Canadian Tire is weird

So today I went and collected all the tools I'll need to finish installing a few new things I've ordered for my Tacoma. I had a few hundred dollars in Crappy Tire gift certificates from our safety incentive program at work so I figured I'd pick up a few things. I ended up buying close to $500 dollars worth of tools (non sale prices). The thing is, by the budget I had, I should of spent over $1000. Everything I bought either has lifetime warranty or is the same brand I wanted anyways so it's not like I cheaped out. How does Canadian Tire afford to sell stuff with so much less margin?

Every tool I wanted this time around was marked down at least 30% and often was at least that much cheaper than the same tool at another store. Somethings were closer to 50% cheaper than a NAPA, Westward, or other high end equivalent but the warranty is there so who cares if I snap one in 5 years. Canadian Tire will cover it. I'm not going to say the tools I bought are as good as the Snap On stuff we have at work but I don't really need Snap On tools anyways for working on my truck a few times a year.

I also realise I got lucky. Sometimes I've walked through Canadian Tire and found nothing I wanted on sale. This time though a very good 3-ton mastercraft service jack, 3 ton double latch jack stands, a good dial torque wrench with lifetime calibration warranty for $10 extra, and a 300 + something socket set with all the fixings from Stanely's new pro line (with, again, lifetime warranty and in powder coat black over crome) came out to just over $250. Everything I wanted was on sale by a large margin. How can they afford that? I think from now on I'm just going to pay closer attention to Crappy Tire when I need tools and buy them when they have these ridiculous sales.

 

China

 

haha china... hhmmmm.. so i just looked at the mastercraft maximum 49 piece 1/2" drive impact socket set i picked up for %60 or %70 off a couple weeks ago and sure enough it says made in china.

 

Good point lol. I usually check out where stuff comes from but I didn't this time. I just took a look at the boxes and they are all marked Made in China or Made in Taiwan.

Then again the "pro grade" screwdriver set I bought from Napa a few weeks ago for a lump of money also came in a box from China...

Is anything other than Westward, Jet, and Snap On made here as far as wrenches and sockets go?

Edit: Nevermind, the first tool "high end" brands I listed in red also make their tools in Taiwan. Does anyone have USA or Canada made wrenches?

 

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/tools.html

Not even Snap On makes everything in the USA anymore...

 

My wrenches and ratchets / sockets are Westward , at least the new ones are

 

I used to use westward stuff a lot at work. They would of been my first choice but ever since the local farm supply stopped selling them the only place that carries all there tools in my town is Auckland-Granger. Nothing inexpensive ever comes out of that place and I refuse to deal with them right now over some private matters.

 

My local auto supply carries Westward stuff

 

My only auto supply place in town now is NAPA. They are wildly over priced and in general I don't like the quality of the stuff they sell. The guy I deal with is great though so I do go in from time to time.

Otherwise I have to drive into Lethbridge and at that point I don't care who I support to be frank.

 

China, America. As long as it works what do I care? If I can buy local I will, however there's a point of diminishing returns. Paying 200% more for the same quality isn't smart. They can put them on sale like that because it really doesn't cost that much to make die cast sockets lets be honest. There's what? Maybe $25-40 of steel and nickel in them?

(Also if you really want to get cheap things, DL the Canadian Tire app and add things to your watch list. It'll tell you when it's on sale and for how much. That being said each individual CT will have in store sales and deals that aren't listed on the website.)

 

Agreed on all points. While the alloy in the tools matters it's not like the 1950's where the right alloys are hard to find/make. The jack and jack stands were not on sale when I checked at home but were marked 30% off at the store. Under $100 for a good 3 ton service jack with almost 19" of lift is a steal IMHO.

Mobil 1 was also down to $30 for a gallon. Sadly I use Pennzoil Platinum religiously so I wasn't able to take advantage of the deal.

 

I put whatever Synthetic is on sale in my truck if it's the right weight. And then I buy like 40 litres worth. And as you said, the return policy is so good that if it doesn't break in the 3-5 years the warranty is good for it probably never will. And they're so cheap even if they did, they probably earned their keep 5x over in the first year.

Canadian Tire is an impulse shop nightmare for us Y-Chromosomes.

 

Lifetime warranty with my Westward tools ~ just sayin

 

Stanely has an over the counter lifetime warranty at Canadian Tire as well on most of there lines. No receipt required either.

 

What's the price point versus MasterCraft?

 

No idea , I didn't compare the two

 

I have a huge 10 drawer mechanics cabinet. In it I have:

Husky sockets from 40 years ago
Craftsman sockets from 30 years ago
Mastercraft / Maximum sockets, wrenches, ratchets from the past 25 years
Snap On wrenches, pullers, specialty brake tools from 20 years ago (acquired as surplus from a packaging firm for a rum and coke or two)
A full line of various air tools (mostly older all steel CT Mastercraft = Porter Cable at the time) and an older 30 gallon Campbell Hausefield compressor.

I bought the Husky's at Handy Andy because the store was close - lifetime warranty
I bought the Craftsman because Sears was close by - lifetime warranty
I bought the Mastercraft / Maximum because CT is now close by - lifetime warranty
I traded a few drinks at the bar for the Snap On's

All were bought on sale, for a purpose, and convenience of replacement. I lost a Craftsman socket once (years ago), and the clerk 'gave' me another one.

I also have a scrap box full of Gray wrenches, sockets,and others that you can't buy any more, but they sure come in handy when you have to butcher or modify a tool to do the job.

Any POS's that I bought from China jobbers like Princess Auto, TSC, or yard sales are long gone, lent out, rusted away, or were destroyed within the first couple of uses.

So... what does price point matter, or durability, when replacement when you need it is the key? Break a Husky, Craftsman, or CT piece, and all three stores (HD, Sears, CT) are all open on Sunday. Snap a Snap On on Sunday (pun intended) and you're USC for the next three Sundays until the truck comes through town.

CT is close, convenient, and cheap when you watch for the sales. The Maximum tools are of good quality and get the job done. I am sure that everyone has about the same argument for their brand of tools.

 

^Precisely. And frankly half the time they're all made in the same factory, only one goes to assembly line A at the end to get Label A and the other goes to line B to get Label B.

I see it all the time with Princess Auto and Canadian tire products. Whichever one is cheaper is what I'm going for.

http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ceramic-shop-heater/A-p8548679e
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/portable-shop-heater-0436079p.html

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/mastercraft-ceramic-barrel-heater-0436145p.html
http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/1-500w-ceramic-utility-heater/A-p8548711e

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ceiling-mounted-workshop-heater-0435995p.html#.VP78jOZwqM8
http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ceiling-mount-heater/A-p8552465e

 

Princess auto have upped their game with tools recently. Their old power fist were a one-time-use kind of deal but the newer Pro-point are on par with chinese CT stuff.
Both imo will work but if you are serious about wrenching they dont hold up against Snap-on and the like. I 100% agree on the returns though. So easy to roll into CT or PA for a return whereas snap-on will be forever before you see the guy again.

 

I have a 7 yr old Mastercraft floor jack from CT that won't hold weight anymore. Just a cheap o 3 ton button the heavy duty version. I have no receipt and its pretty old and battered. Any chance if I took it in they'd help a fella out? I assumed it would be a waste of time until hearing about some of the easy returns at CT.