Retail Winners and Losers

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Are the desperate ones aggressively pushing their sales staff to tele-market and try to set appointments, thereby pushing them to reel people in, instead of the other way around (let the client lead the sales staff when and if they want extra assistance by way of appointment).

Sales staff are getting more than a little annoyed at being pushed to chronically pester people by phone, so anyone aggressively doing so is probably in a total state of desperation post-recession.

Never had Nordstrom call and chronically pester me, but if I call them, they're right on whatever it is I need.

Other retailers, please read "The Nordstrom Way" sometime. It explains how the client is king (or queen), and sales staff merely let the client lead the entire way, not the other way around. You never hear non-stop tele-marketing calls from Nordie's. Not unless you called to ask to be called for a particular issue or sale.

No one who is aggressively pursued buys as much. Simple psychology teaches that this makes the retailer appear desperate and stalker-ish, thus causing the client to back off and recoil in horror.

No tele-marketers please of IL 1:04AM July 28, 2010

Same old thing still happening Big banks still putting the screws to us the ones who pay their salary.. Lets see in a year from now who's getting screwed..when they are really hurting for those huge bonuses.. I haven't had a credit card since 2004 filed for bankruptcy protection.. never again will I ever have a credit card..

David of IN 7:17PM January 28, 2010

Here Here on the credit card companys. I myself am doing the same thing and will never again bank with the big guns again. They did the same thing to me!

molly ackman of AK 7:34PM January 22, 2010

take your money out of the big banks and put it in a local bank or credit union, I used to be with Bank of America but after they lost a credit card payment that was handed to a teller got lost for a month, then they gave a $4,000 credit instead of a $2,000 payment when I called to tell them about their mistake they put the $2,000 back in as a cash advance and charged me a $47 fee. They told me they couldn't take it off even though it was their mistake, I moved four accounts to Suntrust and at least they know me when I walk in their bank. I also saw several young men in B O A that couldn't cash their checks because they didn't have a social security numberso the guy who with cashed them through his account, must have been illegals.

irene of FL 6:04PM January 22, 2010

I had a twenty thousand in credit card debt, my wife and I discussed it and decided to take some retirement. and pay off citi bank visa, we heard on the news that they were in bankruptcy, citi bank had always been there when we needed help, so we decided to do our part. We paid off our account. We recieved a letter about 10 to 12 days later that they had reduced our credit limit to five hundred dollars. I was shocked I could understand dropping it to 10 thousand or even 5 thousand . but five hundred dollars, when I called them they said they would review it in six months . I asked them to close my account and never call me again.

The problems our country face right now are bad, but as a small business owner, when its slow we have to suck it up the government is not helping us we cant even get a small loan to hold us over, cover payroll etc etc.

Randy Rose of CA 1:51PM January 22, 2010

What's sad is that everyone including myself and the government has lived way beyond their means. We all have racked up credit card debt and can't make ends meet. The banks have raised interest rates so they can recoup the losses from this mess. What the government should do is put a cap on bank card interest rates so people can get these cards paid off. Obama and our so called representatives in congress didn't have the foresight to see that this was going to happen when they announced stricter rules for the credit card industry. Now credit card companies that once had interest rates at 9.99% are now charging 22% and even higher in some instances. My goal is to be free of credit cards in 1 year and after that I will never trust them again. My savings is starting to grow and I will no longer trust the governement with my money. We should have listen to our grandparents and great-grandparents who learned to live without and still managed to be happy. We just don't know how to live without things. I don't have the internet at home, I don't own a cell phone and I'm learning to find the balance and happiness that we all should be searching for. Remember in the end; man will not be measured by what he has but how many friends he has. That's a true measure of who you are. We all need to take a stand and show the government that we're sick and tired of this mess. They should make an effort by cutting their own salaries and benefits like most of us have had to do. I don't trust any of them to do what is right for the people. They all talk the talk but not one of them is willing to walk the walk. They don't listen and personally I don't think they care. Their retirements are already taken care of by you and me.

Lyaros of IN 12:57PM January 22, 2010

The trend shows that the consumers are not going to throw their money

away for mere brand names. Living within the means is going to be the

motto of the future, because this recession has taught everybody, both

rich and poor, a great lesson of financial responsibility. Banks are going to

hit soon like the high priced brand name department stores. The banking

industry was ripping off poeple by providing plastic card credit to anybody

without their capacity to pay back, and many of those customers have gone

bankrupt. How to recover that amount?

The American medical industry has to get under control, because

a lion's share of our income is gone for medical care. It is sad to say the

American medical industry is the most expensive in the world, but the people

are not the most healthiest in the world. There is something fundamently wrong with the system. Some of the chain drug stores are truning like fast

food operations, dispensing drugs to the drive-in patients. Medicine consuption

is driven to a position like fast food, and doctors are prescribing unnecessary

medications to the unsuspecting patients and making them drug addicts.

Until the health care is not under control, recession will not end, because

the average American is spending too much money on medicine, whether they

are healthy or sick. If they are sick, they will end up in the bankruptcy court.

A.S.Mathew of GA 5:31AM January 18, 2010

MS you have,without realizing it,hit the nail on the head when you said "I am a part timer". These retail stores are just symptoms of what is wrong. The fat cats and their blood sucking followers in economics both in government and the private sector have managed to send millions of jobs, full time well paying jobs permanently overseas. They paid for this folly with borrowed money, a lot from China. In effect these people have done the same thing the Romans did,. bread and circuses for the masses while the rich vacation all over the world at our expense. Just take a look at the clothing and goods in your store. Almost 100 percent is from overseas. Those goods represent millions of jobs, millions of unemployed Americas. Until we reverse the de-industrialization of America the situation will only get worse. You, your children, and mine will be peons ruled by a few rich aristocrats who look down their noses at us, the people.

mfellion of CA 11:25AM January 16, 2010

the sentors need to come together & get bring the cost of health care

down.they need to send the foreigners back to their country & stop

them from sending our money to there counrty. they to lock up bad ones

up & throw the key away.they need to try & stop some of the drug dealers

& get big drugdealers off of the streets & bring down bad policemans.

they need to help the poor people & get better healthcare policys

for the needed poeple right now & build more affordable homes for

the elderly people & affordable homes for the low income people

that need it now. they need to get peoples jobs back so they can

pay their bill & afford their homes & buy more food their familys

also.they need to bring our troops back home & quit helping the

other countrys & help the americans here in the united states

right now.

williamjacobs of MS 10:26AM January 16, 2010

It's great to see TJX up there as a strong performer, which is great to hear, because that means my job is safe for awhile. However, they pay me minimum wage and my hours well...to put it bluntly..suck. Only management and coordinators (dept mgrs) get full time and benefits, the ones who actually keep the store running, the part timers get nothing just a small paycheck. I am not complaining...least I have a job, while others don't. For now I am content.

Katrina of NY 10:08AM January 16, 2010

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Rick Newman

Rick Newman

The global economy is mysterious, even scary. Chief Business Correspondent Rick Newman connects the dots. In addition to his writing for U.S. News, Rick is the co-author of two books: Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11, and Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail.


Read Rick's latest blog entries here.

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