What should you do with all those tools now? Glad you asked! You guys need to have a build off, only using those tools of course! Who else wants to see that video?

Also keep in mind - unlike Home Depot or Lowes who throw every open-box return in the liquidation pile, Harbor Freight (at least around here) have a table up front where they try to re-sell the usable returns or sets that are missing a piece. So their liquidation pallets will be like a HD pallet that's already been picked over for the "good" stuff.

I worked at Harbor Freight for a couple years. We put alot of the good condition and mostly complete tools in an open box section of the store at discount. Everything else gets palleted up like what you have. However half to most of the tools are usually working, either you got bad luck of the draw or the liquidator is trying to sell off the shittier pallets. Also ship me a welder!

My favorite HF purchase was a small metal bench top vise. Still use the vise (there was no handle), but what made it my favorite was that the box had "Vice" on it in big red letters.

I've bought pallets from liquidators before. One thing I learned quick is only buy pallets listed as coming directly from the retailer, not a 3rd party vendor, you'll get crap like this constantly. Learned this the hard way on 2 pallets of returned Amazon sporting goods, ended up with two pallets of pet food, kitchen goods, and expired supplements.

My buddy use to buy those for a retail shop. I've never seen one so bad. Like that was a huge cluster. Here's an idea for the crap tools. Take them apart and make Christmas ornaments out of them. Like weld them together and make something cool looking out of it

I worked at Harbor Freight for a short time and you are correct they will take back anything there. It doesn’t matter it it was beat to hell. I was truly amazed by their return policy.

11:45 😂the little green Genny, I was watching a video earlier where a guy pulled the same one out of the trash and tried to repair it. You guys didn't toss that out, did you? ... 😂🤣😂

Harbor Freight really took each of those wrenches and priced them individually at about $5.66 per piece, even though the majority of those wrenches all came from multi-piece kits that were probably only worth $10-$15 each. Sorry that this pallet was such a cluster-f for you guys, but at least those compressors (esp the pancake and that bigger one) were in good enough shape to help someone out in their shop! I'd love to have one, but being from Virginia it's highly unlikely haha

The play here is to go to harbor and try and return it all and get retail price for them 🤣

I used to work at harbor freight. The amount of returns we got is insane. People buying them using them once and returning them or beating them to hell and returning them. Those looked like the "refurbished" items that they would send back to the store to sell again at a discount.

When I buy from HF, it's usually something that I'm going to use just a few times, or a spare tool I need to keep in the truck or at the office. If the truck/office tool gets the "five finger discount," it's not going to break the bank.

A lot of people are abusing the return policy. Harbor Frieght needs to update the policies to exclude returned used junk & shouldn't resell broken items

This pallet was unfortunate, the depot one was for sure better! But if you don’t want the welders I’d gladly take them! The spool gun alone would be a great asset for me lol

I work at harbor freight and this is literally exactly how my co-workers stack theyre returns. that pallet came straight from the back of their warehose to yours!

So I can tell you the crate you bought is returns from Harbor Freights Extended warranty coverage. When someone purchases an item and they purchase the extended warranty and bring back the item that is broken, the employee or managers takes the item to the back and that item is thrown in a pile (i.e. like the one you bought) When an item is purchased and it's brought back within the 90 day return policy, that item is sent back to the manufacturer.

Returns are sent back to a facility to be tested- the best of the bunch are sent back to stores to be sold “as-is”…my guess is these pallets are the ones that didn’t make the cut

One of the many things I love about this channel is you're not afraid to show us a failure. We learn a lot from that too!

I have had that same 12v compressor for over 15 years. The bag is shredded, but the pump still works like a champ. I carried it in my Polaris Ranger for about 10 years and used it to fill at least 100 tires. Honestly, it was the best bang for the buck of any Harbor Freight item I've owned.

Don’t know why I’m liking these pallet unboxing videos so much! 😂😂😂

I've not bought a pallets worth, but I scope out the open box areas of my local HF when I go. Gotten a couple turds I returned the next day but a fair few good buys. My worm drive circular saw I got basically 1/2 of MSRP, just needed an oring to fix it from being leaky.

Waiting for the Scooby Doo ending where Jordan pulls his mask off and it’s really been Sam this whole time.

So I used to work at one, in Chattanooga, Tn! The amount of like bold theft was ridiculous…..but the returns we would get, they throw in that pallet you received. That’s almost exactly how it would look. Then they just ship them back out on trucks. I got plenty of deals from the store. The amount of people that would come in and buy a nail gun thinking it can hold up to normal construction…everyday. That store was a gem really!

