Thread regarding Sears layoffs

@WnixmlK-ngk The buying public doesn't care. At this point, aside from high-ticket or "need for warranty" items (which no one will touch), the buying public will see what bargains they can get from the fire sales. Based on what I have seen though, the closing sales prices are still higher than what you can get from Amazon - which is probably why Sears and Kmart struggled through Black Friday.

The internet is a funny thing - it makes you think everyone knows what you know. The truth is, the vast majority of people don't even know who Eddie Lambert is and have no clue what is going on with Sears. They simply see this as a sad thing that happened to the employees, but such is life in retail.

That's Captain Kerp sonny.

@1gjp Thanks. What a mess.

Thanks for clarifying the censor thing for me. I'm glad my post didn't get flagged for deletion.

Sears has multiple levels of legacy. You have systems that run the backbone of Sears, these are the things that Kmarts systems couldn't handle. Delivery Scheduling for appliances, commissions, and specific types of items that Sears can sell but Kmart can't or vice versa. These specifically on the Sears side, these are VERY legacy, but Kmart systems overlay on them. Most of these systems really cannot be touched, and IT will only touch them if they are fully broken.

They also have some legacy systems that are the systems that were intended to be short term (because everything was intended to convert over to KMart systems) but due to the issues of getting so many BUs to align and general complexity these basically just got stuck.

Then you have the current systems, ones intended to automate and replace both Sears and Kmart systems and make rainbows fly out of your rear. Since I haven't been there for a few years I'm not sure of the state of these... but from what I saw when I was there as well as what I heard after, these were 8 to 10 year projects that were getting rushed into 1 or 2 year plans. Most of these get launched and don't have key functionality for half of the BUs (also because the BUs don't understand their unique requirements, since every BU has their own ways of doing things)

As for how much is being left in the hands of people who know nothing about them. Even before heavy layoffs, I had been giving owership of projects that I knew nothing about, because the last person who knew about it quit. Although one time I was given 30 minutes to learn the process from the outgoing employee, which was nice. Especially considering a specific BU wouldn't have been able do anything without the process.

"I believe SHC is relying on Sh--o cover the legacy systems"

For any readers less familiar with the not-so-smart censor programming on this site, he was trying to say 'relying on Sears Holdings India to cover', and the acronym SHI being next to the word 'to' made the site think he was saying a naughty word, lol.

Thanks for posting about your experience. I'd like to know more about the scope of what qualifies as 'legacy' systems vs non-legacy - how much of the operations are they leaving in the hands of people who know nothing about them?

@azr They laid off many legacy system experts about 2 years ago. I should know I was among them. (I wasn't surprised I was laid off, as others were more experienced and experts in multiple systems, but those people were laid off as well)

I believe SHC is relying on Sh--o cover the legacy systems, even if no one in SHI has heard of the system before it goes haywire. The turnover rate of the SHI members I worked with was pretty high, typically SHI members had about 6 months to 1.5 years experience before they moved on to other things.

Normally, I would say this is doomed for failure, but from a business side, I can see why it actually makes a lot of sense. Someone who has been with the company for 30+ years is a lot more expensive, even if they know the ins and outs of the legacy systems, but if you know our systems, they have been covered in bandaids, workarounds and good enough fixes. If you are just trying to keep it running from total meltdown, then you really don't need much, especially if you only need to get a couple years out of the systems.

Some of the 'key employees' are Member technology associates (I.T.) that are considered experts in certain legacy systems that run the business. They solve complex problems that pop up every week, especially during the holidays. I am not saying I am totally OK with this, but if some of these key system experts bolt for a new job, Sears I.T. will be in dire straits. They laid off so many good people there are just 1 or 2 per major system that know how things work. Some of the SHI people don't know the systems as well as some of the 15 to 20 year folks with this knowledge. I am speaking strictly from what I knew when I worked at corporate... we were short handed last year and I can only imagine how bad it is now. I also would not be surprised that if a 'smaller' Sears somehow survives, the corporate HQ is going to be moved to a smaller location... so those still there should be prepared. Hoffman Estates will soon have 2 abandoned HQ, the AT&T campus and within the next year or two, Sears.

doc 766

Well I guess it's not the 68,000 regular employees who put in all the hard work at Sears /Kmart

The buying public will boycott the stores once it's on the news a few times how Eddie and his gang of 18 are getting these bonuses when the company is bankrupt! The unsecured creditors are all ready p-ss-d wanting Sears to liquidate so maybe they can get some of the money owed to them..

Wonder if the additional 332 will be the Regionals and district managers who will probably be running the 500 stores. In 2005 the bankruptcy laws were supposedly changed to prevent this.. Guess Eddie found a few loopholes!

Look at what GM just did and a lot of people are calling for investagation on how they spent their tax savings they got in Januart 2018.. Maybe Sears/Kmart will also be called to testify too since they did not reinvest in the stores or employees

The same id--ts who drove Sears into the ground. Makes perfect sense....And the link is fine.

What docket number?

Bad link