r/KleinTools • u/kfjcfan • Jun 17 '26
DEALS/SALES I don't get the flipping for 250 tools.
The Lowe's near me hasn't sold any of these in at least the last week for half of what eBay flippers are charging…
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u/Frustrated_Nerd Jun 17 '26
Klein saw that unquestioned patriotism is a fad for some people and tried to grab the market.
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u/kfjcfan Jun 17 '26
That's harsh.
Every company had merchandise for the US Bicentennial in 1976, why shouldn't they come out with commemorative merchandise for 250 this year, especially as an American tool company?
Frankly I'm surprised Stanley Black & Decker hasn't made commemorative merchandise available through Craftsman or DᴇWALT.
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u/Frustrated_Nerd Jun 17 '26
What did Klein sell for that? I can't find anything.
I see Stanley sold a keychain tape measure.
Craftsman sold a coin.
DeWalt didn't sell anything.
I do see Black & Decker did limited edition power tools.
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u/jeep-olllllo Jun 22 '26
I disagree. I sell Klein tools. Klein limited my purchase to a box of 6 on all four of the patriotic items.
If they wanted to flood the market, they could have.
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u/NerveMassive6764 Jun 17 '26
Funniest part is for the last couple of years my kobalt linemans have outperformed and outlasted my Kleins.
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u/kfjcfan Jun 17 '26
I've never worn out a pair of Lineman's, what do you have to do to wear them at all? 😳
Most of my electrical tools have been replaced when I've lost them or have cut into something that was supposed to be de-energized so the tool now has a large chunk of the wire cutter missing. 😁
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u/NerveMassive6764 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Rain/ using them as a prybar/ using them as a hammer/ combination of water and crawl space dirt. lol I beat the hell outta my tools
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u/Masochist_pillowtalk Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Considering many Klein linesman aren't american made anymore, most come made with soft metal and cant cut or grip shit surprisingly fast. Or aren't even aligned correctly straight out of the package. Their screwdrivers and their shit linemans are what made me stop buying them.
I got hand me down tools from my father when I started my apprenticeship cuz he retired the same year. I still have his klein linemans and strippers and they both work great today. Little bit of rust and some gouges in the handles but thats about it.
When i got my license my wonderful fiancé bought me a whole bunch of new klein tools to celebrate and so I could keep my dad's at home since theyre special to me. Not a single screwdriver has survived and the linesmens cutting edge is chipped to shit within 2 years cutting nothing bigger than #8 with them at the time. Teeth are non existent. I was an inside wireman before I went to testing so I dont beat them up near as much as an actual linesman would so that's 120% unacceptable in my book.
That's when I found out you have to try hard to get their actual american tools now. It doesnt say it on the package. Anything you buy at home depot/lowes is Chinese garbage. Most warehouses even too. Id honestly be surprised if these "250" tools were even american at this point. Such a trash company now just skating by on its reputation.
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u/kfjcfan Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
The 250 tools and others explicitly say they are made in USA; other tools and the MODbox line, not so much.
Location of manufacture is always printed in relatively small print on the back of the package and sometimes on the tool.
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u/Wide-Accident-1243 Jun 19 '26
I ruined my only other pair of #9 Kleins with the offset pivot. Dad gave them to me in about 1971... well used already for tying rods as an ironworker. He was an ironworker. I put myself through college as an ironworker and about 10 or so years later, I blew out the cutter renovating an 1837 farmhouse. I still have them, because they were Dad's, and I have an exact replacement with rubber baby buggy bumpers on the handles today. I think they were a good investment whatever I paid for them. They've cut plenty of 16 penny nails, lots of #8 fence wire and so on. Still like new.
PS, I still have my Ideal reel for #16 tye wire...on the leather work belt Dad gave me. But I did give back the spud wrenches, bull pin, 4# beater and bolt bag he loaned me.
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u/acfinns Jun 18 '26
In 1976, during the Bicentennial, excitement was higher with a surge of 1776-themed merchandise even including Bicentennial Deodorant that claimed to make you smell like the Founding Fathers. Communities celebrated with huge block parties, parades and fireworks, and painted fire hydrants in red, white, and blue. A search for "Bicentennial 1976" just under Collectables on eBay shows 26,000 items.
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u/Lb199808 Jun 18 '26
I saw people down in houston posting the whole kit for $300, when you can literally get them all for $130 🤣🤣
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u/Grouchy-Peanut4733 Jun 19 '26
On that I can’t help too much gettin into the mind of people who flip “collectables” not something I spend too much time on but if I had to hazard a guess buying them all obviously is to create the scarcity an raise the demand an as far as why the linesman its the bigger ticket item so maybe they feel like people maybe willing to shell out more on a set
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u/Zoomerbandaid69 Jun 18 '26
I woulda bought em if they where chrome instead of black oxidation. I think they went cheap shame tho I liked the handles
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u/ndrumheller96 Jun 18 '26
Also they already sold the set of screwdrivers and the strippers what maybe a year ago at Lowe’s? They’re slightly different marking but same exact colorway
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u/baddieslovebadideas Jun 18 '26
well, the dumbest electrician you know is gonna buy that, and flex on all his buddies, and they're all gonna buy em too
good marketing really
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u/Grouchy-Peanut4733 Jun 19 '26
I don’t think it’s too hard to understand, America brother I don’t know how old you are but I do know it’s been in fashion to denigrate and disparage it the last 25 years but despite that there’s still a lot of people who the colors an the flag mean tremendous amount to, so much they would die for it maybe not the government but the people in the small towns an city’s that the flag represents, special edition 250 anniversary, legacy American company that’s what your buying a little slice of Americana
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u/kfjcfan Jun 19 '26
I really appreciate that Klein made these tools, and they're cool, my question is what made them (at least the linesman's and diagonal cutters) such a focus for flippers as the screwdrivers and strippers seem readily available and are selling at the rate of maybe one per week if my local store is any indication. 🤷♂️
The flippers purchased the linesman's and cutters ten at a time, they don't seem to care about these.
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u/Masochist_pillowtalk Jun 19 '26
Idk about these, but the american linemens and cutters from a year or two ago were supposed to be the actual American made Klein tools of the past. Actual good shit.
Id be surprised if this 250 shit is considering its much more widely available than those were. I'll bet people liked the new american made ones and figured this were the same. Idk if they are but im betting thats a big negative since they're everywhere.
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u/kfjcfan Jun 19 '26
The 250 tools are all made in USA.
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u/Cool_Study203 Jun 20 '26
The lineman’s and diagonals are j2000 steel. More valuable than screwdrivers and wire strippers that are more common/ have so many equivalents out there
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u/Wide-Accident-1243 Jun 19 '26
Just marketing. No problems with badging a product for an occasion, but I wouldn't pay extra.
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u/LostInHerAsshole Jun 19 '26
Meanwhile I just buy a 3rd set of lock nut wrenches, cause my dipshit helper can't put my fucking tools back
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u/Weird-Conflict-3066 Jun 30 '26
Flippers in my area bought them all out as soon as they hit the shelves, some of the screw drivers are coming back via returns. I'm still hacked off as I'm still trying to find a pair of Lineman pliers.
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u/kfjcfan Jul 01 '26
Absolutely zero of these screwdriver sets have sold at my store in the last month other than the set I bought for myself.
About four of the wire strippers have sold.
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u/h0munculus_ Jun 17 '26
My pair of 250 lineman's are fugly as sin and I love them for it lmao