Confirmation Sears is circling the drain

[biosurfer1]

Wow, I knew things were getting bad but didn't know they hit levels so low.

The bulb went out in my cordless Craftsmen light and after confirming the bulb was proprietary (of course) I saw they carried them at Sears so I headed over since the price wasn't as bad as I thought it would be ($4).

First off, its a ghost town. I know being 2pm on a Thursday would be slow, but I did not see one single customer besides myself after wandering around the tools area for about 10 minutes.

Found a similar bulb but wasn't the right one so I walked up to the cashier area that had 3 workers all standing around doing absolutely nothing except 2 of them were on their cell phones. I asked about the bulb and barely even looking up, one of them said "sorry, we don't carry the bulbs. You might try the other location (about 30 minutes away)"

Ok fine...even though the website said they have replacement bulbs in store. I walked over to the cordless tool area about 10 ft. away from the cashier just to browse and see if they had any good deals. Within 10 seconds a 4th worker walked up to me and handed me the right bulb. Apparently they do have them, hanging, no joke, 10 feet from where they all told me they didn't carry them.

I walked back to the cashier and told them "apparently you were wrong" and of course they play dumb saying things like "I didn't know we carried those, where were they?"

As I was checking out, the kicker was two of the losers, er, workers starting talking about the bulbs and one said "at least you're somewhat new so you have an excuse" to which another replied "ya, I just tell people this is my first week if I don't know where things are" THIS IS ALL RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!

The icing on the cupcake was one of the young "men" workers at the cashier desk was wearing a dress, sweater vest, knee high stockings, big black Doc Martin shoes and had a nice blue bow in his shoulder length hair. I wish I was making this up. I give Sears less than 2 years before they join Mervyn's and Montgomery Ward.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

To be fair, my understanding is that Sears treats their military veteran employees quite well.

But, yeah...my recent experiences there have not been swell.

[look 171]

too many young people need a job. If its not on the web, they don't care to find it.

[FLYGEEZER]

Years ago..Sears was a haven for retired military to work..........Not so much anymore.

[stomachmonkey]

Radio Shack filing for bankruptcy.

Target shutting down all Canadian stores.

[cashflyer]

A sweater vest with a dress???
Idiot.

I like Craftsman tools. Other than that, I have no business in a Sears store.

[FLYGEEZER]

My favorite wife was at J.C. Penney today, "gettin deals" as she puts it . She also said the store was empty, all three floors she had almost to herself.

[intakexhaust]

Fairly agree on the retail employee service. 50/50 and depends on the location. Some are near brain dead to others extremely helpful.

Observations:
The Craftsman tool brand are at all Ace Hardware stores but at Sears, you can get some of the same tools up to 75% less! Its a hit or miss but they now deep discount and just pile sku's at random on the Sears clearance shelves. By chance over Christmas found some kitchen related for near pittance vs. any online such as Amazon. A big telltale something is caving in. Same for appliances..... can get some heavy discounts and far below the advertised sales. Just ask the sales clerks.

Hedge fund guru Lampert is not so much retail minded. I don't see how Sears as we know them will survive, but they own lots of property and will be interesting how it all plays out.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

A sweater vest with a dress???
Idiot.

Yep, everyone knows you wear full sleeve sweater with a dress... bet his purse didn't even match the dress!

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Radio Shack filing for bankruptcy.

Target shutting down all Canadian stores.

I've followed the trends of Radio Shack and knew things were very rocky so that doesn't surprise me. However the Target problems are quite alarming. Wow.... totally done in Canada?? In the US, there are a few closing's (as of this Jan.) including a few in larger metro areas.

Whats odd is the perception that buyers think the best deals are from Amazon or online. I find it quite the opposite. Maybe others have become complacent and love the Prime member BS. Amazon is pumping up for more distribution centered in major hubs. My guess soon afterwards, they'll have warehouses open to the public and look something like a Costco.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by intakexhaust

.....My guess soon afterwards, they'll have warehouses open to the public and look something like a Costco.

Interesting. I could see that.

Amazon are highly averse to any activity that could create a tax nexus.

I assume if they were to go that route it would be because tax avoidance has been successfully dealt with in the form of states abilities to collect use tax from consumers.

[vash]

i'm gonna go and buy a washer and dryer shortly. maybe help them keep the lights on for a few seconds longer.

[BE911SC]

Lousy CEO sent Sears down the drain. He'll be okay though, not to worry.

[sammyg2]

IIRC the last thing I bought at a sears store was a sony betamax.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by vash

i'm gonna go and buy a washer and dryer shortly. maybe help them keep the lights on for a few seconds longer.

They don't have any pacific sales stores where you live?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

Lousy CEO sent Sears down the drain. He'll be okay though, not to worry.

Yep, if that darned CEO didn't wear a dress and knew where those bulbs were the company would still have a chance.

[strupgolf]

A friend of mine worked for K Mart for 40 years in store management. He retired last year. He got a call from them to be a store closer on a contract basis. They said he could work full time for the next few years liqidating k mart stores any where he wants. Sad for them, and Sears, who I believe won't be far behind.

[biosurfer1]

I try to buy Craftsman stuff when I can, and I used to really like Sears since you can go a physically touch the stuff you want to buy and see if it's crap or not. Can't do that with Amazon.

[techweenie]

There's a book in the Sears story. They put a CEO in charge who was a huge fan of Ayn Rand and decided the best corporate disciplines would come from 'objectivism' so he basically pitted all the divisions against each other. It's a real horror story, with employees making overt efforts to sabotage their peers' divisions... and the loser was the customer.

At Sears, Eddie Lampert's Warring Divisions Model Adds to the Troubles - Businessweek

[540964]

So, my story begins with the idiots at the local BMW dealer...
My 335d was in for service a few months back. They told me the tires needed rotating so I told them to go ahead and do it.
A week ago I had a slow leak in the left rear tire so, becuse the car is garaged for the winter, I decided to take the wheel off the car and drop it off for repair.
I grabbed the jack and a 17mm socket that needs a 3/8 drive, a 3/8 to 1/2 adapter and a 1/2" breaker bar to remove the wheel from the car. Well, the adapter twisted into two pieces, the idiot at the BMW dealer must have torqued the lug bolts to 225 lb ft with his impact (the spec is what, 90 lb ft?)
A few days later I took the guranteed craftsman tool to the local Sears to get it swapped out. There were 3 middle aged guys and one woman, none of which offered to help. When I asked for a replacement one of the guys told me to find the part on the shelf and bring it to him, then he'd swap it.
The part was not to be found except in an assortment pack which they wouldn't split.
The solution was return the defective one for a gift receipt, then order the replacement from Sears.com on an online terminal, full in all the blanks, etc., etc.
After about an hour I finally got out of there. Unbelievable.
Sears is a mess, I don't think I'll ever buy a tool there again.
But, as I'm thinking about it, I'm not eager to let the local BMW dealer work on my car either.
What's happened to this world? In either case, if I voice my concerns I'm looked at like a malcontent.
I don't get it.
Sears is dead.