Sears-Kmart goes anti-green

[nogods]

Well, not just Sears-Kmart. All the stores seem to be using their cash register tapes in an attempt to waste as much paper as possible.

But Sears-Kmart is even more obnoxious. Not only do you get the 3-foot long register tape with 30 inane announcements, you also get a few extra ones advertising everything from dish tv to plastic windows. And 10% off things you'd never buy.

And you can't buy Something at Sears-Kmart without being solicited for an "extended warranty" and "save 10% today by signing up for a Sears card."

I asked if I could a warranty on a Sears card that would pay the balance if I chose not to pay it. The clerk replied "let me check with customer service."

[anyones neighbor]

I'd just leave the excess tape on the counter. Why should I have to get rid of THEIR garbage? Tear off what's necessary & leave the rest!

[speaker]

The tapes are never good for any deals.
Sears is not only antigreen--they are all for the bigreen. Their interest rate on their card is almost 22%. I got a garage door opener, installed by Sears, two years ago. It's a heavy duty top of the line. It has fallen apart and jammed twice now with no hard wear.

I bought glasses from them and two pair cost an exorbitant price. What I had to pay was equal to the cost of two pair, and they still charged my health insurance $400. No eye exam. The glasses were crummy and I took them back.

That was my fault for buying them, but I was so anxious to get them I caved.

I will never go to Sears again. For anything.

[Bioguy231]

I'm not really sure how you can say paper is anti-green. Paper companies and other companies using wood commercially are basically "farming" trees. They create a lot of new trees every year and when the trees are ready to harvest, they become paper, furniture, new houses, etc. Trees that aren't used are turned into mulch or left to grow old fall over, and like mulch end up creating new soil.

Paper and waste wood also end up in land fills and create new soil.

The big thing is that the companies that are farming trees are creating more trees on this planet than would exist otherwise. More trees mean more oxygen and less greenhouse gases.

You guys that complain about stuff like this might look into taking like a basic biology class. After that, think of all the intelligent comments you can make on sites like this.

[speaker]

I hadn't thought of that aspect, bio. Good observation.

But I still don't like the paper waste---especially all of the political stuff that is coming in the mail. It really never has the skinny on the guy running for office, andgenerally you really have to look someplace else to see what party they belong to.

All of the department stores throw out tons of plastic everyday--goes into the dumps. I wish they could start thinking green.

[nogods]

I'm not really sure how you can say paper is anti-green. Paper companies and other companies using wood commercially are basically "farming" trees. They create a lot of new trees every year and when the trees are ready to harvest, they become paper, furniture, new houses, etc. Trees that aren't used are turned into mulch or left to grow old fall over, and like mulch end up creating new soil.

Paper and waste wood also end up in land fills and create new soil.

The big thing is that the companies that are farming trees are creating more trees on this planet than would exist otherwise. More trees mean more oxygen and less greenhouse gases.

You guys that complain about stuff like this might look into taking like a basic biology class. After that, think of all the intelligent comments you can make on sites like this.

That logic would be great - if it didn't take fossil fuels to cut those trees, transport them, convert them to paper, transport the paper, make the ink used to print the receipts, and make the electricity to run the machines that print the tapes.

And then more fossil fuels used to plant new trees, manage those plantings, and start the cycle all over again.

the reason corn can't solve our imported oil problem is because it presently takes more imported oil to turn corn into ethanol than the amount we get to replace the imported oil used by cars.

Hopefully advancing technology will be able to change that and we can then free ourself of the major source of our weakness in the world. But until then, corn is best left on the cob with salt and butter or fed to cattle.

[Bioguy231]

I hadn't thought of that aspect, bio. Good observation.

But I still don't like the paper waste---especially all of the political stuff that is coming in the mail. It really never has the skinny on the guy running for office, andgenerally you really have to look someplace else to see what party they belong to.

All of the department stores throw out tons of plastic everyday--goes into the dumps. I wish they could start thinking green.

You know what I hate about the long register tapes? The cashier always.....always....puts it on top of the paper bills change and then puts the coin change on top of that and hands it to me. I'm standing there rearranging everything so I can put the bills into my wallet, the change into my pocket and the tape into the bag. Meanwhile the people in line behind me are tapping their feet....waiting for me to move on.

[Bioguy231]

That logic would be great - if it didn't take fossil fuels to cut those trees, transport them, convert them to paper, transport the paper, make the ink used to print the receipts, and make the electricity to run the machines that print the tapes.

