What's killing Sears? Its own retirees, the CEO says

[PatrickforO]

Source: CNN

What's to blame for the problems at Sears? Amazon? Bad management? CEO and primary shareholder Eddie Lampert has another idea: It's the company's own retirees.

Sears turned in another bleak quarterly earnings report on Thursday, and Lampert complained about the billions of dollars that Sears owes its former employees through pension plans. Lampert said Sears has paid almost $2 billion into pension plans in the past five years, and $4.5 billion since Sears and Kmart merged in 2005 to form Sears Holdings (SHLD). The company pays retirees about $300 million a year, filings show.

If Sears could have put that money into operations, "we would have been in a better position to compete with other large retail companies, many of which don't have large pension plans," Lampert wrote in a blog post. He also faulted the "very difficult" environment for retailers, but he said Sears has been "significantly impacted" by pension obligations.

Read more: https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/14/news/companies/sears-pension-retirees/index.html

---

This guy is a total crook. You know what? He owns a hedge fund, and he's personally been buying up Sears shares as they go downhill.

Basically this capitalist slimebag is crushing the hopes of his retirees (they discontinued pensions in '06, but those pesky old people are STILL alive and collecting!), and his employees, and the unfortunate consumers who invested real money in things like Kenmore appliances.

That's right! The criminal Lampert is thinking of personally purchasing Kenmore appliances through his hedge fund.

Essentially, this is what capitalism looks like on the ground. You have a scumbag like Lampert purposely driving a venerable company that used to have a good name to ruin, and then PERSONALLY PROFITING OFF THAT.

I can't even say how angry this makes me, how disgusting this is to me - should be to ANY decent person. I feel dirty even reading about shit like this.

This is why we've got to support workers to the hilt. I'm supporting Elizabeth Warren's Responsible Capitalism Act, because dirtbags like Eddie Lampert wouldn't be able to hurt so many people with their stinking greed.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Of COOOOUUUUUUUUURRRSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE it is the employees fault

when will people learn, GOP and business people who are not liberal HATE YOU

For fuck sake

[Iggo]

2. Vulture capitalist says what?

[Fred Sanders]

4. What he doesn't say is pensions are in lieu of higher wages...employers pay less now, pay more

later in a joint venture...that is a contract, you know, like all businesses use.

Try to hire and retain good employees any wage with no pension plan...they will flee in huge numbers to those employers that do...and take a pay hit for that very reason...it only makes sense.

[Iggo]

10. I understand.

[mikeysnot]

21. Sears cancelled their pension plan in the 90's and went to 401

so no one is paying into the system for the last 20 years.

They stopped matching contributions to the 401 back in 2012 I believe.

FU Eddie baby.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Karma, Baby, Karma

Shareholders of the old Kmart, pre-2001, got nothing when the chain went bankrupt. Eddie bought it for very little. Retail is like that, if you study the history. Grocers too. So many companies going back to the 1920s, were owned by this or that, and sold to a 3rd party, who stripped it of this and that, and spun it to someone else, and one went bankrupt. Sometimes companies we consider competitors today were merged for a while decades ago! All that wheeling and dealing is about making money for the wheeler-dealers. It's never about the workers. No one says I want to support people in their old age. It's just I want to make a lot of money for me and shareholders and banks. Sometimes, often in fact, workers own shares in the company in their pension plans or privately. THAT can be risky too. Because retail has this up and down cycle.

[erronis]

23. Excellent analysis. I worked in the junk bond (euphemistically called "High Yield") world for awhile

Just as a data analyst.... But I could see the churn as assets were marginalized and then resold for pennies/dollar - only to magically gain value. Same for many very, very wealthy banks (US and overseas) that plead for leniency.

These companies (Bain Capital [Mitt Romney]) are just parasites. The Kochs/ADM suck the mortal life-blood out of the economy and then shuck the waste product for the peasants to fight over.

[bucolic_frolic]

28. Capitalism is creation and destruction

new ideas make for new business, venture capitalists put money behind developmental stage companies. They employ people, they make money, they go public. Most companies and even industries have a life cycle. Somewhere I read about the funding process at various stages of a company's life, it might have been one of the Kiyosaki books, his later ones like "Conspiracy of the Rich", or what the rich do differently (that's not a title). But at each stage incentive runs the system. No profit, why do anything?

[Power 2 the People]

5. +1000

[LiberalFighter]

6. Sure it is the fault of employees because the employer didn't set the pension funding aside.

And invest it properly.

[iluvtennis]

40. ++++ Agree

[keithbvadu2]

62. Didn't Enron invest its pension funds in Enron stock? Employees pension - kaput.

Didn't Enron invest its pension funds in Enron stock? Employees pension - kaput.

[SharonAnn]

68. Totally agree. As usual, bad management.

[louis-t]

7. Says the guy who is paying himself $7 million a year?

And would love for the the stock value to go up because he is the primary stockholder, if he can figure out a way to shed all the retirees?

[Sedona]

8. Sears was perfectly positioned to be Amazon

with it's catalog sales, customer database and massive distribution system.

They missed the boat. Their Southeast Regional Distribution Center in Atlanta is now a 2,000,000 square foot Millennial's Mecca mixed use office/retail/residential property.

http://poncecitymarket.com/

[BumRushDaShow]

13. THIS

The big distribution center here in Philly met its fate almost 25 years ago -

Just like how Sony originated an innovative concept of "portable" recorded music via their ubiquitous "Walkman", so too did they miss the boat when Apple came along with their "iPod" and revolutionized the meaning of "portable" and then went one step further with their music store - "iTunes".

[erronis]

31. We've become much better at tearing down than building in the last 50 years.

OK. Maybe we can still build iPhones (nope, not us.)

Our concrete for bridges and other major projects is guaranteed to last 50 years - not a day longer. Built in obsolescence. (Some of the Greek and Roman concrete artifices are still structurally sound.)

Our kids are taught to only value what's hip in the last 20 years. No need to understand history. If the dumpists get their way it will be stuff that's only printed in the Dump Twitler Log.

[BumRushDaShow]

56. My mother used to always talk about the whole idea of

"planned obsolescence". And it was written about too including in this book -



And as you note, it's also not just obsoleting goods, but everything else.

[gay texan]

66. going to have to check this out n/t

[jmowreader]

37. Their Seattle warehouse is now Starbucks' corporate headquarters

[Kaleva]

78. It could have easily made the transition to internet sales.

Blockbuster could have been Netflix.

[at140]

9. I have a feeling Lampert will get a golden parachute

and retire. Just like CEO's of other failing companies. But ordinary employees without titles get fired with nothing.

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. How about dumping the 1960's marketing strategy, Ed?

Do you think that might have helped a little?

D'oh.

[Nay]

47. Why would he do that, when his whole aim is to strip the company of all its money

and ride off into the sunset??

[Me.]

12. Makes Me Think Of Romney

[Perseus]

14. The question should be "Who is killing Sears"?

And the answer is very simple:

Ayn Rand lover Eddie Lampert...

[Wellstone ruled]

15. You just printed the real answer.

[Sherman A1]

79. Precisely

That guy needs to order a mirror from Amazon and take a good look at the real culprit.

[Wellstone ruled]

80. One of the longest running PONZI's

in modern times,outside of the DeVose Amway scheme or other MLM promo's.

[BeckyDem]

16. Always blame the workers.

[INdemo]

17. What hurt Sears was the purchase of failing Kmart/S. S. Kresge

The merger of the Sears merchandise and Kmart never worked after spending millions to merge the two into "Sears Essentials"
If Sears holdings would have kept Kmart separate both would have been successful.

