Look at the chart of same store sales going back to 2008. Only one quarter where there was a gain in same store sales and it was very small, maybe 1%. Many quarters with 10 to 16% declines. And remember that's while shedding the worst stores. The only thing left is for the fat lady to sing.
Clearly it's bad management, Walmart and Target are doing fine and Sears was there first.
I imagine Lampbert made plenty of money parting out Sears but he certainly did nothing to save them or Kmart. The ironic thing is 20 years ago Sears was perfectly placed to become Amazon. They started as a mail order store and simply failed to establish an internet presence when it was clear the malls were dying.
Yeah, but putting the catalog on a web page would take thousands of dollars. The internet thing will never work. Computers don't have a place to put the money to pay.
Total lack of vision.
My point exactly about the vision problem but Sears was already taking credit cards over the phone so doing that online was not a problem.
Stuff ordered from Sears would usually take 2 weeks and sometimes longer because the item would be out-of-stock and have to be back-ordered.
Amazon Prime is 1 or 2 days and you know if an item is in-stock before you order it.
when you are at work and suggest something change and the reply is
"but we've always done it this way"
you have met the problem face to face
m
It wasn't always so. Back in the '90s Amazon was an online book and CD store, as was Barnes & Noble. I started using B&N after several experiences where Amazon would take an order, send emails when the delivery was delayed, and ultimately cancel the order when they couldn't produce the goods. They were particularly bad with European CDs.
Amazon got their game together, B&N not so much, and Sears was snoozing along in the 20th century.
There is a B&N brick and mortar store a block from where I work. They managed to shoot themselves in the foot. I was looking for a programming book they didn't have in stock. They said they could order it and would have it in a couple of weeks at the full cover price. I went to their web site and ordered for 10% less than the store price and free delivery. Way to go! I still shop there -- around January 2 when I'm looking for a half price calendar for the office.
Lampert is blaming the 100,000 pensioners Sears has:
A lot of that had to do with the fact that USPS parcel post took well over a week to go damned near anywhere. It might take 3-4 days to get to someone in your same zip code. The internal shipping delays at Sears were a fixable problem. The problem was Eddie Boy bought Sears as a real estate deal, not a retail sales deal and even he did not grasp the idea that those brick and mortar stores would become dinosaurs. The dirt under them is not nearly worth the price he paid for them. I think he is just marking time, limping along trying to minimize the cash bleed until real estate prices catch up to his expectations.
They should have fully funded the plan from the start. I don't think there is any government rule a company has to have a pension plan is it ? They could not have offered on in the first place.
I guess whoever put the pension into place 50 or 100 years ago couldn't foresee the future. Sears is hardly the only entity that is underfunding pension liabilities. Most states, cities, municipalities have that down to an art. Or the fed govt with social security for that matter.
Raiding an "over funded" pension plan was part of the Clinton economic boom. The problem is the plan was only over funded if they did not push people into it early to get them off the payroll and they never planned on a COLA. It certainly pumped up profits and made the stock look good but like most "90 day window" plans that were so popular in the 90s, the future be damned.
I had a big problem with Lowes. Ordered a stove and was told it would take a month to 6 weeks for it to ship from the factory. That was ok as the old one was fine, wife just wanted one with the convection oven.
We got a call (actually 2, automated and human) saying on a Wensday it would be delivered from 4 to 6 in the evening. Waited and no show or call. Called them. Some mixup at Lowes. The next week the same thing hapened. I called them the next day and from looking on the internet saw the store had a SS on in stock and not the white we wanted. Decided to get the SS one and they did manage to get out that time when they said they would. About 6 months later a friend bought a freezor from them . Almost the same thing hapened to him.
I have ordered many things off ebay and most of them come in less than a week if sent out. Some in the mail box, but a few larger items such as two that went 60 pounds and was about 2x2x3 feet. Even got a 60 inch TV from Best Buy delivered in a few days. They had a special service for free where two people came out, unboxed it put it on the stand and carried off the packing material and offered to carry off my old 40 inch one. I am about 30 miles from the nearest BB store and ordered it on the internet. I probably save $ 5 to $ 8 worth of gas by doing that.
The difference is the PBGC actually tries to insure private pension funds are solvent because they are on the hook if they aren't. That is not true of municipal, state or federal pension programs. Unfortunately PBGC is an under funded operation making guarantees they have no way of paying.
Best Buy screwed me over on an oven. They jerked me along for about 8 weeks and then they suddenly canceled the order without telling me. On my 9th weekly call they just said the order was canceled, my card was credited and they were out of it. I never did business with them again.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required