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What Ace Hardware taught us about the difference in UK and US tools
Given all our recent "tool tourism" and international tool investigations, we wanted to take some time to reflect on some of the differences between the USA and the UK. When it comes to all things tools, tool box, tool shop and tool use related, what did we find at Ace Hardware?
About Ace Hardware
As part of Jonathan's recent international tool finding mission, he visited one of the Ace Hardware stores he found. The vibe of these stores is that they are a little more traditional than many of the larger mainstream hardware stors over there. A place where you can still buy individual screws rather than the more common multi-packs. They seem a little smaller than many of their USA hardware store competitors. For example the huge, sprawling The Home Depot and Lowes type stores.
From our experience too they had very friendly and helpful staff. The nearest equivalent we can compare them to in the UK being our B&Q type offerings, but with a smaller, homelier feel. In the states, they had a jingle that said "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man!" and in our experience, that certainly was reflected in our visit too.
USA V UK tool shopping differences
Of course we were already aware of some of the more obvious differences we were going to find. So we already knew, for example, that the colours are reversed on the US Milwaukee red tool box range in comparison to our own black versions. We also found some of their products had different Milwaukee branding which was more of a surprise.
However it was the overall variety and range of products and quirky tools that really jumped out at us. Even within the DeWALT and Stanley ranges that we're already familiar with. We use their products a lot, yet Ace Hardware still had items that we've just not found here in the UK. So of course had to buy them to add to our growing collection.
The quirky USA tools we found
It perhaps shouldn't be too surprising that we found an Ace own-brand keyhole saw with a pistol grip. However, on reflection, ergonomically this trigger-style handle could this be a big benefit especially to anyone with grip issues or carpal tunnel for example.
As well as this, we came away with a bumper haul of other weird and wonderful finds like the Drain Weasel, and tools from Superior Tool and Newborn which were both conceptually new-to-us and most definitely a little different to what we're used to seeing here in the UK.
The other differences we noted
One very interesting difference was the safety information that appears on products in the USA. We're of course very used to seeing a lot of safety information on tools here, and that doesn't seem to be reflected in America. It seems that even individual US States have different warning requirements. We found a very unusual (for us!) carcinogen warning on a tool which we couldn't get our heads around, but it seems that this is a requirement in states like California. So even though we were in Delaware, maybe these warnings have to be applied USA-wide because of where the tools could ultimately end up?
Similarly they seem really keen on small box cutters that are commonly found in most hardware stores there. These, on the face of it, seem very handy little items, but from a practical perspective actually don't seem that safe, and might not pass muster in a UK market.
Similarly they seem really keen on small box cutters that are commonly found in most hardware stores there. These, on the face of it, seem very handy little items, but from a practical perspective actually don't seem that safe, and might not pass muster in a UK market.
How we found Ace Hardware.
Even in this, slightly smaller hardware store, we really can't knock the range and variety of products they stock. When we say small though, it's still pretty big by UK standards, just a lot smaller than many of it's US counterparts. When we consider the feedback from our customers on both sides of the pond, any feel the pricing in the US is more competitive than here in the UK too. That said, as with many things, we recognise that it's our differences that make us stronger. And we love to grow and learn through what we see from others, especially on our travels. And we have certainly been learning lots through our tool tourism, as you can see here: