SEARS backstabbing the little guy

[lucky seven]

On last night news there was a segment on Sears. The last few years they have been selling a wrench made in america by a very small company with 130 employees. They didn't want the owner to sell to other stores, they wanted the monopoly on it. This year no orders so the man had to lay off his workers. Sears, on the other hand, is selling the same wrench under the Craftsman name and made in China. I guess the original company didn't have a patent and sears took advantage of that. I am a retiree from Sears and very ashamed of this company. I hope the bad press causes them to have a lower profit margin this year. Shame on the corporate bosses who did this. Personally, I will do the same thing this year as last. Shop small, buy Made in the USA (which you can if you look) and boycott KMart/Sears.

 

[Mona]

Yes, it's a sad thing, but unfortunately, the owner of the small business set himself up for this by not patenting his design/product.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I agree with Mona. While I feel for the original manufacturer, in the world of business money talks and there is no room for emotions. How come he didn't have some advice form his accountant or lawyer to the effect that if he didn't get a patent he was risking any one who looked at it stealing his design. IMO if not Sears then some enterprising person who saw it on the shelves there would have jumped on it. Its a shame the inventor never checked into what he needed to do to protect himself and maybe Sears was unkind but it was inevitable I think.

 

[Riverrose28]

I saw this last night on the news, terrable.

 

[2minis4us]

Doesn't surpise me, the big corporations and their greed

 

[lucky seven]

That whole company has gone downhill. We used to refer to our time as "sears family" Now they promote people to management who verbally abuse people. I used to wonder what the people in for interviews thought of our manager yelling at people all of the time. I would sit and watch him abuse people and thought to myself if I was ever a target, then I would leave. No job is worth what those people endured. Sure enough, one day he called me and to dept managers into his office and went up one side of me and down the other with all doors open in front of everyone. I found another job and quit two weeks before black friday. It was another 2 1/2 years before I could bring myself to go back into that store.

 

[tagalong]

I agree with Mona. While I feel for the original manufacturer, in the world of business money talks and there is no room for emotions. How come he didn't have some advice form his accountant or lawyer to the effect that if he didn't get a patent he was risking any one who looked at it stealing his design. IMO if not Sears then some enterprising person who saw it on the shelves there would have jumped on it. Its a shame the inventor never checked into what he needed to do to protect himself and maybe Sears was unkind but it was inevitable I think.

The Free Market system is not always kind... but that is business.

 

[susanne]

It may be "business as usual," but we don't have to go along with it. If everybody stuck to their principles and refused to shop Sears, they would feel it...trouble is, give it a few weeks and most will forget.

 

[HGFarm]

If Sears has been selling this for a long time, WHY did the guy never patent what he had? That doesnt even make sense. I dont care who you are, big or small, if you dont protect what you have, it's fair game for someone else to grab it. is it nice? No, I dont think so, but is it legal? Yep.

 

[Lizzie]

One of the reasons I love Shark Tank, on TV.. They almost always ask, if the people have a patent on it. If not - why not. Sad though, for the small business. Not everyone knows to take out a patent. Shame on Sears. I never shop there anyway.

I remember in the '70's, the story of a family who owned a wood yard. Someone kept breaking in and stealing lumber, so they got a guard dog. The usual thief jumped the fence and the dog mauled him. He sued. He won everything he could have. The family lost their business and home. Life ain't always fair.

Lizzie

 

[fourluckyhorseshoes]

One of the reasons I love Shark Tank, on TV.

I love that show too ! Lots of cool and some very weird ideas... as well as inventors

 

[kaykay]

It is very expensive and hard to get a patent. Many things you would think you could patent you cannot. Take for instance a jewelry design. You cannot patent that. Or a tshirt design. Etc etc. Wonder if he ran into trouble trying to get a patent? But I am not familiar with the whole story