Sears is insane

I bought a Fridge from them. it was good. It came with eleventybillion Searssuperduperpoints. Whatever.

So what it meant is that I got like $10 in free stuff every week. The points came in weekly installments, and I had paid them no heed. I had like $60 built up, but they expire the day before you get the new ones, so only $10 in my account. I call, they give me the $60, I buy Tunawife a microwave she wanted, and now I get $15 in free stuff every week. Last week socks for her and jeans for kid. This week a pillow and a center punch. This rewards program is insane, but the free stuff is great.

YMMV

I know what'll save a dying company.

Free stuff..

If I didn't know better, I'd say they were in financial trouble and desperate to keep you as a customer.

Funny, ever since they sold off Craftsman I wouldn't walk into a Sears store if I saw hundred dollar bills scattered on the floor.  

My step daughter works there.

The biggest problem is getting people into the stores.

I bought some appliances from Sears (through OSH when they did that).  They gave me a gift card I could use a Sears.  Tried to use it a year or so later... it was empty.... not impressed.

Sears could have done what Amazon did, but didn't. 

They did do it right originally with that massive paper catalog of everything 120 years ago but just didn't get into the internet fast enough with the right website and apparently not much use of "big data" to keep the products you search for in front of you at every website  you visit. 

you're missing the point.

Buy something you need anyway. Get small things for free for weeks and weeks.

Also I got a screwdriver set last week.

My closest Sears closed. Not sure where next closest one is but it’s at least 1.5 hr drive. Enjoy your free stuff while it lasts. 

I did not even know Sears was still in business ... 

Full disclosure: I paid a good chunk of my college tuition with Sears paychecks. They were once one of the biggest employers in the country.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programing:

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? SEARS WILL BE FINE, JUST AS SOON AS THIS INTERNET FAD BLOWS OVER!

Now get off my lawn!

Wait, Sears is still in business?

I thought they were declaring bankruptcy a year or two ago because the CEO wasn't allowed to keep the company floating w/ his money or something like that.

I smelled death in the air when they got rid of their floor staff. Go in and wander the halls hoping someone would help me drop $1000.00 on a new fridge. Yep, that will fix the bottom line. Get rid of the people selling your stuff for you. 

And then they started making everything in China anyway. Craftsman batteries went from two or three years lifespan to two or three times on the charger. 

I'm vindictively happy they are dead and buried in Canada because they disappointed me far too many times thanks to my misguided attempts at loyalty. 

Fun Fact: Sears and K-Mart are the same entity! (apparently since 2004?!?!)

My Frigidaire oven touch panel failed a few weeks back and Sears had the cheapest price on the membrane overlay (because doing an assembly would be crazy), K-Mart the cheapest control panel assy..  Going through the cart/checkout in two tabs as one does, I noticed that the two checkouts were EXACTLY the same, and my login worked for both.  Great! Combined shipping!  WRONG.  The two carts didn't cross over, and so I paid twice the shipping cost from the exact same warehouse in SC for two parts that were dependent on each other to have a function...  

It's no wonder they're having a time getting anyone to shop there with a logistics organization like that.

Yep. Sears is closed near me.

It's going to be a different world when all the big box stores are shuttered and instead most retail shopping will happen under residential apartments and "traditional neighborhood development." 

It seems to me that if you had of the logistics of a major retail chain, you'd just shrink everything down and put it someplace with high traffic - and that's just it. Malls aren't really high traffic anymore. You know what will always be a high-traffic place? Grocery stores. Sorry, no amount of grocery delivery will impact that daily traffic of a grocery store. 

If smaller Sears stores (located next to your local grocery) sold tools, appliances, and other household chore electronics (vacuums, etc) along with say, hardware, they could easily battle it out with Harbor Freight, who doesn't seem to be slowing down BTW. Unfortunately, Home Depot and Lowes absolutely destroyed Sears appliance/tools market. 

I always felt like Sears did a poor job selling shoes, clothes, and anything not Craftsman. 

Both Sears and Kmart cratered here so I don't get to go to either.

Not that I would, mind you.... oh, wait...

jharry3 said:

Sears could have done what Amazon did, but didn't. 

They did do it right originally with that massive paper catalog of everything 120 years ago but just didn't get into the internet fast enough with the right website and apparently not much use of "big data" to keep the products you search for in front of you at every website  you visit. 

It happened long before Amazon. Sears drained its cash reserves to start up discover credit card and invest in insurance.  

As a result they began to squeeze every department to yield greater and greater profits.  To do so they found reasons not to honor warranty, cut back on experienced managers , accepted higher  and  labor   Turn over. 

Without experienced  motivated managers new products weren’t on the shelves  and their loyal customers starting shopping elsewhere.  

Enter Amazon 

The Chicago Tribune published my letter last year.   For the record all I own is Allstate stock   

I met my wife at Kmart and I wouldn’t go in a Sears or Kmart if you paid me.

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

Thanks for posting that. 

Small cheap barely useful crap for free, what do you think this is, Harbor Freight? 

In reply to captdownshift :

Hate to burst your bubble, but that's a lot if places these days.

The worst thing Sears ever did was try (and still trying) to keep Kmart open.  The last 15 years of Kmart have been a textbook example of how not to run a store.  It’s too bad it sucked so much cash from Sears.

In reply to sobe_death :

Yeah I bought a pair of workboots online with Sears for in store pickup a couple of years ago.  Pick up was in Kmart.  

I don’t think I’ve seen a non-derelict K-Mart in years. I knew they were related to Sears, but thought they were all gone and Sears was just barely still alive.