Is A Harbor Freight Inside Track Club Membership Worth It

Harbor Freight is well known for offering a wide range of tools at incredibly low prices. Part of the way the discount retailer is able to do this is by manufacturing the vast majority of the products that it sells in-house. Many may not realize that most tool brands in these stores are owned by Harbor Freight itself. Pittsburgh, Icon, Bauer, Hercules, Atlas, and most of the other names that you'll see lining the store shelves are all owned by the very business that sells them. Cutting out the distribution middlemen allows the company to keep its costs low and pass the savings on to its customers.

That's just the beginning, though. Savvy shoppers know that there are a whole bunch of other ways to save money when shopping at Harbor Freight. The company has a constantly rotating selection of coupons on its website, regularly hosts large Parking Lot Sale events that discount a large swath of tools, and participates in many of the same holiday sales that you'll find in other stores, like Labor Day and Black Friday.

Of course, one of the biggest ways to save money at Harbor Freight is to join its Inside Track Membership. This is a paid membership that allows participants to get access to a bevy of different perks that can help them save even more money. This might lead you to wonder if the benefits of the membership are worth the cost of entry. For regulars who do a lot of their shopping in the store, the answer is almost certainly yes, but others might want to know how much the membership costs and what comes with it.

Before we can get into whether or not Harbor Freight's Inside Track Membership is worth the cost, we first need to take a look at what it gets you. There are four major benefits to becoming a member: You get access to a rotating selection of monthly member-only product discounts, access to special member appreciation events (like free gifts just for visiting the store), early access to the store's parking lot sales, and added savings on items that are already discounted during weekend sales events. This means that some of the best deals and discounts available at Harbor Freight are exclusively reserved for Inside Track Members.

From a shopper's perspective, this can seem like a little bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, members have no control over what items are discounted or when. There are occasionally store-wide discounts, but the majority of sales focus on a curated selection of markdowns chosen by Harbor Freight itself. That means you might end up waiting a long time before an item goes on sale if you're hoping to get a discount on something specific, which isn't always practical when you need a tool for an immediate project.

On the other hand, these sales are incredibly frequent, and regular shoppers who keep a careful eye on them can save a lot of money very quickly. In fact, there are several reviews on the membership site from Harbor Freight shoppers who claim that the membership can pay for itself on the first visit. Others have claimed to have saved hundreds of dollars through their membership over the course of a single project.

There are two ways to purchase an Inside Track Membership: You can buy a one-year membership for $29.99 or a two-year membership for $44.99. The two-year option is the most price-efficient method overall, as you get the second year for half the price of the first. That said, you'll want to be sure that you're going to be able to get your money's worth before you slap down the cash.

Asking if the Harbor Freight Inside Track Membership is worth the cost is a bit like asking if an all-you-can-eat buffet is worth the price of entry; it depends entirely on how much you take advantage of it. Those who walk into the store to buy a $20 screwdriver set and then spend $45 on a membership that they never use again will have a hard time justifying that expense. If the nearest Harbor Freight is too far for convenience, or you prefer to get most of your tools from retail outlets that sell big-name premium brands, then you might be better off passing on the membership and just buying a handful of items at the regular MSRP. 

On the other hand, if you're about to start a big renovation and you're trying to shop at Harbor Freight while keeping under budget, or if you're looking for an affordable way to build up a tool collection and want to take advantage of every discount possible, then you'll likely find that the savings offered by the membership are worth the upfront cost.