket tool chest push, which is one of the items in their store big ticket enough to require financing for a lot of their customers. I know a store CC isn’t _quite_ the same thing, but depending on terms it could function the same way for many.
CMF
As someone mentioned in another post, many have a prejudice with HF. I would also say a stigma about buying at HF, or even admitting going into one of their stores…a bit like Walmart.
Jim Felt
Agreed. Fair or not.
fred
When US General – a small chain of retail tool stores went bankrupt Harbor Freight bought them (or at least the right to their name.) During the Space race US General was a respected supplier of professional level tools. Their store – closest to me was located down the street from where the Lunar Lander (LEM) was being built. It was the place that I first saw Mitutoyo on display next to Brown and Sharp and Starrett. At the other end of the store were all the pro brands of corded power tools.
Wayne R.
I don’t want anyone to see HF or Walmart tools in my sets. I try to do premium work and don’t want anyone to associate my work with being cheap. I’d much rather have old but good tools than shiny poor ones.
fred
I commented in a similar vein on a prior post. In our remodeling business we were known for what the Brits would call bespoke work. We’d try to go the extra mile – use scarf joints when joining moldings, small biscuits and glue at miter joints on larger casings etc. We did much of our work on high-end new and old homes – often called upon to try to replicate the hardware, installation techniques and craftsmanship of a bygone era. We probably never won a contract based on low bid. So, if you are doing a $100k kitchen do you want to trust your work and workers to bargain-priced tools? Then too – what message does it convey to your customer if you show up with a $60 HF pancake compressor. IMO that’s a challenge for HF going forward if they want or need to move into an upscale professional user market.
s
and to this comment, i’m reminded of a saying an old tradesman once taught me.
“the tools don’t make the man”
in all my years remodeling million-dollar houses, or building $300,000 trucks, i’ve never had someone balk at the discount wire stripper i use from harbor freight.
fred
You are correct that the best tools in the hands of an unskilled, poorly trained or uncaring worker will not produce quality work. But a bad tool may make the job harder or worse unsafe. Your HF wire stripper was apparently a good tool despite its price since you did good work with it – and I’m sure that HF also sells many similarly capable tools. But HF is now engaged in a campaign to try to change their image from being a purveyor of cheap tools to one of selling good tools at a lower-than-average price. They would not be striving to do this if their past image for quality was already stellar.
In an analogous vein – when we’d promote one of our carpenters to “lead carpenter” or bring a new hire on in that position – we’d present them with a Lie Nielsen block plane of their choice. That was not because we thought that they could not do their job without such a costly plane. We wanted to send a message that they were in a position that demanded a high level of craftsmanship, and the plane was meant as an inspiration and reminder of our expectations.
My other thoughts about buying tools – particularly power tools – for a business concern warranty. We considered a warranty more as a manufacturer’s advertising adjunct than as something of great value. We wanted to buy tools from brands that had a reputation for good performance and reasonable life-expectancy. If a warranty helped promote that perception so, be it. But a tool that failed in the middle of a job cost us time and money and no warranty would compensate for that. We’d also worried that an inferior power tool failure could result in damage or injury. That’s not to say that a big-name tool would not fail – and we certainly had our share of end-of-life failures of tools from all the major brands. But we just had more confidence in buying from manufacturers that had a reputation for quality and durability rather than low price.
OldDominionDIYer
It’s funny but historically brand logos always get simpler as the brand grows. Seems like a natural progression and not surprising at all, if anything I would see it as expected. Good for Harbor Freight, Great solution for most of us. Some of their stuff is fantastic and for one or rare use tools they are great.
DRT42
Yes. I totally agree with both Fred and Wayne. As a consumer, when we “got off the wallet” and spent the big bucks for an addition onto our house – I was looking at every subs tools. If I had seen any HFT, I would have kinda flipped out, to be honest.
s
does it also matter what the tradesperson drives to the jobsite? do you not let them in if they have anything less than a bmw 6 series?
personally, i’ve worked with a lot of contractors, and none of them have ever had a tool belt full of only name brand tools…
but i’d also seriously question what one is really paying for if the quality of the tools, and the new-ness of their shop vehicle is of importance
i’ve seen old timer carpenters do more and to a higher quality with a $5 hammer and $10 chisel than some new-age carpenters will do with a van full of power tools…
fred
I’m not sure we are talking about skill level or that you can only do quality work with top shelf expensive tools. Now that I’m retired, my home shop is a hobbyist space devoted from time to time in the making of reproduction furniture. If I could bring a Duncan Phyfe back to life, my machine and hand tools would likely astonish him. But what he accomplished using hand tools far surpasses my puny efforts. But his toolchest did not contain inferior tools – many of which he crafted or tuned-up to his liking.
