Sears Third Quarter was nothing short of Terrifying

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
I got to say they had one of the best commercials in the last 10 years

 
Damned good question.
We're faced with similar issues - competition, consumers doing more online (email/text) than in person, lower price over better service, etc.

My grand parents were BIG sears customers, my parents big on kmart. Never saw a walmart till maybe 10, 12 years ago. I remember when in the late 90s a Super K opened - food plus kmart stuff and a great sit down restaurant. Kmarts always seemed to sell food - the last one to close here had a CiCi's Pizza in it.

Diff between sears and walmart? Go to wally world and ask for help...they workers know nothing. Sears employees are commission and many worked there for 30 years - they know their shit. (not all of course).

Hard to say what to do...obviously folks with MBA's can't figure it out. Don't know what crap they can't divest themselves of - like buildings and leases that if htey close the store they still have to pay.

You have the real estate and leases.
You have the distribution centers, online and sales systems.
You have trained, but no doubt demoralized employees. The best ones have left I"m sure.
You have the names..whether that's a good thing or an albatross around the neck I can't say for sure.


If you were in charge of keeping both those stores a float, what would you do so they don't go under?
 
I've heard people ravge about TR..i've tried..tires and shipping then local mounting/balance is always more than just shopping locally.

Put michelins on my truck - from costco.
And michelins on my subaru..omg, from sears! LOL.

With tires cost $150+ each you gotta wear them out..leaving 30% tread on them raises the cost 30%!

Many people swear by michelins, for wear as well as ride/grip. We'll see...my father in law put the same set of tires on 3 consecutive cars..they lasted that long.

I know in the bike world Metzler tires cost 20% more than dunlop or pirelli but out wear, out stick and just out perform across the board by way more htan 20%.

I always purchase tires from Tirerack.com. ...Shipped right to my door, and I take them to Mr. Tire, and they use to charge $23 per rim to mount and balance, BUT I heard their priced went up to like $30 per tire.

...IF I need a tire ASAP I just go to Mr. Tire...Mount and balance is free, and the tire price is "close" to what it would be if I ordered from tirerack then paid what they would charge me to put the tire on.

I will check out Costco before I go to Tirerack for my Traverse though. Before I purchased Z rated tires for a Cobalt SS...Costco isn't really the place for sport tires, BUT for SUV Tires, the prices may be the best from them. I have about 40% tread left after 2 years 3 months...I figure I can probably make it until the end of March before I really need to replace the tires (We go on vacation to Myrtle Beach in April for Spring Break...Will get new tires before then). I don't like getting the tires down to being "bald" ...I know plenty of people who will do that before buying new tires though.
 
Yesterday I deejayed a karaoke holiday party for SEARS Home Improvement Corporate office here in Baltimore. About 50 employees. All in their 40s, 50s, and maybe a couple in their early 60s. They were among the most nice employees I had dealt with. I constantly had employees opening the door for me. They even refused to let me carry my stuff out at the end of the gig and do more than 1 trip. I carted stuff out to my car, and one employee got my TV, another got my karaoke books, and another took my speaker stand bag. ...One of them said "We treat each other like family here...no need for you to do multiple trips!"

Generally a very nice sales/office staff there. They also refused to let me sit...they MADE ME go into thier buffet line and grab a plate of food. After working that job, I hope that Sears turns things around and can have a successful future. Especially if the politeness, and generosity I received from their employees at this holiday party is a indication of how the rest of the company operates!

I even had a karaoke file screw up while a singer was singing...The Program froze and I got a spinning circle of death and the music stopped. Had to reboot my program...The singer wasn't effected at all...he said don't worry about it...Tech issues happen!

I thought I would share that since I made this thread. Easy gig. Great People, and even though they were not at the store level, I have a re newed opinion of Sears because of it.
 
Oh, I will also add that this SEARS office was sponsoring a family that was homeless. One of the sales staff happened to pull over to help a family out who was stuck on the side of the road a few days before Thanksgiving. After some chit chat, he found out that the family was LIVING IN THEIR CAR. They lost their house and had no where to go. The employee had just moved from his apartment that previous weekend. But his lease on the apartment he moved out of wasn't up until the end of November. He made the family stay in his vacant apartment so they at least had a room over their head. He told the office manager about it, and the Office Manager went to the local Sears Store and bought the kids things they needed like just clothing, and they went to the grocery store to get them some food in the fridge there. They were able to stay there until the end of November.

They had the whole office sponsor the family, and they were able to find the family a place to live, and get their car fixed for them.

I have worked holiday parties where the companies contribute to a charity or do toys for tots, but this was truly a heart warming story to hear, and I give props to the Sears Staff for doing what they did and help that family out.

