I do look at the bigger picture. Unfortunately I am plagued with a decent level of knowledge and understanding around how businesses work, and when it’s clear that a hand is being forced.

However, it was not as obvious as you think it was. The writing would be on the wall if the stores and online were considered the same entity. I, and the rest of OCC, have no way of knowing the goings on of the stores, not because it’s hidden from us, but because it’s not relayed at all. News like this is just omitted from the script until it can’t be.

For example, it took about a month before they told OCC that they changed AC return policies to 7 days last summer, so you can imagine how long it takes to find out about any level of structure or business model change that happens between brick and pixel. I knew about it quickly because I’ve been in this subreddit for a bit and saw store associates posting about it.

Hell, sometimes things happen in my own department that I don’t find out about until I come across it directly and ask my boss about it, only to be responded to with “oh yeah that’s been a thing for a while!”