In the businesses that I was associated with – we had a philosophy of supplying all the tools that were needed to get the job done in a safe and professional manner. We made tool purchasing decisions considering cost/benefit ratios with input from the folks who were actually using the tools. As an example, when we fleetingly got into timber frame construction, we decided to buy Makita rather than Mafell based on functionality and cost. We were glad we did – because that work turned out to be a flash-in-the pan for us. But in the plumbing business – when we tried out Knipex plier wrenches – we phased them in replacing Channellocks – because despite their higher cost the guys thought that they were so much better. To your analogy about hammers – we usually bought middle-of-the road ones depending on individual preferences. That might be an Estwing, or Vaughan etc. But if someone wanted a Martinez we were happy to let them bring their own onto our jobsites.
We also paid attention to the condition of our tools (including our trucks) with an eye on performance and safety – but also on appearance. My view and that of my partners said that rolling up on a jobsite with rusted out – dented in or dirty truck – with a jumble of tools in the back sent a message to the customer that we did not care about our equipment – and might not care about the work we did on their property. My view is that some tradesmen may want to convey a message that they are the low bidders and consequently you might need to accept a rusted hulk of a truck parked in your driveway. That was not us. So, respectfully in answer to your question IMO it does matter what the tradesman drives to the jobsite – not so much if it’s a BMW (we bought mostly Fords and StepVans with a few larger trucks thrown in) – but certainly it should be clean and presentable.
DRT42
It’s just a measure of “cheapness”. If a professional who uses his/her tools daily, shows up with cheap tools, then (in my opinion) they are more likely to use cheap parts when building my house. I don’t want cheap parts in my house. I’m paying a lot of money and I want good parts, so yes, I looked at all the “parts” as well as the tools.
More to your point about tools being fancy vs. good vs. cheap – I saw a lot of Estwing hammers. Everybody had the exact same hammer ! Not a single titanium hammer on site. No HFT hammers, either.
But really funny – I did in fact check out all their trucks. No, I didn’t expect a BMW, although the tile installer showed up in an older 3-series BMW (I am not making this up, he really did, and he did a great job tiling the master bathroom). I talked to many of the guys to see what their experiences were, how reliable, what they liked or disliked about their trucks. I got a lot more out of that, than reading a magazine review. And the guys really liked talking about their trucks.
eddiesky
I walked in to the local Harbor Freight and IMMEDIATELY I’m greeted by the cashier, the clerk and another employee that was stocking items. Whereas when I go into HD, just 1/4 mile away, I see sad employees or none at all. Granted the sad one did ask if I needed help, as he was putting plumbing parts back where they belong – because local asshatshoppers just are lazy as f-ck.
Which brings me back to, I can get a 10 pack of cutoff discs or sanding discs for less than a pack of 2 at HD.
My thoughts of HF over the years have changed in that, its a bargain if I don’t need to rely on stuff daily. Packing blankets, tarps, consumables… all fine. If I were a HF rep, for April Fools, I’d sell a 10-pack of 10mm sockets!
Jack D
LOL. They actually sell an assorted 10mm socket set–I’ve got it mounted to the shop wall right next to the door for quick access!
fred
If the experience you had at your local store is a part of the corporate culture and extends over their 1500 other stores – then that’s a great thing. While the 2 Home Depot’s closest to me don’t usually have 3 employees greeting you – the staff are visible and way more helpful than those at my local Lowes – where finding anyone is a challenge and getting info even more so. From your example – it seems like Lowes (although producing 10x the revenue of HF) could learn a lesson from them.
MM
It’s nice that the employees greet customers, but I feel that simple greeting alone can sometimes be counterproductive. Staff needs to be both friendly and knowledgeable. If they aren’t knowledgeable, then being friendly creates hassle.
My local Ace hardware has this problem. Badly. Management always assigns an employee to stand near the door and to aggressively greet and “assist” customers who come in….but IME they don’t actually know their own merchandise and I can find what I want much faster than they can assist me. I actually loathe going there because dealing with this person is always awkward. It nearly always goes likes this:
-They greet me and ask how they can help
-I tell them what I want. Most recently it was a Forstner bit.
-They don’t know what the item is. But they’re sure happy to help look, if I’ll wait just a moment while they whip out their phone app.
-At this point I’m mired in a conversation which is now stalled waiting on a laggy app. Meanwhile, had they not stopped me, I’d already be standing in line at the register with the bit in my hand. Instead, I’m watching the employee struggle to spell “forstner” on their phone’s keypad.
