# What is the most incompetent company? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450 "2010-01-26T00:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/61 "2010-01-28T15:26:40Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > As the Texas state school system seems to incompetent to teach, the U.S. Government is not and should not be a business. By definition, it is not. By reality, it is. The Texas school system taught me that; sorry your school system didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/62 "2010-01-28T15:40:52Z")
There’s a pet grooming store that opened in Northern Kentucky. I give them 4 months. The whole business is a family project: [http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?sid=160255&id=100039](http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?sid=160255&id=100039) …including the (awful) web site: [http://www.topdogcuts.com/Top\_Dog\_Cuts/Home.html](http://www.topdogcuts.com/Top_Dog_Cuts/Home.html) The name is not good - it sounds like it could be a regular salon. I didn’t know it was a pet grooming store until I read the above article. I passed their store last night; - all that is visible from the outside is a counter. It looks like a car rental office. No prices on the windows; no prices on the website. The location won’t generate much walk-by traffic (the back of a shopping center). I haven’t seen any flyers, ads, or anything else. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/63 "2010-01-28T15:47:40Z")
**Krispy Kreme** seems to make quite a few missteps. They came to mind because they opened a $4 1/2 million dollar plant in my home town a few years ago, and then closed it 16 months later. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/64 "2010-01-28T18:59:35Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Some of the most incompetent are probably the “me too” small businesses that open and close too quickly to note. Don’t get me wrong, I love small-time entrepreneur success stories, but the guys who look at a town with a phone book full of dry cleaners and diners and say, “You know what this town needs? My diner! My dry cleaners!” Maybe small businesses aren’t always considered companies, but that’s incompetence to me, business-wise. Or its corollary… A business in town closes down because they can’t make it. Someone buys the business and opens it up. Without changing a thing. Maybe a new name…maybe not. No promotions, no sales, no advertising, no change in theme or store layout. Nothing. What do they think they are…so much better than the previous owner that just the fact that THEY own the store means it will succeed? Small, rural towns. Gotta love em. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/65 "2010-01-28T19:11:11Z")
Let’s just say that I don’t check luggage when I fly Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/66 "2010-01-28T19:17:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > An old story of corporate incompetence I thought I’d share. > > Wargaming is a small niche hobby. Sort of like model trains or stamp collecting. Back in the seventies was its highpoint. The biggest company at that time was called SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc). Among its other products, SPI published a magazine called _Strategy & Tactics_, which was sort of a flagship magazine for the hobby. > > Now TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) was another gaming company (they’re the guys that did _Dungeons & Dragons_) but they were a role-playing game company and SPI was a board gaming company. Obviously the two businesses are related but the two customer bases are fairly distinct. To use the analogy I made above, think stamp collectors and coin collectors or model train fans and RC plane fans. > > So TSR saw there was this big market, that was very similar to their own market, and decided it would be a good move to expand into that market. But rather than develop their own board gaming department, they thought it would be a lot better to acquire an existing board gaming company. And SPI was available - the company had some bad business decisions and was deep in dept. TSR did some slightly shady maneuvering and ended up owning SPI and all its assets. > > But now TSR did something really stupid. It looked over the financial status of its new assets. And one of the things it noticed was that all of the money people had paid to subscribe to _Strategy & Tactics_ had been paid to SPI but now TSR was supposed to deliver the magazines. They decided to save some money - they announced that SPI’s _Strategy & Tactics_ was essentially a different magazine from TSR’s _Strategy & Tactics_. The subscribers had paid for SPI’s magazine which had now ceased publication (no refunds were offered because that was a dept swallowed up in SPI’s bankrupcy). > > So having started out with a bang by hosing all of the _Strategy & Tactics_ subscribers, TSR set out to study their new market. And they found out something that unsettled them. As I said, wargaming is a small niche hobby. The vast majority of people buy no wargames ever. The entire hobby is supported by a few thousand people who essentially buy all the wargames that are sold. > > And 75% of all wargamers had been subscribers to _Strategy & Tactics_. Wow! Nostalgia time! I was one of those few thousand and I remember getting hosed by TSR. That is a good example of stupidity/lack of research. The old S&T was great! ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/67 "2010-01-28T19:29:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Maybe it was just a front for money laundering? Don’t know if you meant it as a joke…but yes, it could be (though if it was it would still be open). A friend of mine is a Revenue officer for the IRS. He routinely investigates shops like the above that claim $millions in revenue per year. He investigates because while they want to launder money they don’t want to pay the actual tax to launder it. I remember one he told me about was a hole in the wall where one could rent golf balls and hit into a net out back. They didn’t even sell golf balls. The back there was a soccer type net and was narrow so only one could hit at a time. There was never any customers. Revenue - $6 million a year. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/68 "2010-01-28T19:38:37Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > **Krispy Kreme** seems to make quite a few missteps. They came to mind because they opened a $4 1/2 million dollar plant in my home town a few years ago, and then closed it 16 months later. They’re the ones that tried to expand into Canada. They opened their first outlet in Mississauga to great fanfare–there were cops directing traffic off Mavis Rd because of the crowding–and then decided to open more outlets. Well, that first outlet must have benefitted from the novelty value (donuts with instructions to microwave for exactly 8 seconds?), because none of the other outlets did nearly as well. They have now closed. Apparently Canadians don’t like warm, mushy donuts as much as Krispy Kreme thought. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/69 "2010-01-28T19:48:41Z")
As an example of incompetence combined with true disdain for the customer, you would be hard pressed to find anyone to rival AOL. Yes, they made a boatload of money for several years selling their horrible frontend as if it was the actual Internet mostly to people who were unaware of how slimy and underhanded the company was. But now, they are a shadow of their former ‘glory’ and I, for one, am quite happy they are circling the drain. If only Steve Case could have been jailed for his unethical business practices. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/70 "2010-01-28T20:15:03Z")
Macy’s It has nothing to do with customer service or evilness or good/bad product. It’s all about price. I can’t count the number of times I’ve purchased something from Macy’s only to find that the price at the register was much LOWER than what I expected. At the point I’m at the register I’ve already looked at the price tag and calculated any discounts that apply and have determined that I’m willing to spend that amount for the product. But when I check out, I wind up playing less. I LOVE this, but it is totally incompetent. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/71 "2010-01-28T21:09:33Z")
I’m convinced **Krispy Kreme** would still be around if their expansion stores were built a realistic size in realistic locations. Donut shops should be small little places with minimal staff. Leased spots in strip malls. That’s what the demand dictates and that’s whats sustainable. To build a massive free standing donut shop from the ground up with mass production donut making equipment, a drive thru, it’s own parking lot and land, with over a dozen employees? Seriously, you think after the fad wears off that’s going to sustain itself? There’s a resaon why the only Krispy Kreme stores left are the original tiny little ones in the south. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/72 "2010-01-28T21:15:30Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’m convinced **Krispy Kreme** would still be around if their expansion stores were built a realistic size in realistic locations. > Donut shops should be small little places with minimal staff. Leased spots in strip malls. That’s what the demand dictates and that’s whats sustainable. > To build a massive free standing donut shop from the ground up with mass production donut making equipment, a drive thru, it’s own parking lot and land, with over a dozen employees? Seriously, you think after the fad wears off that’s going to sustain itself? > There’s a resaon why the only Krispy Kreme stores left are the original tiny little ones in the south. I think you are right. The other big reason: KK doughnuts are only special when they are freshly made-hot out of the grease. In the NE, KK shops were selling them cold-which meant they were the same thing as the local doughnut shop. There is an abadoned KK shop on Rt 1 (Dedham, MA)-probably a $5 million investement-gone! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/73 "2010-01-28T21:40:26Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Yes, they made a boatload of money for several years selling their horrible frontend as if it was the actual Internet mostly to people who were unaware of how slimy and underhanded the company was When we found out that, goodness, you can use Internet Explorer all by its ownsome to browse the internet, we were flabbergasted. AOL went soon after. I had no idea so many other people thought that way. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/74 "2010-01-28T21:44:45Z")
I’m in NZ. I was going to name Sky TV as their billing dept is notoriously inept, but based on my daughters experience of working for them, I’m going to go with NZ Post. My daughter couldn’t get a job in her field in Auckland & was desperate. I saw an ad for a casual “postie” (postman/woman) in our little town. She came down & got the job & had to assure the hr person that she ouldn’t leave as “it cost NZ Post $4k each time they hired someone.” My daughter assured them of that & was hired. She was very excited & was planning to start a part time business working around her hours with them. & they told her they were going to put her through her motorbike licence so she could work that run. When she started she had found out they had also hired a young guy as a casual. Both of them were then told they had changed their mind about putting them through their motorbike licence. NZ Post spent 2 weeks teaching them each a run, my daughter covered this person’s holidays then nothing. She missed out on our family holiday as she thought she had work. Finally another postie said what they actually needed was a motorbike postie as they were paying a woman to come from another town to do it. the HR person thought they could get the posties to accept it being done on foot once they hired people but the union made them realise their mistake. She managed to get another temporary job & then went back to Auckland to do her degree. & don’t get me started on their pricing policies regarding parcels! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/75 "2010-01-28T23:02:39Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Ripping people off isn’t incompetence though (is it?). It might be mean but I’d hardly call Best Buy incompetent just because they’ve made a business out of charging people $50 to drop a memory stick into your computer. Quite the opposite, they’re quite competent at what they do. Best Buys is still standing, which counts for something. Circuit City, on the other hand, decided that in an environment where anyone comfortable with electronic equipment could buy it on the net, fired all their experienced salespeople who were able to tell people not comfortable buying a computer what to do. Mervyn’s, the West Coast department store chain, built an expensive new freestanding store across the street from the mall where they were, moved in, and went bankrupt two weeks later. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/76 "2010-01-29T01:00:57Z")
In the village where I grew up, they pulled down a big free-standing movie theater, the Kallet Genesee, and erected a squat concrete bunker that housed a Pep Boys auto parts store. The village was all excited - think of the JOBS Pep Boys was going to provide! Well, windshield wipers, headlights, and motor oil are easily procured elsewhere, and that Pep Boys went tits up within a few short years, sitting there empty for more years than it was in business. I realize Pep Boys soldiers on in many many other locations. The thing is, there are two other big freestanding movie theaters in the area that were remodelled and revitalized, used for film festivals, fundraisers, and concerts as well as second-run movies. These two theaters have become huge success stories, and I sincerely hope the village brainiacs who tore down the Kallet Genesee for a Pep Boys are still kicking themselves to this very day. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/77 "2010-01-29T01:44:02Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I think you are right. The other big reason: KK doughnuts are only special when they are freshly made-hot out of the grease. In the NE, KK shops were selling them cold-which meant they were the same thing as the local doughnut shop. > There is an abadoned KK shop on Rt 1 (Dedham, MA)-probably a $5 million investement-gone! I tell you what the problem was with KK…Canada? New England? Couldn’t they have picked territories _without_ long-standing loyalties to existing donut chains? (Tim Hortons and Dunkin respectively?) I dunno, maybe they had some research that said, “don’t try going where people don’t already eat lotsa donuts.” They’re not the ubiquitous national treat they used to be. But it just seems boneheaded to me. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/78 "2010-01-29T02:00:30Z")
I’m going to go ahead and say AirCanada. Yes, they are still in business which would seem to rule them out; however, the only reason they’re still in business is that the Canadian government has provided financial bail outs about a half a dozen times (for reasons which I just don’t get). Actually I suppose that makes the Canadian Government the most incompetent company for continuing to bail out a company that seems destined to fail. (Mind, I have no idea how AirCanada is doing now - I fly WestJet as much as I possibly can). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/79 "2010-01-29T02:53:28Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’m convinced **Krispy Kreme** would still be around if their expansion stores were built a realistic size in realistic locations. > Donut shops should be small little places with minimal staff. Leased spots in strip malls. That’s what the demand dictates and that’s whats sustainable. > To build a massive free standing donut shop from the ground up with mass production donut making equipment, a drive thru, it’s own parking lot and land, with over a dozen employees? Seriously, you think after the fad wears off that’s going to sustain itself? This is exactly what they did here. Standalone buildings with drivethrus. There was an abandoned one in front of the Hillcrest Mall\* in Richmond Hill for the longest time; it was as far from the rest of the mall as you could get and still stay on the same property. later it became a restaurant. > [@Hampshire](#): > > There’s a resaon why the only Krispy Kreme stores left are the original tiny little ones in the south. [sub]\*The Hillcrest Mall is built on the flattest piece of land in the area.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450/80 "2010-01-29T02:57:26Z")
The worst run businesses, in percentage terms, are usually failed restaurants. The restaurant business is brutally competitive, low margin, and very easy to screw up if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. I’m sure you’ve all seen restaurants open and collapse in very short order. A restaurant is a place where people go to set fire to their money. I lived for many years in Kingston, Ontario, a town with a very large and active restaurant scene, and it was amazing how many places opened and failed. My wife and I love eating out and would try them all. You’d go into a place and just know it was going to fail; they’d have good food but had forgotten to invest in furniture, so you were eating midpriced entrees on card tables, or the menu would be an inexplicable jumble. The next place would have nice decor and take two hours to get your food to you because the owners had never run a kitchen before and didn’t have the money to hire a real restaurant manager. It was almost painful to watch, and yet they popped up and died again and again, every year. I get the sense that some people think that because they pulled off a good roast beef dinner for 8 friends at home that one time, they can run a restaurant. And they find out… not so much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-incompetent-company/526450.md?page=5)