There were Kmart stores in Indiana namely South Bend store and a northern Indy store that were successful until they merged to become Sears Essentials... (just two examples) They closed shortly after the re-branding.
Then CEO and other Execs got those golden parachutes and that was their downfall.
Sears is History. When a top Store in Indiana (Sears Glenbrook) is set to close in November its over

Has nothing to do with the pensions and Sears readily admits they were robbing from the pension plan when they make a statement like this

Sears might be able to go back to the Catalog Stores which is basically what they have now with the Sears Hometown stores only they carry a limited amount of merchandise. It is more or less Appliance displays and they order in the purchases.

[jmowreader]

44. Not quite

Kmart came out of Chapter 11 and bought Sears.

What REALLY hurt Sears happened in 1993, when they closed their catalog division. If they would have kept it, they would have been years ahead of Amazon when the World Wide Web hit. When e-commerce began, they had to recreate a catalog division.

[INdemo]

46. yes I would agree with that but with their

Last edited Fri Sep 14, 2018, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Hometown stores they are basically a catalog store>
But yes I definitely agree with the catalog store argument.

To add to you theory of the catalog stores remember J C Penny also had catalog sales and phased them out and they too are on the brink.

[erronis]

60. I worked with several very large corporations that didn't think this internet thing was real.

I bought them some www properties, set up mail servers, static home pages, etc. Nope.

Sell retail goods online in the 1990's/early 2000's - nope.

Watch other companies grab valuable market share via the web - maybe?

See their unprotected brand names used online - getting interested.

Get rid of old-style business people that had been with the company since the mail-room clerking. Good move.

I doubt that Sears could have ever righted its ship. Some major corps have done OK (IBM?) but most have left the retail to the web-savvy marketplace.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. What Sears? I haven't seen a Sears store in a year and a half.

[aggiesal]

55. We have 2 Sears stores in San Diego ...

They both sell appliances at reduced prices.
I bought a $3000 W&D set for half price.

When my rental needed a new refrigerator, I got it at Sears,
again for about half the price.

[randr]

19. It is ironic that the company that made their fortune

On catalog sales did not see the opportunity the internet presented.

[mikeysnot]

22. Oh I have lots of stories to tell

just waiting... for the right time.

[Johnyawl]

24. I've had that thought numerous times...

...they were the Amazon of the last century.

[zipplewrath]

48. Those folks were long gone

"Vision" isn't how they got their jobs. And they never worked the business when the catalogue was all that important.

[Bengus81]

53. Simply put,if you go back enough years SEARS thought they had the World by the ASS...

They didn't need to change anything,just keep chugging along like it was 40's,50's...etc. My guess is they had lots of SMART people that said for decades we need to change this,we need to change that.

They were probably told to shut the fuck up or were fired.

[pecosbob]

20. Cry me a river, you predatory corporate piece of shit

[Stuart G]

25. What killed Sears? One word only..Walmart. Hey- it's the truth. Don't blame me.,,,

In business it is called, "competition"

https://www.walmart.com/

oh?..don't believe it?..ok, another example....What killed . Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury, & Plymouth car brands?....................Here are just 2 words..............HONDA & TOYOTA.........(competition again) yep

[democratisphere]

26. Actually the problem is executive management and shareholder greed compensation.

Companies used to run smoothly until wall street greed became massive and their compensation became insane. Quit blaming the little guy and stop your whining!

[aggiesal]

57. YUP, ...

There was a time during the 30's to the 80's where CEO salary was about
25x to 30x the average company salary.

An average salary of $15,000 the CEO got around $450,000
And, any stock options were used in compensation calculations.

After the 80's, CEO's started getting 500x the average salary.
$60,000 average is $30,000,000.
Also, stock options are no longer considered as part of the compensation
equation for executives.

And why is this a$$-wad complaining about pensions?
We made an agreement with you, that we would take less money now
so you can invest the rest, and I could have a comfortable retirement
when I came collecting.

[DinahMoeHum]

27. Fuck Eddie Lampert with a Sears Diehard. . .

Last edited Fri Sep 14, 2018, 04:27 PM - Edit history (1)

. . .preferably one with the acid still in it.

