Funny/sad Story About Tandy Leather...

[Tesla Ranger]

I recently had an entirely unrelated issue with Tandy (which I documented on my blog) which is entirely different in context but similar in that it was at least unethical if not illegal. I had been shopping at Tandy for 5-6 years and figured it might have just been an oversight or human error. I tried contacting their corporate office multiple times but never had any response from them. It was that lack of basic respect more than anything else that convinced me not to do business with them any longer. I like the local staff out here and they've never behaved in anyway that I could complain about. I can't say the same for the corporate side of the company, especially with a PR person who seems unwilling to relate to the public. They seem to have one person who serves as the PR, Executive Assistant, and sole recepient of their support email (tlfhelp@tandyleather.com) and she'll only forward a message on to someone else if (I'm assuming) she thinks its worth the time.

In any case, I'm not willing to shop somewhere that doesn't respect equality or it's customers. Over the past few months Tandy has shown me that their corporate side doesn't respect either so I've been switching to other suppliers. So far that's been a pretty rewarding excercise. I'm finding that there's a lot more options out there and the prices are comparable if not better than Tandy's. Even if I wind up having to rely on mail-order for most of my supplies it's looking like my bottomline could very will wind up better off.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Tesla Ranger

[Pounder]

Complaining to Tandy Corporate is a waste of time, all they do is forward it to the manager of the store which is the problem. Seems like they could care less about customer satisfaction any longer.

[Studio-N]

I think the general response here is - If they charged you an extra $21 for their mistake on a separate visit, then it needs to be addressed.

1. It is illegal for them to do this.

Complaining to Tandy Corporate is a waste of time, all they do is forward it to the manager of the store which is the problem. Seems like they could care less about customer satisfaction any longer.

Well you know...... If it is in fact illegal and corp does nothing. File a complaint with the DAs office. They'll have to answer then.

[thunter9]

what do you want from radio shack their going out of bizness

[CastlesCustomLeather]

Wow... I work for Tandy and I can't believe someone would do that. I hope corporate took your complaint seriously and responded to you. I would love to know what store this happened at.

Someone that isn't a business purchasing $2,000 worth of products would be considered a very high paying customer at my store. And although all customers, regardless of how much they spend, should be treated with equal courtesy and respect, a customer who is just starting out with leather and still spent that much $ deserves 1st class service all the way. THEY undercharged YOU. It's their mistake and not your responsibility to catch that kind of thing. Nor should you have had to pay the $21. It was the store's mistake. Essentially when they told you the total, they were quoting you a price which they agreed to sell you and you agreed to pay. It wasn't your fault that happened and the manager should've just let it go. The fact that you came back and tried to resolve the situation was going above and beyond on your part. You sound like the kind of customer that every manager should love to have shopping at their store.

Although the large majority of our customers are really great people, we of course do get dishonest ones that come into our store. We get shoplifters, people that steal our sample items for our classes, people that take a barcode sticker off cheap leather and put it on the expensive stuff to try and get away with paying less, and the list goes on. A customer like you that goes out of his way to try and make the situation right is the type of customer that a manager should show respect and kindness towards, not be a rude jerk towards.

I am very sorry you had such a bad experience with Tandy. Again, I'd love to know what store that was. If you happen to live in California, send me a message and I'll let you know what store I work at and if you want the customer service you deserve, I'd love to have you shop through us.

[TinkerTailor]

Wow... I work for Tandy and I can't believe someone would do that. I hope corporate took your complaint seriously and responded to you. I would love to know what store this happened at.

Someone that isn't a business purchasing $2,000 worth of products would be considered a very high paying customer at my store. And although all customers, regardless of how much they spend, should be treated with equal courtesy and respect, a customer who is just starting out with leather and still spent that much $ deserves 1st class service all the way. THEY undercharged YOU. It's their mistake and not your responsibility to catch that kind of thing. Nor should you have had to pay the $21. It was the store's mistake. Essentially when they told you the total, they were quoting you a price which they agreed to sell you and you agreed to pay. It wasn't your fault that happened and the manager should've just let it go. The fact that you came back and tried to resolve the situation was going above and beyond on your part. You sound like the kind of customer that every manager should love to have shopping at their store.

