# Companies that don't have much time left **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354 "2015-10-11T20:07:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/81 "2015-10-14T05:05:45Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Just a WAG, but probably because they’re no longer NSFW, guys can log in during the day. Or they can read it for the articles with kids in the room. 😉 As for Staples, there are two stores in my city, and there’s an Office Max about a mile away. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/82 "2015-10-14T05:36:42Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Or they can read it for the articles with kids in the room. 😉 > > As for Staples, there are two stores in my city, and there’s an Office Max about a mile away. The whole “Playboy” thing was so mainstream in the 1970s, the magazine was sold at Target. By the time I started working there in 1980, they weren’t selling it, and I was told that it was one of their most commonly shoplifted items. Back then, magazines generally weren’t sold in shrinkwrap unless there was some kind of add-on. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/83 "2015-10-14T06:02:34Z")
> [@bump](#): > > If they were smart, they’d formalize that Amazon showroom deal somehow and get back a bit of that cash that all goes to Amazon right now. That would take them looking at Amazon as a partner, and not as the evil, implacable enemy though. I think that’s why they (Best Buy) have their own web site. I almost feel like there used to be a partnership, but I could be thinking of Target. I know for a fact Amazon used to handle their ecommerce. Of course, anyone can partner with Amazon and get paid for it, but if you stock your own product you want them to buy it from you. For stores like Best Buy… or any store that has a website with inventory search, I do the opposite and look at their site first to see if they have something and then go to the store to buy it. Sometimes, I can’t wait 1-2 days for Amazon. Like the time I ordered a new computer on Amazon but it needed a different cable to connect the monitor. Walmart only carried monitor cables from 1996, same with Target, and Staples sold exactly 1 model for $50. Best Buy had some for 15 bucks. On a few occasions Best Buy has functioned as my sort of newer age Radio Shack with a much smaller selection. As in, they are the only kind of store like that with any accessories at all. Good luck finding anything or any help in any of these stores. 1/2 the time I bring up their websites while I am physically in the store so I can find something. It’s helpful when I’m in Home Depot and the site can say there are 27 of these items in Row 17, Shelf 37, Bin A-14, or whatever. When my sink fell apart I couldn’t wait for Prime, but generally if there is a way to buy something online I will do it. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/84 "2015-10-14T06:07:13Z")
Re: Playboy. I got berated by my wife for having some 15 year old Maxim magazines in a pile of stuff one time. As mainstream as porn is, there are still a lot of places even the non-nude stuff isn’t welcome. I’m probably not hanging around my kids reading something that’s 90% chicks in g-strings or whatever. I even run an adult site as around 2% of my brand portfolio and it’s mostly soft, but I’m not doing it in the living room while my kids are watching Disney. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/85 "2015-10-14T11:08:54Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > As for Harley-Davidson, isn’t the fact that Honda sells the same bike for half the price hurting them? > As for Apple, isn’t the fact that Lenovo sells the same laptop for a quarter of the price hurting them? 😉 > Starbucks is a premium suburban yuppie brand. Might as well ask why “white girls” don’t buy knock-off Uggs and Coach bags. They aren’t buying it for the taste and quality, but for the logo. I think you’re right that Starbucks has a more or less premium positioning. It’s more of a _legacy_ positioning, however, from the 90s, when Starbucks was competing against Folgers and Maxwell house. Today, Starbucks charges about what indie places charge (or a chain like Biggby in Michigan), so it’s not trying to be ultra-premium. I think Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s are positioning themselves as _cheaper_ coffee. I have my doubts that McDonald’s laté is really the same. ---
**Author:** ![dr\_zippermeyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dr\_zippermeyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_zippermeyer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/86 "2015-10-14T12:50:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Playboy Enterprises will probably be gone within five years. It’s pretty much just coasting downhill on nostalgia and its back catalog. Then it is game over for Kleenex as well. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/87 "2015-10-14T15:09:31Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > AMD (the semiconductor people) are looking pretty shabby nowadays, but they could turn around with a new killer processor - if they can come up with one. I was in Best Buy not too long ago and I only saw _one_ PC that had an AMD chip. They are a shabby second to Intel in the high-end processor category, but if you want to only spend around $150 on a processor their FX 8-core chips are pretty good, I just bought one. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/88 "2015-10-14T15:13:04Z")
There are companies still publishing phone books. [Here are the basic financials](http://ir.dexmedia.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=205085&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2076490) for one of the largest players in this industry. Please note the 22% drop in revenue year-over-year, and understand that this has been the standard since 2010. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/89 "2015-10-14T17:14:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > There are companies still publishing phone books. [Here are the basic financials](http://ir.dexmedia.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=205085&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2076490) for one of the largest players in this industry. Please note the 22% drop in revenue year-over-year, and understand that this has been the standard since 2010. I get two phone books every year. I keep one, and have passed the other one on to a business I patronize that for some reason doesn’t get one. Someone said, “We can look things up online” and I replied, “So, what if the Internet’s down?” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/90 "2015-10-14T17:20:49Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I get two phone books every year. I keep one, and have passed the other one on to a business I patronize that for some reason doesn’t get one. > > Someone said, “We can look things up online” and I replied, “So, what if the Internet’s down?” :rolleyes: Of which the likelihood is somewhere between “never” and “remote” ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/91 "2015-10-14T17:27:41Z")