[The Conductor]

29. Transition Points...

I've long been fascinated by the transition points of truly disruptive technologies and how rarely large companies survive the shifts. None of the big typewriter companies made it as computer printer makers, not even Teletype, which had all of the early computer interaction to itself. With the possible exception of Studebaker, none of the big wagon makers became successful automobile companies - and Studebaker was always far down in the pack. Kodak invented the digital camera and still lost it. And the two big makers of US steam locomotives were never all that successful at making diesel locomotives. Famously, one vice president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works said in 1940 that the diesels were pretty toys, but there'd be a market for steam engines, "until at least 1960." By 1960, all the railroads had converted and there wasn't even a Baldwin Company anymore...

In that same way, Sears had everything needed to be Amazon, and had it all in place by 1970. They even had the stores to be showrooms and pickup locations, all convenient and all backed with the best distribution system around. They didn't even take the hint when their number one rival, Montgomery Ward, went belly up.

They blew it, just as GE did when they completely gave up manufacturing to become a half-assed banking operation, just in time for the Great Recession to kill that business. And while busting hell on their longtime employers with Jack Welch "rack-and-stack" crap that insisted 1/3rd of workers get tossed every year. Look at their stock and fleeing their longtime headquarters on how wonderfully productive that was.

[Mosby]

30. IBM survived the loss of the selectric

And they made word processors instead.

[erronis]

38. This is a great area of study and I hope you share your research with us.

I've worked with many large companies like IBM, GE, Lockheed, etc. that were successful in several major industries but couldn't survive a major tectonic shift in requirements. M&A tends to cover over the lack of vision for a while but the dead-weight of the suits (MBAs/shareholders) still stifles progress.

[PatrickforO]

65. Yeah, I definitely don't have a high opinion of Welch at all.

But you've made an interesting post here. The example I think of is Kodak. I'm an aging Boomer and I'll tell you, we all started off with a Kodak instamatic camera. That was a big deal. I mean, Paul Simon even sang a song about how great Kodachrome was.

And, even though you could by an expensive one, most Kodak cameras were CHEAP because they made money on Kodak film.

Then, in 1975, an engineer at Kodak invented the digital camera! But shortsighted executives wanted to keep that lucrative film market going and so held up the marketing of the digital camera and squelched any efforts to improve it.

Then, oh-oh, in 1986 Nikon came out with a digital SLR camera and by 2005 digital cameras had pretty much replaced film ones.

Kodak struggled painfully to keep up but they'd already missed the boat. They ended up having to file for bankruptcy in '12.

I guess the moral of that story is no matter what, workers get screwed. You either have a greed-head dirtbag like Crazy Eddie who is systematically driving the company to ruin while at the same time buying off its assets so he can enrich himself even further. A money-glutton parasite swollen with worker misery until he's ready to burst.

OR

You have well-meaning executives that fail to keep up with the market due to internecine politics and the company goes belly up. Hey, who gets hurt then? You guessed it - the people who get laid off and the retirees who lose their pensions.

[The Conductor]

82. The smart ones...

The smart executives take the time to listen to the employees, who not only know whether or not what they are making is junk, but also have real market experience. But the MBAs only talk to the MBAs, and focus groups always lag. Kodak should have run with the idea of the digital camera as soon as they had the prototype, throwing a couple million at it to see if it could work. Not a huge risk, and if the idea was a turkey, they'd have found out. But doing nothing and letting the patents expire gave away the company. Not the first time American companies did this... RCA had videotape technology years ahead of every company in the world, but let their Japanese affiliate take it over (JVC is Japan Victor Corporation).

[Sgent]

84. Read about

Steve Jobs. He gets credit for industrial design, but the thing that stands out to me about him is not caring about cannibalizing sales. All the big computer makers of the 50's-80's (except IBM) are dead because they couldn't understand the threat of a PC.

SGI, Sun, VAX, most IBM, Wyse, etc.

