Sears is going into chapter 11 bankruptcy

[T.G.G. Moogly]

My wife bought her first and only sewing machine from Sears in 1977. The reason it was her only machine is because she still uses it and it still runs like a champ.

We bought bicycles from Sears in 1979 and returned them within two weeks because the tires would not hold air and they just kept airing them back up only to be flat the next day.

I tried to buy a set of barbells from Sears as an 18-year-old. Got a rain check for the sale price because they were out of stock. No barbells ever showed up for months so I bought elsewhere.

Bought carpeting from Sears in 1986. They said I did not need new padding, which it did, but didn't know any better at the time. They popped the vent up in the corner of the room to show me how much spring was still in the padding but that wasn't in a traffic area. So the carpeting was flat within months. Live and learn.

There was an appliance/mail order Sears locally that had the worst customer service I ever encountered. Walk up to a register to check out and they tell you to go to another register. Employees standing around seeing customers at a checkout but not taking care of them. Walked in one day and and there's a new employee who walked over to me to help me find something. I almost passed out. Never saw her again, but all the older employees remained until the store closed. Bought a fridge there in 1993 that is still running like a champ.

The only time I bought an item that was not quality at Sears was a flashlight that did not work. It was packaged in that plastic so I could not check it in the store. Took it home and it didn't work. When I returned it they just pulled another one off the shelf but I asked to check it before leaving. It didn't work. Went through six flashlights and none of them worked. The surprised employee remarked, "None of these flashlights work!"

So I went to return it to the return desk which took 30 minutes because they didn't know how to credit me or give me cash. It was a circus.

Sears had a deserved reputation for great products but across four different states I never received good service. Maybe they didn't pay enough or maybe it was a cultural thing with Sears. Companies can be that way.

As a kid we always ordered school clothes from Sears. It was an annual ritual.

 

[BH]

I was reading some career stories of people who worked for Sears back in its heyday. A lot of people felt they did good, some even working up to district or regional manager without having even completed high school. For those of you here high up in business I have a question. I do not begrudge anyone their position and money honestly earned, but if you could fill a district manager or a regional manager position with people with not even a high school education doesn't that mean that maybe those positions aren't that hard to do? And while it was good for them to have those positions maybe having people high up with suck a lack of education may be one reason Sears is hurting so bad now?

 

[phands]

Here’s A List Of 57 Bankruptcies In The Retail Apocalypse And Why They Failed

The retail apocalypse seems to be accelerating.....

A list of major retail bankruptcies from 2015 to today.

Modern-day retail is at an inflection point as retailers face struggling physical storefronts, massive debt, and inefficient operations, among other issues.
Earlier this week, Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The retail giant is expected to shut down at least 142 unprofitable stores by the end of 2018.

Additionally, Mattress Firm recently announced its plan to close 700 stores as part of a restructuring effort.
In this report, we dig into 57 recent bankruptcies starting in 2015 and the reasons behind them. As we’ll see, Amazon is not the only reason that physical retail is troubled —mounting debt and retailers’ own missteps and lack of adaptability are also to blame, among other factors.
Later, we dig further into the common themes among the bankruptcies.
Here are the companies that filed for bankruptcy in 2018:

https://www.cbinsights.com/research...ail&utm_term=0_9dc0513989-e42a47ef8a-90334569

 

[couch_sloth]

I was reading some career stories of people who worked for Sears back in its heyday. A lot of people felt they did good, some even working up to district or regional manager without having even completed high school. For those of you here high up in business I have a question. I do not begrudge anyone their position and money honestly earned, but if you could fill a district manager or a regional manager position with people with not even a high school education doesn't that mean that maybe those positions aren't that hard to do? And while it was good for them to have those positions maybe having people high up with suck a lack of education may be one reason Sears is hurting so bad now?

I would guess that Sears' upper management were college educated.
How often and how long ago was it that they were promoting people like this? I somehow doubt that in the last 20 years they were promoting people to regional manager without a high school diploma.
You have to remember that people vying for these positions had to compete against other competent candidates. If, in the past, they didn't have there diploma they must have still really been on the ball.

 

[BH]

I was reading some career stories of people who worked for Sears back in its heyday. A lot of people felt they did good, some even working up to district or regional manager without having even completed high school. For those of you here high up in business I have a question. I do not begrudge anyone their position and money honestly earned, but if you could fill a district manager or a regional manager position with people with not even a high school education doesn't that mean that maybe those positions aren't that hard to do? And while it was good for them to have those positions maybe having people high up with suck a lack of education may be one reason Sears is hurting so bad now?

