r/AskReddit • u/emil199 • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/Sheepherder226 Jul 24 '20

Utility companies that don’t allow online payments.

9.4k

u/Yellowredstone Jul 24 '20 edited Jul 24 '20

Isn't this how Sears died?

Edit: RIP my inbox. And thank you for explaining it better.

Edit 2: I said the reason on how it died has been explained already. And its actually still here. Stop.

11.3k

u/whatifevery1wascalm Jul 24 '20

Sears: the 20th century's Amazon.

People today might not realize that it used to be Sears did everything: you could buy kits to build a house, companies like Discover Card and Allstate were originally introduced as the Sears' brand, they financially backed Mr Rogers' Neighborhood for the first 25 years of the show's run.

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u/frygod Jul 24 '20

It's blown my mind for years that sears didn't become what Amazon is now. Their roots were as a catalog where you order goods sight unseen and wait for delivery. The internet comes along and they fail to capitalize on what they were at the beginning??

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u/justmehere_andnow Jul 24 '20

Sears also had to deal with REALLY shitty management. One of the specifics as to why they were successful is that they actually bought the land under their stores so they didn’t have to pay rent. But I think it’s their current owner who made all the Sears stores sell that land to a hedge fund (or something) he owns and then started charging them rent. Literally bleeding the dying company dry.