I work on tow boats so I use the Bauer tools. The price is right and they hold up great. I have the 1/2 inch impact and it's a 2018 model. Used every day and has been run under water. Still going.

I used to work at Harbor Freight and a lot of our returns we sold at the parking lot sales. We had a spot in the back of the store were the returns went. Most weren't checked to see it they worked.

I'll take the airbrush tank anyday. It's a step above the one I use for painting model aircraft kits. I like to think someone got it as an air compressor for something that needed more balls behind it instead of a tank meant to push paint.

@3:47... i own the same grinder. that rattle you hear is the shaft lock button on the backside. shaft lock is pressed to lock the arbor in position with a pin when you change the cutting or grinding wheel . i noticed mine doing the same exact thing and when i inspected it , i noticed the button/cover came off. it must have some kind of return spring action to hold that pin out while in use. grinder still in operation but im waiting for that pin to drop in place on its own during use and lock it up . remember its only a $16 grinder.

So much warrior and drill master! Those two brands practically come broken when new. The best item in that box by far was the Fortress compressor, assuming of course it is working properly. I have the same one and I love it. Nice and quiet. Not sure how the grab bar on yours got so bent up, mine is a at a lower angle that doesn't block the outlet. That whole handle slides forward with four more mounting screws anyway, to give better leverage when grabbing and moving around the garage

I went through 5 of those trickle charges. Just because I live walking distance to a Habor freight and kept thinking maybe the next one will work…maybe that was one of my returns lol

Lou is Norm Abraham! You are The New Pittsburgh Workshop!! 🤣🤣

I spent a few months working as a temp at a Kohl's warehouse dealing with many, many shipping containers full of returns. We get into things like store and vendor return policies and warranty policies when we discuss what was returned. Some places allow returns within 30 days even if used, some don't if the box has been opened, unless you can show the item is wrong or simply doesn't work. Need a one time use of an impact driver? Buy one, use it for that one job, then bring it back and claim it doesn't work and get your money back. Need a new gas tank fill cap for your generator, buy one like it, take the part you need off, then bring the generator back and claim it is missing the fill tank cap. Or just put the used one in the box and return it to a place with a clerk that doesn't question. Some people are like that and take full advantage of return policies. On the other hand, from having wasted money on some air compressors that really do fail to compress for more than one use, or a pull to start lawn mower the cord of which breaks at the first pull, etc. aren't unusual or unheard of. I once bought a cheap, new Poulan chain saw the casing which melted from engine heat during it's use. It is fair to say if it was mechanical, those boxes were usually opened and returned because someone had tried the item and found it to not be working. I saw air compressors, small dorm room refrigerators and battery chargers. I saw relatively few never unsealed boxes of things mechanical or electronic. Many of those boxes had been partially crushed. It was pretty rare for me to see a box containing a battery charger or a heat gun that hadn't been opened. There were a few bit damaged things (including some that looked really cool to have) but open boxes missing parts or with something that even casual observation showed breakage were pretty common. There was a lot of stuff that came in sealed, plain Jane cardboard boxes that I had no idea of the contents (they had bar codes telling someone with a scanner what was inside, but that wasn't my job). But there were lots of original boxes too. As well as items without any box. Actual non electrical tools were uncommon. Probably not too many reasons to return a hammer or a pair of pliers. However I did see wrench and s. ocket sets. Air compressors were not uncommon (also hydraulic jacks with leaking oil)I did see lots of pillows, foam cushions and the like as I put items on a conveyor belt for someone else to sort. Lots of shoes and clothing returns too. Wrong color or size I guess. How much was actual return to store of purchase vs an online purchase I had no way of knowing. Occasionally I saw big ticket or unusual items I don't normally associate with Kohls like once or twice an Eprom programmer device or a Sun computer terminal and how did I miss those sales? My favorite was a brand new looking shrink wrapped V8 engine too heavy for the conveyor belt and it was moved around by it's own pallet jack. If I could cherry pick which return item would go into a crate to be sold at a discount, then heck yeah, that would be a great buy. But from actual observation of literally tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of returns (our daily performance metric target was 6,000 items per day and we usually beat that) I would pass on a randomly filled crate. I can easily anticipate crates filled with what is best described as junk or landfill.

I actually love that little Pittsburg Compressor in my Beach Jeep. Airs up my tires super fast.

