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Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread


joshuam

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I know it's big but what are they going to do? Hold them hostage? I live in New Jersey. We've seen huge campuses come and go. Mostly go as of late. If Softbank wants to leave or scale down they will do it no matter what the state says. All they can do is offer financial incentives but that's not the issue in this case. It's the location.

 

With the investments that Sprint has made in KC, and that KC has made in Sprint (downtown WiFi network, sporting partnerships, branding all over the city at different venues and in general) I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon. It would be a loss for KC as a whole.

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I've also had lots and lots of trouble at stores. 1+ hour transactions are everyday occurrences. The computers are consistently "down", they are routinely "calling things in". Advertised plans and prices routinely become slightly higher once in-store (occasionally even when the stores own signage suggests otherwise).

 

It's a huge pain. Since January or so, I also exclusively call in. Telephone support isn't good in any way, but it's worlds better than the stores.

 

 

 

If it were just that, I'd agree with you. But this isn't just some guys statement. It's large scale reputable data.

 

If RootMetrics says "we've collected thousands of metrics on the network in this market and Sprint's network, on average, sucks" -- then Sprint's network sucks, even if a few spots get good service.

 

Similarly, when JD Power says "we've collected thousands of surveys in stores all across America, and Sprint's in-store experience, on average, sucks" -- then Sprint's stores suck. Even if there are a few stores that are still good.

 

The metric isn't broken. Sprint has won the top JD Power experience spot before (multiple times). They certainly could win it again.

Never been in and out of a sprint store in less than an hour. Always waited for more than a half hour before being acknowledged and never had then actually activate my phone as they never know how so I just leave the store and finish myself.

 

At the Tmobile store near my house, I've never not been acknowledged and helped within 10 seconds as they have so many staff. They usually give me their personal phone to play with so I don't have to deal with the demo models. I sound like I'm trashing sprint but this is reality for the 5 times I've visited these stores in the past year.

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Never been in and out of a sprint store in less than an hour. Always waited for more than a half hour before being acknowledged and never had then actually activate my phone as they never know how so I just leave the store and finish myself.

 

At the Tmobile store near my house, I've never not been acknowledged and helped within 10 seconds as they have so many staff. They usually give me their personal phone to play with so I don't have to deal with the demo models. I sound like I'm trashing sprint but this is reality for the 5 times I've visited these stores in the past year.

 

Retail is tricky and I've seen this both ways (except at Publix and Whole Foods). A good district manager really can make all the difference. I hope HQ is getting better at sweeping poor retail managers out of the company.

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I know it's big but what are they going to do? Hold them hostage? I live in New Jersey. We've seen huge campuses come and go. Mostly go as of late. If Softbank wants to leave or scale down they will do it no matter what the state says. All they can do is offer financial incentives but that's not the issue in this case. It's the location.

 

Come on.  Apples to oranges.  Kansas City is an important metro area.  But it is not the New York City metro area.  And the New Jersey suburbs of New York City house many Fortune 500 companies.  Kansas City has almost no Fortune 500 companies -- except for Sprint.  Sprint leaving would devastate the metro area.  Basically, an entire square mile in Overland Park would become a ghost town.  That would be a perfect example of corporate social irresponsibility.  No, if SoftBank tries to pull that stunt, Masayoshi Son can go to hell.

 

AJ

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I definitely understand AJ's point/perspective on the Sprint HQ issue. I'd hate to see people lose their jobs, or be forced into stressful relocations in order to keep their jobs with their employer. I'm certainly not advocating such a move, and considering realities of corporate relocating, Sprint is unlikely to do it for quite a while, if they even are. The earliest for such a move to be possible, I think, is 2016/2017.

 

However, which again I'm not advocating it, but I have a feeling Sprint might be considering it, to some degree. I mentioned earlier in another post I made here about my views on the meeting Marcelo had with the mayor of Miami. What I'm wondering about is Softbank's/Sprint's plans on creating the two companies to handle some aspects of Sprint, and relocating those to their own small headquarters. One possibly in Miami, the other one in California, where they were planning to have offices handling T-Mobile.

