Grimm Reaper is now tapping on Sears!

All Canadian retail stores to close 'United Press Intl" is reporting. I bet US stores are not far behind! It saddens me to say. When I was a kid one of the greatest weekend trips (something to do) was going to Sears in the College Mall, Bloomington, IN! Loved to play with the Atari 2600 games that were set up to play! While Dad spent His time in the hardware, & tools. That store closed about a year ago I think it was. Children today have no idea what a loss for us it is! & really for them!!!

I always like the good quality of the products sold at Sears. And we had bought Sears appliances over the years , and were very well pleased with them. The problem is folks will buy based on price over quality many times. Combine in the generous wage , benefit, and pension plans, are what has truly sunk Sears Stores. The retail model from the past , is no longer profitable. 18,000 retired employees to be given cheques every month, is a burden that stores like Walmart don't have , and never will.

So higher price may not mean higher quality, just higher employee benefits. Hello Wally world.

Simply put, Sears did not keep up with the times, and time left them behind. Like so many businesses they thought it was going to be the 1950's forever, staked their entire business model on it, and steadfastly refused to change. It's a miracle they've lasted this long.

I am thankful that I came along at the right time in history. Times have changed, some for the better some not. Newbies will just have to adjust just to the times just as we did. Just like manufacturers (self included) were taught that fasteners don't do a thing for a product yet are a high expense in the manufacturing process....design them out where they aren't performing a function supportive of the product. Makes the product more economical to manufacture....competitively priced and easier to service when necessary.

Knowing that, look at a product designed today vs some of your relics including materials used. Don't confuse cheap with good design practices. Just think about what a metal widget required to be manufactured vs a plastic part, properly designed. Think about how today's parts work 99% of the time vs in the old days out the door and it's yours. Does it work? Hope so, it's mine. Think about how you see a lot of kinks and bends in sheet metal parts that are made from stronger, lighter, thinner steel (for example) to reduce weight and costs, yet still perform the required function. Yes I know tractors are a weight exception but considering things in general.

I have been a Whirlpool (Sears Kenmore) washer purchaser for my entire adult life. Looking at my new washer, the most basic they make, and how it functions, how it's built and the economy of operation vs what I had when I bought my first used one some 40+ years ago, cast iron gear box, back and forth agitator.....night and day.

I think we get a whole lot more bang for the buck than we did back then for our purchasing buck. Problem is, the struggle Sears and lots of mfgrs. of the time are dealing with.....employee benefits. That's where today's employees need to think outside the box and figure out how to work through the loop holes and get theirs. Is worth the effort for sure!

Have to agree. I mean how dare these retired Sears employees expect a pension check every month.

It is sad. Same when Montgomery Ward and Western Auto went under. It's always sad to see part of your youth disappear. The Sears Big Book was probably the most read book in our home, and EVERYONE turn their turn looking through it time after time. When the new catalog came it was a big deal. I guess those days are gone.

Way back in the early 70's, my mom and dad bought a Sears Kenmore washer and dryer. I still remember them buying it, I was a small kid and waited outside in the truck (for some reason) while they went in to purchase it. The washer and dryer were a matched set, a Gawd-awful dark green, a color that was popular back then. That set made it through five kids who got dirty...a lot. That washing machine lasted until just a couple of years ago. My brother and I, both somewhat muscular, carried it out of mom's house and I remember we were both sweating and out of breath by the time that huge hunk of metal was setting outside. We then carried the new washer in, a mere shell of the old Kenmore, weighing probably about half of the old unit.
Mom still has the same dryer and uses it regularly. The timer went out of the thing probably 20 years ago, but you just have to shut it off manually.
I guess what I'm saying is that Sears used to sell good products.
The last Sears product I purchased was a washer on a Sunday afternoon a few years ago. The experience put a bad taste in my mouth and I try not to go to the local store anymore than I have to. The Craftsman tool has has sunk in value and quality to about the same status as Harbor Freight and probably is manufactured close to each other on the other side of the world.

I personally never thought anyone should get a pension or be paid for vacation time. I would rather be paid correctly for the work I do then invest in my own future instead of trusting a company to do it. Most do not agree with that, I am afraid they want someone else to take care of them.

Joe

I quit Sears when they quit selling guns and ammo and quit sending out the farm catalog.Ebay,Amazon,Sams,Rural King,TSC and Walmart are all better places to shop.

If they had computerized their mail order catalog instead of dropping it Sears would probably be in a position similar to Amazon right now.

I worked growing up rather than playing sports. I started working for my dad at 12 in his restaurant cleaning up dirty tables...."Bus Boy". That taught me real fast the following things:

One day I won't be young and energetic. Like my grandpa, one day someone will have to take care of me because I can't take care of myself.
I don't find mundane jobs interesting. I want more out of my life.
I want too go to work for a company that has endless opportunities. So at 18 I signed up for the draft and the same day went across town (Houston, Tx.) and joined the USAF. I got what I wanted there (the USAF is a company of sorts) and also learned what it was like to have medical facilities and be able to retire after 20 years (if you can survive) and at 38 be able to go off and do something else. Got married and we had 4 kids while there; one spent more time in the hospital than he did with us.

While maturing during the 9 years of working for Sam, I learned that I wanted:

A garage with a concrete floor so that I could get a floor jack to roll under my car and jack it up so that I could change the oil rolling on a creeper.
A no-tie, no white shirt, professional job
An 8 to 5, 5 day a week job with a paid vacation (bills still accumulate).
Not having to go to NYC if I moved up into a management position.
Investment and retirement opportunities for when I am too old to work.

Naw it's not getting something for free. It's a planned part of your employment if "you choose" to plan your employment where such benefits are part of it. Problem is, in today's world, you have to look harder to find it.

Sears is a holding Co. Their main objective is to make money for themselves and the stock holders. They just happen to be in retail sales. Most of the leases they have on their stores are for 99 years. The stores are losing money due to the internet sales. This is the way of the world today. Sears has seen the light at the end of the tunnel and is closing stores and is subleasing the buildings, just sitting back and making money without the hassles of retail sales and employees. Most of Sears leases are 30-40 years old, and they are paying pennies on the dollar for the leased space compared to todays prices.
Think of it as cash renting your farm ground. You can make more money leasing the ground to someone else, and you do it without the work and hassles of actually farming it.

Sears Canada and Sears USA are two totally different companies with their own business models. The Canadian one was originally Simpson Sears and eventually morphed into just Sears. One has no effect on the other, so even though the Canadian one is going down the toilet, it doesn?t mean anything to the US company (who will sink on their own anyways).

Sears been on the decline many years now, besides their big catalog that we always enjoyed getting how many of you young folks didn?t know that JC Penny?s also used to mail out huge catalogs as well? Pennys even had their own ?Penncraft? wrench, socket sets, power tools, etc that competed with Craftsman tools, I have lots of Penncraft tools that are mighty fine, also Penny?s used to sell firearms too......

Remember Joe that not everyone in the world is as informed and skilled at investments as you might be. I'd be in that group so I'll keep cashing my pension cheque every month and let the experts look after themselves, that's their choice. Strangely enough, I've never thought of it as someone looking after me.

I couldn't wait foe the wish books to come out. My dad always said there are two main ways to stay in business

Sell good quality products at a fair price.
Change with the times.

If you can't do that shut the doors

(quoted from post at 06:01:21 10/11/17) I couldn't wait foe the wish books to come out. My dad always said there are two main ways to stay in business

Sell good quality products at a fair price.
Change with the times.

If you can't do that shut the doors

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Sears was the original online(catalog) sales company. Had the management been a little more on the ball, as was mentioned, they would be the Amazon we know today.

I just saw recently that the store in St Cloud MN is closing, the last time we were in it it was obvious it was going to happen. Sears missed the boat when online sales started, they could of been a leader. The paper mill that I retired from used to make paper for Sears, Wards, and Pennys, big customers. That mill has been torn down and cut up for scrap for 5 years now, 25 years ago I think there were 700 of us working there.

wimmens underwear section was my favorite then tools.....

I never looked at the wimmens section. Till grandma left the room

As the exconomy and business models changed, many companies and unions didn't know what to do, so they kicked the can down the road by signing up for more pension plans, with bigger and bigger promises to pay you a bonus later, for the contract we sign today.

Now it is very difficult to keep up those promises. Because - the economy and business models continue to change. The old ideas of how pentioms are funded and should work - no longer fit today's economic structure. Deals made 30-40 years ago don't work now.

I think both sides could see that coming, at least in the receipt past, and likely long ago.

But it is so easy to kick the can down the road, and see what happens then...... because wea ll know it will get better in the future, right?

Put another way, I think the labor force and the business world were two pennies you put in one of those spiraling wishing wells, and they chased each other round and round down into the bottom very tight spiral.....

Sears and its workers are spinning really fast - pretty close to spitting out the bottom.

