07:53 – Other than late August and early September for the start of autumn semester, this week may be one of our heaviest weeks of the year for shipping science kits. What’s interesting is how the mix has changed. Ordinarily, we ship roughly equal numbers of biology and chemistry kits, with just a few forensic science kits, maybe 8%. This month, it’s been 35% or 40% forensic science kits with almost all of the remainder chemistry.
Monday, 16 December 2013
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Is Sears in as much trouble as this guy says it is?
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/10/ayn_rand_loving_ceo_destroys_his_empire_partner/
Well, you have to keep in mind that Salon is really hard-left. It hates capitalism and the free market, and it really hates Randians (Ayn & Paul).
Yeah, Sears is in bad trouble, like J. C. Penney and essentially all other department stores, along with bookstores, electronics stores, and so on. They all failed to migrate to the web. Amazon and other on-line retailers are killing them.
Yeah, Sears is in bad trouble, like J. C. Penney and essentially all other department stores, along with bookstores, electronics stores, and so on. They all failed to migrate to the web. Amazon and other on-line retailers are killing them.
The problem actually started a long time before internet stores like Amazon. Walmart has been killing retail stores since 1990 and grocery stores since 2000. Amazon is just delivering the coup-de-grace.
The true battle that is happening today is the Walmart – Amazon battle. When Amazon gets their delivery today plan in place, Walmart may take a body blow. Or not.
http://www.cringely.com/2013/12/16/gallows-humor-nsa-privacy-debate/
“The FBI director back then was William Sessions, generally called Judge Sessions because he had been a federal judge. I interviewed Sessions in 1990 about the possibility that American citizens might have their privacy rights violated by an upcoming electronic surveillance law. “What would keep an FBI agent from tapping his girlfriend’s telephone?” I asked, since it would shortly be possible to do so from the agent’s desk.”
“It would never happen,” Sessions said.”
“How can you say that?”
“Why that would be illegal,” the FBI director explained.”
Even Walmart is not doing that well these days. Bloomberg and others have had articles exploring why it is not meeting expectations and its sales are falling. I have mentioned here that over the last several years, Walmart employees have gone from super-friendly and helpful, to surly and actually rude. Last time I was there, a guy speeding down the aisle with a pallet of boxes, ran into me while I was standing still and examining something on the shelf. He did not apologize, and actually acted as if it were my fault. Far, far cry from the days when shelf-stockers would actually stop work and stand back and wait if you wanted something at the spot where they were working!
Then today comes this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/16/pushing-for-justice-at-walmart.html
Note the guy being interviewed sees customers as being treated as poorly as the workers. That is also my perception.
I think a good deal of the problem is that the US is following in Japan’s footsteps with a sluggish—essentially no-growth—economy. Things started happening right after I got back to the US. After Xmas 2010, brick and mortar stores really started cutting back dramatically on inventory. Frys was where I first noticed it. They have a huge space in Indianapolis, and it was packed to the gills—until 2011. Now the store has empty shelves everywhere and when I leave, they always ask, “Did you find everything, okay?” A few weeks ago when I was in there, I answered, “Well, no. Your inventory is not what it used to be a couple years ago.” The clerk responded, “That’s what I keep hearing.”
Actually, I found absolutely nothing I was looking for. The Indy Frys does not even stock laptops drives anymore, when they used to have 4 or 5 brands in every conceivable size that was manufactured. They definitely do not need a store anywhere near as large as what they now have. They have removed shelves so there are double-wide aisles in many places.
Same happened to Walmart. In 2011, they embarked on a nationwide store remodeling, and removed all those tall display shelves, so now you can see to the back of the store from the front door. That was never possible before the remodeling. I used to marvel that Walmart had the top 3 brands of everything, but now it is lucky if they have even one. I have some under-cabinet fluorescent lights in the kitchen. My last spare was pressed into service the other day, but they no longer stock what I need. Not enough volume, the clerk in charge of that area told me. I do not usually shop at Walmart anymore, except on the one day a month when I have to visit them as my drug dealer. While waiting for the prescriptions to be filled, I usually do buy a few things. But you know, after reading that article above and agreeing that customers are treated as badly as employees, I think I am going to move my pharmacy business elsewhere and just eliminate Walmart from my life entirely.
This lack of growth is hitting all B&M stores. The closest Sears in Muncie is always a wasted trip. I cannot even get that replacement plastic fishing wire stuff there for my Sears edge trimmer. Have to go to a Naptown Sears for that.
Only the restaurant industry seems to be doing consistently well. The big chains are opening new stores everywhere. Buffalo Wild Wings, especially. They even opened a new one here in Tiny Town.
Every visit to the US, I marvel at the hordes of people at the restaurants. Why do people even want to eat out so often? The generally huge portions must explain part of the American obesity problem.
I think there’s a large demographic issue here. Costco and Amazon pretty much own the mid-middle class through the upper class, including those famous one-percenters. Wal*Mart and Sam’s Club own the lower-middle class and down. Target is kind of stuck in the middle, which isn’t a good place to be.