 

I have an idea of what Masa and Marcelo may be planning is having these two headquarters, then possibly downsize the Sprint HQ in Kansas. Hopefully they keep it, rather than eliminate it. Yet, I see this having a better chance of happening if they don't end up aquiring T-Mobile in a Republican administration. They'd have three smaller headquarters, one being for Sprint itself, and the other two being for the other two relating companies. Which location for whichever business, I'm not even going to speculate on, but this plan would give them an HQ on the east coast, the west coast, and the Midwest.

 

Although, if they end up acquiring T-Mobile, then I can't see them keeping the HQ for any of the business in Kansas City, as I think at that point, Softbank likely will merge these sepaarate businesses back together, possibly even having everything at the current T-Mobile headquarters, but also keeping a small post in Miami, where Marcelo is heavily connected with.

 

Anyways, I'm not trying to upset anyone by saying all of this. Sorry this post is a bit long too. Of course, its quite possible this won't happen and the Sprint HQ will remain right where it is with the same strong presence there. Yet, while I like Sprint and hope well for them as a company, I also know these relocations happen with companies who often disregard or just simply don't take enough consideration for their staff, when moving their headquarters. Hopefully though, Sprint doesn't do this, or at least possibly does what I'm thinking by having three locations. It would be good for Sprint to try their best keeping the employees whom moving would be very difficult, in Kansas, while moving those more able to move, to the new HQ locations.

 

Ultimately though, if they do this, they are going to consider job position and the need of that at the particular location first.

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I've seen this game before. Anheuser-Busch post InBev. Pretty much flattened St. Louis when they left for NY. That said, that was most certainly not a functional culture at any sort of corporate level, even though things looked good on the surface because they were the world's largest brewer. Sad part is, the culture there was so complacent. They were an easy target for InBev.

 

That said, it devastated St. Louis. Fortunately my relatives who worked there got out while the getting was still good. Still sad to see.

 

We lost AT&T back when it was SBC and it didn't hurt half as much, same when TWA went bankrupt, AB felt like a strike to the heart. I doubt Overland Park losing Sprint would feel half as bad.

 

Long live the King.

 

 

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Come on.  Apples to oranges.  Kansas City is an important metro area.  But it is not the New York City metro area.  And the New Jersey suburbs of New York City house many Fortune 500 companies.  Kansas City has almost no Fortune 500 companies -- except for Sprint.  Sprint leaving would devastate the metro area.  Basically, an entire square mile in Overland Park would become a ghost town.  That would be a perfect example of corporate social irresponsibility.  No, if SoftBank tries to pull that stunt, Masayoshi Son can go to hell.

 

AJ

 

I understand your point. It would hurt. It's why you don't want to be a one horse town. KC should try to plan for this the best they can instead of getting blindsided. They must have known though that if the merger went through it was highly probable they would they would have lost out in the end to Bellevue. When Sprint bought Nextel what happened to Reston? Of course Northern Virginia survived just fine. If Sprint starts to downsize that location that should be a warning sign. Of course if he doesn't sell or merge maybe he will be content with the current location for now. 

 

And yes, we are more fortunate here in the burbs around NYC but we are losing more than we are bringing in. Just a few months ago Mercedes Benz USA announced they are leaving after almost 50 years in North Jersey. They are going to Atlanta. Most jobs aren't transferring either. 

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There are a few things going for KC staying as the HQ for at least the foreseeable future. In today's day and age, there is a wonderful thing called the "Internet" and they can video conference & collaborate with anyone across the world. KC I'm guessing also has a reasonable tax rate when compared to any large city or anywhere in CA. It's also very centrally located for the country, and the cost of living is near average...

 

Talking about him meeting with they mayor of Miami, remember when they met in Chicago & announced it was going to be the flagship sprint city & show what a great network is capable of being. I think it might have just been sprint tyring to get accelerated permitting etc. Sometimes you gotta grease those wheels yourself, lol.

 

And California was just softbank USA office to try and get the merger pushed through. They would've closed or downsized anyway.

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And California was just softbank USA office to try and get the merger pushed through. They would've closed or downsized anyway.

 

That's Mr. Son's US office and to my knowledge it's still open. There just isn't a lot of Sprint or SoftBank Mobile running out of it, but SoftBank has lots of investments in Silicon Valley and that's where SoftBank keeps track of all of that. 

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There are a few things going for KC staying as the HQ for at least the foreseeable future. In today's day and age, there is a wonderful thing called the "Internet" and they can video conference & collaborate with anyone across the world. KC I'm guessing also has a reasonable tax rate when compared to any large city or anywhere in CA. It's also very centrally located for the country, and the cost of living is near average...

