I was just assisted by the nicest cashier I have ever met.  She was a total stranger to me.  She was polite, helpful, and cheerful.  She was a Sears employee.  I give her an A+. 

She seemed young, but not green.  I do not think she was faking good morale. 

 

Way back when I worked at Sears in Burlington and Vancouver, Washington, morale was terrible.... It was a commission-based job so as fellow employees we had to fight each other for the few customers that even walked in the door just so we could keep our rent paid and gas in the car.....

The low pay and lack of decent benefits are the #1 causes for bad employee morale... I have quit Sears and I must say it was the best career move I have ever made. It's nice actually being able to afford insurance and three meals a day... just such a huge improvement in my life. I would suggest any current employees to leave as well.

I AGREE I AM MANAGER IN SEARS IN ONE OF THE HIGHEST VOLUME STORE MY ASSOC MAKE GOOD MONEY BUT MORALE IS LOW. SEARS KEEPS CHANGING AND NEW RULES AND DIFFERENT WAYS TO RING UP DAILY . SEARS NEEDS TO FIND ONE THING AND STICK WITH IT . THE NEW LL COOL J LINE SUCK'S I CANT BELOVE THERE HANGING THERE HATS ON THIS . I WISH FOR ONE DAY I WAS IN CHARGE . EVERYONE WOULD GET A BASE PAY OF AT-LEAST $6.00 DO U KNOW WHO HARD IT IS TO GET PEOPLE TO WORK WHEN THERE NOT GETTING PAID . 2. ENOUGH WITH THE 100 MEETINGS A WEEK TO GO OVER THE SAME STUFF OVER AND OVER . 3 BRING BACK IN STORE SUPPORT WE HAVE ENOUGH TO DO WITH OUT HAVING TO SIGNING EVERYTHING .. I FEEL SICK CAUSE I KNOW THIS WILL FALL OF DEAF EARS AND THERE'S CHANGES THAT NEED TO BE MADE B4 SEARS GOES BANKRUPT . I LOVE MY CO-WORKERS AND I FEEL BAD WHEN I WATCH THEM GO WEEKS WITHOUT SELLING I KNOW THERE NO MAKING A CENT BUT THEN AGAIN I AM A LEAD AND I MAKE NO MONEY . SEARS IS NOT WHAT IT USE TO BE THERES NO MONEY TO BE MADE HERE 

The atmosphere in the Monroeville, Pa. Sears is great. The man in the paint section was very pleasant and created the color I needed~ He enjoys his job.

I shopped at the Friends and Family event last night at the Schaumburg, IL Sears and had a great experience. The employees I talked to were very knowledgeable, had great morale and knew how to sell their products - electronics.

Tell me, micheline, are you one of the cronies that works in Hoffman Estates?

yea i had her pegged for a sears bot soon as i saw her searstruth

I have to be honest, my shopping experience has not been good for a variety of reasons sometimes related to the associate, sometimes related to the store itself, and often related to the merchandise being sold.....typically in soft lines. I've given up on buying clothes there for myself other than pjs. Anything that requires a good fit does not work for me from Sears. The fabrics and knits are lower quality and designs are always slightly off with the exception of an occassional top, or blouse. I have one covington jacket that I've worn for years and it's a classic linen type jacket and a pea coat. Other than those two items, no luck. I'm of average build and size and all I ever see on the racks are a dirth of XS or XL and no med around so if I do like it I have no chance of finding it. Lands end has outdated mom like jeans with cinched waist line and tapered legs. All the tops are plain and boxey, not at all feminine. Too preppy, plain and stiff. If it's an expense issue, why not benchmark a store like old navy, or H&M? Stores like Express and Ann Taylor have a trademark pant that fits reaaallly good and sell the hell out of it i.e. 'Editor', 'Julie', 'Marisa'. The shopper finds the cut they need and buys it in every color for work and play. I can go there grab my size and cut and just leave..it's so perfect! Cute t shirts for $12 - $19 that are not that thick high neck rounded box cut look with plain blunt short sleeves. We need more thin layering type tops with longer length and tanks. And what is up with the colors?? Weird oranges, peach, and bright yellow all over the place.. what is wrong with black, white, subtle prints, pale shades... get rid of the screaming reds please. Get rid of lace and beads and embroidary! Ulllccchhh! I don't know how many times I saw something on a rack that looked good, pull it out and see some ornate BS emroidered on it! On a positive note, Sears has some decent shoes! But,,, they never have my size in stock for athletic shoes. If I could just spend money there, I would!