Although the large majority of our customers are really great people, we of course do get dishonest ones that come into our store. We get shoplifters, people that steal our sample items for our classes, people that take a barcode sticker off cheap leather and put it on the expensive stuff to try and get away with paying less, and the list goes on. A customer like you that goes out of his way to try and make the situation right is the type of customer that a manager should show respect and kindness towards, not be a rude jerk towards.

I am very sorry you had such a bad experience with Tandy. Again, I'd love to know what store that was. If you happen to live in California, send me a message and I'll let you know what store I work at and if you want the customer service you deserve, I'd love to have you shop through us.

I think you may be the only person on this site who works at Tandy and admits it. There are a few who used to work there, but not any that do now that I know of. I commend you for this.

I think Tandy headquarters could do themselves some good to get an account here, and read some of the other things said about them.

They may be able to win back some former customers.

Its not like there are 60,000 leather working users on here or anything.......

Perhaps they could send a check and advertise...

to: Tandy Corporate:

You used to be the go to store for entering into this hobby, and also a supplier good enough for some businesses to use exclusively.

You had good quality at reasonable prices. My mom, dad and grandpa shopped there.

Tandy had what a leatherworker needed and had mail order, and a nice catalog, so you became the only game in town.

All the exclusivity went to your heads.

Product got crappier and crappier, and prices went up.

Now in the days of the internet, I can get the same crap tools for alot less money online. Tandy is no longer the only game in town, and you are losing market share fast.

Tandy has horrendous quality control. Your tools are so inconsistent, most experienced users steer the novices to other options. I, and many others here have multiple generations of tools from Tandy. I have new and old versions of the same tools. They look the same but the new ones suck.

I understand that quality control of random internet tools is questionable, however sometimes i can order 4 or 5 tools for the price of one at Tandy. One of them will be good. It is a crapshoot, and is wasteful, however its a gamble I usually win......If I knew I could trust the product I got at Tandy to be consistent from piece to piece and visit to visit, I would buy it there, even if it was a little more. Not double price, just a little more. Its the trust in the product that is most important to me.

As far as hardware, why do all the snaps and things have Tandy logos on them now? I am sorry, advertising costs money, and if Tandy is going to advertise on my product, they better pay me, not the other way around.....And would it really be that hard to carry solid brass double cap rivets?

With the internet, people can shop around and won't put up with this crap for long. Your high prices and low quality drive them away. And don't get me started about the staff who spend more time training on the up-sell than on working with leather.

You sell horsehair brushes (Item #2942-00) for $18.19cad. I can buy the exact same brush at the grocery store in the shoe polish section for $6.99

You sell 6 nitrile gloves (Item #2096-00) for $5.60cad. A box of 100 is 12.99 at any drug store, or hardware store, or paint store or......

You sell 6 glue brushes (Item #3432-00) for $5.60cad. They are $0.25 each at the hardware store.

Who the heck do you think you are fooling? You may be able to screw someone over once or twice, but once they figure it out, they will be resentful for a long time. On sites like this, they tell others about it and you lose customers you never knew you coulda had.....

These are not boutique shops, there are the same chain stores in every town. These prices are less that half of the tandy "gold" "wholesale" customer pricing. Some much much cheaper, and they are RETAIL.......

Other businesses can pay their bills selling these products at reasonable prices..

Why can't you? Is it just plain greed?...

Get a grip and respect your market, or you are going to lose what grip you have left and go under.

Take that to corporate.

Edited February 10, 2016 by TinkerTailor

[CastlesCustomLeather]

I think you may be the only person on this site who works at Tandy and admits it. There are a few who used to work there, but not any that do now that I know of. I commend you for this.

I think Tandy headquarters could do themselves some good to get an account here, and read some of the other things said about them.

They may be able to win back some former customers.

Its not like there are 60,000 leather working users on here or anything.......

Perhaps they could send a check and advertise...

to: Tandy Corporate:

You used to be the go to store for entering into this hobby, and also a supplier good enough for some businesses to use exclusively.

You had good quality at reasonable prices. My mom, dad and grandpa shopped there.

Tandy had what a leatherworker needed and had mail order, and a nice catalog, so you became the only game in town.

All the exclusivity went to your heads.

Product got crappier and crappier, and prices went up.

Now in the days of the internet, I can get the same crap tools for alot less money online. Tandy is no longer the only game in town, and you are losing market share fast.

