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Comment by mlthoughts2018 | Hacker News Reader

mlthoughts2018

I don’t necessarily disagree with many of your points, but I think drawing attention to the end of Sears’ lifecycle is an unfair thing. Someday Amazon too will have an end of life, and employees and shareholders will get fucked over then too.

The article also draws attention to how workers benefited _in good times_ at Sears, not near the end. And this is where the comparison is most meaningful, where Amazon is more questionable.

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The difference is that most Amazon employees have defined contribution retirement plans rather than defined benefit pensions. So Amazon is less likely to end up in a death spiral due to unsustainable expenses. And if Amazon does go bankrupt the employees' retirement funds won't be impacted (unless they invested in company stock).

Most Amazon employees don't make enough money to meaningfully contribute to those retirement plans, though.

This is exactly the right point to be making.

Agreed. I worked at Sears in college (~15 years ago) loading dock/warehouse. It was a great job at the time. Good pay, plenty of hours, and generally good managers. The downfall of Sears had very little to do with wages, but Amazon crushing all brick and mortar stores. We were dependent on foot traffic, and sales flyers in the Sunday paper - things that don't do much today.

True. Amazon, and ecommerce in general, took off because they beat old retail in prices and inventory. I can buy a pair of shoes right now and have it delivered for free in 12 hours. The margins web stores operate on are razor thin. Efficiency is king.

IMHO Sears would have an opportunity now if they hadn't sold off their brands. Cobranding (for instance) Anker products as Craftsman would have me buying it there instead of Amazon for one reason: commingled inventory and fakes.

They had SO MUCH customer loyalty from Craftsman, I can't believe anyone would throw that all away.

the mismanagement of the craftsman brand will one day be a case study in all business schools. It is incredible how much I spent on tools with them over the years, and incredible how I'm not even sure where to buy them anymore.

IMO, the biggest mistake Sears ever made was NOT buying Home Depot when they had the chance.

That's a funny comment because the reason Craftsman died is thay Sears commingled it with fakes by selling the name to junk makers.

> in good times

Unfunded pension liabilities is how you have good times now and wreck the future.

Which is why you should fund them. A sizable part of my monthly salary is automatically diverted to my pension fund. Mandatory.

There used to be a time when old people were poor. Now retirees are the economic engine.

> Now retirees are the economic engine.

There are two sides to that as well, however.

It's not just the few retirees that have a high pension which cause this... It's also the majority of young people not employed in tech getting increasingly shitty wages

In the US, pension means defined benefit pension plan, which are under the control of the company, not the pensioners. The people benefiting from the pension don’t have any say (or knowledge) properly funding them or investing the funds, and don’t know if they are being taken for a ride.

In my opinion, 401k with low fee target date funds are probably better all around.

Destroying defined benefits was also a great way to kill wages.

Employee wages should be significantly higher at companies with 401k's, of course they aren't.

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