Early Sears MIG offering --

[goodfellow]

While on a business trip I'm working my way through some 1970's and early 80's Sears catalogs just to pass the time, and I came across this offering form the early 80's.
Check out the price -- almost $1700 for a MIG. That's almost $4300 in today's money. Definitely out of reach for the average hobby guy; but noteworthy none-the-less.

Produced by Century for Sears. We've come a long way in making specialty tools like this available to the masses --

 

[Muddy]

Would that be on par, with today's entry  base models, or a little better?

Sent from the twisted mind of the Mudman.

[krusty the clown]

Would that be on par, with today's entry  base models, or a little better?

Sent from the twisted mind of the Mudman.

matco and snap on both sold that as top of the line, but it wouldn't hold a candle to a millermatic 35 in my opinion.

[skfarmer]

i think my neighbor still has one just like it only marked century. duty cycle looks pretty low. still a good welder but i bet any  of the name brand compact 220 or 110/220 models would outperform it today, for a lot less money than it was back then.

[goodfellow]

For the time it was pretty cool -- no external taps to manually plug in, just a nice rotary dial to select the output range. As Krusty mentioned, they were sold under several brand names and the fact that Sears offered such an advanced machine speaks volumes about Sears' tool buyers and their customer base at the time.

[walrus]

For the time it was pretty cool -- no external taps to manually plug in, just a nice rotary dial to select the output range. As Krusty mentioned, they were sold under several brand names and the fact that Sears offered such an advanced machine speaks volumes about Sears' tool buyers and their customer base at the time.

I don't think  my family was much different to other middle class families. My parents bought most everything from Sears. Clothes, tools, appliances, household goods. Growing up when a catalog came its was good for many hours of entertainment. Dreaming of stuff you wanted. It was such a different time, I'm not sure those who didn't grow in it can believe it. Sears stuff was good quality in pretty much everything they sold

[stokester]

For the time it was pretty cool -- no external taps to manually plug in, just a nice rotary dial to select the output range. As Krusty mentioned, they were sold under several brand names and the fact that Sears offered such an advanced machine speaks volumes about Sears' tool buyers and their customer base at the time.

I don't think  my family was much different to other middle class families. My parents bought most everything from Sears. Clothes, tools, appliances, household goods. Growing up when a catalog came its was good for many hours of entertainment. Dreaming of stuff you wanted. It was such a different time, I'm not sure those who didn't grow in it can believe it. Sears stuff was good quality in pretty much everything they sold

I'm with you here. As  a kid I remember dreaming about all the stuff I wanted in the new Sears catalog.

As a young adult I was awaiting the day when I could afford the good, guaranteed-for-life Craftsman tools.  Later I bought not only hand and power tools but mowers, garage door openers and appliances.   All good stuff and I still use much of it today. 

Sadly I don't think of Sears when it come to purchasing those things today.

[Conductor562]

For the time it was pretty cool -- no external taps to manually plug in, just a nice rotary dial to select the output range. As Krusty mentioned, they were sold under several brand names and the fact that Sears offered such an advanced machine speaks volumes about Sears' tool buyers and their customer base at the time.

In your opinion GF, did that customer base turn it’s nack away from Sears, or did Sears turn it’s back to that customer base?
 

[goodfellow]

For the time it was pretty cool -- no external taps to manually plug in, just a nice rotary dial to select the output range. As Krusty mentioned, they were sold under several brand names and the fact that Sears offered such an advanced machine speaks volumes about Sears' tool buyers and their customer base at the time.

In your opinion GF, did that customer base turn it’s nack away from Sears, or did Sears turn it’s back to that customer base?
 

Many books and articles have been written about Sears' demise as America's prime retailer. The American middle class got used to buying at the lowest price from massive discounters like HF, Walmart, and on-line vendors like Amazon, and they non longer wanted to pay a slight premium for good service, quality, and attractive "Brick and Mortar" retail venues. Sears was built, and it heavily invested in all the things that the consumer wasn't interested in anymore. Couple all that with the Sears' acquisition in the 1990s by a cut throat cost cutting hedge fund manager, and the die was cast for failure. They failed to invest in their catalog business, totally missed the impact of the Internet on retail sales, and kept losing stores open in markets where the demographic was shifting away from their traditional customer profile.

Bottom line; it's my firm belief that had Sears invested in online sales in the early 1990's, and given their then existing supply chain, brand recognition, logistics infrastructure, and product/service diversity, I doubt we'd be talking about the Amazon miracle today. Instead Sears & Roebuck Co. would be the dominant force in online retail sales worldwide.

[highland512]

Many books and articles have been written about Sears' demise as America's prime retailer. The American middle class got used to buying at the lowest price from massive discounters like HF, Walmart, and on-line vendors like Amazon, and they non longer wanted to pay a slight premium for good service, quality, and attractive "Brick and Mortar" retail venues. Sears was built, and it heavily invested in all the things that the consumer wasn't interested in anymore. Couple all that with the Sears' acquisition in the 1990s by a cut throat cost cutting hedge fund manager, and the die was cast for failure. They failed to invest in their catalog business, totally missed the impact of the Internet on retail sales, and kept losing stores open in markets where the demographic was shifting away from their traditional customer profile.

Bottom line; it's my firm belief that had Sears invested in online sales in the early 1990's, and given their then existing supply chain, brand recognition, logistics infrastructure, and product/service diversity, I doubt we'd be talking about the Amazon miracle today. Instead Sears & Roebuck Co. would be the dominant force in online retail sales worldwide.

My thoughts exactly, they could have been the go to everything if they would have adopted to the modern world.

Wife and bought a dish washer over the weekend at our local Sears home store. It is independent owned and operated outfit, the owner actually sold us our machine. She has invested heavily in her store starting about 5 years ago. I was asking her what her thoughts on Sears corporate was, she said it no longer means anything to have the Sears name on the front of her building like it did 20 years ago. Now she is focusing on service and quality machines.