Tandy has horrendous quality control. Your tools are so inconsistent, most experienced users steer the novices to other options. I, and many others here have multiple generations of tools from Tandy. I have new and old versions of the same tools. They look the same but the new ones suck.

I understand that quality control of random internet tools is questionable, however sometimes i can order 4 or 5 tools for the price of one at Tandy. One of them will be good. It is a crapshoot, and is wasteful, however its a gamble I usually win......If I knew I could trust the product I got at Tandy to be consistent from piece to piece and visit to visit, I would buy it there, even if it was a little more. Not double price, just a little more. Its the trust in the product that is most important to me.

As far as hardware, why do all the snaps and things have Tandy logos on them now? I am sorry, advertising costs money, and if Tandy is going to advertise on my product, they better pay me, not the other way around.....And would it really be that hard to carry solid brass double cap rivets?

With the internet, people can shop around and won't put up with this crap for long. Your high prices and low quality drive them away. And don't get me started about the staff who spend more time training on the up-sell than on working with leather.

You sell horsehair brushes (Item #2942-00) for $18.19cad. I can buy the exact same brush at the grocery store in the shoe polish section for $6.99

You sell 6 nitrile gloves (Item #2096-00) for $5.60cad. A box of 100 is 12.99 at any drug store, or hardware store, or paint store or......

You sell 6 glue brushes (Item #3432-00) for $5.60cad. They are $0.25 each at the hardware store.

Who the heck do you think you are fooling? You may be able to screw someone over once or twice, but once they figure it out, they will be resentful for a long time. On sites like this, they tell others about it and you lose customers you never knew you coulda had.....

These are not boutique shops, there are the same chain stores in every town. These prices are less that half of the tandy "gold" "wholesale" customer pricing. Some much much cheaper, and they are RETAIL.......

Other businesses can pay their bills selling these products at reasonable prices..

Why can't you? Is it just plain greed?...

Get a grip and respect your market, or you are going to lose what grip you have left and go under.

Take that to corporate.

I totally agree with everything you've said. Prices have gone way up while quality has gone way down. It's sad, but Tandy has turned into a corporation. No longer are they the same small town type of store where everyone is friends and it's all about the customer's happiness with their shopping experience and the products they buy. I used to work in manufacturing and I can rarely get any of the shops I worked for or did business with to buy from Tandy. They can find the same hardware or Fiebing's products or similar tools at much cheaper prices from other places. I work for Tandy and even I don't use their products that often. If you want to see how much the quality has gone down, just compare a Craftool stamp from 30 years ago to a new one. That's why people pay so much for the vintage Craftools. And I don't even mean the discontinued ones. People will pay twice as much for a used vintage Craftool even though they can get the same stamp brand new from Tandy.

The only thing I will say though, is even though some of the tools have gone down in quality, there is a lifetime warranty on all tools. If they break from normal wear and tear or are defective in any way, you can just bring it or send it to your local Tandy and they will replace it for free. And also, Tanddy does sell solid brass double cap rivets. They are item numbers 1379-11, 1381-11, and 1383-11. They also come in solid brass nickel plated.

[TinkerTailor]

I stand corrected, i see they do for $27.99/$16.80cad elite price for 100.

However, $12.30cad/$8.85usd : http://www.buckleguy.com/rv4756-double-cap-rivet-cap-4-7mm-post-5-6mm-natural-brass-solid-brass-100-per-bag/

There standard discount:

Most of our "In-Stock" brass hardware items have the following volume discounts:

(10 - 99) -15% (100 - 499) 25% (500 - 999) 35% (1000+) 40%

Edited February 10, 2016 by TinkerTailor

[CastlesCustomLeather]

I stand corrected, i see they do for $27.99/$16.80cad elite price for 100.

However, $12.30cad/$8.85usd : http://www.buckleguy.com/rv4756-double-cap-rivet-cap-4-7mm-post-5-6mm-natural-brass-solid-brass-100-per-bag/

I never said they were reasonably priced haha! Just that Tandy sells them.

I think Tandy relies on their monopolization of the leathercraft market. Even though people who are experienced in the field know about Barry King, Leatherwranglers, Chuck Smith, Bob Beard, Sheridan Leather, Springfield Leather, Ohio Travel Bag, Beylors, Hide House, Wicket & Craig, Horween, Herman & Oak etc, the beginner and the casual hobbyist only know about Tandy. They think Tandy is the only place that sells leather, leather working tools, hardware, and so on. So they pay those prices because they don't know that there are other places with the same or similar products (sometimes far superior products) at more reasonable costs. We do have a lot of businesses that buy from us, but it's usually more specialty items that aren't readily available from other companies.