Neither side is winnnig, there is no good news.

Sears/ Kmart is owned by a holding company that bought them for pennies on the dollar and is spiraling the company down. That is the plan, and something that was a given years ago. Anyone in the past what, decade, would know this is the plan and where it is headed, and would then plan accordingly. The craftsman and kennmore names will be sold off, or just licensed off whatever makes more sense at the time. A lot of old stores are sitting empty, I'm not sure those leases are really paying off....

But then, there is a 17 year old Target building sitting empty in my town for 2 years now. It's not like everyone else has it easy and good either. If Target says they can't make it at that location, who is going to come in and try to prove them wrong? Two other modest size retail buildings got turned into a 'troubled kids' high school and a warehouse, that isn't prime use of the locations and buildings but it is what it is. Big retail is 2 grocery stores and a Walmart in town. Main Street is still there with a Erbergers and a few specialty/ tourist shops that come and go. I think Herbergers was invented here, is the reason that store remains...

Dollar General just closed too. That's a nice sized building I would expect something goes in someday.

Paul

(quoted from post at 13:15:28 10/11/17) Have to agree. I mean how dare these retired Sears employees expect a pension check every month.

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That's one of the changes they didn't make, maintaining a pension plan rather than putting into place ways the employees could save for their own retirement. Most places today don't have them (full disclosure: my company still does, although it was pared back several years ago and the 401k plan was beefed up). That's one of the many reasons that sunk GM just as one example, the joke was that they were a pension plan that also built cars. I'd say most municipalities and states are in similar straights or getting there due to the overly generous (by private standards) employee benefits and pension plans. It is said that some cities will have to cut most services just to pay pensions. How would you like to live in a place where they can't pick up the trash, fix the streets or respond timely to emergency calls for police and fire so the retired accountant can still get her fat pension check, all the while the city fathers are getting more and more tax money from you? Something to think about.

my last experience with sears convinced me to never shop there again. in march i bought a mini freezer from them. they had to order it, was not in stock. freezer came in worked good for 4 months, then quit. called sears, waited quite a while to get a service rep. dilly dallied for a good half hour, had the receipt right in front of me. finally, the gal says, sorry its not a sears freezer , contact the manufacturer. had a one year warranty. several emails later the mfr says, go in the back and check the wiring at the thermostat. some dis-assembly required. wiring was fine. compressor quit. ok, send the freezer to us and we will repair or replace it, however i must pay shipping. checked with ups, 97 dollars to ship it back to california. only paid 225 for the freezer.warranty doesnt cover shipping costs. sears was no help.

It is really weird with Sears as they opened a new store in our town last week. I will not be shopping there as I do not like Sears.

Dollar General is opening 2 stores within 15 miles of me

Sears has been on a slow death roll for over a decade. Shoot way back when hurricane Allen hit FL decades ago that was the start of sears death roll due to not having the $$ to pay up so they had to shut down many stores to take care of that and they have been going under ever since

Herbergers invented here. Where is here??

Pension debt wasn?t the big issue. Health care for current and retired employees was much bigger. Pension funding is very predictable, health
care was a bottomless pit. Of course, losing market share for 10 years in a row under Rick Wagner made everything difficult. Talk about crony
capitalism, market share went down year after year, no management changes, not even advertising was changed. GM had the same ad
agency for 60 years!

I think Paul was referring to New Ulm, MN.

I had a customer that called out the Sears man. To do the yearly service. Next morning the lady went to start it. Engine was hard to start then exploded. Sears refused warranty. Claimed it was from improper service work. So they called Sears canceled all service contracts the had and demanded there money back.

(quoted from post at 09:27:31 10/11/17) I personally never thought anyone should get a pension or be paid for vacation time. I would rather be paid correctly for the work I do then invest in my own future instead of trusting a company to do it. Most do not agree with that, I am afraid they want someone else to take care of them.

Joe

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I feel the same way about social security and medicare.

I admire honesty.

In 1977 I bought 4 new tires for my model A from JC Penny. They are still on it. Thinking about getting new ones because of their age but don't know if I want the 19" ones or 17" for my other set of wheels.

I worked with a guy who got all excited over the bra and panty section!

A lot of those new Sears are Sear's franchises. In Mason Iowa they closed the Sears store and a Sears Franchise opened up within six months. As far as Craftsman goes Ace Hardware is handling a lot of Craftsman now, If I break any of my Ace wrenches or sockets I'm apt to get a Craftsman for a replacement.