Higher standards ? Tell that to my son and his two year old Sears washing machine that keeps breaking down while doing laundry for two toddlers. He won’t be getting car parts there either anymore.
The retail world has certainly changed, and Sears is emblematic of that. But I respectfully observe that this discussion appears to have drifted for good from the automotive domain, as broad as that is.
My standard response to unsolicited phone calls has become, “I’m sorry but we do not respond to any telephone solicitations at this number. Please place me on your Do Not Call List.”
For the now-typical requests to make a donation at a cash register/checkout, my standard response is, “I donated last week”. I may not have donated to that particular charity, but as a result of my charitable giving, I did undoubtedly donate to some legitimate charity or other within the preceding week.
@cdaquila, do you ever feel like your job is to herd cats? I find the off-topic drifting kind of troubling too, but sometimes a conversation can kind of take you places you didn’t expect to go. Closing these discussions is never going to be a popular thing to do, so instead of asking for permission, I would just rip off the band aid when it needs to be done.
As far as I’m concerned, this conversation has jumped the shark, so I won’t be upset if you close it. Good luck with the other ones though.
Automotive domain ;
Supply chain…is the answer to the initial question.
One may be buying from Sears, yet it’s an item that they in turn are buying from , perhaps, a jobber who is buying from a dealer probably at their list price.
Supply chain…the close to the source , the lower the price.
Supply chain…ie; middle men…all of whom make a proffit.
Another factor in pricing auto parts ;
Original factory parts -vs- aftermaket, copycat, or even used.
I dont know if its true anymore but it use to be illegal to use your social security number for anything except paying into social security and collecting from social security.
it wasn`t meant to be a general personal identification number and it was illegal to use it as such.
If it’s illegal, then every bank where I have ever had an account is breaking the law.
Hmmm. Pot calling the kettle white? No off topic unless its something I’m interested in?
Back in the 70’s social security numbers were plastered all over Army duffel bags. Orders were posted for everyone to see with everyones SSN listed. Its never been secret or restricted until the credit folks decided to use it for identification.
I too used to shop at Sears. They had some of the best tools, and they were about the only place to go to get such tools at a reasonable price.
As of late I’ve been contemplating a riding lawnmower, and I went by my local Sears to check out their mowers. What did I encounter? In the entire lower quarter of the store, comprising probably 8 different departments… there were no more than 2 employees. I saw customers 5 deep standing at the checkout register, looking around in a daze for someone to take their money. There was urban/rap music blaring throughout the store…where nearly all of the customers were probably 65+ years old. You’d think they’d want to sell me a lawnmower, but no one ever came up to greet me in any way. I walked out and probably won’t set foot in there again
What a shame. Sears used to set the standard, and now they’ve just allowed themselves to be trampled by the march of time.
@Bing, I don’t make the forum rules, but I am noticing how people seem to pay cdaquila homage to her face, but don’t make an apparent effort to make her job any easier. I figure if I’m going to stick around, I should do my best to follow the rules. I find this conversation interesting, but people asking for your social security number has nothing to do with my original topic.
How would you feel if I inserted myself into a conversation you were having with someone in person about cars, and started talking about cats? In person, that would be rude, but for some reason, some of you accept it, and even seem to relish in that kind of rude behavior. In person, what we’re doing in this forum by ignoring the rules would be obviously rude and socially unacceptable.
Hay, I know I’m guilty of digressing too, but I’m trying to make cdaquila’s job easier, not harder, because when I say I respect the job she as to do, I’m not just paying lip service.
@whitey I think you were the one to mention SSN, no?
"One of my pet peeves is when someone calls me and asks me to confirm my identity by giving them my SSN. My response is, “Sorry, I don’t give anyone my social security number unless I initiated the call. You called me, so I have no idea whether you are who you say you are.” "
Kinda like “Mommie, Mommie, Suzi went off topic again” But as we would say in Minnesota, “whatever”.
@Bing, like I said, I do it too. Mea culpa, which is why I won’t be sad to see this discussion closed. Why do you have in issue with me expressing my opinion about that? Did I pee on your Wheaties?
i still like sears… and i think its carolyns bosses who have made her job difficult. we haven t changed, the rules have
our sears has an excellent collection of widely varied, quality tools. true the craftsman ratchets aren t what they used to be, but luckily i still have a 1960s or early70s 1/2 in ratchet that my grandfather gave me in 1985. it works great and has handled much hard work.
sears also has good shoes and boots at good prices. and they have quality socks, which are important to me. but 12 bucks for good long johns was too much for me and i bought the cheap wal mart junk instead, and regretted it.
does sears still honor life time warranties on craftsman hand tools?
sears is still a good place to go Christmas shopping too. there are good things for kids that will last. i got my daughter a small childs piano about 4 yrs agoand it still plays and i was able to get a electrical pouch, and completely stock it (about 300 bucks) for my son the same year. of course he left most of the tools on his garage floor in the mud puddles, but that’s another story… 
Duty called, so I am just seeing the forum now. Discussion is closed. In case it isn’t obvious, the reason I try to give warning when things are going off-track is I would rather give you the choice to redirect the discussion, rather than taking away the choice unilaterally. I can tell you value the ability to make your own choices; it underpins a lot of your debates. Maybe I miscalculated how that might apply to moderation. As others have noted, before the Wheaties may or may not have been tainted, I didn’t write the rules. I mean this without a shred of patronizing.