Jerry Manderbilt posted:

ArmZ posted:

hate the game not the player

Sethik posted:

Holy poo poo, I can't believe I've never seen it before:

Sethik posted:

Holy poo poo, I can't believe I've never seen it before:

Edminster posted:

Sears is closing 78 stores this summer

this three-year-old article explains why

quote:

Sears was started in the 1890's as a mail order business to compete against local general stores (think of all those westerns with "General Store" on one of the buildings - they were Sears competition). The guys Sears worked on railroads, and he saw all the middlemen tacking on markup as products moved west in the distribution chain until they go to the stores.

So he started a catalog, the famous Sears catalog in 1893. It was 300 pages, and had everything. Now think about this for a second. In 1893, you had a mail order catalog that sold pretty much everything that was for sale in 1893 - machinery, bikes, toys, dry goods, etc. Does this sound like another business you know?

So every year the catalog comes out, and after a few decades it becomes an American institution. For much of the population, the Sears catalog includes a decent quality, low cost version of every mass market nonperishable consumer product in the United States that wasn't a car (they did sell those at one point very early on. They also sold mobile homes too, up to the 1940's).

You could pick anything from the catalog, mail in your order with a check, and in a few days/weeks you'd get it. If you didn't like it, for any reason, Sears had a "satisfaction guaranteed" policy that you could return it at anytime for a full refund.

Now pay attention, because here's where it gets good.

In 1931, Sears starts an insurance company - Allstate. It buys financial investment firm Dean Witter and real estate broker Coldwell Banker in 1981. In 1984 it starts a joint venture with IBM called Prodigy, an online computer service, sort of a prototype AOL. In 1985, Sears launches a new major credit card, the Discover card. For the next eight years, the only credit card you can use at Sears is Discover.

At this time, the early 80's Sears is the largest retailer in the U.S.

By 1993, the 100th anniversary of the Sears Catalog, Sears had built up considerable goodwill in the mind of consumers. They weren't the lowest price, but they had what you needed at good prices and the service was second to none. They had real estate, insurance, financial planning, and all at good prices with top customer service.

This is 1993. In quite possibly the greatest example of corporate shortsightedness, Sears shut down it's mail-order business in a cost cutting measure. It spins off Allstate that same year, and soon dumps Dean Witter and Coldwell Banker.

In 1993, Sears had the most extensive and sophisticated mail-order retail operation on the planet and they closed it.

Two years later, Amazon.com launched, and was soon selling everything that sears sold through it's catalog. By the late-90's Walmart's push of low-cost China imports killed Sears retailing. Online banking takes off. Credit card use surges as mail order and retail purchases are shifted online.

Sears had its own computer network in 1993. They had access to IBM, they should have understood the power of the internet. All they had to do was shift the catalog online instead of killing it off, promising in store returns and the same Sears satisfaction guaranteed. Discover could have been the credit card of choice for security and protection online. Dean Witter could have been what Schwab, E-Trade and Ameritrade became. Back in the mid-late 90s when many people were hesitant to use credit cards online, Sears could have been a familiar face online.

Sears could have used the Catalog to create searscatalog.com or wishbook.com and owned online retailing, owned amazon's business, owned online brokerage and banking, but they blew their chances to save a few bucks in 1993. They could have made huge profits in the early 2000s real estate boom by leveraging that success with their real estate arm (imagine if Amazon sold houses).

By my estimates, Sears could have spent about $200 million in 1994-1996 to develop and promote retailing and financial services online, and they'd be reaping billions.

Sears could still be a huge American company today, instead of a historical footnote.

The lesson - arrogance and lack of vision. I look forward to the day in a few years when we can look back at the RIAA as a similar case study in lethargy, greed, and arrogance.

Ron Jeremy posted:

There was a comment at metafilter a while back that still sticks with me. The larger reason why Sears died and doesn't own the world today like it could have


Pic for picture thread:

Ron Jeremy posted:

There was a comment at metafilter a while back that still sticks with me. The larger reason why Sears died and doesn't own the world today like it could have


Pic for picture thread:

quote:

Crazy Eddie has been one of America’s most vocal advocates of discredited free-market economics, so obsessed with Ayn Rand he could rattle off memorized passages of her novels. As Mina Kimes explained in a fascinating profile in Bloomberg Businessweek, Lampert took the myth that humans perform best when acting selfishly as gospel, pitting Sears company managers against each other in a kind of Lord of the Flies death match. This, he believed, would cause them to act rationally and boost performance.

If you think that sounds batshit crazy, congratulations. You understand more than most of America’s business school graduates.

Instead of enhancing Sears’ bottom line, the heads of various divisions began to undermine each other and fight tooth and claw for the profits of their individual fiefdoms at the expense of the overall brand. By this time Crazy Eddie was completely in thrall to his own bloated ego, and fancied he could bend underlings to his will by putting them through humiliating rituals, like annual conference calls in which unit managers were forced to bow and scrape for money and resources. But the chaos only grew.

H.P. Hovercraft posted:

sears certainly wasn't and isn't helped by having a hardcore libertarian in charge

Ron Jeremy posted:

There was a comment at metafilter a while back that still sticks with me. The larger reason why Sears died and doesn't own the world today like it could have


Pic for picture thread:

MizPiz posted:

In unrelated news, a southern state actually did something good.

pillsburysoldier posted:

If I remember correctly, Virginia actually already had voting for felons, and their governor promised to not repeal the policy as part of his campaign. Then he abolished it in office. So, like, he's still an rear end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g77b59b6YOY

quote:

"Bella ciao" is an Italian partisan song originated during the Italian civil war. It is used worldwide as a hymn of freedom and resistance.

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=remR-3kjmks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CI3lhyNKfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8hiL2p-DUA

Kopijeger posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nSF40smtgw

A Handed Missus posted:

https://twitter.com/Stcrow/status/723885599363612672

Barry is weak! Barry is a mess!

Freakazoid_ posted:

http://s1.webmshare.com/PqVn4.webm

I don't know how to embed webm

edit: nvm it just works

Freakazoid_ posted:

http://s1.webmshare.com/PqVn4.webm

I don't know how to embed webm

edit: nvm it just works

System Metternich posted:

This is Norbert Hofer of the right-wing populist FPÖ in Austria. Today he garnered a whopping 35,4% of the vote in the presidential election (on second place was the green candidate with 21,3%). The photo was taken on the day he was inaugurated into the Austrian parliament. What's that on his jacket, you ask? Why, that's the blue cornflower which was used by the National Socialists in Austria as their symbol 1933-1938! But that Hofer and his party colleagues have taken to regularly wearing it doesn't mean anything, I'm sure

System Metternich posted:

This is Norbert Hofer of the right-wing populist FPÖ in Austria. Today he garnered a whopping 35,4% of the vote in the presidential election (on second place was the green candidate with 21,3%). The photo was taken on the day he was inaugurated into the Austrian parliament. What's that on his jacket, you ask? Why, that's the blue cornflower which was used by the National Socialists in Austria as their symbol 1933-1938! But that Hofer and his party colleagues have taken to regularly wearing it doesn't mean anything, I'm sure

Volcott posted:

If Literal Fascism is gaining traction in your country, maybe the current crop of politicians isn't doing a very good job of addressing the concerns of the underclass.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-s-military-just-bought-five-bottlenose-dolphins-it-won-n560471

Volcott posted: