Sears' turnaround plan short on details, long on odds

[Henry Ford]

strategy wrote:

<quoted text>
Pan Am, Edsel, Marshall Fields, Montgomery Wards etc.. All part of the American way of life.

Edsel? Are you kidding me? LOL They were manufactured for three whole years. "Part of the American way of life." Along with Gremlins and Yugos, in your world! TES.(Typical Evanston snob)

[strategy]

Henry Ford wrote:

<quoted text>
Edsel? Are you kidding me? LOL They were manufactured for three whole years. "Part of the American way of life." Along with Gremlins and Yugos, in your world! TES.(Typical Evanston snob)

Henry Ford TWR (typical White Racist) Doesn't change what my thought was. POS, DMF,SDS.

[Tom Bales]

What Eddie needs to do is build a dome over the entire Chicago metropolitan area. That way the wind off the lake would stop blowing all the smoke away and exposing the mirrors.

[EMJAY]

Buyer beware! Not all Kenmore appliances are manufactured by Whirlpool anymore. A majority of the major appliances (especially frontloading washers, refrigerators & some stoves) are made by LG - as are most of their air conditioners - window and through the wall(found that out too late). Ask any major appliance saleman. We did when shopping for a new stove after we had bought the AC unit.

After we bought a through the wall AC unit (18,000 Btu-$500 on sale) that lasted only 3 summers before dying and would cost $350 to repair, we went online to Sears.com and started reading customer reviews and decided never to buy a Kenmore appliance again without asking/reading first.

The same thing can be said for Craftsman tools. The hand tool quality is not as good as in the past and it doesn't matter they are guaranteed for life becaue you'll be viviting the stores constantly trying to replace them because of "out of stock" positions. Also redesigining some of the power tools (cordless models) have turned some very expensive tools into garbage because you can't buy new rechargeable batteries to replace worn out ones - they don't fit, you have to buy a whole new tool.

[Andy is back]

Andy wrote:

It has nothing to due [sic] with my employer. I proudly work for Macy's though.

At least he now admits it. Maybe he will do his employer a favor and come to Chicago and find out how the stores are actually doing, instead of feeding us his employer's pap. Unlike what Macy's thinks, you don't serve the local market by installing someone from Hecht's in Minneapolis.

On another topic, this story was off the Tribune website for about 15 hours, but mysteriously back. At least the thread was left intact.

Also, as you will note, I had plenty to say about what Sears was doing wrong. Maybe the progression is Speigel, Wieboldt's Ward's, Sears and Macy's on the bankruptcy train. No one can fight with the customer and survive.

[Andy is back]

EMJAY wrote:

Buyer beware! Not all Kenmore appliances are manufactured by Whirlpool anymore. A majority of the major appliances (especially frontloading washers, refrigerators & some stoves) are made by LG - as are most of their air conditioners - window and through the wall(found that out too late). Ask any major appliance saleman.

I guess you can't trust anyone's brand engineering anymore.

[Ginger Baker]

Sears stock has undergone some of the most intricate (and in my opinion, questionable) manipulations imaginable during the past five to six years.

See how much KMart's real estate assets were worth as the company was being "brialliantly" guided out of bankruptcy.

Compare that with what those same assets were supposedly worth after a few premium stores were sold to HD but between 50 and 60 locations, consisting almost exclusively of leased properties and involving some of KMart's less desirable locations, were sold to none other than Sears itself in the Spring of 2004.

This was for an extremely inflated price which itself ought be subject for a major investigation, just a matter of months before the "merger" was announced.

See how much the value of KMart real estate suddenly gained on THAT announcement. It would appear that Sears own money was used to inflate the worth of KMart to "suitor" status, at least.

Then do a little checking and see who the largest shareholder in Sears was at the time and who had already built a reputation based on "shareholder activism" over the years.

There are a ton of factors that go into an actual answer to questions involving SHC's stock price manipulations but getting KMart revalued to the point that it could swallow up a company that was, in many estimations, worth more than it was, was probably the most visible beginning.

[lauri]

here here!

my Sears always has uneducated employees. Until recently it was usually a jumbled mess.

Electronics and other goods are overpriced. The 'cheap' goods are too cheap in quality and not cheap enough in price and the better goods are overpriced. I can usually find the same item for less elsewhere. And if you really wanted people to use your credit card, maybe you should have lowered the interest rate instead of selling the credit division to Citibank who has seriously pissed off the Sears customers. The clothes have size gaps where you just can't buy your size and many of the materials are scratchy, pill or shrink in the wash. Kids are being sold on the 'new' thing and they are not going to go shop at Sears. Know your clientle and market to them what they buy.

Customer is Always Right wrote:

Sears is one of the few stores still around today where they supply virtually every non-food material you need for life -- appliances, home goods, clothing, electronics, auto services.
But if the executive team ever walked into a few of their Chicago-area stores, they would be embarrassed. In my experience, it took 7 Sears associates 20 minutes to figure out how to get the 10% off that was promised in an ad. They don't ever stock replacement filters for a vacuum we bought there. In fact, they never seem to have the appropriate merchandise in stock.
I bought a camera there for a Christmas present and someone from Sears called a few days later to ask how we liked the camera. It was before Christmas and my wife answered and it spoiled the surprise.
Pay more attention to customer feedback.

[Cristina]

He needs to stop micro managing and let his managers make decissions.

[lauri]

I like the lands End clothes at Sears, but they carry limited sizes, selection and tend to stick with one trendy type style for the season. There's not enough variety to be really with it and it's really marked up in price. I wait for them to put it on clearance before I buy. Women's clothes at Sears stink. There was a lot of cute stuff in the juniors department that I would consider buying my little cousin, but I don't think kids with their own money would shop at Sears because of the marketing towards kids encouraging them to see anything old and traditional as dull and boring. everything marketed to kids is about 'new and exciting.' OF course this goes back to Sears needing to know who their market is and cater to that market.

