Committment to America

Caught a really good one on the world news tonight.  And this one really ticks me off!  I can't believe what this huge name company did to this small company.  I was going to write this post just after seeing the story but I was way too annoyed.  Who is it and what did they do?  You'll have to read on to find out.


Under most circumstances I don't believe the media does a whole lot of good reporting but ABC's Made in America series has impressed me very much.  And this story (here if you want to read or watch) is something that shows how crappy the big names are to the little guys.  I'll give you the basics in case you don't want to read it.  A few years ago a gentleman created a wrench that automatically adjusted to the size that you needed as well as gripped it nut or bolt tightly.  He was selling them directly when a big name company asked him to do an exclusive deal with them.  He agreed because it meant moving more units in one year then he had sold in the short history of the company.  He hired additional people to meet the demand and delivered the 200,000 units to this big store.  He was in the process of ramping up production to meet their demand again when they told him that they were no longer interested in his product.  They a customer pointed out that there was a product that looked almost exactly like his.  The difference?  It had this store's brand on it and it was made in China.

If I had to guess, I would say that most of you have put two and two together to realize that this big store is Sears and the brand is Craftsman.  The company, Loggerhead Tools, that they are screwing over produces the Bionic Wrench.  A small company doesn't always have the money to patent a product and it is difficult to justify doing so for an item that may not be as good as you (the inventor) thinks it is since they can cost up to $50,000.  They entered this deal with Sears with good intentions of building a long term relationship, Sears apparently entered the deal with the intent to steal the product.  And here is what really gets under my skin.  When ABC stated that the wrench appeared to be an almost exact duplicate, Sears stated that the arguments "are untrue and we will vigorously defend against all of the allegations raised" by this company.  And they went on to say, "Despite some visual similarities to other tools on the market, the Craftsman Max Axess locking wrench operates in a different way, using a mechanism designed in the 1950s."  Really?  If that is the case, why would you ever decide to purchase the wrenches from this company?  Just a complete line of crap!  What they should have said was that they did their research and found that this company didn't have any patents on it so they decided to copy the product and they don't believe that this company can do anything about it.

Want a little more of a kicker to this story?  This wouldn't be a story for the Made in America series if the namesake wasn't involved.  These wrenches are manufactured in China for Sears and that is displayed right on the package (the ones for Loggerhead are made in Pennsylvania).  When ABC questioned Sears as to their commitment to America jobs they stated that they employ 264,000 people and that shows that they are committed to America.  So you think that because you employ that many people at just barely more then the minimum wage means you are committed to America?  You had a chance to show your commitment to America by signing a long term deal with this company that is determined to keep production of this wrench in the United States yet you decided to not only copy the tool but manufacture it in China!  You don't care about America, you care about your bottom line!

I have always wanted a large set of Craftsman tools because of the quality.  But after seeing this, I'm done with them!  I'm going to have to do a little research to find another product that is made in America but I at this point I would rather buy a tool that isn't made here rather then buy from a thief!  That's what I think Sears is, a bunch of crooks that only care about themselves and their profits.  I've spent a lot of time as a father telling my children that lying is wrong.  This gives me a chance to show that I really believe in that.  So long Sears and Craftsman, I don't need you!  I just hope that others will see this write-up or the ABC story and join me.