RANT: Sears Sucks!

[FREERIDER]

unk: Hey, the only reason any of us get a good wage or benefits is because unions fought for our rights. There is no reason to knock the unions. Unions will happen in third world companys someday too. Till then buy american, the job you same may be your own. Later, Spur

Amen. Stand up for America.
Union proud. 1506.

 

[spursmech]

unk: Right on FREERIDER, 35 years in the Pipefitters Union and proud of it. Hate it when someone thinks Unions are bad for America! United We Stand, Spur

 

[RaWarrior]

While unions have made breakthroughs in worker rights over the years, it's pretty safe to say it really isn't about that anymore. Now it's all about the money, and getting as much as possible of it from the company, which I guess is presumed to have infinite amounts of cash. On a global scale, a unioned worker getting $40/hour most likely isn't doing $40 worth of work. That same work would be worth a lot less in Europe, and a tiny fraction in most Asian countries. While it's great news for the card-carrying American, it's not so great for the American company in the long run, which seems to be a common trait in a lot of recent union policies I've heard of. It's temporarily shuffling money around. It's seen as a huge victory for the average worker initially, but what when the company goes bankrupt because they couldn't compete price wise with non-union labor. The company has to raise prices to compensate for union policies, and now imported items are cheaper and of comparable quality. The general public has no incentive to buy American anymore. Sales drop, companies go bankrupt, Americans are out of jobs. The economy declines, and prices rise faster than income. People are forced to buy cheaper imported products to get by. Who has the money now? Asia.

The UAW kept squeezing GM with policies requiring a laid off worker to receive something like 90% of their salary and be paid $15-20 more than a comparable American working at a Toyota factory doing the same job. When they saw GM was about to go flatline, they retracted their policies and started begging the government for the bailout to save the company they helped ruin, in addition to GMs declining quality and over-saturation of the market. However, the UAW claims that high gas prices caused the automotive crisis and not their policies. Huh?

If there's a hidden or flip side to this I'd love to hear it, but I haven't really found a whole lot of evidence that unions are helping America as a whole either. I'm not trying to piss off any union members, and I know that not all unions are the same. I'm also not saying that unions caused the economic mess, but I do think they had a part in the big chain reaction, another factor in the money imbalance that caused the economic crash. Just saying perhaps unions took things a bit too far.

I remember reading in a history of Ford that Henry Ford had once said that unions would mess with his company "over his dead body", as unioned workers at GM and Chrysler were doing sit-ins and strikes. Ford's workers were paid $6 for an eight hour shift, a fair wage at the time. He refused to sign a contract until Pearl Harbor, when the UAW changed their contract promising they wouldn't strike and interfere with war production. As a businessman, I really can't see the fault in his reasoning.

 

[richwrench]

IBEW local 824 here !!! unk:unk:unk:unk:

 

[richwrench]

IBEW = I Barely Ever Work :rofl_200:

 

[FREERIDER]

Caught me at the end of my evening beers, Ill get back on this tomorrow.
Damn RW comes with his guns loaded.

 

[Jdk203]

I ordered a tool box from them a few years back. Pretty similar story in the end turns out they discontinued the box I ordered and it took them 3 months to realize they couldn't fill my order. Man was I pissed. Ended up buying a Kobalt from Lowes and it is NOT as nice as my other box which is a very comparable craftsman.

 

[Jdk203]

Also should mention that Kennedy makes top quality boxes. If your looking for a truly well made box check them out.

 

[2fear]

Make sure you go in swinging and demand an upgrade on the tool box! Or a discount on the one you get, it is there policy to do this. My wife is a manager at Sears and she deals with these things daily.

 

[sidwin]

You can get a toolbox at Harbor Freight for slightly more than your belly button lint, but slightly less than all the money currently hiding in your car. Yeah yeah, it was probably made by a 12 year old in some massive Chinese factory instead of hardworking American toolmakers. While the patriotic guilt-trip might work if it was a few dollars difference, but there just isn't enough difference to justify 5x the price to buy American.

Plus, most HF stuff has a lifetime warranty as well(which used to be the big kicker for Sears), so if your $3.99 ratchet breaks you can just bring it back and get a new one instantly.

+1

Sears would not warranty my rusty 10mm box wrench. After katrina they said rust isn't covered.

My roll around sears tool box shelf broke. Their low end crap is trash. Atleast at HF i know what I'm paying for. HF ratchets are 10x better. 72 Tooth, even toothless system. IMpacts sets are 20% the price of Sears.
HF4LFE

 

[[email protected]]

This past winter I spent some $$ on tools and tool boxes for work and home.

I went to sears and dropped a shitload of money on handtools. They had a special on a certain socket arrangement I wanted. Out of stock. I paid for it and they put it on backorder. After a couple of months a few phone calls from them telling me it was there, but was NOT there when I showed up they just gave me my money back.

I was looking at tool boxes there and thought their low end ones were junk. I went to Lowes and ended up buying one there instead. The one I wanted was in stock!! Yeah. Took it home, opened it up, and the whole top chest (it was a 2 piece) was smashed up from a fork lift. Grrrrrr. Went back to the store and returned it. They had no replacement. It took about 10 days to get it. I was at the store for NO LESS than 1.5 hrs for each trip.

So in conclusion, I found that the employees at both stores weren't much help to me. I made at least two trips to sears for my socket set because they told me it was in but it wasn't. At lowes I had to stand around forever waiting for one guy to talk to someone else over his walkie talkie about " tool box inventory" and listen to them argue about where its at and why or why it is not there.

