why is sears on the way to bankruptcy?

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Originally Posted By: 4WD
Isn't this another re run ? - or do we just need endless pile on's and beat downs on this site ?


Posters here love to beat down on Sears. They actually WANT it to die, and eliminate jobs and competition.

The real reason its hurting is Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Costco.


I'd like nothing better than to see sears succeed. But the sears of 30 years ago is not what we have now. I have a fair amount of older sears tools, but nothing about sears makes me shop now, china and what not. Bring back the sears of old and it would do well.

( bring back the candy/snack counter!!!)


We can neither wish Sears in to failure nor success.

Sears will have to accomplish one or the other on their own.

As I've said before, the primary purpose Sears serves for me is close in parking spots at the mall during bad weather.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Originally Posted By: javacontour
The other thing people are not considering is that Sears sold credit.


Interesting. I had forgotten that Sears introduced the Discover card in the 1980's. It was my first credit card because, as a college student, it was the only one that came without an annual fee. I wonder if this business segment is still profitable for Sears.


Sears sold it off years ago.

I think Discover Card became it's own standalone company in 2007, around the time of the financial meltdown.


That was about a year before Discover canceled my card (due to inactivity). Since I've always paid my statements in full I use cards that pay the highest rewards. Discover's rewards model fell by the wayside a long time ago for me, long before 2007. My ex-wife's aunt retired from Sears credit. They apparently had very high standards for granting credit. A long time ago, long before we ever knew what FICO scores were, if you could get a Sears credit card you could qualify for just about any line of credit. I learned about credit scores when I was in college (1983-88). I got a couple of store cards (Sears was one) to just use occasionally to build creditworthiness. I wonder how I managed to qualify with no credit history.

 

[4WD]

1) I have updated my profile - in the industrial world - Ops is a very common: Ops Supv, Ops Supt, Ops Manager... I work 14 hours days - more when needed - you have no clue who is lazy on this site and who is not, do you? No - it was you riding in on the white horse to get even for what was not sent to you. I have sent you one thing I recall -'it was a compliment that does not line up with this reply.
2) I need no introduction to Sears - have done business with them for 40 years - I stuck with them mainly to support my interests in things made in USA, and long successful use of products. I do recognize that has thinned
3) I only deal with a small town store - it is still a great place - but only spent about $6k there last year - they don't fill the majority of my needs.
4) I will admit my comments were snarky as yours have been in other posts - however as for another recap of the mis management of the company - its all over the place - remains to be seen if they become small or vanish
5) I did add real info: Tools and appliances and how they are doing - I did not see any of the hope they die soon wish stuff I replied to mention specific items. I have a dozen things I might need parts for, it matters to me.
Will continue to do business with my store as long as I can ...

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Malo83
Went into the local small Mom/Pop Sears to replace the pull cord on my CRAFTSMAN mower, the owner has a desk by the front door, he was sitting there as I walked in and he never said a word as I walked by, asked one of the employees if they had the pull cord, said they don't carry them, on my way out passed the owner again, made eye contact but not a word was said, picked up the pull cord at the local WallyWorld, needless to say haven't been back.

I feel like this whenever I go to the lawn mower shop, but this is pretty common nowadays in retail businesses, it's like you do them a favor buying stuff.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
The only thing I see is half their showroom floor has treadmills. Who buys treadmills anymore? lol


The washing machine showroom is a wide open graveyard half full of rubbermaid laundry totes to make it look less deserted.

My sears is so disorganized I looked at a TV in their primo mall real estate store at 7:45 pm and couldn't buy one b/c the warehouse 2 blocks away closes at 7.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Right-competition has nothing to do with it. Sounds like somebody got burnt on some Sears stock......


As usual, you're wrong on both counts. I've never invested in retail stocks beyond what is in my various market funds, and any retail is far to volatile for the individual stocks I purchase. And Sears was very competitive until Eddie Lampert began his slash and burn from 2005-2010. Lampert drove Sears Holdings into insolvency by financially hamstringing the company through a series of legal but shady financial maneuvers. I would encourage you to spend a minute or two educating yourself about the downfall of Sears-virtually every business website tells the story of what Lampert did to gut the company. If you aren't able to search it yourself please let me know-I'd be happy to show you how to do that as well.

Nice try though.

 

[The motor guy]

Funny I went to a sears hardware store today and found they went were shut down. I would have thought that one got a good amount of business.

 

[The motor guy]

They had a good selection of stuff compared to the other stores.

 

[4WD]

Just ordered Craftsman 17 piece screwdriver set for $19.99 - Made in USA ... got 3 (2 as gifts) to get free shipping and used PayPal ...Always found it easy to tell Phillips apart ...

 

[Garak]

I don't know who said it, but it was someone here a year or two ago. Sears has no excuse. They already were set up to deliver product. Home delivery has been a big thing for them for decades. Had they been prescient enough to switch mail order catalogs to online quickly enough, we may never had heard of Amazon.

 

[Sayjac]

A rarity indeed here to agree with Pop's but he's got it covered. So simply the answer is...Eddie Lampert. Hedge fund manager that knows how to run a hedge fund, but not retail. Drove Sears into the ground and never put money back into it. He's the Gordon Gekko of Sears Holdings.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Had they been prescient enough to switch mail order catalogs to online quickly enough, we may never had heard of Amazon.


... if only you would have an idea on how much they work on their websites (mobile or not)....
....and how many times the employees/contractors got turned around....
...and how many time the projects got re-done (again).....

i just fringe at the thought of how much money was wasted just on that alone....

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
1) I have updated my profile - in the industrial world - Ops is a very common: Ops Supv, Ops Supt, Ops Manager... I work 14 hours days - more when needed - you have no clue who is lazy on this site and who is not, do you? No - it was you riding in on the white horse to get even for what was not sent to you. I have sent you one thing I recall -'it was a compliment that does not line up with this reply.
2) I need no introduction to Sears - have done business with them for 40 years - I stuck with them mainly to support my interests in things made in USA, and long successful use of products. I do recognize that has thinned
3) I only deal with a small town store - it is still a great place - but only spent about $6k there last year - they don't fill the majority of my needs.
4) I will admit my comments were snarky as yours have been in other posts - however as for another recap of the mis management of the company - its all over the place - remains to be seen if they become small or vanish
5) I did add real info: Tools and appliances and how they are doing - I did not see any of the hope they die soon wish stuff I replied to mention specific items. I have a dozen things I might need parts for, it matters to me.
Will continue to do business with my store as long as I can ...



Members posted valid reasons to them why Sears is dying a very slow death. You disregarded their opinion as rubbish due to your superficial judgement of their view because of their profile information. I am aware of what "Ops" means, I was just posting the same judgement you gave to other members who are very highly critical of the mismanagement of Sears. Some perceptions seem ludicrous yet could have merit. Sears at this point is a company on life support and I do not foresee any white knight coming to the rescue. Companies going under is not something to celebrate but in capitalism it is a necessity.

You offered a viable solution of streamlining Sears's retail side of on focusing on rural areas of the U.S. It may be too little too late but at this point it would not hurt Sears to attempt.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: dave1251
Companies going under is not something to celebrate but in capitalism it is a necessity.


This is a very smart statement. I don't know that it is a necessity for companies to go under, but it is an inevitability.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Originally Posted By: dave1251
Companies going under is not something to celebrate but in capitalism it is a necessity.


This is a very smart statement. I don't know that it is a necessity for companies to go under, but it is an inevitability.


Necessity is too strong. Companies which remain stagnant and complacent will go under.