And then more fossil fuels used to plant new trees, manage those plantings, and start the cycle all over again.

the reason corn can't solve our imported oil problem is because it presently takes more imported oil to turn corn into ethanol than the amount we get to replace the imported oil used by cars.

Hopefully advancing technology will be able to change that and we can then free ourself of the major source of our weakness in the world. But until then, corn is best left on the cob with salt and butter or fed to cattle.

Where do you think fossil fuels come from? The fossil fuel fairy?????

Like I said, take a basic biology course and then come back and post something intelligent.

[nogods]

Where do you think fossil fuels come from? The fossil fuel fairy?????

Like I said, take a basic biology course and then come back and post something intelligent.

Do you not understand the basic concept? Talk about lacking intelligence...

Every receipt printed by a store represents a use of the underlying energy (mostly fossil fuel energy) needed to create the paper and ink and electricity needed to print the receipt.

You suggested that using paper somehow was beneficial to the environment because it caused trees to be planted, but you forgot about the energy cost to make the paper, transport the paper, and print the receipts.

Take a basic economics course and then come back and post something intelligent.

or try reading this: The Secret Life Series - paper and the environment

[Rhiannon]

The tapes are never good for any deals.
Sears is not only antigreen--they are all for the bigreen. Their interest rate on their card is almost 22%. I got a garage door opener, installed by Sears, two years ago. It's a heavy duty top of the line. It has fallen apart and jammed twice now with no hard wear.

I bought glasses from them and two pair cost an exorbitant price. What I had to pay was equal to the cost of two pair, and they still charged my health insurance $400. No eye exam. The glasses were crummy and I took them back.

That was my fault for buying them, but I was so anxious to get them I caved.

I will never go to Sears again. For anything.

I never go shopping at Sears.. everything is overpriced, besides the fact that my Mom went there to have her breaks fixd and they wanted $700 for a job that ended up costing only $200 dollars somewhere else. and to top that off, someone stole her keys off the key board and stole her car right out of the garage bay and 1 week later it was found stripped on the East side... So much for that!

[Bioguy231]

Do you not understand the basic concept? Talk about lacking intelligence...

Every receipt printed by a store represents a use of the underlying energy (mostly fossil fuel energy) needed to create the paper and ink and electricity needed to print the receipt.

You suggested that using paper somehow was beneficial to the environment because it caused trees to be planted, but you forgot about the energy cost to make the paper, transport the paper, and print the receipts.

Take a basic economics course and then come back and post something intelligent.

or try reading this: The Secret Life Series - paper and the environment

OK. let me try and explain this in very very simple terms you might understand. There's a gas called carbon dioxide, and it's created when we breath and burn fossil fuels. As the amount of carbon dioxide increases, the temperature of the planet increases. So, too much carbon dioxide is bad.

Trees and other plants breath in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. So, the more trees and plants we have, the less carbon dioxide we will have in the atmosphere.

But, humans have engaged in activities that create huge amounts of carbon dioxide and humans have cut down forests that can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. So, over the last century, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased and people are worried about global warming.

Because of this, many companies using wood have begun farming trees and the US and other countries have passed laws about tree farming.

We also have people like Al Gore who are battling against higher carbon dioxide levels and global warming.

But, Al Gore and others are flying around the world making speeches and every time they hop on an airplane they create an amount of carbon dioxide that takes millions of trees to eliminate. And when Al Gore and others give speeches, people jump in their cars to go hear the speeches and create even more carbon dioxide. Paper production is a minuscule part of the problem and is insignificant compared to most human activities. Think for a minute of how much carbon dioxide is generated when Barack Obama takes Michell Obama on a date night in NYC. It would take billions of miles of cash register tapes to account for the same amount of carbon dioxide.

BTW.....in terms of my economic education......University of Michigan Business School......second only to the Harvard Business School. What are your credentials?

Like I said, take a basic biology course for starters.

[Dougles]

Well, not just Sears-Kmart. All the stores seem to be using their cash register tapes in an attempt to waste as much paper as possible.

But Sears-Kmart is even more obnoxious. Not only do you get the 3-foot long register tape with 30 inane announcements, you also get a few extra ones advertising everything from dish tv to plastic windows. And 10% off things you'd never buy.

Actually it's NYS that causes a lot of that green! When I worked for CC I asked why we our print outs were so long and they told me to talk to legal. They explained that on each print out we put the companies return policy, which in many states is required by law to be printed out.