 

Talking about him meeting with they mayor of Miami, remember when they met in Chicago & announced it was going to be the flagship sprint city & show what a great network is capable of being. I think it might have just been sprint tyring to get accelerated permitting etc. Sometimes you gotta grease those wheels yourself, lol.

 

And California was just softbank USA office to try and get the merger pushed through. They would've closed or downsized anyway.

You may very well be right, Josh. Even on the meeting with the mayor of Miami.

 

However, which this of course is just my speculating on the issue, is my thinking of many different details of various things I've read about Marcelo and his connection with Miami, putting together my particular "style" of imagining things in a big way. I admit that my doing this does turn up wrong sometimes, but then there are times when I'm surprised to find out these things happened as I envisioned them doing, with all the evidence put together with that grand design I often think of businesses aiming at.

 

For example, the AT&T/SBC/AT&T Wireless/Cingular mergers. I was an avid reader of HowardForums back then, and just had this strong instinct it all was going to come together the way it had. In the case of Softbank/Sprint, while I don't quite have that sense in relation to it and rumored mergers with Dish or T-Mobile, I'm thinking this Miami move just might.

 

Here's why I think this, between the evidence of what I read leading me to thinking it, and of course, my style of thinking. There is Marcelo's strong connection with Miami, he wants to have a soccer team there with a stadium. He also wants Miami to be one of the top cities for Sprint's network, along with Chicago. Yet, he's not doing much more in Chicago beyond that, whereas he is in Miami. There's also the pullout of Sprint sponsorships, including that of NASCAR, as we know is popular sport in the south and Midwest.

 

There is the drive to target the Latino/Cuban community very populated in Miami, very big fans of soccer whom Marcelo wants to see as a large base of Sprint's customers and could help increase Sprint's subscriber numbers in a major way. If Marcelo can have a Sprint or Sprint entity HQ base in Miami, a Sprint-named (or whatever possible new name he might have in mind for Sprint) soccer stadium, then that already is big.

 

What also could be major in possibly having Miami as the main HQ, rather than the entity, is that being in Miami could help Sprint develop an even more diverse working environment considering Miami's demographics and also give those employees a higher quality lifestyle living in Miami with more income, a higher quality of life living in a beautiful tropical tourist destination which Kansas City cannot match in all of those aspects, at least in terms of what is known about what Marcelo seems to want.

 

I've got nothing against Kansas City by saying that though. It's just what I'm gathering from many sources I've read about Marcelo and the possibilities of moving, though most of those have been about moving to the west coast for Masa's reasons. However, I'm now thinking Marcelo very well could get his Miami desires with a Sprint HQ to help with business, while California serves as a base for Masa's team, then maybe they'll keep something in KC.

 

Sorry for the lengthy post. I'm trying to focus my mind on this stuff as much as I can to ignore a difficult situation going on.

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I still see a large part of operations still run at Overland Park even if some of the top level execs locate somewhere else. Marcelo could be based in CA or FL along with his executive staff and network operations can still be based in KC.

 

 

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I still see a large part of operations still run at Overland Park even if some of the top level execs locate somewhere else. Marcelo could be based in CA or FL along with his executive staff and network operations can still be based in KC.

 

 

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I agree!

 

A lot of companies have their Executive HQ in one place and their Operations HQ in another place.

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I think Sprint Ops + Exec Team remains in Overland Park until they start turning consistent profits. Does it make any sense to spend millions on moving for cosmetic reasons? Sprint is burning cash on densification, and every dollar spent moving somewhere else "just because" is one less dollar spent on improving the network/customer experience.

 

They need to 100% focus on Next Generation Network densification, and separating Ops from Execs makes no logistical sense.

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Also, looks like the T-mobile merger may happen after the 2016 election. Wonder what would the name be then....?

 

Fascinating Article Below:

 

Inside SoftBank’s Struggle to Turn Around Sprint. Two years after takeover, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son struggles to overhaul the U.S. carrier

http://www.wsj.com/articles/doubts-grow-about-whether-softbank-can-save-sprint-1439346616?tesla=y

 

Quote:

"With no way out of Sprint in sight, Mr. Son is re-emphasizing the positive. He says he is “totally happy that I did not sell. Because I see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

 

Mr. Son seems to share his thoughts openly, and though he wished to sell at one point, he now has no choice but to make Sprint work.