If heat gun gives a bit of smoke it’s probably new, most of them give some smoke when new, then they stop. Well, unless they are broken.

I can personally vouch for the titanium 110 welder though. I own one myself and for it being such an inexpensive briefcase welder, I would honestly put it up in the same bracket with Hobart and low line Miller welders. Shame that the two you got were trashed, seriously a solid product.

Princessauto here in Canada sometimes does "scratch and dent" sales for returned or new damaged items they're nice because you can inspect the stuff and negotiate on the price.

I also have one of those 2500# ATV winches. i bolted it to the floor of my garage. makes a great pull-in-the-dead-car winch. as long as it rolls freely it's never had a problem.

John’s reaction to the $hit pile had me dying😂😂😂

Lou looks like that guy from this old house😂

I have that tire inflator. If you have a substantially older vehicle, as in 25 years or older, it works well. On newer ones you run a very serious risk of blowing a fuse if you use it. Really have no clue why it's still sold nowadays. I went with a different, hand-held, inflator from a better brand *not* sold at H.F.

Those heat guns are actually pretty decent, ive had mine for 6 years, paid 6$ for it with a paper coupon, hasn't failed me once

I have that exact battery charger. Shockingly, it works really well! Definitely a keeper!

I have a lot of HoboFreight tools. Most everything is halfway decent with a little spiffing up: like the angle grinder that came with a dry gearbox. I greased it and it’s been good for like fifteen years now! I have that same heat gun: yup it stinks until the heating element burns off the manufacturing goo. It works great now.

Something additional, be sure to get and keep the units manual. If you don’t have a manual, you can get one on-line or get HF to send you one.

Love this series not as good as the epoxy series but still I love it keep up the good work 🙏❤️🤟😁

The Warrior brand at HF is the "use & abuse until it breaks and toss" brand (better known as the meh brand).

Gotta say, I was surprised how good the little Tailgater Generators are. I have one of the previous generation ones (from the last group of red painted ones). Durring a winter power outage, it was strong enough to almost run my 25 cu ft refrigerator. The fridge wasn't running at full speed, but it ran and cooled down. Weld the crankcase hole shut, change the gas to 2 cycle mix and they should run (Assuming they were not returned because an idjit ran them on straight gasoline. Warrior is the bottom of the bargain basement level, bad enough that they make Cal-Hawk look slightly premium...

Only time I ever had trouble with one of the table items mentioned below was when I purchased the warrior grinder. It didn't perform at its full speed rating and wasn't powerful enough to cut what I was cutting. They allowed me to return it for a partial exchange on the Hercules grinder.

That Fortress compressor is quiet and works well. For what they cost it's a deal.

“I’m never going to financially recover from this” John Malecki

That airbrush compressor is cool. I paint lures as a hobby and use a similar one. Found it at a yard sale and it works great.

It's kind of like the Christmas where you think you are getting a smart phone and inside the box is a pair of wool socks!

Lou looks like Norm Abrams, not John Malecki.

Gotta have Lou make something 🤞

LMFAO!! When he sent the belt sander like an RC car

I've taken on the philosophy a friend of mine. He was using a cheap $30 benchtop drill press to make a sewing thread caddy for his wife when I asked how he was drilling the holes he pointed to the drill press and said "I buy the cheap item first, if I burn it up in a year then go I'll buy good one." I have the Avanti hand held airless sprayer it's definitely not a Wagner. I haven't opened the $99 welder yet. Now I have to watch your HD one, because I didn't know you could buy stuff like that!

Did I miss something…feel like I haven’t seen Sam in a while

Does Sam still work for you?

A friend who owns a store bought a truckload HF return, and I helped him sort and test everything. 1 US General (I think was a 42 inch) toolbox had a huge dent on the top, beyond that it was great. Added a wood workbench top after pounding the dent out, and sold out just under full HF price. Most air compressors worked, and the non working just had minor issues (relief valve opened at 120 psi, and wouldn't close automatically until it was empty) A ton of grinders used once, a couple that needed brushes, and a few pallets of the tailgate generators that were all pretty much garbage. Either he'd gotten real lucky, or you'd been royally screwed.

Who else saw Lou mouth, "Oh s**t" with absolute dread on his face when he was asked to sort wrenches?!??! Epic 🤣

Did I miss where Sam went ?

feels illegal to be this early

That charger has worked for me for nearly a decade already. Charges every time, and is a great 'starter' boost when used that way! Definitely should go in the 'bonus' pile!

