The whole Sears Kmart thing is interesting to me because I read that this was
going to happen at least three weeks ago, but can't remember where. I'm happy
about it because there is a Kmart near my house that I rarely go to because
it's dingy and seldom has stuff that I'm looking for. Staff members aren't
that helpful either. But having a possible source of Craftsman tools so close
to home is a nice thought.
About four years ago, I lived in a small town about 2 hours away from my
hometown. The Kmart there was where the serious down-and-out types shopped. If
the cluttered, messy store and grumpy employees didn't depress you, looking at
your fellow shoppers would.
Not that Sears has been perfect. It hasn't been so long ago that everywhere
but the tool area had the dreariest decor imaginable. The whole store would be
colored in some variation of Cubicle Farm Tan or something like. About 20
years ago, my great-uncle built a workshop and outfitted it with Craftsman
power tools, and it took getting three bandsaws before he got one that worked
right, but the scrollsaw was fine right out of the box. Another family member
had a Kenmore washer that was a real dud. But my grandparents had a Kenmore
dryer made in the late 60s or early 70s that lasted close to 25 years. Looks
like they've turned all the bad stuff around.
I worked for awhile at the ad agency that makes alot of Sears in-store ad
material for appliances and the buyer's guides that the sales staff uses. It
was educational. There are actually no more than four appliance manufacturers
in North America. Anything Kenmore is made by someone else to Sears' specs.
I've never worked at either company, but came close one time by applying for a
job in the paint dept. when I was around 16. Not sure why it didn't happen. I
told one of my grandfather's friends at church that I had applied for a job at
Sears, and he said something like, "Well, it's a good company," which seemed
then as now to be the sort of thing an older person says to a younger person
instead of the truth, which is closer to, "Well, they're not going to pay
diddly-squat and the job's a dead-end."
What I don't understand is why so many people on this board automatically jump
to the worst conclusion that with the merger of Sears and Kmart, the Craftsman
tools will be raped and pillaged. Is the glass always half-empty? Craftsman is
the reason Sears is still in existance. No one's going to kill the goose that
laid the golden egg.
-William Killeffer
1974 MGB
1983 Jaguar XJ6
2003 Royal Enfield Bullet
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