Anyway, I appreciate what you wrote and I understand and agree with your opinion.

[Norton Custom Leather]

See my previous post of 16 December

Springfield Leather Company has not disappointed me with anything. The one question I did have, Kevin, the owner took the call himself, answered my question & offered to exchange the item if that was what I wanted.

I have even walked into the store & had Kevin, the owner greet me with a hello.

[rickdroid]

The manager of my local Tandy store was "retired" by corporate with a sorry excuse that they wanted someone to "build the business faster."

What a crock. That store is in an ancient shopping center with inadequate parking and not nearly enough floor space to adequately display a reasonable range of materials. I know from first hand experience that he had been trying to get Tandy to choose a larger, more modern location for over two years but they had refused.

I ran into the ex-manager Sunday at a local leather guild meeting and asked about his retirement; I would have been really bitter about how the dismissal was handled but he was still loyal to the company, though not to Tandy corporate. He was the main reason that I continued to shop at the local Tandy; he is knowledgeable and always willing to help. Tandy sure crapped in their own backyard when they let him go, I will be ordering a lot more of my products from out of town suppliers in the future.

I can also remember when Radio Shack was a good place to shop for the electronics hobbyist but apparently that didn't bring in enough profit either. Guess their decision to abandon the hobbyist finally caught up with them when they couldn't compete with businesses such as Best Buy and Fry's selling computers and cell phones. Now it seems that Tandy Leather may be going the same way. Sad.

rick

[Studio-N]

well Rick, if it is any consolation - the person who retired Dennis is no longer a part of corporate. He's out. Karma is a bit*h, but she's fair.

[thunter9]

who said Tandy leather executives . are very smart . they owned colortile and radio shack or am I mistaken

[thunter9]

25 -30 years ago the leather factory was started didn't they spin off from tandy

[NVLeatherWorx]

The Leather Factory was an independent business that came to be in an effort to compete against Tandy and the other guys; they got big and eventually bought the Tandy brand name as it was more readily recognized and had a solid following. I considered it much like a hostile takeover but it happened and here we are. Tandy was much better when the entire staff knew about their product and how to use it. You walk into a store today and ask a staffer to demo a tool for you and they have no clue how they even work. As has been covered previously, they are a corporation and all they see is the bottom line, they forget where that bottom line originates from and apparently don't quite get it that you have to keep your customers happy and well treated if you expect that bottom line to maintain and/or grow. I get all of my supplies from other sources, mostly from the origin source. I have a direct buy with Fiebing's, H.O., Maine Thread Company, etc. and can get anything that Tandy has available for a fraction of what they could give me as a business customer. Why should one waist their time, and money, with someone who doesn't care about anything other than just money when they can do themselves better by shopping elsewhere? Just doesn't make sense.

[Art]

Tandy Leather was First and around for quite a while. Tandy Leather made all the money that was literally burned up by the other ventures. Tandy Leather flew into this downward spiral as Radio Shack and the others lost money hand over fist. Other leather stores started up, often with Tandy Leather employees and executives. Finally, a much depleted Tandy Leather divested of the others, but was in really bad financial shape and spiraled down till the late 90s when they closed many stores and tried to go with Internet sales. Too little Too late and they were sold to TLF for cents on the dollar, basically nothing. TLF merged the Tandy Leather stores into their operation and continues as what we know today, incorporating the Tandy name.

Art

[Norton Custom Leather]

The only part I will defend is that the employees don't know how to demo. The staff at the Memphis/Bartlett store do actually know how to craft leather.

I will stick with you on getting my supplies from other sources. That would include SLC & Ohio travel bag.

[Studio-N]

who said Tandy leather executives . are very smart . they owned colortile and radio shack or am I mistaken

actual tandy did. This incarnation is the leather factory which bought the tandy name so they can try to fool people that they have been around 100 years.