[Who cares]

It seems to me as though a lot of people here are applying their own one-incident biases as well as their own personal tastes. I try not to base my opinion of a retailer on one incident. However I see other problems. Note that the article talks about business eecisions involving stock price and business manipulation and investors. The people replying here are customers. It is not their concern about innvestors. Maybe Sears should talk more to people buying their stuff and less to "experts". One person here blasted Sears for selling Chinese-made cheap goods. I consider that irrelevant. Walmart does the same thing, but sells them more cheaply. Even Sears sales prices are often a lot more than the same items sold elsewhere. What it amounts to is greed. We are all greedy. I am greedy. I just do it on a smaller scale than millionaire investors. I live in a town that has a Walmart. The nearest Sears is over an hour away. In an era of growing inflation, especially in gas prices, why I would I drive farther to pay more? The person who talked about dinosaurs was the closest to what I believe. For specialty items, people will go the plushly decorated stores, with the scented atmosphere and finely trained employees. For everday items, people shop at Walmart. Walmart has undertrained employees, undecorated stores, Chinese goods- and lon lines, meaning lots of customers. Sears falls in the gap between specialty and everyday. That means good luck- like Montgomery wards and others.

[Dick]

As an X customer of Sears...I could write a book on the bad experiences I have had at Sears...before finally givng up. Part of their problem is...nobody gave a Hoot that I gave up.

Their delivery system is the worst in the industry.

Orders rairly come in on time ..and again nobody seems to give a Hoot.

Complaints to managers are unanswered. Phone calls about problems , promised, not returned.

OVERALL...I couldn't find one person that seemed to give a Hoot ...causing me to cancel over $6.000 in appliances that were never delivered or were damaged.

There is an "AIR" (by employees) that says to me: "we don't want to be here, there is no pride in being a Sears Employee,..we will hang around here till payday". "We don't care about customers...fact is, they are a bother,

Too bad...Sears...your Pride has gone and you have too many below average employees.

I think the Fat Lady is About to Sing....it is really ashame.

[Don P]

Gee it's great to see Chicagoans whining about a store other than Macy's. Thanks for entertaining the rest of America.

I think we should chip in and buy some cheese to go with the whine!

[David in Lakeview]

Typical corporate arrogance. They won't sell or lease back real estate, their only true asset, because "everything is fine", as I was told directly by a Sears cog. You can piss in Sears' ear and they'll believe you when you tell them it's raining.

[Who cares]

Don P wrote:

Gee it's great to see Chicagoans whining about a store other than Macy's. Thanks for entertaining the rest of America.
I think we should chip in and buy some cheese to go with the whine!

Well why not? You New Jersey people have had to live the Mafia and dump jokes that have entertained us for so long. Someone else should help you out. I'l glady take my cheese and whine as long as I don't have to drink your water with it.

[Larry Brooks]

Florida Builder's Appliance is a division of Sears Holdings that is never mentioned in any article on Sears. Where do they come in with all of the re-organization at Sears?

[LE fuzzies--Explain]

Lot BoyVT wrote:

Sear's appliances are fine but have you tried to get them repaired. The online process is tedious. Then the earliest appointment is at least a week away 'cause we're only in your area one day a week. Then the repair guy comes to look - not fix 'cause they have to order parts, even though the problem is well documented in the on line process. You'd think they'd bring basic parts at least. The repair guy then orders parts to be sent to me, ETA unknown. All this followed by numerous phone calls to tell me parts on the way, some day.
It winds up being a month + before anything is fixed. The repair guys have all been very nice, present themselves well and wind up fixing the device but a month is just too long wo wait. No more sears stuff for me. It's also too bad they bought Land's End. I shopped LE since they were on Elston Ave in Chicago but no more. Sears has taken all the warm fuzzy out of LE. IT's back to LL Bean for me.

What warm fuzzies did Sears take away from LE? LE has been operating on it's own other than having their product in Sears stores? Just curious. I understand first hand your greivance with repairs. I also agree that the company needs to focus on customer feedback to resolve many of its issues with reputation that are driving customers and sales away. Looking forward to understanding the LE issue, though.

[Josey]

Doesn't this prove that great wealth does not preclude mental illness?

[Don P]

Who cares wrote:

<quoted text>
Well why not? You New Jersey people have had to live the Mafia and dump jokes that have entertained us for so long. Someone else should help you out. I'l glady take my cheese and whine as long as I don't have to drink your water with it.

Oh that's right, there's no Mafia in Illinois. It ended when Al Capone died!

Where I live in NJ, there isn't a problem with water at all. At one time there were more beer breweries in the Newark area than Milwaukee. Anhueser-Busch still is in the city of Newark, while the city of Milwaukee has none left.

Check out thise web page, you'll see that Chicago ranks 29th and Milwaukee 32nd out of 46 cities rated. I guess the drinking water in Lake Michigan isn't all that good!

http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/t...

[Who cares]

Don P wrote:

<quoted text>
Oh that's right, there's no Mafia in Illinois. It ended when Al Capone died!
Where I live in NJ, there isn't a problem with water at all. At one time there were more beer breweries in the Newark area than Milwaukee. Anhueser-Busch still is in the city of Newark, while the city of Milwaukee has none left.
Check out thise web page, you'll see that Chicago ranks 29th and Milwaukee 32nd out of 46 cities rated. I guess the drinking water in Lake Michigan isn't all that good!
http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/t...

Gee, that's great! I can go to New Jersey and have a beer! I'll start planning my vacation right now. Of course, while you and I are fighting over Chicago and New Jersey, I forgot I don't live in Chicago and the forum is about Sears. My apologies to the other forum commenters.