Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 568 posts

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#381

Post by logfromblammo »

ben1040 wrote: post #320
RhodesianHunter wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree wholeheartedly with everything you said except: > They didn't build the other pieces they needed for a 120-year business while they had the protection I would argue they did with things like AWS.

Similarly (or more importantly, even) is they've now built out a proprietary fulfillment and last mile delivery infrastructure that runs parallel to USPS/UPS/etc. Any new entrant is going to have to compete with Amazon on shipping cost/time. Yet Amazon can do it using their own distribution and sorting hubs, from which gig workers use their own cars to do the deliveries.

According to all the anecdotes at my disposal, the Amazon last-mile delivery is strictly inferior to the incumbents, due in no small part to scheduling and pathing algorithms that make no accommodations for the biological functions or psychological needs of the human employees.

Those gig workers will dry up immediately the instant a better job opens up, and the delivery infrastructure Amazon thought it had will turn out to be owned by someone else. If the robots aren't ready in time, they will fall on their face.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#382

Post by overcast »

jessaustin wrote: post #276
Vivtek wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally had the best tools in the world - my dad swore by Craftsman, told me never to bother buying any other brand. Then they threw it away on a demonstration of Randian philosophy.

Even while our dads were swearing by Craftsman, better tools existed. You're right that Craftsman was good enough for most people's needs. Craftsman is still an OK brand for hand tools (not power tools). It was just easier to get Craftsman, because they sold it at a store that wasn't too far away. Back in the day you could only get Snap-On etc. if you were affiliated with e.g. a mechanic's shop that was on a Snap-On…

Snap-On may makes quality tools, but their prices reflect it. Unless you're actually a mechanic that uses those tools constantly, the prices are tremendously prohibitive. Enter Craftsman. Combined with the warranty, they were a FAR better deal with 90% of the quality.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#383

Post by melq »

bluGill wrote: post #85
melq wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Membership at Costco is like 60 dollars a year. Not saying it's doable for everyone but its hardly something 'you need to have a good amount of extra money' to afford.

Spoken like someone who is not poor.

I never said or implied that poor people are able to shop at Costco.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#384

Post by steelframe »

tjr wrote: post #53
ghaff wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Is there anything people don't buy online these days? Tons of stuff. [ADDED: e-commerce is 10% of retail in the US.] Ironically, especially in the categories that Sears was best known for selling. Major appliances, lawn equipment, home improvement generally, (to a lesser degree) clothes.

A few years ago, the ancient (circa 1998) microwave in my house failed. I merrily trundled off to the local appliance store and bought a new one, and had them install it. Seemed to work, but eventually I realized it must be drawing too much electricity. Like something out of Green Acres , I had to limit what lights and other appliances were on in the kitchen if I wanted to use the microwave. I had an electrician come…

> I finally sold the house, but couldn't pass this problem off to the next owner.

As someone who's had his share of problems passed on to him when buying a house, I'd like to know (1) how the next owner found out about the problem and (2) how they managed to strong-arm you into fixing it.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#385

Post by Tsubasachan »

jlarocco wrote: post #355
filmgirlcw wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pricing benefit really cannot be understated. Amazon was 40% less than list for books -- which was a massive amount, even if you lived in Barnes & Noble markets (and B&N wasn't as pervasive in 1996/1997 as your average mall bookstore was), where there were similar markdowns. And of course, you could get any book you wanted from Amazon. And then Amazon very quickly moved into media like CDs and DVDs. I used to ord…

I don't remember that big of a price advantage, but they definitely had a HUGE selection advantage compared to the book stores in my city. To a certain extent the price didn't matter much because it was the only way to buy a lot of books.

Yeah a brick and mortar book store could never compete with an online retailer warehouse when it comes to selection.

Eventually book stores started to create their own websites but by then it was too little too late.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#386

Post by melq »

dragonwriter wrote: post #214
melq wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Membership at Costco is like 60 dollars a year. Not saying it's doable for everyone but its hardly something 'you need to have a good amount of extra money' to afford.