I would guess that Sears' upper management were college educated.
How often and how long ago was it that they were promoting people like this? I somehow doubt that in the last 20 years they were promoting people to regional manager without a high school diploma.
You have to remember that people vying for these positions had to compete against other competent candidates. If, in the past, they didn't have there diploma they must have still really been on the ball.

I was reading stories from the Sears pensioners website. A lot of the these folks are very old, holding these positions back in the 50's and sixties. Some of these people I suspect have already passed on but their stories still told as part of a way to show how great Sears is a.k "Look at me, I didnt even finish high school but look what I did!". I know times were different and maybe things were simpler but I still can't help but think things like this may have laid some seeds in what Sears has got itself in now.

 

[Coleman Smith]

The last time we went to Sears was to look at their cell phones. There was nobody in the department so we walked over to a nearby department and asked the sales person to get some one to help us.

He said he would and picked up the phone.

We went back and waited.

No one ever came.

That was years ago.

That store is now a vacant lot.

They deserved it.

 

[ZiprHead]

I've heard this is another case of vulture capitalism. New owners come in, load up on debt, take the money out, then leave the company to try to repay. Most cannot.

 

[TV and credit cards]

The last time we went to Sears was to look at their cell phones. There was nobody in the department so we walked over to a nearby department and asked the sales person to get some one to help us.

He said he would and picked up the phone.

We went back and waited.

No one ever came.

That was years ago.

That store is now a vacant lot.

They deserved it.

I would have left after ten minutes.

I still have a Sears Hardware I go to when I'm out working in the area. It exist due to there being no Home Depot or Lowe's within eight miles. Sears still sells some quality products. Their online parts store is quite good though a bit expensive. They've always had what I was looking for. Parts for my 25 year old hydraulic Craftsman jack to Kitchenaid refrigerator parts to a carburetor rebuild kit for a small engine. Yeah. They've got that. And they always have IPBs (Illustrated Parts Breakdown) so I know I'm buying the right part. I hope Sears survives online.

We used to go there a lot when I was a kid. Always parked in the same lot, went in the same door, and walked by the bicycles. I never did get that green banana bike I yearned for. It had dual top tubes with a three speed (floor type) shifter mounted on it. It was so boss.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

I read yesterday, what I thought was an interesting article about the history and political influences of Sears throughout its existence, so I thought I would post a link for anyone interested.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/business/sears-bankrupt-history-timeline.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbusiness&action=click&contentCollection=business®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront

To an entire generation of young shoppers, Sears is the store they least want to visit in the mall they rarely patronize.
But for much of its 132-year history, the company was at the forefront of American retail. Its early mail-order and distribution innovations made it the Amazon of the Gilded Age.
Later, its vast spread of brick-and-mortar stores positioned it in prime retail locations across the country. For years, it was the largest retailer in the United States, operating out of the tallest building in the world. At various points, it sold products like fishing tackle, tombstones, barber chairs, wigs and even a “Stradivarius model violin” for $6.10.
In the last decade, however, little of that splendor has been evident. The company has lost money for years, its head count has fallen by hundreds of thousands of employees, and it has several thousand fewer stores than it did in 2008. Even the landmark Sears Tower in Chicago — which it no longer owns — was renamed, after an insurance company.

Sad, but times change. Adapt or die. Still, besides all the stuff mentioned in your link, the Sears & Roebuck catalog, made of the same paper as old phone books, was the toilet paper of the West. Far superior to corn cobs or leaves.

 

[lpetrich]

Sears used to be the one of the biggest of its sort of business, if not the biggest.

I recall someone claiming that back in the 1950's, that dropping Sears mail-order catalogs onto the Soviet Union would cause many people to see what they have been missing and revolt against their masters. I found that unconvincing, because they would likely suspect some Potemkin-village propaganda stunt. That is indeed what happened in similar circumstances, like the Nixon-Khrushchev "kitchen debate" and something I once read of a Russian who visited a Western car factory. That Russian asked why his hosts went through all the trouble to round up those cars to impress him.

