Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy • Hacker News Board

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#151

Post by solarmist » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:56 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #102

bearjaws wrote: post #31

This is a huge loss IMO, buying kitchen supplies and bedding on Amazon is complete shit. Target isn't much better due to lack of variety and types of bedding. I've bought the same bed sheets for 5+ years, a few months ago I bought new ones since some bleach got spilt on one set, it comes in and I could tell immediately the quality was far worse. One wash later, its ripping & fraying. Thankfully I could return them. S…

No, BBB had low quality crazy overpriced items. Yes it was good to be able to see and try items before buying, but then they'd just fall apart. With Amazon, yeah it sucks I sometimes have to return things because you couldn't try it in person. But on the other hand, I wind up buying much higher quality items on Amazon, and at a cheaper price, because the top 15 reviews together usually give really solid feedback on h…

BBB had high prices, but I've never gotten the impression that there was anything low quality.

Besides the as seen on tv crap they added over the last few years.

EDIT: I didn't know about the store brand push.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#152

Post by akiselev » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

fumar wrote: post #122

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything has been fundamentally detached from reality, from stocks to housing. Houses can sit empty without tenants for years but they’ll only go up. Companies can be unprofitable for literal decades but they’ll keep finding funding and buyers. Commercial properties can bleed tenant but the prices will only be up. In a world of shrinking growth , stalling productivity, and dying demographics, the market behaves lik…

Does this mark an end for our society's principles? Are we do for a dark age? Are we in it or will there be an enlightenment or renaissance?

If anyone honestly feels this way, I invite them to read The Republic for Which It Stands [1] by Richard White which is about the post-Civil War era and the Gilded Age. Everything from the political division to the growing income inequality looked a lot like today - worse even! - and the author specifically points out the similarities throughout the book.

This has all happened before, and it will all happen again.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Republic-Which-Stands-Reconstruction-...

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#153

Post by bink » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #135

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know, but it’s increasingly frustrating as an average person. Apartments around me keep appreciating in value every year, rents keep going up astronomically even when the houses stay empty. My income went up, but housing in my area went up nearly 2x. I’m being priced out of areas I’ve lived in forever. I feel like a social contract has been violated. Everything, from products to housing seems to be targeted a…

Housing prices keep going up in the US because, fundamentally, there's not enough housing and hasn't been enough housing built for decades [1]. In most big cities, this is a self-inflicted problem caused by bad zoning and by planning and permitting processes that can take years and add huge amounts to home prices. (This is a big part of the reason there's so much "luxury" housing; adding a superficial high-end gloss…

Housing prices are rising dramatically even where populations are declining and land is abundant. It's not as simple as saying there's a housing shortage due to zoning.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#154

Post by burnished » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

aketchum wrote: post #116

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the question remains, what exactly are you buying, and how is it tied to the actions of the company? This has long confused me as well with regard to non-voting shares.

you are buying a piece of future cash flows from that company, discounted based on risk of realizing those cash flows

The context was non voting, no dividends shares. So where is the future cash flow? Genuinely also curious.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#155

Post by mrguyorama » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

exsf0859 wrote: post #48

cush wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's Matt Levine's take?

He's covered the decline of BBBY many times in his newsletter, explaining the financial details and shaking his head each time. His Monday April 24th, 2023 newsletter, titled "Bed Bath Moves Beyond", covers the situation once again. It ends: "Bed Bath saw that its retail shareholders wanted to throw their money away, and that its sophisticated lenders wanted to get their money back, and realized that there was a trad…

>The lawsuits are gonna be great.

Why can you be sued because idiots convinced themselves you were a good buy while you were showing everyone your terrible finances?

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#156

Post by jimbob45 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:00 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #135

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know, but it’s increasingly frustrating as an average person. Apartments around me keep appreciating in value every year, rents keep going up astronomically even when the houses stay empty. My income went up, but housing in my area went up nearly 2x. I’m being priced out of areas I’ve lived in forever. I feel like a social contract has been violated. Everything, from products to housing seems to be targeted a…

Housing prices keep going up in the US because, fundamentally, there's not enough housing and hasn't been enough housing built for decades [1]. In most big cities, this is a self-inflicted problem caused by bad zoning and by planning and permitting processes that can take years and add huge amounts to home prices. (This is a big part of the reason there's so much "luxury" housing; adding a superficial high-end gloss…

I wish this narrative would die. It's probably true that there's not enough housing but it's also true that AirBNB is sucking up many of the vacancies and apartment ownership consolidation is allowing owners to endure vacancies longer than they should be able to. You're simply never going to convince everyone that building more is the answer when there's such low-hanging fruit in front of everyone's eyes that you refuse to acknowledge.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#157

Post by Sohcahtoa82 » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:00 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #140

crazygringo wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, BBB had low quality crazy overpriced items. Yes it was good to be able to see and try items before buying, but then they'd just fall apart. With Amazon, yeah it sucks I sometimes have to return things because you couldn't try it in person. But on the other hand, I wind up buying much higher quality items on Amazon, and at a cheaper price, because the top 15 reviews together usually give really solid feedback on h…

I tend to find myself extremely dubious of Amazon reviews for anything but a brand I know and more-or-less trust already. There's just too much product listing manipulation and too many fake reviews.

I think it really depends.

If an item is 4.5 stars with over 10,000 reviews, I find it's pretty trustworthy.

It's when it has under 100 that I raise an eyebrow. Under 20, and it's most likely fake.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#158

Post by mrguyorama » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:01 PM UTC

bearjaws wrote: post #31

This is a huge loss IMO, buying kitchen supplies and bedding on Amazon is complete shit. Target isn't much better due to lack of variety and types of bedding. I've bought the same bed sheets for 5+ years, a few months ago I bought new ones since some bleach got spilt on one set, it comes in and I could tell immediately the quality was far worse. One wash later, its ripping & fraying. Thankfully I could return them. S…

Girlfriend and I bought new, $30 "jersey cotton" sheets from Target. They are already piling and we only had them 2 months.

Everything is made to be trash nowadays.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#159

Post by withinrafael » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:08 PM UTC

Sad times. Its jam-packed aisles, fake coupons, SodaStream CO2 return experience, and products were all pretty terrible. But a small piece of me will miss the curtains and bedding on display. They offered a bit more variety than Costco, Target, Ross, Home Goods, etc.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#160

Post by el_benhameen » Tue, Apr 25, 2023, 6:09 PM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #92

nate wrote: post #63

I'm gonna miss it. I always thought it had an interesting Job to be Done when I observed my behavior with the store. We had one a few blocks from my home, and though I order from Amazon like I'm trying to win some kind of game, I'd go to BBB when I needed something that day and didn't want to spend any time on research. It was almost guaranteed that the thing I'd buy would just naturally be at the top of a review sit…

That's the role Costco has been filling for a lot of Americans recently. Most of the time you are going to find something at a decent price, that may not be best in class but at least it's going to be near the top of the price/utility curve.

I’ve switched a large percentage of my shopping to Costco for this reason. Like Amazon, I can return it no questions asked if it sucks. Unlike Amazon, it probably won’t suck.