Harbor Freight 25% off

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:00 pm

dgale wrote:Just sign up for their e-mail coupons and you'll get them sent to you regularly. I do believe if you read the fine print, they are not good in conjunction with any other coupons, so you can't combine them with one of their "super coupons" that they e-mail out, but you can use them for items that are otherwise on sale. Also, the 20% coupons they send out are usually only good for a single item and not your entire purchase, as well as having lots of exclusions such as not good for toolboxes, compressors, generators, floor jacks and some other caveats. Looks like this coupon is the same deal.

The harbor freight I go to lets me use as many coupons as I want as long as it doesn't stack 2 coupons for any one item.

Only once did they only let me use ONE coupon when I had 6 items & 6 coupons. Needless to say, everything but that one item got put back on the shelf.

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:53 pm

joshh wrote:The harbor freight I go to lets me use as many coupons as I want as long as it doesn't stack 2 coupons for any one item.

Only once did they only let me use ONE coupon when I had 6 items & 6 coupons. Needless to say, everything but that one item got put back on the shelf.

So do you print multiple copies of something like the 20% off coupon and then use one for each item you buy? I just assumed they would try to enforse a one per person per day type rule with them. I usually don't even print it but rather just show them the e-mail on my smart phone and they will accept that but I've never tried to make it work for multiple items...maybe if I brought in multiple smart phones

joedw00 · Post by **joedw00** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:41 pm

I have tried to use more than one coupon, was told only one per visit, so I went out and came back in and used it with a different cashier.

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 5:14 pm

They won't use more than one 20% off. On the page of coupons, they scratch out the used coupons in pen. I do print any email coupons as I found it makes it easier.

stickthrower · Post by **stickthrower** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:27 am

I have been using the coupons in CycleWorld, Family Handyman, and the ones out of the paper. I have been able to get several things I have been needing from there. And at a decent price.

Nathan

jcritch · Post by **jcritch** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:41 pm

joedw00 wrote:Harbor Freight 25% off Easter Sunday.

If you find something at Harbor Freight (Communist Chinese goods) that you like and it lasts, then perhaps it is a good bargain.

My experience with that place has been different. In my experience, 25% off of junk just leaves one with junk and less money.

Hope you have a great Easter!

frank81 · Post by **frank81** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:45 am

jcritch wrote:If you find something at Harbor Freight (Communist Chinese goods) that you like and it lasts, then perhaps it is a good bargain.

My experience with that place has been different. In my experience, 25% off of junk just leaves one with junk and less money.

Hope you have a great Easter!

Some of it is "you get what you pay for" but some of it is most people blindly purchasing "name brand" tools and not truly understanding the differences.

I'll use engine cranes as an example. I have one I paid around $150 for at HFT. Other brands for the DIY guy go for up to $400. An engine crane is nothing more than steel beams and a tall bottle jack. Unless you buy a professional grade engine crane (well over $1,000), you are getting an unserviceable bottle jack no matter if you buy HFT or AC Delco or Crafstman. Once the seals start eroding or get crushed, its trash. That said, I've probably pulled 30 motors and a few other heavy loads with mine and never had a problem.

Another example more relevant to woodworking, some of you like Grizzly but they are the same as HFT with better branding. Straight from the same Chinese factory.

There are certain things I won't buy at HFT, but if its something I won't use enough to pop for a name brand's industrial line or a precision tool (sockets, calipers, etc) HFT is not that bad of a choice.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:16 pm

frank81 wrote:Another example more relevant to woodworking, some of you like Grizzly but they are the same as HFT with better branding. Straight from the same Chinese factory.

There are certain things I won't buy at HFT, but if its something I won't use enough to pop for a name brand's industrial line or a precision tool (sockets, calipers, etc) HFT is not that bad of a choice.

Are you sure they are from the same Chinese factory? And if they are do they use the same material and the same specs? I know some Chinese products are top notched and some aren't worth picking up. Just as some US products (if you can find any) are excellent and others shouldn't be taking up the air space.

I have bought things from Harbor Freight I like and some I hate.

But let us take this example I can walk into harbor freight and ACE hardware or Home Depot and buy the same things. On an average the products bought in ACE or HD will be useful and do what they claim to do.
However the stuff from HF there is a 50 50 chance they are just pure junk.

frank81 · Post by **frank81** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 4:42 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:Are you sure they are from the same Chinese factory? And if they are do they use the same material and the same specs? I know some Chinese products are top notched and some aren't worth picking up. Just as some US products (if you can find any) are excellent and others shouldn't be taking up the air space.

I have bought things from Harbor Freight I like and some I hate.

But let us take this example I can walk into harbor freight and ACE hardware or Home Depot and buy the same things. On an average the products bought in ACE or HD will be useful and do what they claim to do.
However the stuff from HF there is a 50 50 chance they are just pure junk.

I didn't mean to insinuate that HFT was high quality. Most of the name brand stuff has fallen to its level, so when the choice comes down to something that lasts 2 years for $50 or 4 years for $200, HFT is not an awful choice. And depending on the tool, they might be identical as far as you're concerned. A BFH is a BFH no matter who makes it.

Which tools are simply rebadges is a case by case basis. When you outsource to China you normally have to change the design because you don't have the same parts suppliers. The end result is every brand of drill that comes out of a drill plant has similar guts. They aren't always 100% identical, but there is a lot of overlap. And then sometimes the only difference is color and badging.