[gibraltar72]

32. How many companies were killed by Reagan deregulation?

I can name several that were gobbled up by merger. Sears rival Montgomery Wards was bought by Mobil. They knew nothing about retail. So many others were purchase or merged out of existence. Often by a company who had no idea how they worked.

[blue-wave]

33. This guy is

severely warped in his thinking. And yeah, he will likely make a huge bundle of cash shorting Sears stock and helping to kill the company and our country. These sociopaths have been doing this for at least 3-4 decades now. It's time to show them the door and give 'em a swift kick where the sun doesn't shine. Support Senator Warren and also GOTV!!!! Our country depends on defeating the corporate/republicon traitors.

[unblock]

36. ceos don't short their own companies.

sometimes they talk their own companies down and then snap up the shares cheap, but their compensation is nearly always very much tied to equity ownership.

perhaps he's trying to set the stage for backing out of pension agreements somehow, though usually that only happens during bankruptcy, which again, doesn't work well for equity owners.

[mn9driver]

35. Scum. Those retirees earned their pensions.

Sears is the entity that didn’t fund the plans so they would remain above water. Corporate BOD’s that sign off on pension plans but then underfund them or use unrealistic assumptions on returns, belong in jail. Every one of them.

[Tikki]

39. When the economy was in the toilet, Sears would change the date due...

on their credit card bills.
It got confusing and difficult enough to budget each dollar due throughout all the bills and
then get charged a late fee by Sears.

We paid them off and never looked back.
That was years ago.

The Tikkis

[Neema]

42. Give me a break. Has he been in one of his stores in the last 15-20 years?

The one that closed by my house last year (after been in the same spot for I think 90+ years) looked like a smelly thrift shop, the kind where you knew you had to wash anything you bought in very hot water before wearing it. It was dark, it was dirty, the windows were an embarrassment. They put absolutely no effort into even making it acceptable, much less an inviting place to spend money.

Since it was so close to my house, I tried to give it a chance on many occasions but they never had what I needed in stock. The hardware department DIDN'T STOCK LIGHT BULBS. When asked, they told you to go to CVS down the street. And this store was 4x the size of the CVS, easily.

[Honeycombe8]

43. The deal with pensions is...employees often take LOWER PAY in return for a pension.

You can't have it both ways. The money it saved by not having to pay higher wages for many years no doubt enabled Sears to grow and prosper to the extent it did.

If they could go back in time, maybe Sears would not have a pension plan. But then, it would have to outlay a lot of money in wages, instead.

Sears should have shut its doors a few years ago. The retail industry has changed. Sears can't compete, and I don't see how that has anything to do with its pension plan.

It can get rid of the pension payments if it files for bankrtupcy, I guess, couldn't it? Sears...it's over.

[Locrian]

45. f-ing parasite eddie killed sears

Sears' CEO blames the media for company's decline — but his obsession with Wall Street set it up for failure

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eddie-lampert-set-sears-up-to-fail-2017-5

* Sears Holdings spent $5.8 billion buying back shares from 2005 to 2010, draining the company of resources.
* CEO Eddie Lampert defended the buybacks as the most efficient use of capital, arguing that investment in stores wasn't necessary.
* The company — considered the most vulnerable publicly traded retailer — is now selling off assets to stay afloat.


When Sears was flush with cash, this took the form of billions of dollars of share repurchases, even as the stores suffered years of underinvestment. Repurchases, or buybacks, are common among cash-rich companies, but also derided in some corners as a waste of a company's resources as they only serve to create the appearance of improving earnings.

"Eddie has orchestrated for himself, and for the benefit of shareholders, the most protracted liquidation in history," Tawil said in an interview with Business Insider.

[YOHABLO]

49. How dare those pensioners bring down a fine institution like Sears/ Kmart !!

< just in case there are any that question.

[PSPS]

50. Having someone who knows nothing of the retailing business is what killed it.

The same thing is happening to every large store that has replaced its retail-savvy leader (due to death, being forced, retirement) with someone whose only background is in "finance."