That’s not to say that there’s not some overlap. I’ve been in a Wal*Mart a few times, and I suspect there are some poorer people who patronize Costco and Amazon. But I wish I had figures for mean incomes (with sigmas) for the different vendors. I suspect the differences would be stunning.
Every visit to the US, I marvel at the hordes of people at the restaurants.
Every visit to Germany, I marvel at the hordes of people at the restaurants.
It seemed to me that a lot of people were eating out in Germany. Many small eateries with chairs and tables in the sidewalk or street. Plenty of people using the shops.
I think the difference is that eateries in the US tend to be larger than what is in Europe. When I visited England one sandwich shop I ate at was about the size of two booths at McDonalds and had four tables, with chairs.
Headed out of town to California, Stu’s neck of the woods for a week. My mother is dying. She has been in ICU since Thursday and no one in the family knew. Hospital was desperately trying to contact someone from the family. Finally a member of her church found out and that person contacted my brother. Found out last night about midnight my time.
I was not real close to my mother as I suspected she abandoned me to my abusive aunt and uncle. We still stayed in contact, but not much. Several incidents over the years have widened the gap.
My two brothers and myself are going to have to make some decisions. I suspect we are all going to say let nature take it’s course and skip the surgery that “may” prolong her life by a year or two. With a little bit of luck she will die while I am there or before I get there negating any decision process.
If my experience with Walmart last week was typical, Amazon has nothing to worry about. Walmart has an exclusive on the under $100 HP Android tablet. They had them on sale for $90 (normally $100). I ordered one online and paid for it with Paypal. The Paypal charge went through and showed up in my account. I received two emails from Walmart. The first one said there was a “security problem”, the later one confirmed the order, so I didn’t think about it. When I didn’t receive the item, I checked and saw that the order had been canceled and my account was credited. I contacted their customer support and asked what the problem was and they refused to tell me. I asked them to honor the price they confirmed the order at and they refused. According to online complaints I found, they did this to numerous people. The conclusion I drew was that they canceled orders with a security excuse rather than honor advertised prices. Their “lower middle class” base may be willing to accept this, but they will never get more affluent people to put up with crap like that.
Amazon and Costco have exemplary customer service. I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. In the last thirty days I purchased 4 LED lights for my boat, two tablet cases, a pair of audio cables, a new office chair, two USB chargers, a phone battery and a car charger for my phone and the last month was a quiet month. I am currently drinking a cup of tea made with tea I purchased from Amazon.
Amazon customer service representatives have discretion to solve problems. A while back I bought a patio umbrella and (very heavy) base for it from Amazon. The base was the wrong size for the umbrella. It was cast resin and, because of its weight, the box it arrived in was in poor shape, although the base was fine. When I talked to the customer service representative about returning it, I explained that I could not use the box it came it. He told me they’d reimburse me for the cost of a new box. I expect a competitive price from Amazon, but I’ll choose Amazon over a cheaper vendor as long as the price is close. Unlike other online vendors, they will also actively help resolve any problem with something purchased from a third party through their site.
I have similar customer service stories from Costco and, although I know Bob had a bad experience with them, NewEgg.
I gave up on Sears when I ordered three deep cycle lead acid batteries for store pick up. When I went to pick them up, they were from different lots. Since they were for a bank of three for my boat, I wanted them to be closely match. The salesman in the store refused to check their stock for ones from the same lot, so I told them to cancel the order and left. I got a call about an hour later from the auto center manager saying she’d found three from the same lot and she’d hold them for me. I told her that they had a chance and blew it and I was not going to waste my time trying to pick them up. Sears used to be a great choice for hand tools and appliances. They stood behind their products. That ended a long time ago.
I will do business with companies that act like they want my business. I want a competitive price, but not necessarily the cheapest. Southwest Airlines is another example of such a company. They don’t act like they’re doing you a favor to let you fly on their planes. They don’t try to screw you with checked baggage and change fees. The employees, unlike any other U.S. airline that I have flown on in the last twenty years, act like they enjoy their jobs. If I have a choice, I’ll fly Southwest. I’m flying to China next month. Too bad Southwest doesn’t fly there.
Rick in Portland
a new office chair
Do you like it? URL?
My 1978 Steelcase chair is dying from sitting my fat butt in it for the last 24 years. Of course, it has the 4 legs (5 legs good, 4 legs bad!) and I have ridden that bad boy over twice now. Maybe three times, I do not remember. It is the tan leather version of this bad boy:
http://www.shaymerritte.com/blog/2009/07/so-i-found-a-chair/
It is http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BO53F4I/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It was on sale for $55, including shipping, when I bought it. At that price, it was a good deal. At the regular over $100 price, I’m not so sure. So far it is comfortable enough.
Rick in Portland
Same happened to Walmart. In 2011, they embarked on a nationwide store remodeling, and removed all those tall display shelves, so now you can see to the back of the store from the front door.
Walmart reduced the SKUs they carried at the time, but reversed it when their customers complained. The Walmarts I’ve been to lately have the tall shelves. They aren’t in competition with Costco, as Costco sells less than 10% of what a Walmart does. And Sam’s caters to a niche that Costco doesn’t – the vending and independent convenience stores.
