Sears News and Gossip.

What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Sears stack up against the competition?

I work at sears I think Sears will survive but change to more of a Hardlines Store and get rid of the softlines part of it, while kmart gets the boot and closes for good. I don't mind working there the hours are good and I am not complaining.

The Sears in Leavenworth, KS closed down due to not making enough money in 0CT. 06. I guess if they are in a big city Sears has nothing to worry about.

Host said: What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?
How does Sears stack up against the competition?

Working for Sears,They probalbly wont survive.It's amazing they have made it this far.All I can say is "WHAT A JOKE!!!!!" Who would want to
go for a job like that!

I work for sears, It does suck but I look at it as a job to make money. Eventually Sears will shut it's doors for good and I sure the hell won't be there. It's a tough place to work the employee's steal a lot and most associates only get commission.

The turn over is very high. Part-time employment is the only thing available. From time to time a full time position will open up; only to be taken away for some lame excuse. The company is stressed out at the upper levels and the attitude is filtering down. Department managers have all but forgotten what it was like to be an hourly worker. Someday their aloof attitude will be addressed with a pink slip of their own. If part time works for you and you can stomach being lied to (Remember, you just misunderstood what you were told!) Sears is the place to be. The corporate structure is so the 90's! Part time. No benefits! No job if you complain. If you don't understand, please see Wal-Mart hiring guidelines.

I've worked for Sears for 20 years and must say I hate it.I am a dept "Lead". Our current store manager is the devil and makes every one horrified that they will lose their job if they do not produce enough credit aps, PA's, RA's, MRA's, etc. You must call him personally if you must call off so he can yell at you to still come in. He will change your schedule and not notify you about the change, but don't dare be late or you will be written up. Every week we have a totally different schedule from the previous week with no consistency. If you work hard they will take full advantage of you. You will get promotions if you kiss their butts. This is a dead end job and I am on indeed.com every day looking for something more rewarding.

Lawrence R . Decoste said: I work at sears I think Sears will survive but change to more of a Hardlines Store and get rid of the softlines part of it, while kmart gets the boot and closes for good. I don't mind working there the hours are good and I am not complaining.

Actually the opposite is true. Sears is testing some stores that look like Kohl's. One level with clothing (Brand Names) and Appliances and Hardware. They are doing well and look to be the store of the future

Sears is a financial instrument for Eddie Lampert. Lampert has a record of buying up retailers. Sears is sitting on $4 billion, so watch for more acquisitions in the future.

Sears as in Sears stores and KMart stores will survive but will not thrive. Same store sales continue to drop, but they are profitiable. Sears as in Sears Holdings will thrive because Mr. Lampert is a very smart financial guy. But I believe his primary driver is to make money, not the love of retail sales.

You are all crazy I just got hired in at sears just to let you know There is a lady in our department in appliances and they make 47 dollars a hour with no college degree it is a great place to introduce many poeple to money. The lowest paid appliance seller is making 18 bucks a hour and as for electroics lowest is making 14 so I dont know what sears you guys are comming from but our sears isnt very big and there are many successful people. The lady making 47 is on commision only and that is what appliances get no base pay.

sears has horrible customer service, in the electronics dept. in st paul, mn. they just stand around like they have they're finger up their a**! also they like to false advertise about getting $100 to nflshop.com if you buy a samsung 32inch or larger. keeping stickers on the samsung tv's after the promotion ended, almost a month after! i hope they don't survive, i'm very angry with sears.

sears is not good place to work anymore. once upon a time its good now its sucks. sears shares went up becuase they r cuting cost cuting full time employee. no more customer statisfaction at sears. before you buy anything from sears think about 100 times. once you bought thats all. your time and money is totally waste careful.

your manager say your goal is 3000 $ but u can sell only 1000 $ and they put lots of people on floor you cant make any money

Host said: What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?
How does Sears stack up against the competition?

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." Businesses that emphasize profits as the expense of customers' happiness are not in the same league as businesses that profit by providing a unique service . K-mart and Sears regretably belong to the first category. Retailers like Wal-mart, Target, and Costco draw customers with savings, quality merchandise, and convenience. If K-mart and Sears keep doing what they are doing, we will see profit margins increase by diminishing amounts and revenues steadily decrease. Anyone who believes that this is a viable long-term business model is not fit to run a company.