[Bengus81]

51. Every Sears former employee on a pension owes Eddie a hugeeeee apology for screwing up his Company!!

It's ALWAYS employee's that cause a Company financial trouble--usually those ole' evillll union workers.

[Turbineguy]

52. It's the victim's fault

that there are serial killers.

Guys like this are why guillotines were invented.

[TeamPooka]

54. Then Sears goes down, but the retirees money stays pal. A deal is a deal. nt

[Initech]

58. The headline SHOULD read: "What's killing Sears? Its own CEO"

Really the billionaire criminal CEO class are the ones to blame. They make 7, 8+ figures a year, their company goes under. Gee, what a coincidence!

[MichMan]

59. Sears is in the situation of many old established companies

… that have lost market share over the years and downsized. They intended to pay as you go for retirees and it worked for many years until sales were down and the number of employees decreased to the point where the ratio of retired to active was unfavorable. I'm not saying that's right, but that is how things turned out.

Many state and local governments have the same issue with underfunded pensions. Detroit was an example and their retirees had to decide to agree to a cut or risk it being settled in court. The Central States Teamster multi employer pension fund pays out $3.50 for every $1 they receive in current contributions, so every year the fund gets smaller and smaller.

One of the few exceptions is the Post Office and many are angry that the PO is forced by law to pre pay into the retirement fund, but I bet their workers feel better about it.

If in fact Sears does go bankrupt, I suspect the pensions would be turned over the the PGBC and the retirees will be forced to take a cut. I have a 401k and maybe it isn't as bad as some people make it out to be.

[Stonepounder]

67. You mean the employees that hired yesterday at the Post Office?

The rules that Congressed passed (to aid their buddies at FedEx and UPS) says that the USPS must prefund the expected pension payout for every employee. So, if I hire you today I have to assume you will make the Post Office a career and I had to deposit an amount into the pension plan that will fully fund your pension when you retire.

No other gov't agency, dept, or any other corp has to do that.

[keithbvadu2]

71. "If in fact Sears does go bankrupt..." other than pension dollars... other benefits such as medical

"If in fact Sears does go bankrupt..." other than pension dollars... other benefits such as medical might disappear or go way down in coverage.

[Rabrrrrrr]

61. What a bullshitting piece of shit. If I were on Sears' board,

I'd look the lying incompetent fucker in the eyes and say "Those expenses were known well in advance. You can't blame falling income on people being paid. Dumbass."

The fault is with a leader who's too goddamned stupid to realize he needs to take pensions into account.

Fuck you, Lampert. Piece of shit.

But then, if I were on the board of directors of Sears, I'd also probably be a useless monied turd who'd agree with the CEO.

And then, if what you say about what Lampert is doing is true - even more of a fuckstain!

Criminal asshole.

[JonLP24]

75. A blast from the past

I haven't seen you in years though you probably don't know me. Well said.

[Rabrrrrrr]

81. Thanks! I kind of disappeared for many years (though occasionally looked in)

but have been posting occasionally this year. Needed to come back to DU for some sanity after the orange demon came into office.

:howdy:

[paleotn]

63. He's destroying an icon in the process...

An icon that was never allowed to remake itself. Distance (called online today) commerce? Hell, Sears damn near invented it. There was a time when you could get everything, up to and including a damn house without ever walking into a Sears physical location. Craftsman was the epitome of quality when it came to tools. When my mom and dad needed an appliance, it was automatic....Sears.

Not that prior management didn't have its share of f' ups. The financial acquisitions in the 80's that were a bust. Instead of hiring folks that knew what the hell they were doing in soft lines, they acquired Lands End, destroying that brand. But those missteps pale in comparison to what this jackass has done. The worst being saddling Sears with the dead rhinocerous carcass that is Kmart. A carcass killed long ago by Wally World.

A worse waste of valuable, iconic brands and potential has rarely been seen in retailing history.

[IsaacBell]

64. Sounds like Sears thought

they could mark down their employee obligations and ignore them.
Poor business practices once again disable a legacy company.

