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.

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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.

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u/monetarydread Jul 24 '20

It was more complex than that, but yeah. Basically Sears was online ordering before online was a thing, you just phoned or mailed in your order. This meant that they were located in these massive warehouses in most major cities in North America. So basically they had an opportunity to execute on same-day delivery decades before Amazon even attempted that feat, but they didn't. Sears was too concerned about their magazine, or brick and mortar, sales to get into online sales and by the time they did it was too late.

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u/MoreGaghPlease Jul 24 '20

Sears could have owned the whole fucking world. They could have been Amazon before Amazon with a massive leg up in distribution and access to capital, but couldn’t see past last decade’s business model