Is this Sears offer worrisome?

alfadog

Final Approach
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alfadog
A month or so ago, I posted that Sears would give you back $300 in points doled out $15/week if you spent $300 now. At the time, I needed a battery for my Saab but that battery came back to life just fine so never did the deal.

Now I need a battery for one of the pickups that I bought off a local City auction. I only wanted one for my property in TN but the two I was bidding on ended simultaneously and I ended up with both. I will sell the extra and make a few bucks, not a lot but $500 or so.

Anyway, NOW Sears will give you $750 doled out over the next 49 weeks if you spend money now. Looks like they are trying hard to get come cash in the door but I wonder if they might not honor that repayment down the road. Like not far down the road.
 
1) Worrisome, no. Low value and likely to disappear? Yes. Sears is thrashing on its death-bead, gasping its last breaths as it is being slowly strangled by Eddie Lampert and drained of equity.

2) Sears will not give you $750 in cash doled out over the next 49 weeks. Sears will give you a coupon for $15 in discounts per week on more of their overpriced merchandise, each of which will expire in 7 days, to get you to buy their stuff on a weekly basis. Ready to play that game?

3) I'm sure there is more fine print making it even more restrictive.
 
Sears is at the point where I will give them $5 in exchange for $5 in merchandise that's on the counter. They are basically in liquidation.
 
Sears is at the point where I will give them $5 in exchange for $5 in merchandise that's on the counter. They are basically in liquidation.

I stopped by a Sears "Store Closing Clearance Sale" recently. The stuff in piles they had marked down 50% could mostly be bought for that price or less on Amazon prime.

$5 in hand might be good for $2.50 worth of merchandise on the counter.
 
A month or so ago, I posted that Sears would give you back $300 in points doled out $15/week if you spent $300 now. At the time, I needed a battery for my Saab but that battery came back to life just fine so never did the deal.

Now I need a battery for one of the pickups that I bought off a local City auction. I only wanted one for my property in TN but the two I was bidding on ended simultaneously and I ended up with both. I will sell the extra and make a few bucks, not a lot but $500 or so.

Anyway, NOW Sears will give you $750 doled out over the next 49 weeks if you spend money now. Looks like they are trying hard to get come cash in the door but I wonder if they might not honor that repayment down the road. Like not far down the road.

Sounds like you might be the kind of guy that might be interested in paying cash for an unlimited MoviePass membership too, eh? :p
 
1) Worrisome, no. Low value and likely to disappear? Yes. Sears is thrashing on its death-bead, gasping its last breaths as it is being slowly strangled by Eddie Lampert and drained of equity.

2) Sears will not give you $750 in cash doled out over the next 49 weeks. Sears will give you a coupon for $15 in discounts per week on more of their overpriced merchandise, each of which will expire in 7 days, to get you to buy their stuff on a weekly basis. Ready to play that game?

3) I'm sure there is more fine print making it even more restrictive.

Yes, I know how the deal works, "$300 in points doled out $15/week". I have a number of Sears stores that are convenient to me and would have no trouble dropping once a week to pick something up.
 
Sounds like you might be the kind of guy that might be interested in paying cash for an unlimited MoviePass membership too, eh? :p

IDK, there is still plenty of value at Sears and I could easily spend $750 there on sale-priced merch and feel OK. But just OK.
 
For example, this range is competitively-priced so the possibility of getting the entire cost of it back in merch is an attractive one for me because I can easily swing by a Sears or a number of them.

Sears1.jpg
 
IDK, there is still plenty of value at Sears and I could easily spend $750 there on sale-priced merch and feel OK. But just OK.
Do you really want to be a creditor of a company whose solvency is in doubt?

They were already in trouble when I bought my water heater a couple of years ago, so I decide not to buy their extended warranty.
 
For example, this range is competitively-priced so the possibility of getting the entire cost of it back in merch is an attractive one for me because I can easily swing by a Sears or a number of them.

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I don’t think that is the way the deal is structured.

I believe the catch is you will get $15 worth of points every 7 days, with a 7 day expiration.

So, no more than $15 worth of discounts per week

Sears has absolutely huge cash flow problems. They’re not going to give away that kind of value.
 
I don’t think that is the way the deal is structured.

I believe the catch is you will get $15 worth of points every 7 days, with a 7 day expiration.

So, no more than $15 worth of discounts per week

Sears has absolutely huge cash flow problems. They’re not going to give away that kind of value.