To this day, the best thing I ever bought from the Freight was an 'As-is' 125A Flux Core welder for $38. Get me in to welding and caused me to buy a couple others from them. HF can definitely be hit or miss but if you play your cards right, it doesn't always have to be buy once, cry once.

I don't even understand the concept of buying shop returns , not sure it exists here in France. It's like paying the right to do shopping in a junkyard 😂 But i love this kind of videos on your channel, thanks!

Do more building videos! Miss the days when these type of videos were the rare ones (That's what made them fun!)

There are a couple of companies that import those pallets, refurbish/inspect those tools and make the Harbor Freight tools available to us in Canada. You can't understand how cornered we are, especially in Quebec, with retailers like Home Depot/Canadian Tire/Rona (Lowes) jacking the prices of the cheap stuff to premium levels and removing more and more product diversity from the shelves. Watching KZfaq, you keep hearing about how easy it is to procure X or Y item from "ANY" hardware store...not here. I have to look up online and find retailers that will ship to canada at a decent cost nowadays. It's cheaper for me 99% of the time to order from Rock Auto and pay 100+$ of shipping than go to the nearby Carquest or Napa.

I would be excited to have a harbor freight returns pallet for a reasonable price. Years ago I heard about dumpster diving at harbor freight. About 5 years ago I decided go check out their trash bin with my fiance (lol) and scored a crappy leaking pvc air hose and an engine honing tool which I actually sold.

I had one of those ten dollar grinders and used it on all kinds of odd projects in my formative years. It’s not bad for ten bucks.

I think John might have said "You win!" before Lou even said his number. lol

I have the circular saw, the 12v drill, the battery charger and the winch, and the green welder. All work well when used within their means. The circular saw is very smooth and cuts like butter with a new blade in it, very comfortable grip. The green welder is my el cheapo go to for exhaust work and fabrication on cars, bery light weight, easy to move around a car. The 12v drill do have their issues, mostly stop working after laying around for months and one, the battery woudnt remove. The 2500 ATV winch will pull a 4000 pound car onto a trailer, with Engine, no problem, have been using them for years.

Got that same winch hooked up to a farm plow.. no snow yet this year but it lifts a heavy a$$ plow no problem.. keep up the great content

I used to work at HF a little over a decade ago. Anything that got returned was borked AF. Once had a jack hammer comeback because it wouldn't hold the chisel....the mount for the chisel had been welded in wrong.

everything harbor freight I've ever used was sketchy when it was new in box. returned, probably used/abused is terrifying. They could have shipped you all new in box items, and I don't think it'd be worth what they claimed.

John can you do a video on buying lumber for the newbies like myself. Sizing, places to order from if you live in BFE like myself?? Awesome videos by the way, I never miss one

Thanks for helping to keep harbor freight prices low!

I love these videos and I learn a lot. thanks for making mistakes before I do

4:58 "you can see it spark" yeah, that's how every battery powered drill was pre-brushless becoming the norm.

I don't buy pallets. I get them for free in bulk from almost every single business. I can fit 70 pallets in my enclosed trailer. Every 400 48x40 pallets they save 350 by not having to pay a flatbed to dump them. Then, i take the pallets apart w/duck bill deck wrecker, pneumatic nail kicker, safety glasses, & an old trashcan -stacking boards side by side for temporary lids for ricochets. Then, use wood for projects. I've never sold them to a manufacturer -but, they all say you can.

Really happy to see less meme interruptions in this video compared to others on this channel, probably just me but it always takes me out of an otherwise great video.

Amazon return pallets in the UK go for the equivalent of around 150 Dollars and all the ones I've bought are worth an easy 500 to resell, often a lot more.

3:56 -18 pesos 😂 that cracked me

Those portable air compressors in the Pittsburgh box are strong enough to air up bigger pickup truck tires mine are 265/75/16 at just has a 15-20 minute cool off period I gave $36 for mine works great and it's dependable I have been using it for about 2 years,, since the built in air compressor on my ever start 1200ah battery jump starter booster pack quit after using it for the same tires 4 times .. and I have the Pittsburgh box end offset wrenches in both sae and metric $14 a set, and the 32 PC saw and metric combination wrench set the not label ones $21, and the half moon wrench set I got both for $13 there ok the other sets of wrenches are pretty decent for what they are. I gave $87 for the Bauer 1/2 drill and the impact is the earthquake xt pneumatic impact is supposed to be worth $145 new.

