lexipixel - 12:17 am on Mar 3, 2012 (gmt 0)

Does anybody know how they stay afloat?

I always knew they owned the Discover card -- but here's a bit more of what puts money in their corporate coffers---

"At the time the Discover Card was introduced, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. It had purchased the Dean Witter Reynolds Organization (brokerage) and Coldwell, Banker & Company (real estate) in 1981 as an attempt to add financial services to its portfolio of customer services." [en.wikipedia.org...]

(yeah, I know, I used a WikiPedia reference)...

break a tool? walk in and grab a new one no questions asked.

Only if it's "Craftsman" hand tools, (power tools all have limited warranties, Craftsman hand tools have lifetime replacement). On that note, Sears now sells a lower cost of imported "Champion" tools alongside the Craftsman ones -- the Champion tools don't have lifetime warranty.

Sears is hosed.

Kinda --- your comment makes me want to mention that Sears considers a garden hose a "hand tool". I've had them replace my leaky, cracked "Craftsman" garden hoses for the past 20 years -- walk in with old one, walk out with a new one, (the old ones were much higher quality -- but still "Lifetime Guarantee" makes it worthwhile).

The trick to offering a "Lifetime Warranty" is to produce such high quliaty goods that people will pay a premium for them and you'll never (or only rarely) have to replace them. Quality, value and customer loyalty are something retailers have lost sight off -- only selling on "low price".

I have the same Victornox Swiss Army Knife I bought over 30 years -- I broke a blade once and they fixed it (and sharpened everything up and cleaned it) for free. I'd never buy another brand of pocket knife -- and here I am "advertising" for them for free.

Manufacturing for "planned obsolescence" was good in the pre-green throw away days --- personally, I'd buy just about anything (at a premium price) that was high quality and had a lifetime guarantee over the "cheaper" model.