Yes, that is exactly how it works. If it is convenient for you to swing by a Sears on a weekly basis and pick up some little $15 tchotchke the you get your $750 back. I am sure that I can find a tool or something under $20 to buy each week. You can even order online for free store pickup. So, yes, you get $750 in merch. Do you get another $750 range? No.
 
Yes, that is exactly how it works. If it is convenient for you to swing by a Sears on a weekly basis and pick up some little $15 tchotchke the you get your $750 back. I am sure that I can find a tool or something under $20 to buy each week. You can even order online for free store pickup. So, yes, you get $750 in merch. Do you get another $750 range? No.
Is there a minimum purchase price for the stuff you use the points? For example, it’s $15 off a minimum $30 purchase? That wouldn’t be a great deal.
 
Is there a minimum purchase price for the stuff you use the points? For example, it’s $15 off a minimum $30 purchase? That wouldn’t be a great deal.

It is $15 in points. They are the same as cash when used at sears.com so no, no minimum.

Sears2.jpg
 
It's a shame. I was hoping, with the last round of funding, that sears would come out a lean and mean mail order business as they used to be. They have the infrastructure for it after all and it would give amazon a run for their money. They'd have to close their stores and maybe keep a few small ones in marque areas and sell popular items.

i'm sad for sears.

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It's a shame. I was hoping, with the last round of funding, that sears would come out a lean and mean mail order business as they used to be. They have the infrastructure for it after all and it would give amazon a run for their money. They'd have to close their stores and maybe keep a few small ones in marque areas and sell popular items.

i'm sad for sears.

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Yeah, they missed the boat on that. Sears should have been Amazon, upper management blew it long ago.
 
It's a shame. I was hoping, with the last round of funding, that sears would come out a lean and mean mail order business as they used to be. They have the infrastructure for it after all and it would give amazon a run for their money. They'd have to close their stores and maybe keep a few small ones in marque areas and sell popular items.

i'm sad for sears.

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Yup, and it doesn’t make it less sad but it is ironic that they basically got beaten at the game they invented...
 
Sears has been going downhill since they quit selling tractor conversion kits.

https://www.farmcollector.com/tract...e-sears-thrifty-farmer-tractor-conversion-kit

JC Penny has been going downhill since they quit selling Ercoupes.

In November, the J.C. Penney in Denver became the first store in the west to offer the Ercoupe. The store sold nine the first week—one to a frozen foods businessman and another to an oilman, both seeking to ease their considerable travel time. Indeed, the retailers reported most sales were to businessmen between 40 and 50 years old, half of whom expected to use the airplane for pleasure, half for work.

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/buy-your-plane-at-penneys-8036799/

Buy-Your-Plane-at-Penneys-631.jpg
 
Yup, and it doesn’t make it less sad but it is ironic that they basically got beaten at the game they invented...
they shouldn't have purchased Lands End. ****ty clothing line. I bought some from their catalog in the 90s while I was out at sea and.. Never again then Sears bought them. It was tantamount to Kmart paying a billion to carry Martha Stewart garbage

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Yes, that is exactly how it works. If it is convenient for you to swing by a Sears on a weekly basis and pick up some little $15 tchotchke the you get your $750 back. I am sure that I can find a tool or something under $20 to buy each week. You can even order online for free store pickup. So, yes, you get $750 in merch. Do you get another $750 range? No.
If Sears stocks 49 $20 items that you don't already have and genuinely want or need, and you already pass right by a store location on at least weekly basis during a window when you have free time that you couldn't be doing something more productive or lucrative then sure, it could be a good deal. I suppose there are about 5 people in the country that can honestly tick all of boxes. For everyone else, its a deal with less value. For some people, it would be a little bit less value, for most, it would be a lot less value.

I can shop on amazon during the time that I'm relaxing on the couch i.e. it takes zero productive time out of my day. Since those purchases deliver to my door for free, I use zero gas to go get them. I do not pass a sears or anywhere near one on my daily commute. If I had to drive to a store every week to purchase one item from my 49 item list, the time and gas would eat into that $15 'savings' pretty quickly. The moment I buy something I don't need or am never likely to use, that's $15 I've handed them for nothing instead of the other way around. And none of this takes into consideration that if you buy a $20 item with a $15 discount, you're still spending $5 so you're still spending $250 that you wouldn't have otherwise spent. Sears knows all this and are banking on it. If you're one of those few people that can beat the odds, go for it. I certainly am not one of those beat the odds kind of people.
 
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