sears is dying, but workers’ loyalty lives on - health care appliances

The annual Christmas luncheon is held at noon, but many members of the Atlanta Sears family have arrived at the church hall at 10: 30 a. m. m.
There's a lot to follow up on: Birthday, illness and news for club members who have died in the past few months.
Roast Ham, green beans and cherry pie for lunch.
Music-
Mainly old songs and Christmas carols.
84-1 club memberyear-
Old Herman Atwood, dancing with "My Girl", twisted and rotated in his Sears Roebuck sweater vest as if he were at the wedding.
Sears may be hard to survive after filing for bankruptcy in October, and its shabby and vacant shops symbolize
A company that does not adapt.
But across the country, former workers like Sears
Retired truck drivers Atwood often gather together to recall their long careers in the retail industry.
Brands like Kenmore and DieHard that have been around for decades.
Unlimited creativity of shop pickpockets.
The impossible task of picking the women's shoes inventory. Martha and W. J. Reid.
"Let's join the fraternity," he said . "
For the older generation of Sears retired, their former employer remains a central part of their lives, a step back in an industry known for its high turnover, low wages and expensive health care.
Today, there are dozens of Sears alumni groups from my Bangor.
To Sioux Falls, United States of AmericaD.
It is one of the largest and most active networks of retirees in the United States.
"It feels like family," 30 years ago Mattie Hugo Hey sat down with three friends and met packing catalog orders at Sears warehouse in Atlanta.
Long before it went bankrupt, before it was taken over by hedge fund manager Edward S.
Before Amazon pioneered internet shopping, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States, with nearly 350,000 employees at its peak.
At its peak, from the end of World War II to its 1970 s, Sears provided a clear path to the middle class for many of its workers.
The company is well paid, profitable and offers retirement benefits, which makes many former employees relatively comfortable.
Madison price, 87, comes every year for a holiday lunch, visiting old friends and soaking up music.
He works on a farm in Georgia to help grow cotton and corn.
His father shared the benefits of their crops with the people who owned the farm. Mr.
Price did not graduate from high school and often missed classes because the farm needed him.
After the Korean War,
In 1958, Price found a job as a doorman at a store in Atlanta.
When he retired 34 years later
Price sold the Sears stock the company has awarded him over the years and took his pension at one time.
He only re-invested the money in what he used: Shares of Georgian electric power and municipal bonds in dercalb County and Atlanta airport. Today, Mr.
Price said he received enough dividends and interest from his portfolio and social security to live a comfortable life.
He paid for his son's college tuition, and his wife's earnest speech was already able to travel with her friends.
"I'm lucky . "Price said.
Many retirees at the luncheon said they thought the time at Sears was not just part of working at a successful retailer.
They work in American culture and business.
Sears sells everything: chicken feed, massage washing machine, and pajamas, watches and spell-fixing machines in the Christmas Wish Book.
"A man came to look for a carriage for his horse," said Jerry Parker, who has worked at Sears in the Atlanta area for 45 years.
Sears also has a large physical presence.
In Atlanta, the company occupies one of the largest buildings in the area.
Over 2 million square feet of shops, warehouses and regional offices.
The red brick warehouse on ponse de Leon Avenue is the pioneer of e-commerce
A commercial fulfillment center for shipping thousands of items ordered through a catalog. Mr.
Parker recalled that he was hiding in the fridge with a small hole on the side of the fridge so he could monitor the unloading staff. One day, Mr.
Parker said his security guards caught a young seasonal worker trying to wear seven plaid skirts under his pants for his sister and her cheerleaders.
"He's getting bigger and bigger all day," he said. Parker said.
Sears workers became experts in their field.
Heating system, kitchen appliances, cosmetics.
They are proud of what they sell.
After serving as a naval supply officer in World War II, elders Penny began working at Sears department store, a regional buyer of women's shoes. Mr.
Penny, 94, still owns the Kenmore refrigerator she bought in Sears in 1974.
"I think I will wear out before it wears out," he said . ".
There is also a feeling of friendship and support.
Decades ago, Sears headquarters in Illinois was called the "parent company "--
This is a powerful symbol of the way employees view employers.
Experienced workers recruit new employees under their wings.
When a manager moved to a new store, other staff there helped him find a new home.
66-year-old Bill Rudolf had lunch with his friend Dorothy Davis, who met Dorothy Davis as manager of Sears department store in the Atlanta area.
He picked her up.
Davis, 89, was at her house and gave her a ride because she had stopped driving. Mr.
Rudolf started working at Sears department store when he was 18.
Davis and other women thought of him early in the company. Mr.
Rudolf continued to become the national director of operations before retiring 47 years later.
"This is a place where people care about each other . "
Rudolf excitedly recalled the help he had received from older women.
Sears today is completely different from what many retirees remember.
Retailers stop making profits
Share in the 1970 and most recently hired employees that no longer receive a pension.
Under the leadership of the chairman
Lampert, the company has been selling many of its most valuable stores and firing thousands of workers. On Friday, Mr.
Lampert made $4 through his hedge fund, ESL Investments.
4 billion acquired many of the company's remaining assets, including retail stores. Mr.
Lampert said the proposal would retain 50,000 workers.
Retirees have long warned that,
Lambert's partnership with Sears will end in a bad ending.
When his hedge fund acquired the company in 2005 through a merger with Kmart, a group of former workers hired a plane and pulled a banner over the headquarters in Illinois, which read: "Sears is unfair to retirees.
"The organization, the National Association of retired employees of Sears, has been keeping a close eye on their former employers under his leadershipLampert.
They hold regular conference calls detailing the local Sears store.
"I was in a car center the other day and put four tires," Tampa's retiree Jim Mack curtain called last month.
"They did a good job.
Another retiree reported on the phone that her friend had succeeded in getting Sears repairman to clean up the ice machine in the refrigerator, noting that the ice machine was "very precise, very
"Thanks to the support of pension benefits guarantee companies, pensions for retirees are expected to be substantially intact after bankruptcy.
But many analysts and investors say retirees will lose most of their life insurance benefits if Sears is liquidated.
In Sears's current incarnation, it has been difficult to recruit new members for alumni groups.
There were 250 clubs 20 years ago, and now there are only about 45.
Retirees who have not received a pension or profit recently
Sharing is not as loyal as the older generation.
Ron orbrash said: "Sears is a great company, he retired from Sears legal department in his 1990 s and is now the president of the National Association of retirees, "But I'm glad we came out when we retired.
Age is another challenge.
The Atlanta club regularly updates the "bereavement report" of its 160 members, listing local retirees who have died.
At the end of Decatur's lunch, Lynn Walker Kaplan lingered in the church hall to help clean up the table and talk to friends. Ms.
Not only was Kaplan, 66, a former employee, she was also referred to as a "by-product" of Sears ".
"Her parents met while working at the Christmas pickup window at the Atlanta store. Ms.
Walker left the company before reaching retirement age because she said she was not suitable for her last job in the collection department.
But every year she takes a day out of her existing job at an accounting firm to attend a luncheon.
"No one has made time for such things.
"Everyone is very busy," she said . ".
"This way of life is almost gone.