[NVLeatherWorx]

I know there are still some places where there may be one, or if you are really lucky two, employees that may know something about working with the products that they sell but that is now a very uncommon thing as it is not part of their business model anymore. I have been told very clearly by the store manager in my area and some corporate level staffers as well that they are there to sell product not work with it. This was very obvious to me one day when I did go into the store around here to see a friend of mine (who works there) and got into a conversation with one of their M.I.T.'s (Manager in Training) about a side of leather, more specifically, there was a side of Craftsman Oak that looked better than the same weight side that was marked as Oak-Leaf yet the Oak-Leaf is supposedly their next higher grade. When I commented on it she told me to my face that all of their leather is really just the same quality and that the only difference between the two was in the pricing that was applied. I found that very interesting that a person who was being trained to be a Manager of a store was saying that and when I asked her where she got her information on their product lines from her training materials and discussions. With this now out there, it is painfully obvious that the Tandy name has long since been tarnished and unless the corporate minds pull their heads out of their fifth point of contact their company has a very bleak future. The Leather Factory itself was not doing well as it was but Tandy was in that bad of a situation that they couldn't fight it off and ultimately had to give in. And it is also very true indeed that the rest of the Tandy branded ventures sucked the life right out of it and caused the debacle that we now know as Tandy Leather Factory.

[Studio-N]

The only part I will defend is that the employees don't know how to demo. The staff at the Memphis/Bartlett store do actually know how to craft leather.

I will stick with you on getting my supplies from other sources. That would include SLC & Ohio travel bag.

Under little Thompson, Tandy made the decision that the employees did NOT have to know leather working to sell. If you can sell widgets you can sell leather - that was the new philosophy for the new millennium. Now that JT is gone, they would do well to put a real business manager as CEO and not another of their inbred relatives to improve things.

[pogue44]

The original and some of the subsequent posts on this topic bothered me on this thread for a lot of reasons. I debated with myself whether to take the time to respond or not. I lost. Myself won. Here we go...

My son (11 years old) and I are pretty new to leather working. He was down in the dumps for a few weeks last year and I decided we needed to do something creative together. I was in the market for a leather satchel and he wanted to earn some money to buy legos. I decided to make my own satchel and he decided he wanted to make and sell leather key chains to his class mates for the holiday season to try to earn some money.

Neither of us had any experience with leather working so we of course went to our local Tandy story in Louisville, Kentucky. We bought the $35 membership and became eligible for their classes. We bought a few tools and a few D rings on our first visit and went to the local hobby lobby and bought some $10 junk leather to practice on. We watched a bunch of youtube videos.

My son made four prototype leather key chains out of different materials and took them to school and within a couple days he had over 25 orders for $5 key chains to make. We made his orders together, he cheered up fast when he found out he could make some serious $didge$ to buy the legos he wanted.

A couple of points regarding Tandy;

1. The people at the Louisville store in my opinion are complete and total class act employees. I mean they have just been really great to get started with. These people are dedicated, they know what they are talking about and while I don't know them very well personally they seem professionally like genuine, honest, and good people. I would wager the majority of employees around the country fit a similar profile.

2. Yes Tandy is corporate but they stock the stuff you need at a bricks and mortar store in YOUR neighborhood. If not for Tandy we would have never been able to get started like we did. I am thankful to this day that if I need a buckle(s) or some tools ASAP that I know I can drive 50 miles and pick them up the same day that I need them.

3. I don't buy stuff from Tandy that is overpriced. But their sale stuff has been indispensable for us to get started. Most all of my tools have been acquired through Tandy sales. We visit the store once a month now and I usually buy $50-$60 worth and after a year now I have most all the basics. I also have got some cheap stuff from China acquired on the internet that is cheaper then at Tandy which I would also recommend a rank beginner to do. I have also since bought some Osborne and Vergez Blanchard stuff that I now use as a replacement for the Tandy and Chinese stuff. When I upgrade I give the kid the Tandy and Chinese tools so he has some of his very own tools to use, be responsible to care for, loose or otherwise snot up like a kid is prone to do. And when I die guess who is going to get the good tools also? Right. Exactly.

4. This past summer the boy and I took a trip across the country and we stopped in Ft. Worth to see the Al Stohlman museum at Tandy HQ. It was one of the most interesting things we did and it helped both me and the kid to elevate our game based on the quality of what Al produced. Once you see something like that there is no going back. Now in our spare time we have several leather projects going on at one time and pretty much a full blown mini workshop. We now buy stuff from all over depending on the project and we experiment with different quality levels (shout out to Thoroughbred Leather, W&C and Hermann Oak). We have taken a road trip to a local tack and halter shop and they let the kid operate their industrial sewing machine and also helped me learn a few tricks of the trade. We have also road tripped to take a chap making lesson from someone we met through this forum.