 

[EAGLEPI]

I could say pretty much the same --- just substitute Home Depot for "Snears"

Dude, you really have to change that purple fonts.. is it me or can anyone ready what he says?

 

[EAGLEPI]

This past winter I spent some $$ on tools and tool boxes for work and home.

I went to sears and dropped a shitload of money on handtools. They had a special on a certain socket arrangement I wanted. Out of stock. I paid for it and they put it on backorder. After a couple of months a few phone calls from them telling me it was there, but was NOT there when I showed up they just gave me my money back.

I was looking at tool boxes there and thought their low end ones were junk. I went to Lowes and ended up buying one there instead. The one I wanted was in stock!! Yeah. Took it home, opened it up, and the whole top chest (it was a 2 piece) was smashed up from a fork lift. Grrrrrr. Went back to the store and returned it. They had no replacement. It took about 10 days to get it. I was at the store for NO LESS than 1.5 hrs for each trip.

So in conclusion, I found that the employees at both stores weren't much help to me. I made at least two trips to sears for my socket set because they told me it was in but it wasn't. At lowes I had to stand around forever waiting for one guy to talk to someone else over his walkie talkie about " tool box inventory" and listen to them argue about where its at and why or why it is not there.

It's sad to say that most retail stores now a days just have bodies. I remember when they use to have people who were knowledgable and in some store that is still the same but for the most part it isn't.

 

[Redbone]

Dude, you really have to change that purple fonts.. is it me or can anyone ready what he says?

Yep, it's hard to read for sure. I just highlight 'em and it solves my problem.:clapping:

 

[Slacker]

Craftsman has been good to me about replacements. The lower end tool boxes are cheap. Guess it's get whet you pay for. I'm cheap. I have two of them.:biglaugh:

Speaking of the unions, I once belonged. When they couldn't give a good answer why they were pushing for me to vote for John gee, what did I do with my self made medals Kerry, I opted out. I was a GM fan. It's about all I bought. I'm a Ford fan now. No Government Motors Company for me. They're speaking of bankruptcy now. Then Uncle Sugar will own it all. Hideous.

 

[4gasem]

I could say pretty much the same --- just substitute Home Depot for "Snears"

Dude, you really have to change that purple fonts.. is it me or can anyone ready what he says?

Agreed... VERY hard to see.

 

[m-cman]

After my last divorce, I had to sell all my large tools, etc and move into a rental property. When I bought a house, I had to rebuild my inventory. Sears had a salesman in the tool department named Robert that was great. He could answer any question and would inform me of any sales or better deals even beforehand so I could save money. He actually remembered my phone number (used to look up customers then) when I came in and purchased tools. Some time later he transferred to the appliance department. I remodeled the kitchen, (replacing the side by side ref, double wall oven, cook top, over cook top microwave/vent) and did some other remodeling throughout the house. He helped me with the prices and selection of all the purchases. He knew who made what and knew what was best. For example, GE and Whirlpool made Kenmore refrigerators at the time and he pointed me to the best one explaining the differences. He would match prices if I could find a lower price on anything. He was the example of a great employee and I spent at least $25K thru him.

About 8 years ago, I went in to check on a new washer and dryer. He was nowhere to be found. Talked to a new salesman and was informed he no longer worked there. He was a 20 year plus employee and they had fired him and replaced him with some yoyo off the street to save money. Obviously he was at the higher end of the pay scale after 20 + years. The new salesman couldn't answer any of my questions about washer/dryers and didn't seem to care anyway.

I haven't purchased anything other that an occasional article of clothing from Sears since.

 

[Heretic]

UPDATE:

So I went in and talked to a manager today after work. When they received the wrong part with the shipping label that was supposed to be for mine and wasn't, my order was noted as 'filled' on the internal Sears system. So for over a week (after waiting a month and getting the wrong piece) I've been waiting for something that would never come. I've spoken to 6 or so people at Sears since this deal started that probably knew this and they never told me.

So the manager said that my stuff was not longer on order and he would have to submit a new order to get the tool box coming. My original order of 4 drawer bottom and 6 drawer top in the Quiet Glide was 6 weeks out! He checked the 5 drawer bottom and 6 drawer top ball bearing and it was only 1 week out (approx) so he offered to do it for the same price as I had already paid which was over $100.00 difference.

I still think their service on this deal sucks, but I feel like they made it right by giving me the upgraded box.

 

[gamorg02]

it sucks, but the manager did the right thing. glad to hear it *should* be resolved. i'd be flipped **** too tho bro.

 

[spursmech]

unk: Hey RaWarrior, I don't think this is the right forum to educate you about Unions and their contributions to the American Life we all now enjoy. A worker making $40 dollars an hour is not what caused GM or other big companys to fail. It was the CEO's, COO's, CFO's, making or taking millions or in some cases 100's of millions in wages and stock options. I am a Licensed, Union, Mechanical Contractor and pay wages in the $50 range with all the benifits included. I have no problem with this as the members show up ontime, are drug free, are ready to work, are expertly trained, and are willing to work overtime if that's what's needed to get the job done on time. They are professionals and represent my company in a professional way, everytime. Union rules are 2-15 minute breaks a day and a 30 minute lunch hour. No cell phones, computers, or distractions during working hours. The reason they make that type wage is they earn it! So believe what you want, but if Unions go away, (and they won't) so will all the benifits you enjoy, so get ready for a harsh life my friend. Good Luck to you, Spurs