Posted on 08/24/2023 5:19:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
Go woke, go broke. That's what conservatives say, and unfortunately, sometimes it's just rhetoric that doesn't materialize. Still, there are times when the adage proves true.
Enter Dick's Sporting Goods, the woke outdoor company that has prided itself on inserting itself into various cultural battles. As RedState reported, shareholders were greeted with bad news recently when it was revealed that Dick's saw a 23 percent drop in profit over the last quarter.
That sent the company into a freefall. On August 21st, the stock price was $141. Two days later, it was at $108 (for the up-to-the-minute price, click here). That's a dramatic drop for a well-known retail brand with so many years in the game.
The question is, what led us here? According to Dick's own admission, a sharp rise in retail theft has severely hampered profitability.
While we posted another double-digit EBT margin, our Q2 profitability was short of our expectations due in large part to the impact of elevated inventory shrink, an increasingly serious issue impacting many retailers.
That's more of a symptom than a root cause, though. The sudden onslaught of flash mob robberies and brazen shoplifters didn't just materialize for no reason, and I've got a pretty good idea of how we ended up here.
Dick's has long prided itself on being at the forefront of the push for "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion," which is just a fancy phrase for when a company wastes money paying do-nothings to push far-left policies within the broader culture. It's all about showing that a company is fighting for "justice" and is "giving a voice" to the whinest, most entitled members of its workforce.
Unfortunately for corporations that went down that path, the bill for their activism is now coming due. Nothing is disconnected from the culture, and when Dick's decided to go all-in on being woke, that didn't happen in a vacuum. Rather, the company fed into a far-left behemoth that actively sought to change laws surrounding bail and shoplifting. The result has been anarchy, where criminals can walk into a store, clean out an entire section, and walk out with little fear they will be prosecuted.
This is what happens when corporations decide to insert themselves into the culture wars. For its part, Dick's was at the forefront of banning gun sales following the Parkland shooting, as if doing so would have any impact at all on mass shootings. By 2019, the company had fully invested in a DEI department and made it a centerpiece of its corporate strategy.
The consequences of that have been a 23 percent drop in profitability due to the abuse of policies the company either directly or indirectly supported. So do I feel sorry for Dick's? Not in the least. I think they should continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor to the fullest.
I saw that page as well. Right under that was a page saying they were no longer selling guns or ammo.. (??) I'm confused..
I was a big Dick's user and at that time I had almost $1,000 of Dicks Gift Cards.
When they went crazy, me and thousands of other customers vowed to stay out of Dicks {as soon as I used up my cards}.
Dick's had some ammo discounted at 50-75% and that is all I spent my gift card money for.
Today, I don't even buy a golf ball, shirt or bag of golf tees at Dicks.
Ours is right up the street from Bass Pro Shop...............
Good one 👍👍
The long-term question might be: Are woke people interested in sports?
We ditched Dick’s 15 years ago when they bait and switched us on some shotgun shells at the counter. I did the thing I do best which is create a stink until they finally had to honor it. It still frosts my grits just thinking about it. 😆
Like scuba diving shops? Seriously? Wonder what they’d use CO2 for.
We have a Cabelas/Bass Pro shop at state line here in Idaho. Got my Glock med 40 MOS there.
Dick’s went woke when they stopped selling guns (or was it just handguns?) - I dunno, been in two in my life, hated them both.
I will have to ask my kid, he told me he gets the tanks filled at a Scuba dive center since Dicks does not fill them anymore.
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