As for Fry’s, they are being squeezed by Amazon, New Egg, etc. The only areas that seem well stocked are appliances, cell phones, and DVDs.
I think that Sam’s Club mainly caters to the entire middle class. Whereas Costco caters to the middle middle class and above.
I sure do see a lot of very nice cars in the Walmart parking lot here in the Land of Sugar. Usually parked right next to a 20 year old Suburban with half the paint missing.
Ray, very sorry to hear that. Is she in the Orange County or south LA County area?
We have Walmarts here. I didn’t realize that we had so many trailer parks around here. Of course, the double widers go to Target.
Sorry to hear about Fry’s, but it tallies with my experience. I went by the Oxnard store two weeks ago, early evening.
It was a morgue – five customers and two employees in the entire desktop/laptop/tablet section. There was plenty of stock, but no-one looking at it.
And they’d gotten rid of their entire book section. It was eerie: the shelves still had the book labels on the end caps, “OS” & “Database” & so on, but the shelves were stocked with plushie toys and such.
There were a few customers in the TV section, but that was about it.
Sorry to hear about your mom, Ray. Hope things go smoothly while you are out there. You have gone the extra mile for your elders when they probably did not deserve it, and I hope the need for that finally comes to a conclusion.
There was a time when I thought Pournelle’s oft-repeated quote about blaming ignorance rather than malice was appropriate for most things, but I don’t apply that to big business anymore. They have both the money and resources to know—and they DO know—EXACTLY what they are doing and what the reactions to their methods are. As Rick pointed out, the Internet had info on others who were similarly screwed, and Walmart has their own systems for collecting data, so they know both instantly and with utter certainty how their not honoring that tablet offer is affecting their customer base. And they don’t care that Rick and many others are pissed off. They definitely know and don’t care.
I don’t bother to determine why companies do what they do—unless Business Daily happens to interview just the right people to explain it (which happens quite occasionally, actually). I just want to be aware of what the lay of the land is, and somewhat assured that I am not an isolated case, so I can make a judgment about how to proceed myself. What I do know, is that there was a dramatic shift at Walmart in 2011. After well more than a decade of the same people working at the Tiny Town Walmart,—except for one or two,—they have had complete turn-over in workers. Come to think of it, the two I am thinking about, I have not seen for several months. Rick just confirms for me that I need to move to another pharmacy and pull completely out of spending any money with Walmart. May unions flourish in their midst.
What baffles me, is that they will gladly push loss-leaders to get people into the stores, but won’t take a $10 hit to keep Rick and others happy. That is not going to cut it in the long run.
Related to Business Daily, the one and only news program I listen to (besides BBC’s hourly recap when I get up on weekdays), a recent program was investigating the corporate taxing situation internationally, in view of our US Congress’ accusations that companies like Apple are shirking their tax responsibilities. I cannot remember who they were interviewing, but it was an international tax attorney. He put the situation like this: if every country had its way, ALL of them would tax every company’s total income, just because some small part of a larger system crossed their borders. Imagine, he said, if somebody like Boeing, who manufactures in something like 35 different countries, had to pay taxes on their total income in every one of those jurisdictions. That is precisely what politicians want, and what the US Congress badgered Tim Cook publicly earlier in the year, accusing Apple of not paying taxes on income earned in foreign countries and thus shirking his duties to the tune of billions of dollars in US taxes. And that WAS unjustified badgering, because US law recognizes the international “tax homes” which states that money is—appropriately—taxed in the country where the income is earned, not in the country where the company headquarters are located. Apple did NOTHING wrong under US law; and fortunately, Cook was strong in his stand about that. Further, that attorney said people in the US are wise to the US Congress and are tired of such Hollywood style inquisitions.
But what he said beyond that was even more interesting. His contention is that international conglomerates are now more powerful than governments. If something is not going their way, they go to government and get it fixed by buying off the legislators. “How much is that happening?” was the next question. “100%” was his response.
We already know government does not listen to voters. Who are they listening to? Our laws and lives are being shaped by the huge conglomerates of the world as they buy off our legislators to get what they want.
And that WAS unjustified badgering, because US law recognizes the international “tax homes” which states that money is—appropriately—taxed in the country where the income is earned, not in the country where the company headquarters are located. Apple did NOTHING wrong under US law; and fortunately, Cook was strong in his stand about that.
Yes they did nothing wrong, but no on the tax homes. Under US law we will tax those profits the instant they enter the US. No other major country does this, they all tax profits earned locally. It’s why MSFT bought Skype – it was a way to spend overseas profits and avoid paying taxes in the US.
I don’t understand the hipster and Occupier adoration of Apple. They have one of the highest profit margins in the US (about 25%) which would be unsustainable without the cult built around them.
Me, I favor Megan McArdle’s plan – abolish corporate income taxes and treat dividends and capital gains as ordinary income.
Ping Ray!
On Windows 7 Pro how do you turn off the floating bubbles that start up after 5-10 minutes of KB/Mouse inactivity?
Not Ray, but right click your desktop and choose “Personalize”, then look for the Screen Saver button (should be lower right), click it and choose none.
Thanks Bill.
No worries, mate!