I'm one of the Community Managers here on the site so while I do not work for Sears I do directly with them. We do read and think about each and everyones comments and suggestions so please know that we are listening! The concept of the site it for everyone to be able to provide any kind of feedback regarding Sears as a company and as an employer so that we can continue to try and steer it in a positive direction! Please keep it coming!

I'm not here to bash, but here to help!  I was on vacation and needed a stroller for my little one.  I was in a hurry and did not want to spend much time in there.  Went to the infant dept. and only had pink strollers and did not want pink for a boy.  I asked if there were any in the back which took me awhile to find an associate.  She finally after who knows how long found me one in the back why were they not out when there were none on the floor...and by the way...while she was back there forever I asked someone else and she said they were out...so I waited and BINGO here comes the lady with a boy/girl stroller...The 2nd lady I asked could have cared less if I bought anything.

Hi Goodole312,

Me, a bot? No way! I can confirm that I'm a real person and I do work at Sears.

A lot of interesting perspectives here, but here's one to chew on. STOP BUYING THINGS AT WAL MART. While we might all agree that Sears and K-Mart are not being managed well from your perspective, keep in mind there are a lot of decent, hard working people that still work at Sears and K-Mart. Every time you buy at Wal Mart you're really hurting these people. Some of them are your family and friends. Keep that in mind the next time you Sears bash. Just my 2 cents.

Tony, you are absolutely right.  I have boycotted wal-mart and I only shop at sears and K-Mart.  I completely agree that there are alot a GOOD people that work for both companies and it would be a crying shame for anyone to lose their job.  This company is still very strong and I'm proud to say I work at sears.  I would encourage everyone to avoid shopping at wal-mart whenever possible.  On a positive note, I feel our store has pretty good moral and most associates are paid well.  Although we are the highest volume store in the district, and they definately affects the commision based associates like myself.  The benefits system could use some changes but overall the compensation is fair.  The company just needs to stop changing the commision rates everytime they feel someone makes too much money.  Its nice to get that bigger commision check.

Courtney11 said…

I'm one of the Community Managers here on the site so while I do not work for Sears I do directly with them. We do read and think about each and everyones comments and suggestions so please know that we are listening! The concept of the site it for everyone to be able to provide any kind of feedback regarding Sears as a company and as an employer so that we can continue to try and steer it in a positive direction! Please keep it coming!

---

ah so this is a bigger version of the round table meetings were customers have imput too, only problem is not only did the roundtables hardly acomplish anything but operation clean sweep undid any inprovements we got from them.

ok with that rant out of the way ill offer my 2 cents. you want to improve morale? get back to basics decent days pay for a days work, minimum wage for unloading a thousand plus peice truck in a 100+degree trailer in the summer or standing at a cashwrap all day trying to push credit mpas and trying to get email addys while having to wrangle customers in a line with no help just dosent cut it

ditch the meetings that accoplish nothing, most of the people at the roundtalbes i attended saw though them and were annoyed by they fact that we were at a meeting that we knew would get no where when we could have been puttins away stock ringing out customers or unloading the truck

quit making PAs and credit apps more important then the sales and customers them selves, i cant count the number of times where we were 4 or 5 thousand or more above our sales goal for a day but then we have to hear how we suck in over priced PAs or how we could force people to get one more line of credit they cant handle and an intrest rate no one wants.

and please get some music made  in the last 20 years on the pa that stuff played now sucks and more then a couple songs are older then my grandparents. customers rarely notice or care whats playing, i know i dont when i go in other stores but the people working there hear it all day long and when its the same loop every day it gets old and even depressing fast especally that slow stuff we have on. oh and just because its our current ad we dont need to play dont go back arrive every 20 min again customers dont notice and it just drives those of us working there insane

Hi Searstruth, I work for Sears and like most of the people here, I'd like to see Sears and Kmart give customers the products and services they're looking for at the right prices. One of the great things about this site is that we can share ideas about this. 

We all have different experiences with the stores, some positive and some negative but working through the negative is a challenge we're trying hard to overcome. Your ideas about what we've done right and wrong, what things you'd like to see at the stores or online, ways to make your experience better is what this site is all about and we really do appreciate hearing from you!

Your comment about the music made me laugh! I totally agree that meetings should have a purpose that eventually makes things better for both customers and employees. Last year in November, I worked at one of the stores for a day and it's really hard work, especially during the holiday season.

michelina said…

Your comment about the music made me laugh! I totally agree that meetings should have a purpose that eventually makes things better for both customers and employees. Last year in November, I worked at one of the stores for a day and it's really hard work, especially during the holiday season.