I have worked for sears for 3 and a half years in the Lawn and Garden area..and let me tell you the management is terrible. From those 3 and a half years..I had 3 different store managers, and 6 different hardware managers each wanting to do his own way. We were required to build sporting good display equipment, patio sets and grills, at our base rate. Why must i build this eliptical for $4.00 an hour, while pro installation cost the customer $129?!?! They have taken full advantage of us. When we complained they said its part of our job description under " miscelenious duties" I'm glad im out of that dead end job.

Sarah Ludwig said: Working for Sears,They probalbly wont survive.It's amazing they have made it this far.All I can say is "WHAT A JOKE!!!!!" Who would want to
go for a job like that!

Have you worked for sears? prolly not. i worked there for 4 years and i had a blast....worked with great ppl. only left cuz i moved. and actually the store i worked for does very well! so im sure they wont be shuttin down anytime soon!

Jason in Canyon Country, California said: I have worked for sears for 3 and a half years in the Lawn and Garden area..and let me tell you the management is terrible. From those 3 and a half years..I had 3 different store managers, and 6 different hardware managers each wanting to do his own way. We were required to build sporting good display equipment, patio sets and grills, at our base rate. Why must i build this eliptical for $4.00 an hour, while pro installation cost the customer $129?!?! They have taken full advantage of us. When we complained they said its part of our job description under " miscelenious duties" I'm glad im out of that dead end job.

I must agree w/ you. We have to do the same thing. Build ellipticals, grills, patios, treadmills, wth?! I work off commission, so i don't have time for such BS. They need to hire some people to do that!

Host said: What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Sears stack up against the competition?

Unfortunately, I have my doubts. We have a Sears Grand that opened within the last 2 years, a Great Indoors that has been open since 2002, and a Kmart, all within 5 miles of where I live. The Kmart looks outdated and needs a serious overhaul inside (but I will admit, it is much cleaner than a Wal-Mart of similar age). Both the Sears Grand (a very nice clean store) and the Great Indoors (also very clean) never seem to have a lot of customers, even on weekends. We recently went to both the Sears and Great Indoors looking for a washing machine that we needed that night. It would have taken 3 days to get one from both stores (comes from the Denver warehouse) as they carry no inventory for large appliances. I went to Lowes and bought a Bosch front loader and with the discount they were giving for that model at the time, I bought one (and walked out with it when I purchased it) with a 5 year extended warranty for $200 less than Sears. The price with tax turned out to be about $50 less than the Kenmore we were looking at without an extended warranty. Plus, I personally felt that the Bosch (Sears doesn't sell Bosch) would have held up better than the Kenmore (and the Whirlpool equivalent) as it didn't have as many fancy electronic controls and touchpads.

To Sears credit, though, we purchased a Kenmore dishwasher over a year ago and it has been doing fine. But I would expect a dishwasher to hold up fairly well (probably better than a washer).

Kevin in Colorado in Louisville, Colorado said: Unfortunately, I have my doubts. We have a Sears Grand that opened within the last 2 years, a Great Indoors that has been open since 2002, and a Kmart, all within 5 miles of where I live. The Kmart looks outdated and needs a serious overhaul inside (but I will admit, it is much cleaner than a Wal-Mart of similar age). Both the Sears Grand (a very nice clean store) and the Great Indoors (also very clean) never seem to have a lot of customers, even on weekends. We recently went to both the Sears and Great Indoors looking for a washing machine that we needed that night. It would have taken 3 days to get one from both stores (comes from the Denver warehouse) as they carry no inventory for large appliances. I went to Lowes and bought a Bosch front loader and with the discount they were giving for that model at the time, I bought one (and walked out with it when I purchased it) with a 5 year extended warranty for $200 less than Sears. The price with tax turned out to be about $50 less than the Kenmore we were looking at without an extended warranty. Plus, I personally felt that the Bosch (Sears doesn't sell Bosch) would have held up better than the Kenmore (and the Whirlpool equivalent) as it didn't have as many fancy electronic controls and touchpads.

To Sears credit, though, we purchased a Kenmore dishwasher over a year ago and it has been doing fine. But I would expect a dishwasher to hold up fairly well (probably better than a washer).

I'd like to add that if I had my choice of places to work, I would choose the Great Indoors (then Sears) over Lowes as they pay commission and you have a chance to make a decent amount of pay with no degree.

Host said: What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Sears stack up against the competition?

After my "interview" I would seriously be concerned about this company. The person who was supposed to interview me didn't show up....even though my interview was in the computer. The room I was then "interviewed" in by someone else was about 95 degrees....and the person who "interviewed" me was pretty clueless. I don't think they could pay me enough to work for this place!

i work for sears electronics and i love my job. i dont think sears is going down anytime soon. if they keep it the way it is im sure it ll survive. the managers are very nice.

The same thing happened in the West Lebanon, New Hampshire store. A bunch of blithering IDIOTS, they are for sure.

i must say, at first, i enjoyed my job working in electronics. i moved and now work in appliances, and i absolutely hate it. i read a report here recently that sears is doing TERRIBLE in appliances. i believe, and have noticed, that corporate is panicking and it is trickling down. head managers are now threatening if you dont sell enough PAs, MRAs, and credit aps. it is hard to sell those PAs when everything you read says they are not worth the money. i truly dont think they are, and personally dont care if i sell them. it is extra money for me, so if i sell them, great, if not, oh well. my manager is a selfish person and backstabber. he cares only about himself and getting those bonus checks. he tells you one thing to your face and says another to someone else. in response to the sears surviving, i dont think it will. they cant keep associates to work, and with the way things are going, they are really going to havce to change things around. sorry such a long post :)

Daniel Sears in Farmersburg, Indiana said: i must say, at first, i enjoyed my job working in electronics. i moved and now work in appliances, and i absolutely hate it. i read a report here recently that sears is doing TERRIBLE in appliances. i believe, and have noticed, that corporate is panicking and it is trickling down. head managers are now threatening if you dont sell enough PAs, MRAs, and credit aps. it is hard to sell those PAs when everything you read says they are not worth the money. i truly dont think they are, and personally dont care if i sell them. it is extra money for me, so if i sell them, great, if not, oh well. my manager is a selfish person and backstabber. he cares only about himself and getting those bonus checks. he tells you one thing to your face and says another to someone else. in response to the sears surviving, i dont think it will. they cant keep associates to work, and with the way things are going, they are really going to havce to change things around. sorry such a long post :)

If Sears is doing terrible in appliances, they need to look at how other stores are doing. We chose Lowes over Sears as they had the item (washing machine) in stock. Home Depot is the same way (but didn't sell Bosch) with appliances. Most people who are buying appliances tend to want to take it home with them if they can. Luckily, Sears was giving a rebate on deliver, but it would have taken 3 days to get the washer. We needed it right then.

Plus, Lowes extended warranty was only $100 compared to $300 at Sears. I can get the $100 back in one service call during the extended warranty. For $300, depending on what is wrong with the washer, it would take 2 or 3 visits during the extended warranty period.

Those no good maggot farmers at Sears cannot even abbreviate; thus, they should go out of business.

Sears,

The name makes me cringe. I entered my nearest Sears store this evening with the idea that I would buy a refrigerator, have it delivered on Saturday and have something for my money.

Unfortunately I waited for someone to talk to me while they only had 2 people working. The person was very professional and tried to do what they could. They had to walk back to check if it was in stock and five minutes later they came back and didn't have it in stock. I looked at three refrigerators, they had none of them.

What is a person going to do? They couldn't have it until Tuesday.... then they start pressuring me into buying a protection plan and signing up for a Sears Card... DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH INTEREST I'd be paying... and delivery... sixty-five dollars plus they charge to haul away my old refrigerator.

I went to LOWES, my first refrigerator was in stock, it's going to be delivered on Friday, and I did not have to worry about paying a hideous delivery fee. I will not shop at SEARS ever again, and I will tell my friends how horrible their fees are and if they want to buy something with cash or check they better forget it. The only way to get anything at SEARS is with that card.

I'm 65 years old... I am against credit cards, I cannot believe that this is the kind of world we get into... You get what you pay for and that's crap.

Forget Sears... do not shop there.

I worked in one of those Sears/Kmart stores for over a year and I'm shocked that the store was still open when I left.

The place was completely dead 99% of the time, and I'd easily estimate that only about 40-80 costumers came into the store daily.

The amount of over-stock we received and accumulated on a daily bases was ridiculous and made it extremely hard to do my job.

I can only fathom how much money must be continually lost by keeping these Sears/Kmart stores open.

There were no intentional employee layoffs by the time I left, but I DEFINITELY question the company’s future and I’d say that layoffs are inevitable at most Sears stores around the country.

They are turning our store into a Lands End/ Sears store. With the area we live in, I thin it will fail. Also, when corporate shows up to your store,expect to lose half of your staff. It any of you know Myranda from Florida, you know what I mean. If she comes to your store, leave.

ace2269 said: You are all crazy I just got hired in at sears just to let you know There is a lady in our department in appliances and they make 47 dollars a hour with no college degree it is a great place to introduce many poeple to money. The lowest paid appliance seller is making 18 bucks a hour and as for electroics lowest is making 14 so I dont know what sears you guys are comming from but our sears isnt very big and there are many successful people. The lady making 47 is on commision only and that is what appliances get no base pay.

I would love to know where this store is! It can't be in the northeast.

Ed in California said: The turn over is very high. Part-time employment is the only thing available. From time to time a full time position will open up; only to be taken away for some lame excuse. The company is stressed out at the upper levels and the attitude is filtering down. Department managers have all but forgotten what it was like to be an hourly worker. Someday their aloof attitude will be addressed with a pink slip of their own. If part time works for you and you can stomach being lied to (Remember, you just misunderstood what you were told!) Sears is the place to be. The corporate structure is so the 90's! Part time. No benefits! No job if you complain. If you don't understand, please see Wal-Mart hiring guidelines.

yep, lost my full time for a lame reason. If you complain, no job. They claim they care about culture and integrity. The company doesn't have it.

Yes I think Sears will survive. when any business changes hands so-to-speak, there is a period of adjustment. Having been with the company 10-plus years i've seen many changes. the only thing constant in retail is change some people cannot accept this. as for people complaining about managers - they're people with a job to do and the only time an employee has trouble in our store is if they step over a well defined line which they know about from day 1. i don't always like my job- who does, especially when faced with constant negativity from many of the people who work or shop there, but I can say i'm proud of Sears and my fellow employees who work very hard to serve our customers.

I agree with you 100%. I gave Sears ( 10 ) years of my life. The first 2-3 years was actually not bad, but after that it started going copletly down. I was a commision salesman in lawn and garden. toward the 5th year and to the end especially when this new guy bought K-Mart, then us it all went to hell in a handbasket. The first think he did was to cut commisions After that he raised the hourly fro 4.50 - 6.00 per hour jand took commisiond in my dept down to 1-3% on the merchandise we would sell. God help you then if you didn't get the service aggrement, they would take you off the floor at the busiest time, pull into the office,and punished you by making you do testing on how to sell a service aggrement. The other two things are the credit cards and the insurance they tried to sell. Thge whole infrastructure of sears is going down the tubes. I'm glad I'm out of there. nobody ine their right mind would work there unless you like their idea of working for free. It makes me sick just to think of the years I put in their.

I SEE THIS PROBLEM BREWING EVERYWHERE.
THE ONLY REMEDY IS TO REPORT THESE ACTS TO THE DEPT OF LABOR. PLEASE DOCUMENT EVERY
MISDEED . SO YOU CAN HAVE EVIDENCE.

PEACE OUT
DAVE

I was just hired as an HE lead, the training is very very incomplete. the store coach is very unprofessional telling me i am not aggressive with my staff. It's one thing to coach them in the right direction, but to make examples of them when there numbers aren't up is another. I feel you pull people aside and coach, not just make them look like a idiot in front of everyone. I was just not impressed with the training, 50+ hours of computer work... not really interactive.. It's very unorganized, and they expect results from day one.. If I was trained a little more, instead of knowing the sears bible i think I may have enjoyed this job... But I don't understand there business approach here in Maine.

Host said: What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Sears stack up against the competition?

Sears will survive, there will be more layoffs as no companies want to
pay employees any longer, but Sears will survive. If you are looking for Sears or KMart to be what they were 10 or 15 years ago you willbe disappointed, those days of Retail are long gone. The face of retail has to change with the times and that is what is happening. It is all about the money period. The wiser thing to do would be as some say, make Sears the Hardline store and KMart the softline store. Get out of the Malls. This could help. One issue is that Sears doesn't like KMart and KMart doesn't like Sears. Both are under the misconception that the other is rning the business - look again, both companies are undergoing changes that may or may not be good but are indeed different. The powers that be though are not from the "other" company, they are outsiders trying to figure out how to run both bisunesses.
I think the powers are trying to stack up against a WalMart type retailer which is not where Sears fits nor do most KMart stores.
The next couple of years will be very interesting.

I have worked for Sears for nearly 2 years and I am actively seeking alternative employment. The primary issue is the cut in hours from 40 to 30 hours. 30 hours is considered full time. I took a 25% pay cut and I am told it will not get better. The insurance is way too expensive and although one of the highest paid department leads in the store, I can not survive! I have never worked for a company that has so little respect for the people who work there. I hear horrible gossip from all levels of management. It is the most unprofessional and poorly run company I have ever worked for. The computer training is a joke. Initiative is squashed and no good deed goes unpunished. The upper managers have a "because I can" attitude and have no tact, no skills and no idea how to drive profitable margins or motivate a team! I can't wait to get out of that place!

I feel for you... The problem with the company right now is that it's being run by a hedge fund manager (Eddie Lampert) who's goal is to beat Wal Mart to the bottom of the cheapness scale. Ever since the merger of Sears and KMart a few years ago they have been cutting peoples pay like crazy... First it was the managers pay that went down, but now it's trickled down to the people all the way at the bottom to the extent that the company often runs afoul of minimum wage laws. If you are lucky you live in a state that doesn't exclude commission jobs from meeting minimum wage requirements. If not you may just find yourself in a job that pays $3-4/hr.

When employees make a mass exodus from the company it makes the managers life a living hell, so a lot of the managers do the only thing in their power to keep people around-- they lie to them about the jobs potential by showing them what the top 1-5% make on commission there. The true gauge of a businesses corporate citizenship is not how they treat their top 5% though- (the top 5% make plenty in any company) it is how they treat the 80% in the middle.

It sounds at least like someone is being honest with you and telling you it will not get better. It might be better to hear that it is, but then you will have wasted years of your life like I did, waiting for something that's never going to come. You only get 40-45 good working years in your entire life, so best not waste any more of them in a job that isn't going to reward you properly no matter what you put into it.

In all honesty it is really not the store managers fault- they have all been treated the same way that you are.

Michelle in Terre Haute, Indiana said: Sears,

The name makes me cringe. I entered my nearest Sears store this evening with the idea that I would buy a refrigerator, have it delivered on Saturday and have something for my money.

Unfortunately I waited for someone to talk to me while they only had 2 people working. The person was very professional and tried to do what they could. They had to walk back to check if it was in stock and five minutes later they came back and didn't have it in stock. I looked at three refrigerators, they had none of them.

What is a person going to do? They couldn't have it until Tuesday.... then they start pressuring me into buying a protection plan and signing up for a Sears Card... DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH INTEREST I'd be paying... and delivery... sixty-five dollars plus they charge to haul away my old refrigerator.

I went to LOWES, my first refrigerator was in stock, it's going to be delivered on Friday, and I did not have to worry about paying a hideous delivery fee. I will not shop at SEARS ever again, and I will tell my friends how horrible their fees are and if they want to buy something with cash or check they better forget it. The only way to get anything at SEARS is with that card.

I'm 65 years old... I am against credit cards, I cannot believe that this is the kind of world we get into... You get what you pay for and that's crap.

Forget Sears... do not shop there.

No, No, The SEARS CARD is not the only way to pay at SEARS. You have several options. They are as follows:
-The SEARS giftcard
-Discover Card
-American Express
-Any Visa Debit or Credit Card
-Any Mastercard Debit or Credit Card
-Checks,
-and last but certainly not least, CASH
You are not required to put it on a Sears Card or sign up for one.
If you felt pressure, that's because the associate has to meet a certain parity for credit accounts, for Appliances it's 4 people out of every 100. to be continued...

They also insist that we get 1 decisionable credit app for every 4 hours. That's really hard to meet. The same thing goes for Protection Agreements, the appliance person has to get 10% in PAs.
I am on your side, I'm a cashier, and I don't like selling credit anymore than you like hearing about it, but all I do is ask if you want to put it on your sears card, which I have to ask, or I get in trouble, like your appliance salesman would have, and then I ask if you would want to apply for one. That's it. That's why it seems like you can't use cash or check. But to everyone out there, you can.

Looks like Electrolux(parent company for the manufacturers of most Kenmore appliances) is going to move most plants to Mexico. MY thoughts are--if the US and Canada loose all these jobs--how are we supposed to buy Sears/Kenmore/Electrolux products. My wife has worked for the White/Electrolux companies for more than 20 years. When (not IF) they close that plant , I can assure you we will not be buying ANY Electrolux/Sears products. Not so much that we don't need them--more like we won't be able to afford them , after cutting our household income nearly in half. A number of families in this area have both wage earners , in their household , working at the freezer plant in St Cloud MN. I don't think they will be buying any Sears/Electrolux products either. When this plant closes - it will put about 2000 people out of work-as well as many support based businesses in the area. That will not help Electroluxes sale here at all. IS THE US/CANADA SALES OF ELECTROLUX PRODUCTS THAT UNIMPORTANT?????

amorin1846 in Wilder, Vermont said: I agree with you 100%. I gave Sears ( 10 ) years of my life. The first 2-3 years was actually not bad, but after that it started going copletly down. I was a commision salesman in lawn and garden. toward the 5th year and to the end especially when this new guy bought K-Mart, then us it all went to hell in a handbasket. The first think he did was to cut commisions After that he raised the hourly fro 4.50 - 6.00 per hour jand took commisiond in my dept down to 1-3% on the merchandise we would sell. God help you then if you didn't get the service aggrement, they would take you off the floor at the busiest time, pull into the office,and punished you by making you do testing on how to sell a service aggrement. The other two things are the credit cards and the insurance they tried to sell. Thge whole infrastructure of sears is going down the tubes. I'm glad I'm out of there. nobody ine their right mind would work there unless you like their idea of working for free. It makes me sick just to think of the years I put in their.

These are my favorite types of comments. It doesn't matter if you search the Sears forums, Home Depot, Lowes, Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, Target, or any of the other large retailers in America forums you'll find this guy. He's probably worked for 2 or 3 of these organizations. It's always "someone else's fault" that he can't get a hold on his career. The blame other's first mentality is a disease that thrives on forums just like this one. There are some really good comments in these forums, but unforunately they are usually overshadowed by morons. Everytime I read that another idiot like this has left Sears, I breathe a sign of relief. Maybe Sears will survive a little longer now that they are minus this jerk-off. Any job is what you make of it. Of course during the first 2-3 years you are excited and content, but as with any job, unless you are moving forward, you are going to become restless.

Maria in Ocala, Florida said: I have worked for Sears for nearly 2 years and I am actively seeking alternative employment. The primary issue is the cut in hours from 40 to 30 hours. 30 hours is considered full time. I took a 25% pay cut and I am told it will not get better. The insurance is way too expensive and although one of the highest paid department leads in the store, I can not survive! I have never worked for a company that has so little respect for the people who work there. I hear horrible gossip from all levels of management. It is the most unprofessional and poorly run company I have ever worked for. The computer training is a joke. Initiative is squashed and no good deed goes unpunished. The upper managers have a "because I can" attitude and have no tact, no skills and no idea how to drive profitable margins or motivate a team! I can't wait to get out of that place!

Please don't wait! Quit now! Only you can control your destiny! Complaining and threatening are tactics for the weak. Show them you mean business and walk out today. You know what they say,......."If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem." I personally wouldn't work for a company that I hated as much as you hate Sears for one minute longer. Why is it that there are so many comments just like this one? Rabble rousers. Why is it that there are so many former employees still posting comments like these? They miss it, and want feel like they made the right decision to leave. It's human nature to want others to fail after you have yourself. The only fault I can see with Sears is that 9 times out of 10 they'll hire you back after you leave and it doesn't work out in your greener pastures. If it were my company and you felt this way when you left, I wouldn't hire you back.

I believe sooner or later Kmart/Sears will be a thing of the past. Maybe not all of them but the ones in smaller towns. I've given Kmart over 30 yrs. of my life. I loved the people in my store including the managers and district managers. And now I am without a job because my position of loss prevention was terminated. What kind of company would terminate the loss prevention position? The customers will be able to walk in and walk out with whatever they want without paying for it. Our store is a wonderful place to work except for all the corporate crap. I truly believe the worst thing Kmart ever did was team up with Sears. I loved my job and now it's gone.

You are telling me. 9 years and I have one of those full time positions, and yes they are after you daily looking for reasons to take that status and benefit away just to save a buck. Good thing I am an excellent employee; but I still feel like I am under a microscope, just looking for a reason. They are scraping the very bottom of the barrel for managers. How can you have good peeps without real managers?

liz said: I've worked for Sears for 20 years and must say I hate it.I am a dept "Lead". Our current store manager is the devil and makes every one horrified that they will lose their job if they do not produce enough credit aps, PA's, RA's, MRA's, etc. You must call him personally if you must call off so he can yell at you to still come in. He will change your schedule and not notify you about the change, but don't dare be late or you will be written up. Every week we have a totally different schedule from the previous week with no consistency. If you work hard they will take full advantage of you. You will get promotions if you kiss their butts. This is a dead end job and I am on indeed.com every day looking for something more rewarding.

Thank you. I have felt SO alone in my situation.

i worked for sears a little over two years. the only thing i liked about it was the hours - at first leastways. my first two weeks i managed to get about 80 hours total. this was despite the fact the operations manager that interviewed me said that mpu associates should never expect more than 20 hours per week. and they were morning hours too, which was exactly what i was looking for. shortly after that though, they started throwing my hours all over the schedule - days, nights and middays all in the same week were the norm. a few times i even had to be there until closing time at 9:15 and then come back the next morning at 7 to unload the truck! totally asinine!

everything else about the job blew as well. even the interviews were a joke. on the day of my interviews there, the receiving lead gave me a tour of the warehouse during which the rec guys were rushing around the place looking for a toolbox for a customer that had been waiting almost 10 minutes for it. the lead also admitted that they were pretty disorganized! what kind of interview is that?! the only reason why i went ahead and took the job was because my only other job interview turned out to be a bogus insurance salesman gig.

and don't even get me started on pay raises! when i was interviewed, i was told that we would get raises each year on our anniversary based on performance. conveniently, what he didn't mention was that the biggest raise anyone ever got was 21 cents - 3% of our current pay ($7) and that's based on the average review score of the entire dept. which means that despite the fact that you nearly broke your back for the company, you may only get 2% or even less if someone else at the time has a bad review. so many times i've been called in to practically save someone that's been bombarded by customers all by himself because someone else called in "sick". i even came in during a power outage caused by an ice storm when no one else would. they even brought in someone from another state, because nobody else ever came in. and what do i get for my raise for my troubles? 14 cents. and my second anniversary saw even less than that. way to promote "good values" sears!

after that i walked out and told them to take this job and shove it up their stoolmakers.

moral of the story? you should never find yourself a winning player on a losing team.

its a shame that a company as sears is going to most probably closing the doors. Why? Customer service- and they didn't change with the time's,the competition. They kept an old school mind and for that they are basiclly suffering. can't hold on no more my friend. The customer service in all depts lack not just one.Why shop there when you can get more else where?

its a shame that a company as sears is going to most probably closing the doors. Why? Customer service- and they didn't change with the time's,the competition. They kept an old school mind and for that they are basiclly suffering. can't hold on no more my friend. The customer service in all depts lack, not just one.Why shop there when you can get more else where?

A bunch of us worked at a local appliance store and we all had Sears horror stories. Some of us left the appliance store to go work at Sears only to find out we didn't make as much money at Sears. Nobody who ever left my appliance store to work at Sears stayed at Sears.

My experience was they wanted me to sell jewelry (I had appliance experience!) for 6/hr plus commission. I'm a woman with a college degree, WTF? I told em to get stuffed, but I imagine they tried to put me in jewelry instead of appliances because I'm a woman.

Oh, and Electrolux is NOT the main supplier of Kenmore. Kenmore is Whirlpool/Amana, too.

I just don't quite understand why people post the things that they do here.

I have been at sears for a couple of months and find it very enjoyable. I am a cashier and am happily working as many hours as they give me (I am part time, but they are not shy about giving me full-time hours). As long as you are doing your job right and setting goals for yourself to beat, you'll do fine. My managers tell me I must get at least one credit app a day, and since they told me that, I've been getting on average 5-10 a day. It's not hard; all I do is ask customers.

Yet people think it's impossible to meet their parity requirements and whatnot. I say to these people you're not simply doing your job as well as you think you can. If you're not MAKING something of your job, than what the heck is the point of having one in the first place?

And if you're so unsatisfied with it, why the hell keep it? If you've been at a company for several years, that is enough to prove to a possible new employer that you can be committed to a new job. Even though I don't necessarily like the way Rob replies to you guys, I certainly understand where he is coming from, and I agree with 100% of the things he says.