Harbor Freight — Local services in Richland

If the chain could stop trying to carry everything under the sun, maybe they could carry a greater variety of the stuff that matters. Do they carry router bits, for example? Yes. A handful of common profiles in the worst quality level.

Harbor Freight shouldn't sell a solar panel kit. It's incredibly poor quality, probably has a fake UL stamp and takes shelf space away from things they actually do well*, like basic hand tools.

They have a big selection of garbage-level household goods they now sell that they should just stop selling and get their focus back on disappointing me with power tools that break and lack torque. I don't need or want a folding knife that looks like a key and has a blade only slightly stronger than lead.

Get back to selling me Dremel knock-offs that run so slowly that I might as well have used a hand chisel, already! Stock MORE submersible pumps that don't have any water ingress protection and 120v flux-core welders that can't feed and haven't the amperage to burn through foil!

Stop selling barbeque utensils.

I know, with no moving parts you would think that it would be hard to produce a disappointing fork, but they rose to that challenge and then some one year, and I just have to say that, while it was a valiant effort and a major accomplishment, the chain should stick to it's major strong points of selling actual tools that fail in interesting and hilarious ways. I want to see more anvils that shatter and/or deform under the slightest hammer strike, and less things like novelty keychains. Or, and I know this is a stretch, they could sell an actually decent anvil...

*"Well" here is used as a relative term, of course, meaning "still probably disposable, but at least not just...

First of all, the staff is always friendly, helpful and pretty knowledgeable. They usually know if they do it don't have something, and where it is if they do. They will chat with you if you engage them, but they will not harass you. Even if you spend an hour wandering around the store, trying remember why you came in the first place, and trying not to spend an extra $100 on every little project you can think of back home because everything is so cheap!

Decent selection of hand, power tools, and work/hobby related materials and supplies. The hand tools (like wrenches and ratchets) are actually pretty good. I have a hammer from there that I really love and use the hell out of. Despite its $10 price tag and red plastic handle, it fits my XL sized hands very well and the recoil is soft. I also have the red double tool chest half full tools in my basement and I have no complaints about it. Naturally, I got it on sale.

A few things are name brand stuff like Gorilla Glue and some WD 40 products, but mostly it's their knock off brands. A lot of Harbor Freight stuff is pretty much what you'd expect, cheaper stuff that's probably good enough for occasional, light use, some of it might even be good for normal, medium duty. It's really a case by case basis. Some of the stuff there is really good, but some items are not.

If you are considering a new hobby, but you don't want to go broke buying a bunch of expensive...

Hate is a pretty strong term. I've bought tools from Harbor freight before. For the most part, y'all get what you pay for. I've made some very good purchases here & been quite satisfied with most of them. The recent Memorial day sale flier had a discount coupon for 25% off on Monday only. I called the Richland branch to check availability of a specific tool with the item number. I was told they didn't have any in stock & wouldn't until Wednesday. They said the Hermiston branch had 1 & the Walla Walla branch had 4. Not really wanting to go to either place, I asked if they would still honor the coupon on Wednesday. "No, we can't do that", I was told. Disappointed is close to the right term ☹️ about how I feel about this place of business. Perhaps Harbor Freight should be careful they don't end up like Sears, Penney's etc. I should have checked...