Foolardi, listen up, please. Millions got health insurance coverage under Obama. Trump wants to take health insurance coverage away from millions.
For me, it's not even the convenience factor as much as finding what I want. I get stuff at stores that stores are good for, and I get stuff online that would be a giant hassle to try and find via retail. In other words, retail and online each have their strengths and weaknesses, and each continues to draw customers accordingly. When it comes to the closure of various stores, I think that online sales are just an easy scapegoat to point to. Other retailers offering what Sears always offered are doing fine, and Sears has had problems for a long time. Like K-Mart, they've been poorly managed.
Now yer catchin' on. Bush did more to prop-up Sears is dwindling because of the wildly popular Internet and Amazon.Plus the usual retail market demographics have changed. Just like how the Democrat Party took a hard turn left with the Election of Barack Obama in 2009.The usual Kennedy Democrat of J.F.K. was middle class and blue collar.Jobs and kitchen table issues were their concern.Not attacking Marriage as an Institution and promoting Illegals and Gays and how to Lie to the populace. Free to Chose { a Milton Friedman doctrine } is important in a Capitalist society.But so too is the demographics of the classes. Since Obama promoted use of Food Stamps and possible free college and also going on disability,The traditional American Work ethic was knocked around like some Punch & Judy street theatre. Sears is just another American Institution that is being knocked around and dismissed,like Marriage and Religion was. That is what Obama and his " transformation " brought to the party. Liberal { Extreme Liberalism } and it's failed polices and desperate attempt to reinvent Americana.Growth was basically stagnant under Obama's 2 terms. Sears is now stagnant. Gee ... I wonder how that works. Probably by Not Working. Taking the word of a gilded Pol like Obama at face value. It'd be like saying Sears is no different than - Dollar General - after all.Take it with a grain of salt and a couple aspirin and call into work sick.
Which makes no sense.It's not any management problem.It's a problem of transactions.Or how many americans go to a Sears to shop.Are their stores basically empty.Very few customers. It's not the Sears product line,per se.Yes,there are many other choices as far as appliances and clothes and even outdoor stuff and tools. But Sears had a pretty good selection of those items.Sears had the staff to explain and serve.The Internet does not.Just reviews. Sears staff will spend time explaining an appliance or piece of outdoor equipment.That is Personal service.That should count for something.Wal* Mart does have a staff for those services but they are not as highly trained and knowledgable.In fact,they aren't trained at all. It's learn on the job.I like and use Wal*mart but prefer Sears for appliances and outdoor stuff ... big time.Even clothes { Sears has huge specials on quality clothing }.Wal*Mart is not hurting yet Sears is. It has to be the demographics.Plus how the Middle Class has been treated and manipulated by this Democrat Drat notion of the 1%. Democrats want a huge slice of America to be an underclass beholdin to Big Brother.Sears wants all americans to visit their store and shop realize their dream of a better life.With what a Sears can bring to their life.
Jesus, the ability of righties to make completely irrational leaps, is mind boggling. You live in fantasy land. You know that, right?
What hit me was Radio Shack turning into a phone and toy store, and then all but closing completely. I remember buying electronics there since I built my first circuit at about age 10. I remember buying batteries there with my father, 50 years ago. Back in the day, some Radio Shacks were huge; with dozens of drawers of ICs and transistors and other design components. I bought my first book on circuit design there about 40 years ago and still have it. It was a classic introductory book for about 30 years. But as through-hole technology migrated to surface mount, the hay day of consumer electronic components was over. Today, normally I can order any existing IC or transistor or resistor in existence, online, and have it in a day or two. The biggest negative is the shipping cost. But driving an hour round trip to pick up a $1 part sucks too. Today, I expect to place my first online order for groceries, to be delivered.
I agree, but one must be a little careful, as it is the customers who measure this, and their buy decisions include elements of cost efficiency, looks, how long has to last, etc. That doesn't answer why Sears, with its broad network of stores failed to compete with other stores carrying similar goods - Walmart, Target, etc. I think you are attempting to wrap what you don't like about America into an excuse for failure.
Yer really none too bright.Wal*Mart virtually does not sell Appliances.Nor outdoor equipment save little stuff. But then Sears does not sell food or Potato chips or most the junk food items that Americans seem addicted to. That is why Wal*Mart is such a huge success. Because the basic Wal*mart customer is more interested in feeding their face than having a dependable Washer or Dryer. A Frig or a good set of tools.An item that isn't in some cheap plastic bag or will be useless in a matter of weeks. Grow Up. That is the problem.Americans { Millennials } are not grown-up. They are Grown- down.
It is on the customer to get the best deal, so it is on the consumer to provide it in this age of digital and millennial communications. Sears does not do that well at all.
