Thread regarding Sears layoffs

Come on everyone... well for those that actully ring a register, how many times have you had to re ring a sale becsuse you didn't ask, then the member says did you take my points off..

Crap so it all over again, then everyone behind them are now mad cause they have to wait longer..

So screw you im going to ask them all

I am going to play the Devils Advocate here people, You see many of our members know they have points but would rather not use them because subconsciously they know that Sears could use an edge right now.

Its like going to lunch with an old friend that is going thru a rough patch and its their turn to pay. You know you paid for lunch last time and its their turn to pay, but you pretend its your turn to pay because you know they need the help. You dont say anything that its their turn to pay because you are a good friend.

They give 7 dollars off 7 dollars of merchandise to get rid of the merchandise

If was was soooooo standardized years ago why are we STILL having problems!!! One time it will work another time it won't work because of some stupid fine print (even if the item should work). We have made it very simple at my store. If the customer wants to know their points balance we just say I can check to see how much it takes off, instead of showing a bunch of points that may or may not work correctly! If something comes off great otherwise we just say looks like nothing came off today. Has eliminated almost all of our points "issues"

@dbw- exactly. Customer comes up to register ready to pay the full price, so let's give them more money off even though they aren't aware of points?? Not our problem.

The reason you are asked not to offer is vecause the store pays for the points. The member should keep track of their points. Why would you offer a discount if they are already buying it for the current price?

@gax now that sounds like a Sears problem and not the customer

All Surprise Points offers were standardized with the same exclusions two years ago (excludes clearance, great price items, food/grocery, hba, household cleaning, pet supplies, paper products)... so why are there still so many confused associates (and members)??

Those $7 off $7 apparel offers at Kmart AND SEARS... when you consider that a $7.98 tshirt cost the company $2.10, I don't think we are giving away the store. The intent of the offer is to stimulate the member into looking at our apparel lines. 8 times out of 10, they see something they buy on the spot or during a subsequent shopping trip.

@gax Very truth the whole point system gets confusing with with surprise points, however you need to know how to word things. One thing I learned from retail for the many years I worked never ever tell a customer yes its going to work and 100 percent sure if you aren't 100 percent sure. Always go with it should work, but best way to find out is at the cashier because some exclusions apply. Assuring the customer that its going to work puts you on the spot if it doesnt end up working.

Customers will use this against associates I seen it happen kind of messed up you try to help a customer than the customer basically back stabs you. This problems would be minimize if Sears IT made it much better wording when a cashier is going to ring someone up. Say they have surprise points and customer says I had $10 dollars in points I got an email they were surprise points the system tells you why purchase wont qualify making it clear to the customer what they can use the surprise points, but you need to buy the right thing that qualifies.

I see nothing wrong with this. Cashiers have enough to ask without asking "do you want to see how many points you have"? I was told one of the reasons we can't ask about points is because the surprise points are so confusing that they are not explained correctly and the customer thinks they are getting a discount of merchandise that doesn't qualify. We had to override so many items because the associate told the customer "you have 10 off 20 in surprise points go find something to buy" then the customer came back with food or party supplies or batteries or the other million items that don't usually work with surprise points and we had to over ride the price because the cashier Never informed the customer of all the restrictions.

@znw, STFU.

Everyone...Sears isn't a charity. It's a business. Yes we offer points. But what's wrong with letting customers be responsible for keeping track of them?

The shady tactic is back at it again. Thats why they are offering all kinds of promo with points that expire within 2 weeks so customers burn their cash and the points expire.

@iqk They changed it back in like January/Feb of this year. It was quite an uproar on Pebble, too. They did it the same time they eliminated the employee 10% discounts.

@hdu- points expire after 12 months, not two. This has not changed.

The points are intended to be a reason to come in and make a purchase. I primarily shop online, but yes I make additional purchases because I always have points. I don't know...so far I like the points. And truly I don't need a sale associate, when I do shop in the store, to tell me how many points I have as I already know.

Considering SYW points now expire after only 60 days, if you're being told not to ask customers (sorry, members) to use them then Sears only has one thing in mind - expiring as many SYW points as possible. Which of course was the reason they changed to the 60-day expiry model.

I always wondered where the money for the points comes from? Sears is literally giving members free merchandise when they use their points. How can a company become profitable when they are giving away product? Probably whey Sears doesn't want associates to encourage point usage anymore. It's eroding away at the profit margins. Just my thought...

I think the point is, what brought the customer into the store? If the customer came in because they had SYW points, then definitely let them use it... but if a customer just wanted to buy something, and it turns out they can get it cheaper, then the company just loses money for something the customer didn't even care about.

I cashed out a lady that declined to use points because she probably didn't have any, I checked her receipt and told her actually you have 148.00. Needless to say she went back out to do more shopping. What I do not understand is this, why if they are at this point in drowning, do they continue to offer $7 of $7 in apparel (Kmart) and other offers of that sort. I know it's meant to get them to spend more than $7 but I see people keeping it as close to $7 as they can. By underestimating the customers intelligence they are letting free products walk out the door. They've put themselves on this sinking ship.

I'm a CSA in automotive. We received an email from corporate about a year ago instructing us not to offer to use SYW points. Ever since that time I make sure I ask everyone is they wish to use the points. F Sears!

They are doing this again? The company does this periodically. SYW is a joke.

Bravo to the OP .. clapping to this post, keep asking them, sometimes I have surprise points I didn't know I had unless the person at the register checked for me. Not to mention the ones that are about to fall off and go right back into the sears bank account .... again BRAVO to you and thank you for caring about the customer