@qrq; I feel like that abuse is still around, just in a slightly different form. At my store, the person who does the return to stocks on delinquent online orders complains that half the C.O.D. orders have gone missing by the time he sees them on the report. I've helped look into it by trying to track down transactions involving the items in the orders, on the hope that somebody just rang the whole thing out as a regular sale rather than scanning out the order, but to no avail. I'm not really sure HOW people could even screw up the process, but I suppose given the quality of our hires and of our training, I shouldn't be surprised that orders that have not been paid for are likely just being carried right out the door somehow. I was especially bad with patio furniture over the summer.
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@uxi - As a former catalog dept. manager I fully agree with your assessment. However, Sears catalog engaged in one disastrous business practice that Amazon would never have considered; pay for your merchandise when you pick it up. I understand that this practice probably started in the days before credit cards were common, but that era was over by the 1970s. In fact, a Sears credit card was the most common available; for many people it was their first credit card. Believe me, I could write volumes on how this practice was abused by customers and by store associates! Gaming the system is a practice as old as time and the powers that be refused to acknowledge the costly impact it was having on the bottom line. RIP Sears catalog; in the right hands you could have been a 21st century powerhouse!
I worked for Sears when they got rid of the catalog and talked about how they lost millions of dollars per year for years. I don’t believe Amazon made a profit for the first 8-10 years in operation. Sears would have been able to get to profit sooner than Amazon simply because much of the distribution system was in place, but the ultimate goal of increasing shareholder worth would have never allowed Sears to morph into Amazon.
Sears exited the mailorder business in 1993. Amazon was founded in 1994 (under a different name) and sold their first book the next year. Incredibly bad timing and I'm sure next year when the obituaries are written this will be a major focal point.