I have been through this before. The writing is on the wall. What did staples want with corporate express? Their book of business and that's it. Staples needed CE'S cash and customer list to stay afloat. Now they have it but are losing money. All the best folks are leaving and those left are being offered protected roles. Staples wishes to return to the company they were so many years ago before they bought CE and before they had all these stores. Unless you have a protected position (black belt)...your ass is on the line.
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Staples primarily wanted the Jan/San end of CE. The original plan was to eliminate CE's furniture division, but, when they figured out it was a money maker they kept it. Additionally, they were impressed with how far advanced CE was information system's wise. Only to turn around and stick with the ancient AS/400 they've been using for over 25 years.
Yeah, but the REALLY higher 'higher ups' will cash out just fine, regardless of what happens. Be it a Staples/Depot merger, or Staples going 3rd party, or even Staples going bankrupt...the executives will walk away with plenty of money, regardless of the scenario.
The age of dedicated fleets for a retailer is over. People need to wake up. Staples' stuff will still get delivered by 3rd party, and they'll still get their money for it. They don't care what sort of delivery quality is provided.
AMEN to that post!
The higher ups (Don Ralph) don't like Black Belts, so I wouldn't be so sure they are secure either. Also, wheh all SDO's are closed, the need for Process Excellence won't be as much anyway. Many excellent BB's have already left and I'm sure more will see the writing on the wall. Staples wanted CE's client list and also to see how to efficiently run a fleet. Martell had/has no clue how to do it right, and it shows by them shutting the fleet down. Staples answer is/was to send all packages with 3rd party, a LA Amazon? Guess,what? Amazon uses mostly UPS and some local carriers - the same carriers that have/will take over the deliveries when the SDO's closed/will close. Those same carriers will ultimately be Staples undoing because they don't care about the most important thing: customers. To circle back, Staples wanted to see what CE was doing to care for their customers(which they did well,) but thought it was too expensive and decided to shut the fleet down and go 3rd party. Shutting your fleet down and closing stores will be your undoing.