i love harbor freight every time i go
there i feel like a kid in a candy store
there's just so many tools and they're
all so cheap everything i love
but have you ever actually wondered how
it is that they can sell all those tools
for so cheap well stick around and i'll
tell you i'm also going to explain how
that knowledge can inform you as to
which tools you should buy from harbor
freight and which ones you should avoid
so stick around
[Music]
harbor freight is a great store it mixes
my love of tools with my love of buying
cheap tools
i'm also relatively new to the harbor
freight game because there wasn't one
near me where i grew up but times have
definitely changed harbor freight itself
was founded in 1977 and opened its first
retail store in 1980. over the next 30
years it grew relatively slowly up until
2013 when it opened its 500th store
then from 2013 to 2019 it doubled to a
thousand stores and since 2019 has grown
by over 20 percent to around 1200 stores
now that's really remarkable that during
the pandemic and with all the supply
chain issues that most other companies
and retailers have been experiencing
that harbor freight has been able to
grow that much it's really amazing and i
think it's a testament to the strength
of their product and the strength of
their brand
their ability to bring cheap tools to
the masses so how can they do that
well harbor freight is a private company
and they don't publish
public financial statements but there is
still some information out there forbes
estimates that their revenues are
somewhere around five billion dollars a
year and their founder and current ceo
eric schmidt has an estimated worth of
around 5.3 billion dollars and with
their store growth and employee growth
over the past few years it's clear that
they're doing very very well now harbor
freight tools has been able to grow so
quickly because they fill the need tools
can be really expensive and sometimes
having a place to find cheap tools can
be a real game changer for diyers like
you and me
when you first walk into a harbor
freight you'll notice that it's really
nothing fancy this is one of the ways
that they're able to keep their costs
down
they have all kinds of tools from their
own brands like pittsburgh and bower and
often have a good variety of products to
choose from even providing good better
and best options in some categories
here's the dirty truth though about
harbor freight tools and tools in
general
most tools come out of the same
factories in asia regardless of the
brand in fact if you look at some harbor
freight tools and you compare them to
other name brand tools there really
isn't much difference so why is it that
harbor freight can afford to sell their
tools for so much cheaper than the other
guys when their tools are made often
times in the same factories well there
are a few different reasons the first
reason is economies of scale
over time harbor freight has been able
to grow into a very large company that
means that they can take advantage of
their size and buy larger amounts of
product at cheaper prices this is the
same reason why big companies like
walmart and amazon are so successful the
only difference is that harbor freight
specializes in tools and doesn't try to
do everything like those other retailers
the second reason is materials
there are a lot of different types of
materials used in tools from different
grades of steel to plastics and
everything in between
harbor freight tools are generally built
out of lower quality materials than name
brand tools like milwaukee or makita
they may use plastics where other tools
use metal and they may use lower grades
of metal than other companies the third
reason why they're able to make their
tools so much cheaper
is because of their quality control now
most companies have a quality control
group that will test their products and
make sure that they meet their quality
and durability standards when a product
or component doesn't meet their
standards they'll take it out of the
pipeline the simple way to say it in
harbor freight's case is that their
standards are just lower they allow for
a larger percentage of defects than
other companies would this again reduces
their expenses
but it also increases the number of
defective tools that they sell in fact
i'm sure that many of you will leave
comments about some of the terrible
tools you've bought at harbor freight
and how they didn't last
to combat that harbor freight has a
strict return policy and will happily
upsell you a warranty the warranty is
all part of their strategy in essence
they're making you pay the extra price
for their lack of quality control and
many times those people who don't get
the warranty
when their tool breaks they'll just
shrug it off and say well you get what
you pay for it
but
but they're so cheap look you get what
you pay for if you haven't learned that
you don't know a thing
now that said a harbor freight can still
surprise you
in addition to some duds i've also
bought a few tools at harbor freight
that have really surprised me and i'll
talk about that a little bit more later
on the fourth way that they can afford
to sell tools for so cheap is by using
your own psychology against you
they do this in a few different ways
first they offer tons of coupons they
also offer oftentimes free prizes so to
speak or free products this gets you
excited about their products it also
gets you in the store and spending money
with the hope that you will walk out
with 10 things that you didn't plan on
buying don't worry it happens to all of
us it's happened to me too i also
mentioned before about how they have
those
good better and best options harbor
freight knows that it's customers are
price sensitive they're a discount tool
seller and they're not trying to be
anything else but they also know that
some people will spend more money if
given the opportunity so when you go to
buy a tool and you see something that's
better for just a little bit more money
there are many people who would be
willing to spend that extra money to get
something that is better the stinky
thing that a lot of manufacturers and
retailers sometimes do
is that they will design and even often
build the best product first and then
they'll look at ways to dumb it down to
create their
good and better products putting the
best product up against the good and
better makes it look even more
attractive and some people will end up
paying even more for one of those
products than what they would spend at a
traditional big box retailer on that
perceived higher end tool now to be
clear i'm not trying to bash on harbor
freight like i say i love the place i
love how cheap it is i love how cheap
their tools are and some of their tools
are really fantastic but you have to be
really careful about what you buy
and so here are my rules on what you
should and should not buy at harbor
freight and again having that
understanding of how they're able to
sell their tools for so cheap will help
inform you on the tools that you should
and should not buy so first of all
harbor freight is a great place to shop
for beginner tools buy something that
you need use it learn about what you
like and what you don't like about it
and then when you have enough money you
can upgrade to something that's higher
quality any tool that's not complex that
doesn't have a lot of moving parts would
be great to buy at harbor freight
wrenches sockets hammers screwdrivers
and things like that these are products
that are less prone to failure and can
actually last a surprisingly long time
other cheap or small consumable items
like super glue zip ties work gloves
flashlights furniture dollies electrical
tape things like that are also really
great to buy at harbor freight now if
you're professional or if you plan on
using a particular tool heavily i think
that it's better to spend on a more
reliable and heavier duty tool than it
would be to buy a cheap tool at harbor
freight that could fail in a short
amount of time i would also avoid buying
most power tools or any complex tool in
general the more moving parts the more
chances there is for failure there are
some exceptions of course i bought a
reciprocating saw for 20 bucks once and
i've definitely got my money's worth out
of it if you need a specific tool for
one job and don't really plan on doing
much else with it later go ahead harbor
freight tools are for you but if you
need that power tool to last you should
look somewhere else avoid buying power
tools that you plan on pushing to their
limits
i once bought a cheap 40 chainsaw and
tried to saw through a log of red oak
the plastic flywheel completely busted
the first time i used it it would have
been great for branches or other smaller
logs but it just didn't have the oomph
that i needed and that was a mistake
that i made i would also avoid buying
tools where safety could be real
concerned things like welders or floor
jacks or hoists things that could
potentially kill you if they failed not
worth the lower price in my opinion
another good rule of thumb is to check
online reviews to see what experiences
others have had and always use those
coupons
so harbor freight can really be a great
place to buy tools especially for the
beginner without a lot of cash just be
careful about what you buy so what
harbor freight tools would you recommend
and which tools would you avoid leave me
a comment and let me know also if you
have any other great harbor freight
stories on tools that lasted forever or
the ones that broke down the first time
you used them leave a comment so that we
can read about it thanks for watching
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