 

[lpetrich]

The Fountainhead: Retail Apocalypse | Adam Lee. From the comments:

Doug Langley: On the subject of why Sears is failing, bear in mind that it's being run by a Rand fanatic whose berserk management style has torn the company apart. Eddie Lampert, like many Rand-type CEO's, was utterly convinced he was a fantastic genius when in reality he didn't have a clue. Check out the Forbes article:

The 5 Ways Ed Lampert Destroyed Sears
1. Micro-management in lieu of strategy.
2. Manage-by-the-numbers rather than trends.
3. Seeking confirmation rather than disagreement.
4. Holding assets too long.
5. Hubris - unfailingly believing in oneself regardless the outcomes.

The author: "In May, 2012 I wrote that Mr. Lampert was the second worst CEO in America and should fire himself." linking to Lampert was the second worst CEO in America

 

[Max Rockatansky]

The Fountainhead: Retail Apocalypse | Adam Lee. From the comments:

Doug Langley: On the subject of why Sears is failing, bear in mind that it's being run by a Rand fanatic whose berserk management style has torn the company apart. Eddie Lampert, like many Rand-type CEO's, was utterly convinced he was a fantastic genius when in reality he didn't have a clue. Check out the Forbes article:

The 5 Ways Ed Lampert Destroyed Sears
1. Micro-management in lieu of strategy.
2. Manage-by-the-numbers rather than trends.
3. Seeking confirmation rather than disagreement.
4. Holding assets too long.
5. Hubris - unfailingly believing in oneself regardless the outcomes.

The author: "In May, 2012 I wrote that Mr. Lampert was the second worst CEO in America and should fire himself." linking to Lampert was the second worst CEO in America

While I don't doubt the items listed in the article had a bearing on Sears' demise, the bottom line fact is that brick'n'mortar have been in trouble ever since online stores began. Radio Shack went down for the same reason and Walmart was following. In Walmart's case, they adopted the online sales model in parallel to their brick stores.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

The Fountainhead: Retail Apocalypse | Adam Lee. From the comments:

Doug Langley: On the subject of why Sears is failing, bear in mind that it's being run by a Rand fanatic whose berserk management style has torn the company apart. Eddie Lampert, like many Rand-type CEO's, was utterly convinced he was a fantastic genius when in reality he didn't have a clue. Check out the Forbes article:

The 5 Ways Ed Lampert Destroyed Sears
1. Micro-management in lieu of strategy.
2. Manage-by-the-numbers rather than trends.
3. Seeking confirmation rather than disagreement.
4. Holding assets too long.
5. Hubris - unfailingly believing in oneself regardless the outcomes.

The author: "In May, 2012 I wrote that Mr. Lampert was the second worst CEO in America and should fire himself." linking to Lampert was the second worst CEO in America

While I don't doubt the items listed in the article had a bearing on Sears' demise, the bottom line fact is that brick'n'mortar have been in trouble ever since online stores began. Radio Shack went down for the same reason and Walmart was following. In Walmart's case, they adopted the online sales model in parallel to their brick stores.

Indeed, all retail is due for downsizing and/or diversifying.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

The Fountainhead: Retail Apocalypse | Adam Lee. From the comments:

Doug Langley: On the subject of why Sears is failing, bear in mind that it's being run by a Rand fanatic whose berserk management style has torn the company apart. Eddie Lampert, like many Rand-type CEO's, was utterly convinced he was a fantastic genius when in reality he didn't have a clue. Check out the Forbes article:

The 5 Ways Ed Lampert Destroyed Sears
1. Micro-management in lieu of strategy.
2. Manage-by-the-numbers rather than trends.
3. Seeking confirmation rather than disagreement.
4. Holding assets too long.
5. Hubris - unfailingly believing in oneself regardless the outcomes.

The author: "In May, 2012 I wrote that Mr. Lampert was the second worst CEO in America and should fire himself." linking to Lampert was the second worst CEO in America

While I don't doubt the items listed in the article had a bearing on Sears' demise, the bottom line fact is that brick'n'mortar have been in trouble ever since online stores began. Radio Shack went down for the same reason and Walmart was following. In Walmart's case, they adopted the online sales model in parallel to their brick stores.

Indeed, all retail is due for downsizing and/or diversifying.

The concept of adapt or die goes back to Darwin. It applies to organizations as well as species.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Interesting article here.

The $6 billion blunder that killed Sears

Sears kept dumping billions of dollars into stock buybacks in order to try and keep the share prices inflated as opposed to taking that money and investing it in the business. This caused the business to keep failing and the stock never recovered, so they lost it all anyways.