I've got some used/open box stuff from there - but purchased in store. Another point - returns are charged a restocking fee of like 20%, and most of the items returned are re-sold at the same store. My guess is, anything that goes all the way back to a distribution center is completely fucked.

Excellent video. I appreciate your approach.

I work at a big lease-to-own furniture store as a delivery driver (the name has 2 "A"s) and they gave us effing Warrior drills for assembly. Suffice it to say that I bought a used makita drill and knockoff batteries ASAP.

I know a guy that bought lots like that. He sold a fridge and freezer to a cancer patient. Both were junk and he wouldn't refund a dime. There are crooks out there.

Well for my here in costa rica the hf returns are a good option we dont have a hf store around but there is a place that resell those ítem and here the tools are extremelly expensive, is a good option for works arround the house even if the ítem are sold at the same price that brand New stuff

Well, I have to say I learned something from this. I didn't have to nicely repackage the stuff I returned to HF because, after getting them home and trying them, they didn't work or were so far out of alignment that they were useless. My policy is that if it has an on/off switch, never from HF.

I purchased a 15 gallon air compressor. Got it home. It pumped up. Used it. It wouldn't kick on. The motor turned just a little and stopped. Took it back, got another same thing. Took it back. They took another plugged it in and it worked then let started lettingr out, and it pumped back up. I got it home. Turned it on it pumped up. I ran it out, same thing. Turned a little and stopped. Had an epiphany and turned it off and drained ALL the air. It kicked on and pumped up. But wait. We didn't run it all way out at harbor freight and it ran just fine. I called the support number. They said have garage wiring inspected. Turns out the entire garage was wired up on 1 single 15 Amp breaker and with wire so small it was BARELY legal. $2,000 later to upgrade garage and the compressor is running fine. As is my Welder.

“Nobody needs seven 17mm wrenches.” 😂😂

I think a lot of those really bad, no box items are returned for warranty exchanges. Like when they offer you the two year plan. I think people bring them in to get a new one and say its broken. Then they get a new one, and HF labels them as-is.

I personally had the drill master angle grinder from harbor freight for 6 years and it still runs nicely

They'll resell all the faulty stuff hoping people won't return it before the small return window ends. Been there, done that. But I wasn't dumb enough to let the window expire.

Things break quite frequently from Harbor Freight, so I think they just have a super lax return policy within 90-days. I bought a Bauer orbital sander and it died after 6-weeks of use. Didn’t use it all that much maybe like 1-2 times a week. One day the sander just died when I tried to turn it on… Wouldn’t turn on after I tested it on other outlets. I bet some poor guy bought it on a pallet and it’s completely useless now. Supposedly the QA for the tools they sell at HF is minimal and there’s quite a few lemons in what they sell, but it’s 50/50 I think on whether something will hold up or just straight die on you. My oscillating tool from HF is still going strong after 6 months of use 😊

Wow! This was actually painful to watch. I am a retired carpenter and woodworker who takes pride in my tools. To see such a collection of Chinese-made junk that you paid $2300 for, seems completely insane. I doubt that I own $50 worth of Harbor Freight tools, and after seeing this video, I might not ever set foot in a Harbor Freight store ever again!

Thank you for killing my curiosity! I am so glad I have never pulled the trigger on something like this. This confirms my hesitations.

I have a buddy that worked at one of these liquidation places and he told me they let them go through the pellets first before they’re bid on so a lot of the good stuff gets taken out before you even get a chance at it.

Some of the crap they list replacement parts for. Way back in the day if you bought some of the power tools they came with an extra set of brushes. First time you plug it in you found out why. What I can't believe is anyone would buy Salvage from a cheap discount tool store. At least with the wrenches and other hand tools you can walk in and walk out with a new one with no receipt. I had a 14" chainsaw that was recalled. I swapped it for a new one in the box and asked her what do they do with the old one. We throw it in the dumpster. Well after closing I found my chainsaw in the dumpster and took it home. The switch still hasn't caught on fire. I contemplated returning it again to a different store but I never did

When I was in highschool in south eastern Michigan, I worked at a Harbor Freight and a man from Canada had purchased a log splitter with cash and come back to the store some time later within the 90 day warranty with his log splitter box claiming it failed, and the girl at the register put it to the side and called me up to bring him a new one, when I brought it to the back I was curious how a log splitter broke so I opened it up and he put 3 logs in the box and taped it back up, lol

His face when you said smell this brush 🤣🤣🤣