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Richard W. Sears

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (December 7, 1863-September 28, 1914)
    Founded R.W. Sears Watch Company (1886)
    Co-founded Sears, Roebuck and Co. with Alvah C. Roebuck and Julius Rosenwald (1893)
    Alvah Roebuck sold his interest in the company to Sears (1895)
    Namesake of the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois

Why he might be annoying:

    His motto at Sears, Roebuck and Co. was 'Make a Watch Sell a Watch' (yeah???).
    He named his company after himself.
    His business partner, Alvah Roebuck, could not handle the pressures of running Sears, Roebuck and Co., so he sold his share of the company to Richard W. Sears.
    He often butted heads with business partner, Julius Rosenwald, and chose to resign because of it (1907).
    Sears, Roebuck and Co. was only a mail order company and did not open a retail store until 1925, eleven years after his death.
    Local merchants hated him because Sears, Roebuck and Co. put many local stores out of business.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Before succeeding as an entrepreneur, he held a few jobs as a train station agent.
    He founded R.W. Sears Watch Company when he was 22 years old.
    He used a telegraph to advertise his watches and pioneered long distance direct marketing.
    Before establishing Sears, Roebuck and Co., Alvah C. Roebuck repaired watches for the R.W. Sears Watch Company.
    Within the first seven years of Sears, Roebuck and Co., annual sales went from $300,000 to $10.6 million.
    While competing with Montgomery Ward in the mail order business, he strategically designed a catalog for Sears that was smaller then the Montgomery Ward catalog in width and height. He did this because people were likely to stack the smaller Sears catalog on top of the larger Montgomery Ward catalog.
    He was considered a devoted family man.
    After resigning from Sears, Roebuck and Co., he tended to his ailing wife.
    Many years after his death, Sears, Roebuck and Co. founded Allstate Insurance Co. (1931) and Discover Card (1985).

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 20 Votes: 55.00% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 11 Votes: 18.18% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 25 Votes: 44.00% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 42 Votes: 45.24% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 70 Votes: 48.57% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 104 Votes: 52.88% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 196 Votes: 47.45% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 54 Votes: 31.48% Annoying