 

[TSwizzle]

I don't think Sears/K-Mart will come out of bankruptcy and survive. They will more than likely liquidate. If you have ever done business with Sears/K-Mart you will understand why. They are run by a mixture of incompetent buffoons, charlatans and carpetbaggers. I doubt any vendor will extend them credit. Some vendors are trying to get their stuff back from them, at least one vendor is suing them for deliberately lying about their intentions. Death by a thousand cuts for Sears/K-Mart.

 

[ZiprHead]

The Fountainhead: Retail Apocalypse | Adam Lee. From the comments:

Doug Langley: On the subject of why Sears is failing, bear in mind that it's being run by a Rand fanatic whose berserk management style has torn the company apart. Eddie Lampert, like many Rand-type CEO's, was utterly convinced he was a fantastic genius when in reality he didn't have a clue. Check out the Forbes article:

The 5 Ways Ed Lampert Destroyed Sears
1. Micro-management in lieu of strategy.
2. Manage-by-the-numbers rather than trends.
3. Seeking confirmation rather than disagreement.
4. Holding assets too long.
5. Hubris - unfailingly believing in oneself regardless the outcomes.

The author: "In May, 2012 I wrote that Mr. Lampert was the second worst CEO in America and should fire himself." linking to Lampert was the second worst CEO in America

While I don't doubt the items listed in the article had a bearing on Sears' demise, the bottom line fact is that brick'n'mortar have been in trouble ever since online stores began. Radio Shack went down for the same reason and Walmart was following. In Walmart's case, they adopted the online sales model in parallel to their brick stores.

A little anecdote on Radio Shack. After I went on disability due to a back injury and had to quit my job as a regional coordinator for a delivery service, I thought about working part-time for RS. I've had training in electronics and have been a hobbyist for may years. So I applied. Virtually every question on the online application form was on sales experience, not a one on electronics or knowledge of the products RS sold. I of course never heard from them.

 

[ZiprHead]

I don't think Sears/K-Mart will come out of bankruptcy and survive. They will more than likely liquidate. If you have ever done business with Sears/K-Mart you will understand why. They are run by a mixture of incompetent buffoons, charlatans and carpetbaggers. I doubt any vendor will extend them credit. Some vendors are trying to get their stuff back from them, at least one vendor is suing them for deliberately lying about their intentions. Death by a thousand cuts for Sears/K-Mart.

I just heard the local Sears auto center, an out-building separate from the main Sears attached to the Mall, is to be torn down and a new steak house is taking its place.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

The Fountainhead: Retail Apocalypse | Adam Lee. From the comments:

Doug Langley: On the subject of why Sears is failing, bear in mind that it's being run by a Rand fanatic whose berserk management style has torn the company apart. Eddie Lampert, like many Rand-type CEO's, was utterly convinced he was a fantastic genius when in reality he didn't have a clue. Check out the Forbes article:

The 5 Ways Ed Lampert Destroyed Sears
1. Micro-management in lieu of strategy.
2. Manage-by-the-numbers rather than trends.
3. Seeking confirmation rather than disagreement.
4. Holding assets too long.
5. Hubris - unfailingly believing in oneself regardless the outcomes.

The author: "In May, 2012 I wrote that Mr. Lampert was the second worst CEO in America and should fire himself." linking to Lampert was the second worst CEO in America

While I don't doubt the items listed in the article had a bearing on Sears' demise, the bottom line fact is that brick'n'mortar have been in trouble ever since online stores began. Radio Shack went down for the same reason and Walmart was following. In Walmart's case, they adopted the online sales model in parallel to their brick stores.

A little anecdote on Radio Shack. After I went on disability due to a back injury and had to quit my job as a regional coordinator for a delivery service, I thought about working part-time for RS. I've had training in electronics and have been a hobbyist for may years. So I applied. Virtually every question on the online application form was on sales experience, not a one on electronics or knowledge of the products RS sold. I of course never heard from them.

Which, IMO...and maybe yours, partially explains why they went out of business.

 

[ZiprHead]

A little anecdote on Radio Shack. After I went on disability due to a back injury and had to quit my job as a regional coordinator for a delivery service, I thought about working part-time for RS. I've had training in electronics and have been a hobbyist for may years. So I applied. Virtually every question on the online application form was on sales experience, not a one on electronics or knowledge of the products RS sold. I of course never heard from them.

Which, IMO...and maybe yours, partially explains why they went out of business.

Oh, yes. That was my first thought.