So yeah Tandy can be a bunch of bad things (sometimes overpriced, slow to innovate (Al Stohlman been dead how long now and they have no new books??), sometimes inept employees, etc..) but my point is if it wasn't for our local shop we would never be where we are at. And I'm loyal to them for providing us an opportunity to grow both as leather craftsmen and as a family. If you have been in the leather business for decades you probably have a bad experience with Tandy at some point but hey I also bring the kid to eat at the local Dairy Queen sometimes. We have eaten there many, many, many times but only been sick once or twice...lmao....you get the point we would love to eat organic non gmo anti biotic free non glutin low mercury rabbit food every single day but sometimes the DQ is it. Lmao x 2.

My son and I have talked about setting our next goal to sell some things on Etsy and through other outlets. I think it will take us another year to get to the quality level where we can do this. And quite honestly the more I learn the more I know that we will be sourcing things at places other than Tandy. But, will we will still return often for the items on sale and advice and to sometimes use their tools and knowledge during a class? For sure we will.

IMHO the world with Tandy at this time is a better place then a world without Tandy. Until this changes I appreciate them and what they do, even if I to don't always appreciate the corporate model.

And to the gentleman who started this thread...here's my advice even though you didn't ask for it. If you find out you were undercharged for whatever reason as soon as you find out just pay the people what you should have owed them in the first place. If you take the responsibility to do this then you will always find yourself in a situation where everybody wins and nobody losses.

That's a lesson I hope I have the opportunity to teach my kid someday.

That is my .02 cents. Regrets if it was long winded. I'm out.

[Hawkeronetwo]

I am not expert on leather and just play around with the craft for fun in my spare time but I have found the tandy store in Little Rock to be very friendly and very helpful . Some of the staff may not know it all but seems one of them has been able to answer any question I may have any time I have been shopping there.

[Norton Custom Leather]

Loyalty is a nice thing. Take the time to shop around.

Don't hinge the whole leather world on tandy. Yes Al has passed, & there are no new books. What does that say about tandy? tandy is a good place to start if you have the assistance from store employees that know they are doing, which you expressed you do. The Memphis tandy employees are great people who understand leather also.

As I mentioned don't limit yourself or your son to tandy. I deal with companies in Europe & the USA. I deal with exotic leathers that SLC gets for me that tandy can't touch.

You will both get better in the craft so expand & try new things.

[TinkerTailor]

The original and some of the subsequent posts on this topic bothered me on this thread for a lot of reasons. I debated with myself whether to take the time to respond or not. I lost. Myself won. Here we go...

My son (11 years old) and I are pretty new to leather working. He was down in the dumps for a few weeks last year and I decided we needed to do something creative together. I was in the market for a leather satchel and he wanted to earn some money to buy legos. I decided to make my own satchel and he decided he wanted to make and sell leather key chains to his class mates for the holiday season to try to earn some money.

Neither of us had any experience with leather working so we of course went to our local Tandy story in Louisville, Kentucky. We bought the $35 membership and became eligible for their classes. We bought a few tools and a few D rings on our first visit and went to the local hobby lobby and bought some $10 junk leather to practice on. We watched a bunch of youtube videos.

My son made four prototype leather key chains out of different materials and took them to school and within a couple days he had over 25 orders for $5 key chains to make. We made his orders together, he cheered up fast when he found out he could make some serious $didge$ to buy the legos he wanted.

A couple of points regarding Tandy;

1. The people at the Louisville store in my opinion are complete and total class act employees. I mean they have just been really great to get started with. These people are dedicated, they know what they are talking about and while I don't know them very well personally they seem professionally like genuine, honest, and good people. I would wager the majority of employees around the country fit a similar profile.

2. Yes Tandy is corporate but they stock the stuff you need at a bricks and mortar store in YOUR neighborhood. If not for Tandy we would have never been able to get started like we did. I am thankful to this day that if I need a buckle(s) or some tools ASAP that I know I can drive 50 miles and pick them up the same day that I need them.

