Thread regarding Sears layoffs

Although the try it at home 1st idea is a good one for seeing the free cash, it doesn't always work. I had a sporting goods promotion that worked at home but would not work on the same item in store. Went home, ordered it & picked up. Much work but save $7 but I was willing to do it. Most others would not & I can't blame them.

@brs - The outdated computers are an issue, yes, but those are the least of Sears Holdings' issues. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Replace the computers/systems and there still won't be a whole lot of change to the overall situation. Its gonna take a lot more than that.

oops, I was thinking this was other thread, I'm not original poster but bfs. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you for the information, very useful to know!

@nou, op here,that's a good tip, thanks!

Yes Kmart can control the amount of points as well, that’s not what I’m saying. We CANT control if the system will in fact take the points as free cash or as regular points (it will either work or it won’t)

@brs Test your potential purchases on the website before going to the store. It will tell you in the cart how much of your regular points vs freecash offers are going to be applied to the purchase, before you check out.

I don't know how it works in Kmart, but Sears cashiers can control how much of your points to use, they just can't control which type of points it uses. So if, for example, you have a $10 offer that you know will apply to the current $20 purchase, and you also have $10 of regular points that you don't want to use yet, it will default to having you use all $20 of your combined points. But you can ask the cashier to reduce the amount of points to use to $10, and then it will automatically use the applicable freecash offer's points before taking any of your regular points.

That's interesting that the cashiers have no choice over using free cash v earned points, I never knew that and so it's useful to know as a customer, thank you. What terrible computer systems Sears Holdings is using! I think as customers we view earned points as different from free cash points and sometimes it's nice to save up earned points. I always make sure that the items are not from excluded categories like food, household, toiletries etc and even make sure they aren't deal flash, clearance, or sale etc... but the computers still don't seem able to process the points system. 90% of Sears Holding's problems from sales declines, turned off customers, frustrated and stressed employees could be solved by replacing the computer systems. It's ridiculous for the company to be running such a complex points system on outdated computers.

Just as an FYI as a cashier they are NOT going out of their way to take points out of your regular points account instead of your free cash offer! For us at Kmart we have NO control over which is used, we input into the register that you want to use your points and it either takes it as a free cash offer (if you have one available and have met the requirements) or it takes it as regular points. 75% of the time customers don’t read the fine print that says you can’t use the offer on a certain department like grocery. 25% of the time the system doesn’t take the offer because of a glitch. It has nothing to do with the cashier choosing not to process the order as your free cash offer (at least at Kmart, I don’t know how it works at sears), it has everything to do with the system deciding how the points will be taken off (free cash or regular points)

Also, with all the store closings many people are not anywhere near a Sears or Kmart anymore. Our nearest Kmart and Sears used to be within 15 minutes of our town. Now the nearest Sears is 3 hours and I don't know where the nearest KMart is.

@dqn- The cashiers get written up if too many people use their points while they are on duty. They have been instructed not to ask if the customer wants to use their points and if too many customers use their points they get written up. I guess corporate just wants you to shop at Kmart/Sears and forget you have points.

I agree and there are too many complications in using the free cash in points. I don't know whether its deliberate, but everytime I ask the associate to use my free cash in points they look at me like I have 5 heads and they don't know what I'm talking about. Other times if i have points I've earned then they use those and I realize after I leave the store and look at my receipt, its annoying because many times I have no intention of using my earned points on that purchase. That's another thing, sometimes I feel like the cashiers act like you're trying to steal from the company when you use your points- I earned those points thank you very much! Often times I've spent hundreds of dollars to earn those points, so I don't expect to be treated like a lesser customer for redeeming my points. I think sometimes cashiers take matters into their own hands and instead of doing their job, they think they need to dissuade people from using their points or free cash. That's a big turnoff for loyal customers, maybe they should trust that corporate know what they're doing. Better computers would certainly be required for the points offers to come off automatically or easier, but the instances where I've been most turned off as a customer has been when the cashiers feel the need to take matters into their own hands and prevent me from using the points I have. When I say that I have an $15 off $15 purchase and I'm buying hundreds of dollars, they shouldn't use my earned points leaving my free cash to expire, they should be listening when I say FREECASH and stop trying to prevent me from using what corporate has deemed from their data that they want me to have as an offer. Instead of worrying about your best customers getting money off, just do your job!

The SYW problem though was SHC essentially talking out of both sides of its mouth.

It wanted to develop a shopping network that included members buying from direct competitors which further hurts the sales of Sears and Kmart thus affecting employment on the store level but SHC didn't want the associates to realize that was the plan. There may have been some idea that store sales would be boosted by only being able to spend points at Sears and Kmart but lack of inventory and no concern for customer service isn't going to encourage shopping.

Nor is that stupid 5321 card. There are much better points earning credit cards on the market. Some of these are branded by Citibank but Barclays and Chase have them too. Nothing special.

As a Sears employee, it baffled me that we weren't encouraged in a positive manner to use SYW as we could have been ambassadors for it. Taking away the % discount to force you to use points is not going to do it. Smug Leena, that was a short sighted move showing that you are out of touch with most people's reality. Let them eat cake, eh.

Forcing associates to shop in isn't going to do it. Something such as % discount + extra points or even being able to use coupons with the % discount might have helped. Something. It was overlooked that most store employees don't make a lot of money so incentives would have helped raise enthusiasm for SYW.