Sears might be going belly up

[LizzieMaine]

"For justice thunders condemnation..."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well now. Isn't this interesting.

Eddie Lampert, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Named In Sears Asset Theft Suit

 

[3fingers]

I'm surprised that it took this long. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I saw what was going on there long ago. Employees, retirees and small stockholders should be allowed to whip Eddie to a frazzle with the skinny end of a fishing rod. Sadly that won't happen.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's a pity Sears doesn't sell Craftsman brand guillotines.

 

[Fading Fast]

Well now. Isn't this interesting.

Eddie Lampert, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Named In Sears Asset Theft Suit

I'm surprised that it took this long. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I saw what was going on there long ago. Employees, retirees and small stockholders should be allowed to whip Eddie to a frazzle with the skinny end of a fishing rod. Sadly that won't happen.

It's a pity Sears doesn't sell Craftsman brand guillotines.

I hate corruption as it cheats all of us "dopes" like me that play by the rules. So if Lampert and/or Mnuchin are guilty (and, like you guys, I thought the actions reported in the newspapers looked pretty suspicious, at least for Lampert), then sue away. But here's the other corruption - where is the government and its multiple securities-laws enforcement agencies? I note that the suit is being brought by the bankrupt Sears Company and not by a government-enforcement agency.

We pay a lot of tax dollars to have a lot of people regulate securities transactions and investigate and prosecute securities fraud - where were all those regulators when all of this potential fraud/corruption was taking place in broad daylight - where are they now?

In my role as head of trading at a large financial firm, I've had multiple regulators investigate a few hundred dollars of price movement on a run of tens of thousand of trades totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars of value (I'm not kidding) and, thought, "really, this is what you spend your time on;" whereas, someone is potentially fleecing billions of dollars from shareholders right out in the open and nothing?

 

[MissMittens]

It's a pity Sears doesn't sell Craftsman brand guillotines.

I needed a good giggle, but when I read this I was drinking pop, so it wasn't the best time to laugh out loud, lol!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I agree with Fading, though -- there needs to be a crackdown on this kind of stuff from the privileged class. Henry Morgenthau's name never appeared in a headline like that.

 

[3fingers]

In my role as head of trading at a large financial firm, I've had multiple regulators investigate a few hundred dollars of price movement on a run of tens of thousand of trades totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars of value (I'm not kidding) and, thought, "really, this is what you spend your time on;" whereas, someone is potentially fleecing billions of dollars from shareholders right out in the open and nothing?

I have some interest in another industry that is theoretically heavily regulated to level the playing field and prevent concentration in too few hands. The main occupation of the agencies involved seems to have been to sit by and watch happen exactly that which they were tasked to prevent. They do seem to stir occasionally to bring the wrath of gooberment upon a hapless small player though. Funny how that seems to be universal.

 

[tonyb]

Surest way to get more of this sort of thing is to install at the heads of regulatory agencies persons opposed the agencies’ very existence.

 

[BobHufford]

Sigh...

From the glory days here in Springfield, Missouri to this today:

 

[Paisley]

The last time I went to Sears, they rang up my order wrong: I wanted to buy a washer, but they sold me a dryer. I had to go back to the store and wait on a manager to straighten it out. They were still using the old DOS-based system they had in the 90s when I worked at Sears warehouse in Denver. The store looked like it hadn't been updated in 20 years. I liked working at Sears back then and had some loyalty to the store, but anybody who worked there then is long gone and I've taken my business elsewhere.

The funny part: it was so hard to buy a washer that I ended up making do with my old one.

 

[Zombie_61]

The last time I went to Sears, they rang up my order wrong: I wanted to buy a washer, but they sold me a dryer. I had to go back to the store and wait on a manager to straighten it out...

It's been a long time since I've been inside a Sears store. But late last year I was looking for a specific pair of boots for work, and found them on Sears' website with a very good discount on the price. So I ordered them, and a few days later I received the wrong boots in a box labeled with the information for the boots I ordered. Back online, and someone within Sears' organization assisted me and e-mailed me the documents I'd need in order to return the boots. Oh, and they don't have an "exchange" program per se, so I had to order the boots again and wait for Sears to decide to issue a refund for the first pair. When the second pair of boots arrived they were the correct boots...in the wrong size. Back online, more return documents, order the boots a third time and wait for another refund... Anyone else seeing a pattern here? This is one of the reasons Sears is going belly up--they don't know what they're doing.

 

[BobHufford]

We ordered a Stearns & Foster mattress from Sears to be delivered to the "farm". A local delivery service managed to drag it through the dirt on the way in which would have voided the warranty. One of the delivery guys commented that they had the same (very expensive) mattress so we figured they end up buying the damaged goods and this might have been part of a plan. We immediately contacted Sears for a replacement and my wife went round and round with them. They would not send another one until we returned the first and said they would send another truck for the pickup. After weeks of failing to do that and my wife being on the phone with layers and layers of management (routed all around the company and even to a store in California at one point) she finally decided to go yell at them in person at the store in Springfield. I went with her and she said that I should go wander around the store as I didn't need to see this all go down. She returned to say that the manager tried to hide when the associate at the desk announced my wife's name. My wife was also not happy with me as I was standing there with a Sears bag in hand (having just purchased a pair of hickory-striped coveralls at 80% off). The end result was a full refund for the mattress and they have never come to pick it back up. I agree with the delivery guy ... it is very comfortable. I'm tempted to go to the going-out-of-business sale, but not sure I would get to use that mattress again afterwards.

 

[Fading Fast]

We ordered a Stearns & Foster mattress from Sears to be delivered to the "farm". A local delivery service managed to drag it through the dirt on the way in which would have voided the warranty. One of the delivery guys commented that they had the same (very expensive) mattress so we figured they end up buying the damaged goods and this might have been part of a plan. We immediately contacted Sears for a replacement and my wife went round and round with them. They would not send another one until we returned the first and said they would send another truck for the pickup. After weeks of failing to do that and my wife being on the phone with layers and layers of management (routed all around the company and even to a store in California at one point) she finally decided to go yell at them in person at the store in Springfield. I went with her and she said that I should go wander around the store as I didn't need to see this all go down. She returned to say that the manager tried to hide when the associate at the desk announced my wife's name. My wife was also not happy with me as I was standing there with a Sears bag in hand (having just purchased a pair of hickory-striped coveralls at 80% off). The end result was a full refund for the mattress and they have never come to pick it back up. I agree with the delivery guy ... it is very comfortable. I'm tempted to go to the going-out-of-business sale, but not sure I would get to use that mattress again afterwards.

I've taken two lessons out of your story:

1. Sears is a complete disaster
2. I want Bob's wife to fight my customer complaint issues for me

 

[PrettySquareGal]

The Sears department store at The Maine Mall in South Portland will close in mid-September after nearly 50 years of operation. Craig Gorris, manager of the Brookfield Properties-owned mall, confirmed the closing and said that Sears officials have told him that the retail outlet and mall anchor’s last day of operation will be Sept. 13. A Sears spokesman declined to comment on the impending closure.

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/07/24/sears-is-closing-at-the-maine-mall/

 

[Old Mariner]

One of the closest Sears stores nearby was at the Buckhorn mall. That's been gone for years, the mall "died" - was renamed, and parts of it are to demolished for renovating and the "new" building is to be renamed yet again. Some of the old anchor stores (Sears for example) is now EFO furniture outlet.