HF Icon Tool Storage - Huh?

vtcnc

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I got an email giving 20% off their new line of tool storage - ICON. I thought, ok, maybe worth looking at...something better then their General line but won't break the bank.

Man, was I mistaken! I'm trying to figure how HF lost sight of their demographic on this one...If I wanted to drop $5000 on a tool box (not that I could or even would), I'd flag down the Snap-On truck or search CL for one. This seems completely out of step with what HF is really good at.

Rant over.
 
I got an email giving 20% off their new line of tool storage - ICON. I thought, ok, maybe worth looking at...something better then their General line but won't break the bank.

Man, was I mistaken! I'm trying to figure how HF lost sight of their demographic on this one...If I wanted to drop $5000 on a tool box (not that I could or even would), I'd flag down the Snap-On truck or search CL for one. This seems completely out of step with what HF is really good at.

Rant over.

I think what they are up to is in the name, "Icon".

In a certain way it's a somewhat logical progression. I'm not saying it's good. It reminds of when WallyWorld was expanding in the 90's. The first thing they held a free breakfast for all local retailers and after it was over informed all in attendance they were going to come in and keep cutting their prices until all local competition was gone. Then once they had the market they raised their prices back up. I see this with HF because there are tons of others like Jet, Grizzley, PM etc that have been getting the same stuff from China and charging 2x's as much with just a different paint job. HF is obviously aware of the price difference because they often quote and do price comparisons in their ads.

As local manufacturing continues its decline and Chinese economy slows and they can't afford to support prices more and more prices are going up. This is happening in other Chinese goods like musical instruments. But they have been coming out with more and more segments or lines that have different prices along with quality. Things are still so crazy like SnapOn, Mac, Matco etc catering to the line mechanics. So even if they can get 50% of what they want for their boxes it's a huge increase in their prices. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Without the price supports will domestics afford to come back?
 
Price an equivalent "Tool Palace" from Snap-On and you will run to HF.
 
I got an email giving 20% off their new line of tool storage - ICON. I thought, ok, maybe worth looking at...something better then their General line but won't break the bank.

Man, was I mistaken! I'm trying to figure how HF lost sight of their demographic on this one...If I wanted to drop $5000 on a tool box (not that I could or even would), I'd flag down the Snap-On truck or search CL for one. This seems completely out of step with what HF is really good at.

Rant over.
Toolboxes like that just remind me of guys playing their usual "Mine is bigger than yours" game...
 
Unless you need/want new the CL is the place to buy from and yes you pay a premium just for the Snap-on name.
 
The Snap-On boxes like that run $30,000.00 plus.
There are auto mechanics that will be paying off their tools long after they retire. :(
 
I was surprised when I saw that email as well. In general I think HF trying to make product improvements is a good thing for everyone but I hope they don't loose sight of where they are situated in the hierarchy of the tool world. I own several HF power tools because I simply couldn't justify purchasing what I really wanted, a name brand tool. However if HF starts to inch their prices too close to a name brand its likely that they're going to loose out in the final decision. They can come up with all the facade brand names they want but the bones are still HF.
 
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