Champco
Super Member
yuk....
Sears, not the internet's fault
- Thread starter invaderzim
- Start date
Champco
Super Member
The biggie for me was being able to walk into a Sears, buy a Snowblower $500. which I dearly needed, without paying for it. I have a Craftsman MTD rider lawn tractor for the same reason. Easy credit. Took less then a year to pay it off but it got lots of use in the meantime.
Sharpstik
Stuck in the 70's
The Sears Hardware store near me closed.
The Sears department store went from 3 floors to one.
The K Mart next to Sears shut a year ago. That was shocking for it had been there forever.
There was little help anywhere when I went looking for another vacuum cleaner around Thanksgiving.
Sears, from what I remember reading, really did spearhead online shopping. I don't know why it failed though.
The Sears department store went from 3 floors to one.
The K Mart next to Sears shut a year ago. That was shocking for it had been there forever.
There was little help anywhere when I went looking for another vacuum cleaner around Thanksgiving.
Sears, from what I remember reading, really did spearhead online shopping. I don't know why it failed though.
Champco
Super Member
What you are seeing is the lack of commission sales. Those things were tools of the high commission salesman. i was one and believe me all that stuff would have been working.
savatage1973
Addicted Member
Sorry--gotta do it--the real question is, are the Levi's not fitting you, or are you not fitting into your Levi's???
I had forgotten an analysis done in the 90's of sears..not only were they expansive in goods available - they also (mostly) invented consumer credit - aka store credit - via the infamous charge plate so america could shop and farm out the payments. A lot of downfall came when they started allowing unsecured credit - aka bank cards, their own discover, amex, visa et. Now they lost the threat of collections/repossession.
I had always used craftsman tools, personally and in the shop, based on my elders adherence (in fact last summer I replaced a 16oz GP hammer that broke after 25 years - this hammer built houses, garages, sheds). IF craftsman tools are now junk (china does not HAVE to equal junk...but sadly it mostly does) then I am glad I am old with few years left cuz I am not paying the rape for (also) china made snapon and store brands..I just have to replace breakage and now that the shop is mostly dormant, chances are few
OMG, shameless plug:
a few years back - 2 - I got the best canister vac kenmore made. and it is nice but has a LOT of plastic. this past late fall the wife sees a dyson closeout of a $500 machine for 250 on hsn, limited amount so she buys it. we do a test. I vacuum the 'playroom/family room' until the 'dirt detected' light goes out on the kenmore. we bring in the dyson and it practically assembles a dirty dog in the hopper from what it finds in a few moments.
Im sold.
we have 1 jack russel and keep the (mostly) hardwood floors and carpet clean to avoid any doggy smell and keep a charcoal pre-filter in the hvac box. but this machine changes the game. dyuson sucks, in a good way.
I worked at a company that was paying a consultant thousands of dollars a day to tell them how to improve things. One of his ideas was completely impractical and I was arguing against it when the manager of another store took me aside and said "You won't win. Just say 'That is a great idea, we will look at implementing it' the consultant will move on and the boss will think you've acted on it and will forget about it" Part of me died that day.
Funny stuff. I actually bought this shirt way long ago at of all places "Fry's"
Anyhow Sears just lost their way. And by the time they realized it the nails were already mostly in the coffin.
Frannie
Sharpstik
Stuck in the 70's
My boss swears by Dyson. But I don't like uprights.
I've got 2 running Kenmores with 2 backups. Over the years they've gotten smaller . The canisters have never failed, it's the hoses that break.
damacman
Resident Psycho
Let's not forget about Sears moving their finance dept to Deleware so they could jack up interest rates on the Sears Card to 18%! When that happened, I cut up my Sears Card on the spot. Sears was my first credit card, I'm sure like many. Greed - plain and simple. Years of such decisions and here we are today.
damacman
Resident Psycho
Well I see things have gotten even worse ... https://www.consumeraffairs.com/retail/sears_credit.html
Champco
Super Member
They shrinkSorry--gotta do it--the real question is, are the Levi's not fitting you, or are you not fitting into your Levi's???
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
dyson of course is ALL plastic from the looks of it, except for their tiny "digital motah". Time will tell if they hold up as well as they suck dirt. You could always depend on a heavy old Kenmore (or Eureka or whatever). Too bad we can't have both improved performance and the dependability we always had.
ETLS
metacarpophalangealcranium
I have both the V-8 Animal (cordless) and the "Small-Ball" multi-floor. I also had an Oreck upright that iIthought did a damn good job on the carpet.
Wrong.
The Oreck left a ton of stuff in the carpet, that both Dysons pulled out. The cordless works almost as well as the corded.
savatage1973
Addicted Member
That was certainly a turning point in retail sales--the big push to "regain consumer confidence" by going to non-commissioned sales staff and no-haggle pricing. It (very temporarily) made people believe that they were getting a "better deal" because the price is what it is--take it or leave it, and the person standing here in front of you makes no more or less money regardless of whether they "sell" something or not, BUT doesn't care whether you come back next week/month/year and buy something else. They just "do their time and make their dime", and go home.
Now, all the consumer does is go look at something, and then pull up 100 different web-sites on their phone/computer to find which vendor has the cheapest/quickest delivery to their door--socks or an SUV--doesn't matter.
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
In the early part of the 20th century Sears sold mail order homes. Which even today would be innovative. All materials were delivered to one's lot for DIY assembly ( instructions included ). I've seen a few still standing today in my town. They were bungalow style and quite charming.
Amazon will have drones deliver em and sent a gaggle of robots to build em.
Like the do-bees
EDIT:: Groobee's
Frannie
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Exactly. I blame one key person and his ideas for the Sears demise. That blame lies on one Eddie Lampert. And I despise KKR, Bain Capital and other vulture capitalist firms. They destroy good companies.