` ` I don't remember the last time I set foot into a Sears store but it was at a mall some place. I prefer upscale stores where I might pay more for durable goods, etc.
Radio Shack was unique in making it easy to find the parts and accessories needed for Electronic repair and beyond. Their actual radios and Hi-fi components were just basic but they did the job and outlasted much more expensive Hi-Fi stuff. I use every day my Radio Shack - Patrolman 6 - radio w AM/FM and short wave.I use it for AM Talk radio.It sat in my garage for over 10 years in the Heat of the summer and arctic cold in some winters. That was in the 80's. I bought the - Patrolman 6 in the late 70's. It is over 40 years old.I use it every day for the last 25 + years. Some days I forget it was running all night when I turned the volumn down.I remember my best friend in high school whose Father owned an Electronic parts company using Radio Shack all the time. This was in the Late 60's.He had a Ham operator license and his dad had a TV/Radio repair section in their basement.My Buddy wired their nice house in the burbs with one of those house speaker systems where you can have both an Intercom in most rooms { like the Kitchen } that also plays music.Their Hi-Fi Receiver in their Rec room was a top of the line McIntosh. So they understood quality.
Well I rarely shop in big stores except for groceries, most of the time I go to smaller specialty shops who offer top customer service and a personal buying experience or go on-line to Amazon since I may want hard to get items like if I want an OOP book I can very often buy the book on Amazon in one place than hit up a local book stores who might not have it at all. The one exception is a charity book store and I get browsing there for hours picking out books and DVD movies and its cheap to buy and I help local disabled adults in a supportive housing situation at the same time. But why would I go to Sears its all the same foreign crap and I can prefer to go to a smaller retailer for something maybe made in the USA and is better.
What Obama did was take over $ 800 Billion from Medicare and use it for Medicaid { which is health coverage for the lower class }. Medicaid was always available for qualified lower income americans. But as usual the Lower Income folks just weren't interested in filing the necessary paperwork and income qualification and therefore CHOSE to go without Health Coverage. Anyone with Health Coverage has to FILE for it.
Wrong.Because Sears could easily have found better management. It was much more dynamic than mere mismanagement. It was the state of shopping and who now shops more. Those who grew-up with Sears are seniors and either don't shop much or are too old to worry about shopping.
I doubt that. A few decades ago I used Sears for tools and appliances and even some outdoor clothes. I liked that I could break a tool and they would replace it. Since then, their tools lost. Their appliances lost. And, the rest was junk. How much I shop is certainly not the issue - I shop a lot and I do not shop Sears. They didn't just lose an age bracket or two - they lost everyone. Today there are better options for everything they sell. And, I can get some of the stuff I want delivered the same day from Amazon.
And what about those who had Health Coverage and saw their rates go up in some cases DOUBLE. What are you some kind of nut.Pay attention.Obamacare was merely a way for the Democrats to control 1/6 the economy.
You don't welcome in to a new century by mere gizmos and gadgets.There has to also be a human element involved. Someone or ones have to make those products and distribute and advertise and sell.Plus store. It's not as easy breezie as you make out. Just because Obama ran around making a fool of hisself with : " You didn't build that business ! "
You don't need a store anymore. All you need are amazon distribution centers and then receive your delivery by drone. One day this technology will be so advanced that you can order your food online and it will arrive on your doorstep in a few hours.
Durandal, you are 100% correct! I stopped shopping at my local SEARS & K-MART largely due to poor management. One problem with SEARS was lack of price tags on the items. Then you ask a sales person and they don't have a clue about anything they sell. Sales people poorly trained and organization of items being sold in chaos are signs of poor management. I just found it easier to get the details online and buy somewhere else. My local K-MART had similar problems, but what I recall most was the lousy service at checkout. The thought that crossed my mind over and over again with all the problems encountered was.. "This store is poorly managed". Same with SEARS, "poorly managed" . Of course, there are other factors that led me to stop shopping at K-MART & SEARS, but poor management was a major reason. I wish for the day when I can shop online and see the items in 3D, open the package virtually, read all the paperwork, and order the item. Then instead of having it delivered, I'd like to have the option of driving to the store or warehouse that same day to pick up my item. Sometimes you just need things that day. If it's clothes being purchased, I'd also like to see a dressing room to try on the clothes before accepting them. --pete--
Right, and I miss Radio Shack for purchasing electronic parts (Caps, resistors, connectors, wire, solder, etc.) and other electrics tools & items that are not typically sold at other retail stores. Now days, I can find the items needed online at Amazon or Ebay, but instead of getting it that day (as with Radio Shack), I have to wait days or weeks. This is a huge step backwards. So where are you getting your electronic parts these days? --pete--