> Membership at Costco is like 60 dollars a year. Not saying it's doable for everyone but its hardly something 'you need to have a good amount of extra money' to afford If you are poor to the point of relying on public assistance to meet basic needs, an extra $60 up front even if it will pay off over a year means foregoing other essential expenses now. But the bigger cost in many parts of the country is the space nee…

Why do you think I was talking about people who are poor to the point that they are relying on public assistance? Did you gloss over the part where I said 'not saying it is doable for everyone'? You even quoted it. This thread was debating whether or not Costco is an 'upscale' place that only the well to do can afford, not whether or not Costco is an option for people on public assistance.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#387

Post by Zigurd »

rhino369 wrote: post #100
Zigurd wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an enormous Sears near where I grew up. It always felt shabby and badly run. They had lost the recipe even then, when they still had the catalog business. I get the impression from Sears and other big companies that lose their way that they become the playgrounds of big management egos that want to leave a mark and get written about in business publications, whether or not their ideas work.

My guess is that they got their lunch eaten by Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart beat them on cost and margin. And you can't operate a mega-chain on premium customer service since the average customer shops on price or convenience. Department stores have been dying for a long time.

I should have made clear just how ancient I am. When I was a kid, it was still the heyday of department stores like Lytton, Goldblatt,and Marshall Field which had their own candy shop selling their own candies, and a department called "millinery." Some of these stores were notably stuffy and seemed to cater to my grandmother's generation. But they were still prosperous. I had never seen a Wal Mart.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#388

Post by DontGiveTwoFlux »

MetalGuru wrote: post #277
tw04 wrote: post #82

Sears died because of Lampert, that's the beginning and end of the story. While they were far from perfect, post-Kmart "acquisition" both the service and stores became garbage and he used Sears as a personal slush fund.

So instead of investing in actually making Sears better (like Target and Walmart did), he thought it was a good idea to spent nearly all of Sears' cash reserves buying back its shares (at prices as high as $170)? Now shares are $0.33. Is he just an incompetent buffoon, or did this strategy line his pockets? For example, was he buying shares owned by ESL with Sears' money? If so, that's highly unethical. Seems par for…

I wonder if any company in a similar position has just done a total liquidation and turned over all cash as a one time super dividend. That seems like the honest and fair way of doing it. Though it's probably less lucrative than a debt-fueled stock buyback and dump strategy.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#389

Post by hammock »

lebanon_tn wrote: post #361
filmgirlcw wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pricing benefit really cannot be understated. Amazon was 40% less than list for books -- which was a massive amount, even if you lived in Barnes & Noble markets (and B&N wasn't as pervasive in 1996/1997 as your average mall bookstore was), where there were similar markdowns. And of course, you could get any book you wanted from Amazon. And then Amazon very quickly moved into media like CDs and DVDs. I used to ord…

I'm not well versed on the subject but I recently learned that Amazon's share of a book's purchase price is HUGE at around 40% (21.60 on a $54 book) I suppose the lesson is that there is a lot of value in being a distributor as I also know someone who is a part owner of a brewery and he says the same thing. Source: http://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/

That is the case at pretty much any retailer. Grocery stores, drug stores, clothing stores, etc.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#390

Post by jerrysievert »

scrooched_moose wrote: post #378
jerrysievert wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, they’ve “fixed” that. I finally got their amazon couriers blacklisted, so they are shipping usps. But, if i order from an account without prime, they wait 11 days to ship, thus giving me 12 day delivery (just within their promised 2 weeks). If i order from an account with prime, it alternates between next day and two days. Editing to add: Last order without prime, Dec 28. “Shipped” yesterday (usps shows it ar…

How'd you manage that? UPS/USPS do great in my area, while if it's Amazon or FedEx I'll get it a week from never.

Constant complaining to customer support when the package kept being marked “building closed” when they decided they didn’t want to deliver (this is a house, not an apartment, so no building to close).

After 3-4 packages arrived a week or so late because of the same issues, they finally blacklisted amazon delivery. Since then, it’s been usps.

Post reply on HN