> [@elninost0rm](#): > > Of which the likelihood is somewhere between “never” and “remote” Exactly. I haven’t needed a phone book in probably 12 years. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/92 "2015-10-14T17:58:35Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > Exactly. I haven’t needed a phone book in probably 12 years. The last time I needed a “phone book”, what I needed was a PDF owner’s manual for my gf’s landline when it was acting up. I found what I needed using my tablet. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/93 "2015-10-14T18:34:43Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Hardees. Really nasty food the last couple of times I tried them. Hardee’s is owned by [CKE Restaurants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKE_Restaurants), and are probably all going to be turned into Carl’s Jr. sooner or later. Carl’s Jr. isn’t going away anytime soon, seeing as how they exist practically [everywhere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl%27s_Jr.): > [@](#): > > As of 2015 it has started expanding or is already in Canada, India, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, Denmark, Guatemala, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Turkey, Indonesia, United Kingdom, China, The Bahamas, Mexico, and Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/94 "2015-10-14T18:56:27Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > AMD is in both the XBox One and PS4 (and I think in the Wii U). So I don’t think they’re going away anytime soon. Yeah, no. Those are razor thin margins. By all accounts the company is in serious peril. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/95 "2015-10-14T19:11:56Z")
> [@elninost0rm](#): > > Of which the likelihood is somewhere between “never” and “remote” Well, that quality of Internet service would be nice, but it ain’t what I got. (Courtesy of AT&T, I’ve had multiple internet outages this year alone, one of which lasted eleven days. My workplace has likewise had several outages, albeit none lasting more than a day.) I have a phone book at the house, on my desk at work, and in my car. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/96 "2015-10-14T19:20:04Z")
Ashley Madison. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/97 "2015-10-14T19:22:58Z")
> [@mack](#): > > It is, but what happens is you see something you like on their website and a lot of the time the local GC doesn’t have it in stock so you end up either ordering it from their website (you have 30 days to return it) anyway or as long as you’re ordering you might as well see who else might have it for less and/or with better service. Plus big music stores can be a drag to try out an instrument in. If you want to sample a bunch of different models they’re good for that though. It’s not only that, Guitar Center suffers from the same problem as Best Buy, probably even more so. As a musician myself, I would never consider buying an instrument without playing it first, but so many people will go into GC, play around with it, and buy it cheaper online. I think plenty of more serious musicians are willing to go in, pick a guitar for the feel or sound and be willing to pay the premium for it rather than risk the same model being shipped and not quite matching. However, as most instrument purchases aren’t by people who would care, like parents buying a guitar for their kid, or are for instruments like keyboards or peripherals that will be identical regardless, they can be shipped. Quite frankly, I’m shocked that Guitar Center has lasted as long as it has, particularly given their mark-up, but it’ll still be a shame when they finally disappear. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/98 "2015-10-14T19:23:21Z")
I’ve noticed a lot of the tanning salons are folding. There used to be one on every corner. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/99 "2015-10-14T20:28:30Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > I was really surprised that, even as the Blockbuster and Hollywood stores were going out of business, a Family Video was going into a vacant retail space up the block from me. They seem to be doing fine in my town, at least. The one near me keeps putting up stuff on its sign like “Twenty new locations opening this fall - Visit website for management positions” One thing that Family Video does is that they own the property their stores are on and often adjacent property as well. I guess this helps insulate them some from rising lease costs as well as provide an additional revenue stream from leasing out the extra property. Menards (regional hardware chain) has the same model, acting as a property management company as well as a hardware/dry goods store. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354/100 "2015-10-14T20:49:05Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Re: Playboy. I got berated by my wife for having some 15 year old Maxim magazines in a pile of stuff one time. As mainstream as porn is, there are still a lot of places even the non-nude stuff isn’t welcome. I’m probably not hanging around my kids reading something that’s 90% chicks in g-strings or whatever. I even run an adult site as around 2% of my brand portfolio and it’s mostly soft, but I’m not doing it in the living room while my kids are watching Disney. I suspect that what ended up happening is that Playboy was often sold in limited places behind the counter at most convenience stores and bookstores, right alongside nudie mags like Penthouse, Hustler, Swank, and the like. So in many people’s minds, it was right there with those magazines, even if it was naughty at best, and not actually raunchy. So come the late 1990s, and the launch of Maxim and Gear as what amounted to non-nude Playboy, and the revitalization of Esquire and GQ, and the ongoing pornification of the Internet, and you have a situation where Playboy ceased to be relevant- their nude photos were kind of… quaint, and their articles weren’t much different than those in the other four magazines, yet they weren’t sold nearly as openly. They really had two options- go the Penthouse route and raunch it up, or go the other route, and become more mainstream. Had they been on the ball, they’d have dropped the nude photos (or better yet, allowed for a print/online subscription and have the nude photos there) back in say… 1998 or so, and used their existing brand reputation to compete with the other magazines. I kind of think that doing it in 2015 is a day late and a dollar short, so to speak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-that-dont-have-much-time-left/734354.md?page=6)