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Snap-on has been hyping up their USA-made locking pliers on social media, giving more credibility to rumors that the company bought liquidated tooling and machinery following the closure of Malco’s Eagle Grip factory.
Malco produced locking pliers in the USA for Snap-on and also their own Eagle Grip brand. The factory is closed, the workers were all laid off, the machinery and tooling was liquidated, and the property is up for sale.
A sizable cache of unsold tools are still available at USA retailers, including ones that specialize in closeouts.
Snap-on has been advertising their USA-made locking pliers recently, including a recent style that was apparently introduced following the factory closure. Additional Eagle Grip pliers were also introduced after the factory closure, which works against the assumption that the new Snap-on long nose locking pliers are newly produced.
I’ve been asking Snap-on press and media contacts about the matter for more than 3 weeks now, and still don’t have any anwers.
Is Snap-on now producing these locking pliers themselves, or are they simply “new old stock” that were manufactured prior to the factory closure?
Photos from the factory property listings, as well as news from a closeout retailer, suggest there are copious amounts of unsold pliers.
The Snap-on-branded locking pliers continue to be priced comparable to when they were certainly manufactured by Malco and Eagle Grip. For example, the 6-1/2″ long nose locking pliers are $82.
Other retailers have similarly sized Eagle Grip locking pliers priced at $30 to $45.
Snap-on has been advertising their USA-made locking pliers as being a “game changer” and the only locking pliers made in the USA.
Are they made by Snap-on, or “made by Snap-on?”
If these tools are indeed manufactured by Snap-on, I would expect the price to soften a bit; $80+ for each locking pliers is a lot of money, especially if Malco and Eagle Grip are no longer involved in the production.
Or is Snap-on simply trying to sell a large cache of “new old stock” pliers that were purchased before the factory closed?
Snap-on has not yet answered any of our questions about the matter.
