Around 2 months ago, it came to light that Stanley Black & Decker was closing another of their USA tool factories.
Well, that time is here, and various news channels have been talking about it. Thank you to everyone who wrote in!
From what I’ve read, it seems that few people believe SBD’s official excuse for closing the factory.
SBD is quoted as saying they’re closing the factory due to a ” decline in demand for single-sided tape measures.”
Shown above are Stanley tape measures at a Home Depot store from a few months ago. These used to be made in the USA.
“Made in USA with global materials.”
There were USA-made Stanley FatMax tape measures, and also imported ones.
Now, with the latest closure, it seems that only the imported tape measures will be available.
That’s what doesn’t make sense. A decline in single-sided tape measures?
Home Depot stores near me all had main-aisle promo displays around the winter holidays.
They’ve had Stanley tape measure deals like this for years.
Some stores near me had multiple displays.
It seems there’s plenty of demand.
There’s so much demand that Stanley Black & Decker apparently couldn’t fulfill holiday inventory with USA-made tape measures. That’s what they told me a few years ago when I asked about the imported tape measures I had been seeing in stores.
USA-made tape measures for the main aisle, and imported tape measures for the high volume holiday gift center deal displays.
If demand had been declining, great, that means they could have fulfilled their retail orders from the USA factory. Right?
One channel reported that SBD tried to update their factory to produce double-printed tape measures but faced “challenges.”
When Milwaukee acquired the Empire Level brand, they put money into their USA factory so as to support modernization and expansion efforts. It cost them a lot of money.
Why couldn’t Stanley Black & Decker bring double sided tape measure printing to their USA factory if they really wanted to?
Dewalt XP tape measures were made in the USA with global materials.
It only had printing on one side. Maybe that’s an issue for their more premium tape measures.
I’m willing to bet that we’ll continue to see Stanley single-sided tape measures, especially in holiday gift center promo displays like this one.
Someone asked me in an email if Stanley was discontinuing their USA-made FatMax tape measures. It looks like it. USA-made PowerLock? I haven’t seen those in a while, my closest stores only had the imported version.
From the WSJ, Stanley’s latest factory closure will see their “last hometown plant” in New Britain, CT shuttered.
Read Also:
Stanley Black & Decker is Closing Another USA Factory
Stanley FatMax Tape Measure Deal at Home Depot isn’t USA-Made
Craftsman’s Failed USA Tool Factory – What Really Happened?