I wish the community would step up to the plate for all homeless people and families...Baltimore has a real homeless problem...I see it every day in the whole area...It appears to be the worst it has ever been, and it is unfortunate that a country as well off as ours has a homeless people issue.
 
I wish the community would step up to the plate for all homeless people and families...Baltimore has a real homeless problem...I see it every day in the whole area...It appears to be the worst it has ever been, and it is unfortunate that a country as well off as ours has a homeless people issue.

The homeless issue is massive in both our countries and it's really hard to fix because there is no one issue that causes homelessness.

In reality most of us are only a few paychecks from being there too
 
welfare, etc was created to help those that fell on hard times, not to be a way of life or a substitute for finding real work.

What motivates someone to go work, get a better job, etc?

Examples of others, peer pressure, your closes friends? Some chemical in the brain?

What made them homeless? Bad luck/turn of events? Poor planning? Mental health issues? Won't accept a handout?
 
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Our local K-Mart Superstore has been in liquidation for the last couple of months.

Sad to see that store go, although I will say that it has been at least a couple of years since the last time I went in there.

Bought my Craftsman air compressor there five or six years ago.

We have a newer Sear's Superstore near us . . .

I've bought a few things there, but don't frequent it very often.

We did buy a new dishwasher at a Sear's Outlet store a little over a year ago and installed it one year ago today.
 
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Give it up already!
If they're losing money how will this help?

If the DJ biz slows and you begin to lose money so you sell off your gear...yet keep working and keep losing money...so you sell more..why not see the handwriting on the wall and give it up now - you'll not lose all that money.

But then that's one of the big 'mysteries' of business - when to change, what to change. If you had a good year, do you sit put or do you change hoping for a better next year? And if you change, change what and how? And if that doesn't work, or worse, lowers business volume/income/net profit, now what? Change back?

About the only sure thing is if you don't change you'll be doing what you did 10, 15, 20 years ago - and the world has since changed.

But there are folks out there using 30 year old speakers and claiming they're better than what you can buy today...

Just in the paper today .. Sears sells its Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker for $900M. Also mentioned they were looking at ways to leverage Diehard and Kenmore brands.

on line: Sears Buys Time With Craftsman Brand Sale, Store Closures
 
Give it up already!
If they're losing money how will this help?

If the DJ biz slows and you begin to lose money so you sell off your gear...yet keep working and keep losing money...so you sell more..why not see the handwriting on the wall and give it up now - you'll not lose all that money.

But then that's one of the big 'mysteries' of business - when to change, what to change. If you had a good year, do you sit put or do you change hoping for a better next year? And if you change, change what and how? And if that doesn't work, or worse, lowers business volume/income/net profit, now what? Change back?

About the only sure thing is if you don't change you'll be doing what you did 10, 15, 20 years ago - and the world has since changed.

But there are folks out there using 30 year old speakers and claiming they're better than what you can buy today...
They sold the "brand", but get to sell the Craftsman tools royalty-free for 15 years.
 
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They sold the "brand", but get to sell the Craftsman tools royalty-free for 15 years.

Sounds like they made a smart business decision there. Leverage the sale to either give the company more Cash to burn through, or pay down debts/restructure etc. They may not be around in 15 years anyway lol.
 
Not sure if it will help, since you'll probably be able to buy Craftsman at Home Depot and Lowes before long .. less of a reason to actually go into a Sears.
 
I suspect a bunch of people may have moved away from Craftsman and on to tools that still offer guarantees at a similar price (and that Lowe's / Home Depot were already selling).
 
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I suspect a bunch of people may have moved away from Craftsman and on to tools that still offer guarantees at a similar price.
I like Craftsman wrenches, screwdrivers and socket sets and would still buy them .. even without a lifetime warranty. I prefer their slightly flat handles on the socket wrenches to the round ones on many others. I have one of their power tools (a battery powered oscillator) only because I got a good deal on it.
 
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Despite the $900 million sale of the Craftsman brand, Sears actually also borrowed money from its CEO Lambert. Basically to me, it's a slow liquidation of assets to go straight to Lambert to pay off its debt to him. Sears has been done for a long time. This is a controlled bankruptcy, with the primary debtor being Lambert himself.
 
Despite the $900 million sale of the Craftsman brand, Sears actually also borrowed money from its CEO Lambert. Basically to me, it's a slow liquidation of assets to go straight to Lambert to pay off its debt to him. Sears has been done for a long time. This is a controlled bankruptcy, with the primary debtor being Lambert himself.

There's a lesson there for knowing where you stand in the capital stack of a company. They have a responsibility to debt holders over shareholders.