On two occasions this person has quite confidently told me that they don’t even sell the product I was asking for while in fact they had them in stock.
Jack D
I love my local Harbor Freight, so much so I ended up going with Hercules when it was time to make a leap into a new 20V ecosystem…in fact, I credit HF with my finding Toolguyd, during that same period.
They sort of take me back to the old Sears tool sections. Even down to their lifetime replacement policies. Bring in the broken tool, and walk out with a new one in minutes. That goes a long way towards brand loyalty and trust.
I dig that they have a bad rep with some, but I’ve never been a snob in any part of my life, and I don’t intend to start anytime soon…but, I’m just an old barman, skilled at doing DIY on home and vehicles, but not much else, so take it for what its worth.
fred
In my youth I bought some good tools in the local Sears’ basement. I also bought some not-so-good ones based on hype and misplaced expectations. In thinking about S’s comment about “tools not making the man” – I was guilty back in the 1960’s of thinking that at top-of-the-line Sears RAS would do all I wanted to get me started in a woodworking hobby. I had more experience with plumbing than woodworking – but had used a Unisaw back in HS shop class. So, I bought into the hype about RAS being a multipurpose tool. After a wake-up call while trying to rip some lumber – I decided that I needed to learn more about the tool and my prospective hobby. I found a local woodworking club with access to a shop and worked on improving my skills. When I bought a larger house some years later – the RAS was relegated to a corner and a Unisaw came in. If I had not put in the effort to learn and practice woodworking techniques from folks who were more proficient – I might have just given up the hobby – or worse yet has a really serious accident with the RAS.
Built into S’s comment is some good advice – that might be especially true for folks who are new to using tools or embarking on a new craft, hobby or trade. My translation of his quoted old adage is that there is no substitution for training, practice and dedication in learning a craft. We also need to recognize that the best training and practice may not suffice in making us into a master at what we do if we do not have the innate talent. In our businesses we had a mix of employees – some I’d consider craftsman – more who we thought of as journeyman professionals and others who were just learning with potential to grow. This all had something to do with time on the job – but that alone was not sufficient to rise to the level of “craftsman”
In my own case, I think of my furniture building hobby as having risen to the Journeyman level – but I do not have the vision for design or finesse to do much more than copy work from the past. No shiny new tool would have ever changed that. New tools have certainly helped speed up my processes and changed some workflows – but with each new tool has come a learning curve and practice needed to perfect their use.
Jack D
I was supposed to inherit my father’s Radial Arm Saw when he passed, but I told his wife to sell it for what she could. Many considerations, but certainly safety was a top one. As in all things, it’s about learning from those who went before.
After all, that’s how I learned a good hand saw can do all a RAS can do, and sometimes better, with a little elbow grease.
On a side note, I’m building my first REAL cabinet this winter, so we’ll see if I’m as smart as I like to think I am…
fred
Cabinet makers (today we might call them furniture makers) in the 18th century – did everything with hand tools. The first circular saws did not show up in Europe until late in the 1700’s and they were belt driven machines driven by water wheel power.
The last cabinets I made used dominos for joinery – but I’ve also used pocket screws in the past for face frame construction. The ideas for these date-back many years – but it was not until fairly recently that machinery allowed for their easy use. By analogy, old cabinet makers might have used a hand brace and auger bit to bore holes for dowels – or chop mortises with a chisel and mallet to accept a loose tenon. Wood screws were introduced in the late 1700’s – but the earliest pocket holes seemed to have been created by hand using a gouge and a chisel.
While old growth timber out of a sawmill might come in wider widths than today – there was no plywood, MDO or MDF to create cases. Both seen and hidden (secondary wood) boards mostly had to be created to width via glue-ups with hot hide glue. Lots of hand planing would have taken the place of the jointer-planer that I’d use to prep the boards.
Cabinet hardware (like hinges) once made by a blacksmith – started to be factory made – but the idea of an adjustable cup hinge was unheard of. Ball bearing soft close drawer slides and interior LED lighting that make modern kitchen cabinets nice – would have been a pipe dream. Instead, old craftsmen might choose different woods for mating drawer slide surfaces.
My drawer dovetails were created with a router and my trusty old Porter Cable jig – and while I’ve cut pins and tails with hand tools for making jewelry boxes – I cringe at having to do a kitchen that way – the time a cussing that would be involved.
And everything might be hand-fitted with the last little details being tuned up with plane. I find a need to still do some of this to get the reveals all perfect when creating matching double doors inlayed into cabinet frames rather than set as overlay doors.
What some of those early cabinetmakers did have was amazing skill, patience and the vision to create some truly beautiful and decorative pieces.
In all events – have fun with your cabinet project.
