Mind The POS Machine Plunge: NCR’s Weak Results Reflect 4,000 Store Closings YTD

Mind The POS (Point Of Sale) Machine Plunge: NCR’s Weak Results Reflect 4,000 Store Closings YTD | David Stockman's Contra Corner:

NCR, a thermometer into the retail industry beyond the latest sales statistics, has noticed that brick-and-mortar retailers are cutting back. 

And they’re not just cutting back buying point-of-sale devices; they’re cutting back, period. “Ongoing retail consolidation,” Nuti called it. 
And some are using bankruptcy courts to do it.

These structural problems in the brick-and-mortar retail industry include Sears Holding with its moribund Sears and Kmart stores.
They excel only in two things: shrinking sales and losing money.
This year, the company promised to close 300 Sears stores and 80 Kmart stores. Some of us wonder why anyone is still buying there.

A week ago, discount retailer Alco, with 198 stores in 23 states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 
In September, after never-ending and wild speculations that electronics retailer Radio Shack might also head into bankruptcy, the company suddenly supported these wild speculations in an SEC filing: