Sears/K-Mart

[billyjoe]

A wise old cook once told me "When the main ingredient is sh**, the cake will never taste good"

----------billyjoe

[Peter Hansen]

Billie..... Eddie Lampert is one smart fox!

Billie...... Eddie Lampert Billionaire investor is a big shareholder in SHLD

Do not ever short SHLD. Eddie has a bag of tricks and lots of Ave Joe suckers. Eddie is ruthless when it comes to money, and that old bastard knows all the tricks.

[billyjoe]

Pete,
Actually Eddie is a young bastard by my reconning. I've been waiting over a year to see him start moving the "next berkshire hathaway".

-------------billyjoe

[peanuts]

I went shopping

This past weekend, I found myself in need of a rotary tool to do some detail work on a small stone sculpture I've been playing with lately. I needed a tool that could get into the right places, and carve small features that were too delicate for hammer and chisel. Off to Sears Grand, I went.

The store was new; just built as a key anchor-store to the Pittsburgh Mills Mall. Entering the store gave me the feeling of a being an ant in a bag of sugar at the bottom of a garbage can. I had a lot of room to roam, but found little sugar, and the sugar I found seemed tainted by the neighboring sights and smells. I found my rotary tool in an obscure aisle, seemingly trying to hide from me (maybe for good reason.) There were 2 brands to choose from: Craftsman and Dremel. Dremel's small offerings just wouldn't 'cut' it for me. Craftsman had 6 models, 3 with variable speed, and only 1 of those having power greater than 2 amps. My choice was narrowed by the fundamentals, until I saw the price. The 5 amp, variable speed rotary tool came as a package deal, giving you several accesories and a handful of drill bits and grinding wheels to get you started, all for around $160.00. The 2 amp, variable speed rotary tool was also a package deal. The noticably smaller and technically weaker rotary tool package was less than what I was looking for in power, but offered different accesories and more drill bits, cut-off wheels, grind stones, polishers, and mini-drum sanders than the larger 5 amp package- all for cheaper price (about $85.) The added accesories sold me... I bought the smaller rotary tool package, even though it was less than what I needed. It was a mistake that others must have made as well, as this was the last package on the shelf.

I took it home and tried to work on my sculpture. First, I plugged it in and tried out the rotary tool's speed and operation. The speed was ok, but the power behind that speed wasn't there. In a hard spot, when I would really need the tool to work hard, it would weaken and slow, and not be productive at all. Then I noticed the shaft was not completely balanced. At slow speed, there was a noticable gyration from center. At higher speeds, it was less noticable, but it vibrated in my hand like an electric razor trying to shave a yeti. But, I was determined to try my new toy. I found a nice bit that would be just right in a deep recess of part of my scultpure. The bit fit inside the chuck, but the chuck wouldn't tighten around the bit. A small element was broken within the chuck and the part had to be replaced. I set things aside, frustrated, and resolved to sleep on the day's events and reapproach the next day.

I found myself driving back to Sears Grand on Sunday morning with the package, intent on getting what I needed. I returned the whole package with no questions asked by customer service, other than, "Is there anything broken." (must be a common occurance) I asked for store credit and went back to the aisle, which I still had a hard time finding. Grabbed the 5 amp package and 2 boxes of drill bits, grinding wheels, polishers, mini-drum sanders, and some metal-cutting discs for the accessory which did not come with the smaller model. The total purchase now became $200.

Sunday, however, did not bring the satisfaction of doing the detail work on my very small sculpture. The larger rotary tool is too cumbersome to hold while doing the detail work, so a flexible extension with a handle that offers a much more egonomic feel and should promote the dexterious use of a steady hand is given with the package. This is what I would need to use in order to work on the sculpture. As it came, this extension itself was broken. The better tool that I had bought, with more power, and steadier operation than the other, still couldn't help me. A small part of the whole still didn't work, thereby causing the whole thing to be useless to me at that point in time. Frustration factor 5 on a 4 point scale!

Sears does have that great return policy... they're going to need it.

Afterwards, I may go to Dick's, next door, and check out the golf offerings and interogate the club pro on irons... steel shafts or graphite?

The lessons learned here can be extended to other areas of our lives; and certainly to the one environment in which we all comingle.

[Peter Hansen]

Peanuts Yes Returns

Peanuts even though K Mart and Sears are like one company now ,Items bought at Sears cannot be returned to K mart or the reverse .
I agree the return policy is good at both stores. Once bought a lawn edger , but it looked "Mickey Mouse" to me when I bought it . True to form it huffed and puffed under a light work load , but I threw it back in the box ....brought back for return to K Mart and no questions were asked except for the usual," Is anything wrong with the edger?" I told the young black girl at the counter that , "The edger is as slow as a pig walking through molasses" We both laughed.....and my money was returned .
If you buy an item at Best Buys ......those crooks will want a 15% restocking fee for a return ......I will never buy there again . Peanuts good luck on your project ,and when ya finish ......I have a few jobs waiting for you at my house, LOL take care!

[billyjoe]

A wise old cook once told me "When the main ingredient is sh**, the cake will never taste good"

----------billyjoe

I forgot this thread ever existed but my quote still rings true.

-------------billy

[Phoenix7]

I forgot this thread ever existed but my quote still rings true.

-------------billy

Also too many inept cooks and crooks spoil the broth!

[billyjoe]

18 straight quarters of losses usually will take quite a toll

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/business/at-sears-the-price-of-excessive-confidence.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

------------billy

[Phoenix7]

18 straight quarters of losses usually will take quite a toll

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/business/at-sears-the-price-of-excessive-confidence.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

------------billy

Billy here is a SHLD chart, and it ain't pretty! It seems like most of the juice has been wrung out of it, and $60 would have been an excellent place to short, but now I think it is too late?

http://www.barchart.com/chart.php?sym=SHLD&style=technical&template=&p=DO&d=M&sd=&ed=&size=L&log=0&t=CANDLE&v=1&g=1&evnt=1&late=1&o1=&o2=&o3=&sh=100&indicators=RSI%2814%2C0%2C100%2C10079487%2C10040064%29%3BPPO%2812%2C26%2C9%2C0%2C255%2C65280%29%3BADX%2814%2C26367%2C16724736%2C2186785%29%3BSMA%2820%2C16711680%29%3BEXPMA%289%2C16711680%29%3BWILLR%2814%2C40%2C13056%2C10079487%2C16737894%29&chartindicator_8_code=RSI&chartindicator_8_param_0=14&chartindicator_8_param_1=0&chartindicator_8_param_2=100&chartindicator_8_param_3=10079487&chartindicator_8_param_4=10040064&chartindicator_9_code=PPO&chartindicator_9_param_0=12&chartindicator_9_param_1=26&chartindicator_9_param_2=9&chartindicator_9_param_3=0&chartindicator_9_param_4=255&chartindicator_9_param_5=65280&chartindicator_10_code=ADX&chartindicator_10_param_0=14&chartindicator_10_param_1=26367&chartindicator_10_param_2=16724736&chartindicator_10_param_3=2186785&chartindicator_11_code=SMA&chartindicator_11_param_0=20&chartindicator_11_param_1=16711680&chartindicator_12_code=EXPMA&chartindicator_12_param_0=9&chartindicator_12_param_1=16711680&chartindicator_13_code=WILLR&chartindicator_13_param_0=14&chartindicator_13_param_1=40&chartindicator_13_param_2=13056&chartindicator_13_param_3=10079487&chartindicator_13_param_4=16737894&addindicator=&submitted=1&fpage=&txtDate=&x=16&y=4