3. I don't buy stuff from Tandy that is overpriced. But their sale stuff has been indispensable for us to get started. Most all of my tools have been acquired through Tandy sales. We visit the store once a month now and I usually buy $50-$60 worth and after a year now I have most all the basics. I also have got some cheap stuff from China acquired on the internet that is cheaper then at Tandy which I would also recommend a rank beginner to do. I have also since bought some Osborne and Vergez Blanchard stuff that I now use as a replacement for the Tandy and Chinese stuff. When I upgrade I give the kid the Tandy and Chinese tools so he has some of his very own tools to use, be responsible to care for, loose or otherwise snot up like a kid is prone to do. And when I die guess who is going to get the good tools also? Right. Exactly.

4. This past summer the boy and I took a trip across the country and we stopped in Ft. Worth to see the Al Stohlman museum at Tandy HQ. It was one of the most interesting things we did and it helped both me and the kid to elevate our game based on the quality of what Al produced. Once you see something like that there is no going back. Now in our spare time we have several leather projects going on at one time and pretty much a full blown mini workshop. We now buy stuff from all over depending on the project and we experiment with different quality levels (shout out to Thoroughbred Leather, W&C and Hermann Oak). We have taken a road trip to a local tack and halter shop and they let the kid operate their industrial sewing machine and also helped me learn a few tricks of the trade. We have also road tripped to take a chap making lesson from someone we met through this forum.

So yeah Tandy can be a bunch of bad things (sometimes overpriced, slow to innovate (Al Stohlman been dead how long now and they have no new books??), sometimes inept employees, etc..) but my point is if it wasn't for our local shop we would never be where we are at. And I'm loyal to them for providing us an opportunity to grow both as leather craftsmen and as a family. If you have been in the leather business for decades you probably have a bad experience with Tandy at some point but hey I also bring the kid to eat at the local Dairy Queen sometimes. We have eaten there many, many, many times but only been sick once or twice...lmao....you get the point we would love to eat organic non gmo anti biotic free non glutin low mercury rabbit food every single day but sometimes the DQ is it. Lmao x 2.

My son and I have talked about setting our next goal to sell some things on Etsy and through other outlets. I think it will take us another year to get to the quality level where we can do this. And quite honestly the more I learn the more I know that we will be sourcing things at places other than Tandy. But, will we will still return often for the items on sale and advice and to sometimes use their tools and knowledge during a class? For sure we will.

IMHO the world with Tandy at this time is a better place then a world without Tandy. Until this changes I appreciate them and what they do, even if I to don't always appreciate the corporate model.

And to the gentleman who started this thread...here's my advice even though you didn't ask for it. If you find out you were undercharged for whatever reason as soon as you find out just pay the people what you should have owed them in the first place. If you take the responsibility to do this then you will always find yourself in a situation where everybody wins and nobody losses.

That's a lesson I hope I have the opportunity to teach my kid someday.

That is my .02 cents. Regrets if it was long winded. I'm out.

It is true that there are still genuinely knowledgeable people in Tandy stores around the country. I will tell you i have met them in 3 stores. I have met 10 people who I doubt could even make one of tandys kits for every good one. As the good ones leave or retire, they are replaced by salesmen.

We are talking about a downward slide. Tandy used to be 10 times better. Greed has decreased quality and increased prices. Corporate policies now heavily favour salespeople over craftspeople. They have some pretty strange personality tests as part of their hiring practices. There are copys floating around online.

Our discussion is about this downward slide. It is a slide that is going to ruin the only brick and mortar resource left for good. That is the concern.

I am sure that every person who expressed an opinion here actually want tandy to be good again, and help way more people than they currently do.

Innovating, bringing in new products, recognizing that leather is not just about western tooling. Carry consistent product of quality. It would help everyone.

There is a whole other world of leatherworkers.

Retirees should not be their entire market target

[Dougster]

And to the gentleman who started this thread...here's my advice even though you didn't ask for it. If you find out you were undercharged for whatever reason as soon as you find out just pay the people what you should have owed them in the first place. If you take the responsibility to do this then you will always find yourself in a situation where everybody wins and nobody losses.

Please refer to message #19 above: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=67396&p=439440

Follow up: Tandy corporate must have forwarded my message to the local store, as I received a hand-written note in the mail from the manager along with a gift of a piece of leather I had been eyeing in the store. That was an unexpected surprise.