4 ms·
I don’t necessarily disagree with many of your points, but I think drawing attention to the end of Sears’ lifecycle is an unfair thing. Someday Amazon too will
by mlthoughts2018 8y ago
I don’t necessarily disagree with many of your points, but I think drawing attention to the end of Sears’ lifecycle is an unfair thing. Someday Amazon too will have an end of life, and employees and shareholders will get fucked over then too.
The article also draws attention to how workers benefited _in good times_ at Sears, not near the end. And this is where the comparison is most meaningful, where Amazon is more questionable.
- Bricejm 8y agoAgreed. I worked at Sears in college (~15 years ago) loading dock/warehouse. It was a great job at the time. Good pay, plenty of hours, and generally good managers. The downfall of Sears had very little to do with wages, but Amazon crushing all brick and mortar stores. We were dependent on foot traffic, and sales flyers in the Sunday paper - things that don't do much today.
- Tsubasachan 8y agoTrue. Amazon, and ecommerce in general, took off because they beat old retail in prices and inventory. I can buy a pair of shoes right now and have it delivered for free in 12 hours. The margins web stores operate on are razor thin. Efficiency is king.
- technofiend 8y agoIMHO Sears would have an opportunity now if they hadn't sold off their brands. Cobranding (for instance) Anker products as Craftsman would have me buying it there instead of Amazon for one reason: commingled inventory and fakes.
- jpindar 8y agoThey had SO MUCH customer loyalty from Craftsman, I can't believe anyone would throw that all away.
- abakker 8y agothe mismanagement of the craftsman brand will one day be a case study in all business schools. It is incredible how much I spent on tools with them over the years, and incredible how I'm not even sure where to buy them anymore. IMO, the biggest mistake Sears ever made was NOT buying Home Depot when they had the chance.
- fjsolwmv 8y agoThat's a funny comment because the reason Craftsman died is thay Sears commingled it with fakes by selling the name to junk makers.
- nradov 8y agoThe difference is that most Amazon employees have defined contribution retirement plans rather than defined benefit pensions. So Amazon is less likely to end up in a death spiral due to unsustainable expenses. And if Amazon does go bankrupt the employees' retirement funds won't be impacted (unless they invested in company stock).
- skookumchuck 8y ago> in good times Unfunded pension liabilities is how you have good times now and wreck the future.
- Tsubasachan 8y agoWhich is why you should fund them. A sizable part of my monthly salary is automatically diverted to my pension fund. Mandatory. There used to be a time when old people were poor. Now retirees are the economic engine.
- y4mi 8y ago> Now retirees are the economic engine. There are two sides to that as well, however. It's not just the few retirees that have a high pension which cause this... It's also the majority of young people not employed in tech getting increasingly shitty wages
- lotsofpulp 8y agoIn the US, pension means defined benefit pension plan, which are under the control of the company, not the pensioners. The people benefiting from the pension don’t have any say (or knowledge) properly funding them or investing the funds, and don’t know if they are being taken for a ride. In my opinion, 401k with low fee target date funds are probably better all around.
- pnutjam 8y agoDestroying defined benefits was also a great way to kill wages. Employee wages should be significantly higher at companies with 401k's, of course they aren't.