Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

http://www.keloland.com/news/article/your-money-matters/sears-to-sell-craftsman-tool-brand-to-stanley-black-decker

Hope this means increased support for Spint Car Racing by another brand and out in more locations (Black & Decker has a much larger reach in retail outlets than just Sears stores).

This is just the brand that got sold. Craftsman was made mostly by Apex Tool Group. Black and Decker will now make or import tools with the Craftsman name. Don't expect the same tool.

My thought is the amount of $$ Sears sold it for, less than 1/3 of what they thought the brand was worth.

There may not be a Sears Holdings Group a year from now and where the tools are made won't matter (and in reality, they only matter to those of us 40+ in age.  Most people younger than 40 barely own a hammer to hang pictures, they just use Command Hooks by 3M instead...

I apologize to anyone under 40 I may have offended...

Apology accepted..... Hahaha.

Apology accepted haha. I know what you mean when it comes to my generation and the people even younger than me. I actually own about 5 Craftsman hammers, countless wrenches and screw drivers, and tool box thanks to my dad passing them on to me. I am actually amazed that Sears has lasted this long as everytime I go into their store it is almost a ghost town. When I was a kid during Christmas you could barely get through the place and if you did not buy somethings before Thanksgiving there was a good chance you would not be getting them. I was even more shocked when Sears/Craftsman decided to sponsor the Outlaws and had enough money to even sponsor anything for that matter. Hopefully this deal helps solidify the brand name.

I hope it solifies the brand name, but I think it spells the beginning of the end for Sears Holdings (which is who actually sponsors the Outlaws, not Craftsman).

They just announce today that they're closing 150 stores and letting a bunch of people go.  I'm not sure if or how that affects their sponsorship but I would throw my lot in with providing jobs over sponsoring sporting events.

Stan Meissner

KMart/Sears is nearing the end of a long line of Takeovers and subsiquent bankruptcy's.  Every ten years the company would buy another store line like Ontario/Rinks/Sears and file bankruptcy everytime.  Not only that.  The Mall/Strip Mall and Dept Store concept is rapidly getting replaced by Order online and on your doorstep within three days.  Also many have been outdone by the Lowes/Home Depot models.

Craftsman started as make a decent tool (Not the greatest or nearly the worst)  But a decent one.  Put a lifetime warranty on it and replace it if it breaks. 
Recent years have been sell three different lines of the same tool  (Qualities)

I've found of late that B&D and Stanley have become cheaply made whereas they used to make quality tools.

The kicker hear is that B&D now says they will build a plant in the US.

Something I've found that's been really helpful and very affordable is buying overstock and restored factory defects at a place known as https://www.facebook.com/directtoolsfactoryoutlets/?fref=ts

That or you can buy the Snap On's  Matco's etc and know your getting quality.

So that would make me wonder if they could afford continued sponsorship. I agree that jobs are more important

Not to dis Sprint Car racing but when it comes to workers retaining their jobs and being able to provide for their families as much as I love racing I've got to tip my hat to the more important things.

There was a press release from the Outlaws that I saw on Twitter earlier today so they realize that people are going to be asking questions with all of these changes going on.  Usually when a company comes on board to sponsor something someone with that company thinks it's a good value for their company to partner with whatever it is they are sponsoring.  When ownership changes hands (especially when a buyout is involved) and advertising decisions  are transferred to the new owners they're going to review all of their partnerships and evaluate whether they're something they want to be involved with going forward.  In a deal like this when there are signed contracts with the former company it gets way more complicated than a little ol' railroad rate clerk like me can hope to understand.  What validity do contracts excecuted with the former owners have?  Is there something that addresses ownership change in the contract?  These are all things that somebody with a lot more legal expertise than I've got will have to answer. 

One thing that their sponsorship deal did show is is that there is some market value so whatever the future holds I'm sure they'll come out on their feet either way.  It's customary to expect to see a press release put out to squash rumors and speculation but hey, we have never let that stop us before have we?   

Seriously though, I would hope that the new owners will see the value in World of Outlaws sponsorship.  And there is nothing I'd like better than to hear Johnny Gibson give his famous four wide introduction for the "Stanley World of Outlaws". 

Stan Meissner

I only made it to two WOO races last year, but both of them had the Craftsman display van.   I am assuming that the van made the entire series.   I think that they made the commitment to have the display van shows that they thought that they were reaching their target market.   

I would expect B&D to heavily advertise that they have taken over the brand.   If you ask many people what are the two words/phrases  that they associate with Sears it would be 1. Bankruptcy/ Going Broke.  2. Craftsman tools.

They will want to de-assocate the Sears brand and the Craftsman tool. 

I didn't even know Stanley and Black & Decker merged...

Stanley used to be (still is?) based out of New Britain, Ct.,  a state where they haven't had a dirt track in several years. I wonder if they'll "get it"?

In fact I don't know if they even make Stanley Tools in New Britain any more. The deindustrialization of that state is really sad.... wonder if there's any connection between loss of factory jobs & loss of dirt tracks.... hmmm?

Outsourcing and automation of factory jobs for s one of those subjects I don't want to address on public forums.  It's an argument waiting to happen.  I do believe that someone mentioned that it has been outsourced earlier in this discussion.  All I know for sure is that USA Gibson's are still the best.  Nothing else to say about that.  On the other hand we do a huge amount of intermodal business and life long employment with good benefits with only a high school education are rare these days.  I don't think thats ever coming back.  I furthered my education on the GI Bill.  

Stan Meissner