Posted by Jim in NC on February 02, 2019 at 04:49:56 from (174.253.4.128):
In Reply to: The local Sears... posted by Dave H (MI) on February 01, 2019 at 20:13:23:
I grew up in a Sears family. My mom was a 35+ year retiree of a catalog order facility. Beginning in 1967 I worked part-time there from the age of 16 till out of college during summers and Christmas seasons. Five years after college I returned home and worked during the Christmas rush seasons from 1978 till the catalog operations shut down in 1993.
Sears relied more on cost-cutting rather than modernizing to maintain profitability. As mentioned by others its practices made it less customer friendly. It was trying to compete with the up and coming Walmant and was content to sell a lower volume of goods at a higher margin of profit.
Local customers could place catalog orders and have their items within a couple of hours. It was very common for folks to drive fairly long distances to get something they needed quickly, like an appliance, water pump, or water heater. The catalog plants began to no longer carry large appliances in the mid to late 1980s, which hurt the company alot. One could still order the appliances, but it would take 3 to 5 days to get them. The retail division stocked some of these items and prospered for awhile, but as service declined, they began to hurt.
Lowes, HD, and others filled the gap, and customers began their exodus quickly.
With a lot of long-time employees and the benefits they received, Sears workforce costs were much higher than Wal-Mart too. More and more, part-time people were hired to work at the busiest times to reduce costs. The quality of workers they were hiring became less desirable as time passed. Combined with the failure to properly modernize its operations, its demise was only a matter of time.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo and video filesizes should be less than 5MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.