Edited by techfranz
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I think Sprint Ops + Exec Team remains in Overland Park until they start turning consistent profits. Does it make any sense to spend millions on moving for cosmetic reasons? Sprint is burning cash on densification, and every dollar spent moving somewhere else "just because" is one less dollar spent on improving the network/customer experience.

 

They need to 100% focus on Next Generation Network densification, and separating Ops from Execs makes no logistical sense.

Exactly.

 

Much like there is no gentle way for Softbank to sell Sprint right now, there is no logical buyer for the Overland Park campus. Who would want it? Better, who would pay what Sprint's asset sheet values the campus at? The answer: no one. Sprint would either hold on to it indefinitely or they would have to sell it for less than its actual value, thus reducing the value of the company. Not even on the radar until theyre profitable again or in a corporate bankruptcy.

The better use for it is to rent out space to anyone who will pay.

 

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I agree that Sprint ought to stay where they are, at least unless/until they acquire T-Mobile. If they do, I can see them moving into T-Mobile's HQ. If Marcelo though is planning for a future of Sprint in the case they do not acquire T-Mobile, then I can see them moving the HQ to Miami, though at least not for some time. Even then, hopefully they keep some sort of outpost in KC as a Midwest branch for them.

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I went to Carbondale to look at the Note 5 at the Best Buy there. The local Sprint Shack there looks good but I wonder if it's in the best location. I wonder if Sprint shouldn't have just closed it with the other Southern Illinois stores and just opened a new Sprint corporate location near the mall on the east side of town. Verizon is building a new store right next to AT&T that completely rebuilt the store they got from Alltel. T-Mobile has one tower and zero retail presence. It will be intriguing to see how their one EDGE to LTE conversion holds up with the college kids coming back.

 

 

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Sprint is moving ahead with these SprintShacks really quickly. I stopped by a local RadioShack and saw that all of had been redesigned inside with a wall of phones (working phones, not dummies) and a good portion of it was accessories and typical RadioShack gear. The only thing was that the sign still says RadioShack. They have one of these window signs to tell you it's a Sprint location but it's not nearly as noticeable and eye-catching as the real sign would be.

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Sprint is moving ahead with these SprintShacks really quickly. I stopped by a local RadioShack and saw that all of had been redesigned inside with a wall of phones (working phones, not dummies) and a good portion of it was accessories and typical RadooShack gear. The only thing was that the sign still says RadioShack. They have one of these window signs to tell you it's a Sprint location but it's not nearly as noticeable and eye-catching as the real sign would be.

I went in to my Sprint Shack location to pick up a free battery pack and confirmed that I'm preordering my iPhone 6S at that location. It's Sprint corporate, still has the Radio Shack signage, and far away from college campuses.

 

The store manager was really great with my kids while I was getting the free battery pack.

 

I think this was a home run for Sprint.

 

Edit: got this email yesterday -

d937b4b1a9acd11e89c50fadc560d08b.jpg

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Standard General owns the RadioShack brand...that sort of tells me that at some point Sprint might just brand those stores their own. If execution of the idea is this good, that might not be a bad idea. I'd rather see Sprint's brand get the positive recognition at this point. 

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I went in to my Sprint Shack location to pick up a free battery pack and confirmed that I'm preordering my iPhone 6S at that location. It's Sprint corporate, still has the Radio Shack signage, and far away from college campuses.

 

The store manager was really great with my kids while I was getting the free battery pack.

 

I think this was a home run for Sprint.

 

I hope so but it seems like there was a lot shuttered once you get out of the STL metro and into the sticks like where I live. The other SprintShack I see a lot (Waterloo) hasn't got any renovations yet. I'll have to see a fully completed store, the Carbondale one was only a partial remodel.

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Sprint is moving ahead with these SprintShacks really quickly. I stopped by a local RadioShack and saw that all of had been redesigned inside with a wall of phones (working phones, not dummies) and a good portion of it was accessories and typical RadooShack gear. The only thing was that the sign still says RadioShack. They have one of these window signs to tell you it's a Sprint location but it's not nearly as noticeable and eye-catching as the real sign would be.

 

So things are moving quickly in NY? 

 

That's good considering there's plenty of naysayers who are saying otherwise. 

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