---

so you find it funny that the music the customers dont give a rats rear about annoys the poor employes that have to listen to the same loop day in day out?

aww a whole day didnt strain your self did you? dont try to relate becuse you cant just forward our comments to the circular filing cabinet like a good stooge and tell Mr Lampert i said hi.

Goodole312, I didn't mean that I found it funny.  Sorry.   In fact, your comment about updating the PA music and rethinking the loop that plays makes a lot of sense. 

of course its the cheapes of the things i mentioned

Sounds like Sears needs to hire more literate management as well.

TonyStewart said…
A lot of interesting perspectives here, but here's one to chew on. STOP BUYING THINGS AT WAL MART. While we might all agree that Sears and K-Mart are not being managed well from your perspective, keep in mind there are a lot of decent, hard working people that still work at Sears and K-Mart. Every time you buy at Wal Mart you're really hurting these people. Some of them are your family and friends. Keep that in mind the next time you Sears bash. Just my 2 cents.

---

Aren't there very likely a lot of decent, hard-working people at Wal-Mart as well? Couldn't some of them also be family and friends?

I'm not necessarily advocating Wal-Mart, but Sears and Kmart could learn a thing or two or three from them. If S & K aren't being managed well, then it's company management that are hurting the employees, not the consumers.

Hey...

Are they playing music over the PA?

I just listen for my NAME to be called over the PA.

Cept'n for the holidays.

Oh... the holiday music!

"You don't LIKE holiday music?"

Not fourteen versions of Silent Night, including Rock-a-Billy!

I remember one year, when the music started BEFORE Thanksgiving, just standing in the Tool Department's archway, with the As-Seen-On-TV VHS tape (a while ago) playing good'ol Bob Villa's (a LONG time ago) infomercials - on FULL VOLUME.

Now, like the good folks at McDonald's not hearing their French Fry machine beeping, I don't "hear" the PA music.

Employees are not allowed personal MP3 players, while on duty.

No problemo...

I don't got no M P Three player or one of them Cellulized Phones neither.

It's payback time!

John Denver - Some Days are Diamonds... Some days are stones.

Think the store's got a cassette player hooked up to its PA system?

Nah...

Probably an 8-track.

:)

"Signing Everything"

LOL!

The store Signriter Printer BROKE, sometime last week.

Picture a store inspection, with the District Manager no less, with all "hand written" sale signs - through out the store.

The Store Manager and Home Improvement Manager were trying to diagnose and fix the old Mopier printer, the other day.

With all the despondence on technology and the IMPORTANCE of accurate and timely signing, it's a shame Sears can't afford to have backup printers and workstations in the stores.

Yaa... An employee appreciation BBQ, with those little party weiners, cooked on a couple'a George Foreman Grills!

Let's fire up the Kenmore Grills and BBQ some beef patties - with cheese slices...

Generic soda and bottled water in tubs of ice go great, too.

:)

Maybe bring back some of those monthly birthday cake parties, in the Breakroom?

VictoriousMary said…

I was just assisted by the nicest cashier I have ever met.  She was a total stranger to me.  She was polite, helpful, and cheerful.  She was a Sears employee.  I give her an A+. 

She seemed young, but not green.  I do not think she was faking good morale. 

 

---

Most likely, she still lives under her parent's roof, and doesn't have the normal worries someone from Generation X has.  As one of the oldest of that gen, I can tell you that this world is a trip, and minimum wage DOES NOT pay a mortgage, and leaves you with just enough money for Ramen noodles, tomato sauce, and tuna fish as a dietary staple.  Top it off with a bottle of Centrum, and you most likely will not starve...

avonjuli said…
The atmosphere in the Monroeville, Pa. Sears is great. The man in the paint section was very pleasant and created the color I needed~ He enjoys his job.

---

You may want to note the difference in cost of living in PA, versus Staten Island.  Most people in the general area of NYC, Staten Island, and Long Island have seen the cost of living index skyrocket due to the abuse of capitalism by corporate America.  That would be the people on the OTHER SIDE of retail who make ALOT more than minimum wage.

Seems there's always the money in the coffers to pay the six and seven figure salaries...

michelina said…

I shopped at the Friends and Family event last night at the Schaumburg, IL Sears and had a great experience. The employees I talked to were very knowledgeable, had great morale and knew how to sell their products - electronics.

---

And they probably put on a show, because you got pegged for who you were...

michelina said…
Goodole312, I didn't mean that I found it funny.  Sorry.   In fact, your comment about updating the PA music and rethinking the loop that plays makes a lot of sense. 

---

Try unloading a thousand plus piece trailer, in over a hundred degree heat in the storage area, and HOTTER in the trailer, and get back to us about your feelings as to how fair their pay is.

Bring on that BBQ!