[Astraea]

69. Isn't this the Ayn Rand acolyte...

who drove the business into the ground by pitting departments and employees against each other, a la laissez faire survival of the fittest? I remember reading an article about him.

Atlas Shrugged, motherfucker!

[PatrickforO]

70. Yeah, but the people who are hurt are the retirees who are going

to get screwed out of their pensions, and the employees who will lose their jobs.

Crazy Eddie Lampert is going to come out of it richer than ever.

[Kurt V.]

77. i remember an article like that.

so when he realized he sucked at running Sears he had plan B ready all along.

[Adrahil]

72. Another reason not to trust pension plans....

Sure as the sun will rise, that guy is gonna screw retirees out of their hard-earned pensions.

[mahina]

73. Grrrr

[Raine]

74. THAT Is such bull shit

my father retired from Sears in the late 1980's and ended up getting screwed out of the big retirement package that everyone thinks he got that was based on a myth!

[Vinca]

76. Bad management killed Sears. 2 examples -

When we were first married back in the early 70's, it was a rite of passage to go to Sears and buy all your first appliances with a Sears credit card. Every month you'd send in a small payment and eventually you owned it all (and built your credit, too). When the appliance needed servicing, you called Sears. When the appliance needed to be replaced, you went to Sears. We bought all kinds of things from Sears. Then, years later, we went in for a washer and dryer and wanted to put them on the Sears card. Sorry, we were told. No more Sears card. So the next time we needed something we decided to shop around. They essentially flushed loyal customers down the crapper. Many years later they must have realized their mistake because we got an offer for a Sears card. Too late. We didn't need it by then. Secondly, they closed all their stores. You can't buy fruit from an empty cart. It probably all goes back to the top and a CEO money grab. Greed destroys everything.

[crazycatlady]

83. It is their own company

My Sears is closing. Last time I was in there, I went to the electronics section and thought I was in a Best Buy circa 2008.

They also had a journal style notebook that I thought was cute. On sale, it was $5.99. Burlington (in the same shopping center) had the exact same notebook for $2.99

[photo drum guy]

85. response to patrick O

When Lampert took control of sears , one of the first times I heard his name, was when he took away all contributions from the 6,000 service techs across the U S. Then things begin to change as a tech, We no longer were visited by vice president in charge of Home Services. We were always told get it fixed the first time what ever it takes . We want that customer back in our stores. Then routing kept changing we were no longer routed by store, it was first changed by district, then later by region, then half the country east and west, as those changes were being made we had less hands on training, less time with other techs to talk over tech problems. my last year in late 2011, I rarely saw another tech in person. Call centers were taken away from home towns and finally moved to Pakistan. When I arrived on a call the customers were so irate at sears from long waits and then not being able to understand call center people, I would spend more calming the customer down than working on the repair. No morning chat times. Less training , We were told "you are suppose to be professionals" you should know this stuff. NO training on LG or Samsung appliances but still expected to identify problems and fix them . That was at a time Sears walked away from Whirlpool ,a 70 year working relationship. Kenmores were then made by LG. (Lampert would not be able to run Kenmore like it was), No training on LG, Samsung ,GE ,Fridgidaire, or Whirlpool Gone were seminars on new equipment , and the tech magazine which was always full of Techs helping techs. I thought, Lampert does not get it, The techs are there for a reason, get that customer back to Sears If you were a sears tech, you were taught well, trained by an a seasoned tech for two months before you were out on your own. When I stared in 2005 , it was still a good place to work, by 2007 you could see things were going down hill.... Parts and repair centers were closing , no longer had uniform service, there was more emphasis on selling things rather then repairs, Couldn't run your truck for heat if you were punched out for lunch if you packed a lunch, We had a union for a little while in Denver region, lasted about a year. I was the first one to leave within 2 years, 7 more techs quit, older guys combined service of over 175 years.. All Lampert did was take , take, and take, He really should be in Jail. How can one person take so much from two companies and not be prosecuted ?