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

A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 108 posts

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#51

Post by nodesocket »

> most famously when he persuaded four men who kidnapped him in January 2003 to let him go after holding him for 30 hours, blindfolded and handcuffed, in a motel bathroom.

Wow, that's pretty badass. It is sad as lot's of people on HN have no idea the monster Sears once was. I still remember as a kid ordering a remote control fire truck from a Sears catalog. It had lights, sirens, full latter control, and even air brak sound effects as it stopped.

I worked at my local hometown Sears after high school selling computers and the original iMac (should have loaded up on Apple stock) as fast as iMac's were selling (Oops).

Let's not forgot Sears employees a great number of people still, and unfortunately they are soon going to be out of a job.

RIP Sears, Roebuck and Company the retail empire of yesterday!

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#52

Post by paulie_a »

dawhizkid wrote: post #3

One of the most amazing "secret" benefits at Sears is their "Shop Your Way" loyalty program with Uber. Basically since last fall, every Uber Ride or Uber Eats purchase gives you $2-$4 cash back to use at Sears/Kmart online no matter the cost if you linked your accounts. Given my average Uber Pool is around $5, I've basically been getting 40% off all my Uber Pools for almost a year. It will be missed!

In my experience you never actually get your food with Uber eats. I use uber frequently, but Uber eats is crap.

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#53

Post by paulie_a »

drak0n1c wrote: post #44
oblib wrote: post #36

Theodore Houser, a former CEO of Sears wrote a book, "Big Business and Human Values". The book is really worth reading because the contrast between Houser and Lambert (and most all CEOs now) is striking. I think just the title of his book demonstrates how different capitalism is now in comparison to Houser's day. "Human Values" is not something we hear CEOs or financial talking heads speak of much anymore. (Has Jim C…

Jim Cramer was self-admittedly very left-leaning while he was editor of the Crimson in college. His current philosophy is that whatever increases commercial activity is good - so he does comment on company values in terms of how it affects the company's brand and success.

Jim Cramer is also an idiot. To quote Jon Stewart "if you follow Jim Cramers advice you end up with a million dollars if you start with 100 million dollars"

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#54

Post by behringer »

HenryBemis wrote: post #37
dv_dt wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect Lampert the Sears CEO is losing money, Lampert the hedge fund manager is making it via a slo-mo takeover of Sears assets from other Sears shareholders.

I would like to believe that someone is checking that he doesn't short his own stock ;)

Who's going to get caught when you can just split the profits with a trusted friend?

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#55

Post by xenadu02 »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #19
cultus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Objectivism really is a vacant and pretty incoherent "philosophy." It's no surprise she presented in in the form of tedious novels with wooden characters rather than engaging with actual philosphers. I think its popularity is due to the fact that it tells people what they want to hear, and they can think of themselves as John Galt-esque ubermenschen.

> they can think of themselves as John Galt-esque ubermenschen. Of all the heroes we could encourage people to have, is John Galt really so awful? He's described as bright, hard-working, self-reliant, but also collaborative and supportive of the work of those around him. He's driven and entrepreneurial, but not anti-social. He doesn't come across as anti-government so much as desiring government that isn't kleptocrat…

The hero of that book is a woman who inherited a railroad and provides nothing of value to society. Why is she great? Because she is; no explanation is offered.

Even John Galt stands on the shoulders of giants. He had no resources to implement his ideas and stole from his employer. If she had something smart to say about misallocation of capital then Galt might be an interesting character.

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#56

Post by sbuttgereit »

cultus wrote: post #45
paulddraper wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> penniless and dependent on the institutions she viewed as failures of the human spirit. Link? She died in her Manhattan apartment [1], not some government funded facility. And colleague Leonard Peikoff [2] was heir to her estate, including the copyrights and royalties on her works. [1] http://www.literarymanhattan.org/place/ayn-rands-apartment-2... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peikoff

>She died in her Manhattan apartment [1], not some government funded facility. I believe the parent was referring to government institutions such as social security, which Ayn Rand wound up using after being signed up by a social worker. She spoke out against such programs her whole life. However, she needed it, it was different. A common refrain with such people.

Except that you're cherry picking points out of her positions to make your point. These sorts of simple minded reductionist arguments fail to actually convey any sense of the position of those they seek to caricature. Her action was consistent with her thinking as expressed around decade before her "needing it".

Her actual position, from 1966: https://campus.aynrand.org/works/1966/01/01/the-question-of-...

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#57

Post by arkis22 »

xenadu02 wrote: post #55
poulsbohemian wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they can think of themselves as John Galt-esque ubermenschen. Of all the heroes we could encourage people to have, is John Galt really so awful? He's described as bright, hard-working, self-reliant, but also collaborative and supportive of the work of those around him. He's driven and entrepreneurial, but not anti-social. He doesn't come across as anti-government so much as desiring government that isn't kleptocrat…

The hero of that book is a woman who inherited a railroad and provides nothing of value to society. Why is she great? Because she is; no explanation is offered. Even John Galt stands on the shoulders of giants. He had no resources to implement his ideas and stole from his employer. If she had something smart to say about misallocation of capital then Galt might be an interesting character.

The value she provides is running the railroad well, unlike her brother. Are you making the case that a well run railroad does not provide value to society? Perhaps you don't remember the incident in the book of the train running through a tunnel without ventilation and killing all the passengers?

Can you list what Galt stole? I don't remember him stealing anything. He even leaves his greatest invention, his motor, to his old employers as he concedes it wasn't his because they paid for it.

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#58

Post by s73v3r_ »

refurb wrote: post #16
mikestew wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I might disagree with Rand, I certainly agree with your insight. The financial leeches of Lampert's ilk would most certainly be the villain in her novels ("Lampert was the kind always ready to profit from the work of others, without doing any of the work himself..."), and not the hero.

Financial leech? Are you arguing that without Lampert Sears would be a thriving business today?

Hedge funds have definitely not helped any of it.

Re: A Billionaire’s Sears Fiasco Is Finally Nearing Its End

#60

Post by stephengillie »

tomc1985 wrote: post #41
lbotos wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's the CEO of a failing company, but in it failing, he still makes a ton of money because his hedge fund is in a position to make gains from the company failing.

That would explain why my local Sears location seems to have suffered a perpetual tornado-strike ... empty shelves and product strewn everywhere. Every time I go in. Nothing interesting is ever in stock. How that place is still open amazes me...

They save a ton of money on labor. It's easy for sales to cover salaries if you have no employees to pay.
Post reply on HN