Posted on 10/24/2017 8:48:03 AM PDT by Leaning Right
The struggling retailer says it will stop selling Whirlpool's washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances. Sears will also stop offering Maytag, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air products, all of which are part of Whirlpool.
Sears will sell its existing inventory of Whirlpool products but not order more. Whirlpool will keep making some products sold under Sears' Kenmore brand.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
By the way - does anyone know - are the Whirlpool products sold in Sears made in the USA?
They look identical to the Kenmores I was looking at in Sears.
So I surmise they are made by the same people in the same factory, just with different stickers.
Sears is sinking and does not want to continue shipments from Whirlpool that will add to payment demands from Sears. Instead of owing Whirlpool or others it will fill its space with its own brand. Look for one of the last moves by Sears to be the sale of its Kenmore brand. Sad; really sad.
Sears must have a death wish. I used to like the store and I'm sad to see them slowly implode like this. Total mismanagement on display.
On another thread a few months ago, it was mentioned that Sears had sold off Craftsman, I think also Die Hard auto parts, and was shopping Kenmore. If those three things go, Sears does not exist.
It’s probably already dead, and now is a corporate organ donor of its brands to other businesses. Too bad; they were perfectly set up to beat Amazon to the internet order and delivery business, but they lacked vision.
> Total mismanagement on display. <
Yep. With its famous catalog, Sears was positioned to become Amazon when the internet age started. Instead, Sears pretty much went to sleep.
I really hate to see the slow death of this once great company. It was Amazon before Amazon. Sears pioneered the idea of catalog shopping bringing a world of goods to every corner of the country.
I have good memories of going to the Craftsman section of the store with my Dad Saturday mornings.
Whirlpool manufactured many of the appliances sold by Sears under the Kenmore brand. All Sears would have to sell would be whatever good will the "Kenmore" label generates.
Sears became the poster child of horrible customer service in the 1980s and beyond. That is what killed it.
Sears has primarily been a real estate liquidation company for years. They are running out of real estate to sell and started liquidating their brand names.
My first job in high school was selling hardware at the local Sears store. Sad to see it go.
Going down the drain.
Sears sold its Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker and will also sell through Ace Hardware...............
Historically, large companies that you would think would be perfectly positioned for new technologies usually move too slowly and get put out of business by new companies that move quickly into the new marketplace.
Too bad they sold off Craftsman. But for that matter Craftsman tools have lost a lot of quality over the years. The last 3/8ths ratchet I bought was horrible. I haven’t taken it back because I’d just get another horrible one. And the last screwdriver I bought broke too. Same issue. The replacement is crap too.
Fortunately the Husky tools at Home Depot have been decent, much as I hate Home Depot. I’m afraid that Craftsman as well as Sears isn’t long for this Earth.
It’s funny that Sears which was built on mail order business couldn’t figure out how to compete on the net. Their problems really began when they built the Sears Tower and filled it with middle managers.
I bought some Craftsman rubber garden hoses via their web site a couple years ago. The web experience was so-so, but the packaging was just pathetic. It was like Bob in Shipping yelled “Hey, Fred, ya got a box I can use to ship this guy these hoses?” I think they went to the grocery store next door, grabbed a flattened canned foods box and taped it back together. Then “Hey, Fred...got some old newspaper I can use to stuff around these hoses?”
Amazon has done such a masterful job of building brand identity down to every detail down including the cartons and tape.
I bought a Sears water heater with my Sears credit card in the early 1990s. Literally ONE MONTH after the manufacturer's warranty expired, the lining became separated from the tank and it had to be replaced. They flatly said the warranty had expired and refused to even give me a partial credit toward a replacement. They were fully within their legal rights to do so.
And I was fully within my legal rights to cut up their credit card and mail the pieces to them, and never again set foot in a Sears store. I told them that if they sell crap, I'm not buying.
Old news. Sears continues to shoot self in foot and bleed.
I have only good things to say about Sears and Whirlpool. 25 year old Whirlpool dryer still runs like a champ. 2 year old frig is one of the best I ever owned.
If anyone has been meaning to round out their Craftsman tool set...better hurry.
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