Kilroy
I used to buy cheap nitrile gloves at HF. It seems nitrile gloves shot WAY up on price during the pandemic (everywhere, not just HF) due to demand, were overproduced, and are now available cheaply in bulk from “deal of the day” type sites and stores.
If you don’t need thick/quality nitrile gloves, Woot sells cases of generic cheap nitrile gloves every month or two, at $29.99 shipped for 1000. That’s the best price I’ve seen and cheap enough that I don’t mind doubling up on gloves or losing a glove or two that tears when putting it on. Alternatively, Amazon (which owns Woot and sometimes uses Woot as its way to sell cheap/discontinued items) sells what I presume are the same items for a few dollars more.
JM
I see this as an evolution from great PRICE to great VALUE.
If real (or perceived) quality goes up more or faster than the price, then the product is still a good value. I think if they maintain a X% price gap vs HD/Lowes, then they will continue to grow and be successful.
I think they have increased pricing on the more specialty tools and categories where HD/Lowes do not carry or have far more limited assortment.
Jack D
Great point that I hadn’t considered. Well said!
JoeH
They have been trying to improve themselves and offer lines of tools, such as Icon, that are a step up in quality and price from their lower end stuff so it only makes since that their logo reflects the fact that they are no longer offer only low price low quality stuff. Just like dropping the “Tools” falls in with them offering more stuff that isn’t just a tool. They are expending, and their logo and marketing should match.
Mike M
I don’t shop there a ton, but I do occasionally. I like many of their tools. Some because they are cheap and disposable and others because they’re almost as good if not as good as other brands for less money. Same with their tool boxes.
They started as a cheap ass store for anything but like any company they want to make money. I’m a firm believer in selling large quantities for small profits so that everyone benefits – company makes money and customer gets cheaper items. But, scale of economy says that they want to start moving up the chain to make more profit. Who knows. They might wind up beating a lot of other companies in price still and have the same level of quality.
I’m interested in seeing where this goes.
When I went back to school for trades about 7-8 years ago I started with mostly Pittsburgh stuff. Then upgraded as I went through school and had more money. Back when I was a machinist, my shift leader was smart. He had a US General box and Pittsburgh tools for most things. Anything that was precision was better quality but anything that was disposable was cheap. He could own two of some stuff for way less than one of a big brand and when one failed he had a second and could take the first to HF to get it replaced.
Johan
IMO we put too much emphasis on perception. Does perception matter? Absolutely! Is it everything? No! If you are using your show off tools to get paid more for the same job (quality being the same). Shame on you. You’re no better than the car stealerships. Taking something supposedly trustworthy and ripping people off. Also most average people want honest work and fair prices they could care less what name your tool carries. Thankfully we can still mostly choose in this country where and who does our work. If you wanna pay some dude 2000 for a 1000 job because he uses show off tools be my guest. I buy the tools I want or need. Never to impress someone else. TikTok and YouTube does not a skilled worker make.
Genuineness >Perception
Looking and acting like John Doe down the road does not make you a better person.
Whatever tools you use. Do your best and respect others. When people take responsibility for their choices and and don’t sue each other to extinction the worlds a better place.
Robert
I read that HF’s Hercules ceramic sand paper was ligit. So I bought some yesterday. Gent in front of me was buying about $800 worth. A Hercules SDS and two pieces of welding equipment. Clerk kept telling him on each item that there was a 20% restocking fee if taken out of the box. Even though after the first item the customer said he wasn’t going to return them if they worked.
JR Ramos
That sandpaper is so-so…not the fastest cutting nor very durable. I picked up a bunch on sale for cheap so it’ll do. I notice on the palm sander that it’s just slower and whatever China c-weight paper they use just tears easier than quality backings do. Ceramic doesn’t make much sense for general purpose but this cheap imported ceramic…well, it’s cheap. The resin bond they use is typical lower quality that cracks and separates too fast so between that and the backing it’s just not great stuff. The resin coats are important and a big part of the cost of better abrasives.
I don’t know if their high speed products like roloc discs and flap wheels do better here, because of the construction and resin, but that’s where ceramic shines and was intended to be used – where there is higher heat compared to hand sanding, woodwork, general purpose stuff. I used exactly one 4-1/2″ fiber disc and was unimpressed compared to bog standard red aluminum oxide discs.
If I see stellar-cheap prices on it again I may buy some more but otherwise I’ll stick with better abrasives, which are cheaper in the end even when they cost more (usually). The HF isn’t horrible, though. I don’t know if there’s a comparable “ceramic” product in sheets/cut sheets from other import brands. Klingspor is the stuff, imho, if you don’t mind the quantities.