Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070329-9999-1n29circuit.html" target="_blank">http://www.signonsandiego.com/ news/business/20070329-9999-1n29circuit.html</a> They're laying off their higher salaried people, not because of job performance, but because they make too much.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut sounds like smart business. Sucks to be an employee at Circuit City though. Having to lie to customers and everything.
Originally Posted By Mr X Never really felt like those workers knew enough to actually "lie". Me "does this unit have an optical line out?" Circuit Guy "well, it has a headphone jack" Me "yeah, okay. thanks for the help."
Originally Posted By DlandJB Circuit City is probably doomed. They are closing stores all over. Too bad because I still find their clerks better informed and better mannered than the Best Buy clerks.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj This is just another example of why you can't believe government statistics on employment or inflation. If the labor market is so "tight," unemployment so low, how could any company in the U.S. believe it was even possible to replace a current set of employees with cheaper ones? Where are the new employees coming from? Wouldn't you have to pay more anyways since the labor pool is so small? The reality is that there is plenty of cheap labor around, and it is getting cheaper all the time as the economy continues to deteriorate.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Where are the new employees coming from? Wouldn't you have to pay more anyways since the labor pool is so small?" Here, Circuit City says these employees can re-pply after a ten week waiting period. Why would they? They already know that career advancement leads to termination.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut <<Never really felt like those workers knew enough to actually "lie". Me "does this unit have an optical line out?" Circuit Guy "well, it has a headphone jack" Me "yeah, okay. thanks for the help.">> LOL. I was thinking more of the: "Buy this $200 HDMI cable. It will make your system sound so much better." But your right, when I buy a receiver I look for 2 things (on top of many), but 2 things are a deal breaker. It must have at least 6 channel analog input and pre-am outputs. I ask for those things and they just stare at me with blank eyes.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA My first comment: Why go to Circuit City? Unless it's the only store in town, you can buy everthing that Circuit City provides elsewhere. I like Best Buy for printers, TVs, heck even cell phons. DVDs and CDs I get at Target. *shrug* Anyway, this technique of firing people because they're making too much money is right out of the Disneyland Entertainment playbook. Remember the 'Dapper Dans' at Disneyland? Most of the guys who were in the group had been for close to 20 years. They were 'making too much money' so Disneyland holds 'auditions' -- don't cast the original guys, and bring in another group for cheaper. Bam. You've just performed this 'two-tier pay' thing. Also, 20 years ago at EPCOT Center, I remember they did a total sweep of all the entertainment offerings -- from the Future World Brass to all the groups in World Showcase, to that Japanese guy who makes animals out of candy -- full sweep. Essentially, Disney said, you're all being laid off. Then, about a month later, they hold auditions for EPCOT Center entertainment, 'looking for a Japanese guy who can make animals out of candy' -- they hire the same guy, but at a lower rate. People say 'well, that's business' -- but I think at some point you have to look at what 'feels right.'
Originally Posted By DAR I think I was in a Circuit City once. No matter what I always will go to Best Buy.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan See, this is why labor unions came to be. And unions have been so de-fanged that slowly but surely, we're regressing back into a world where this kind of thing is commonplace and accepted as a viable business practice. It's too bad that some companies can't just be decent to their workers, but we're seeing more and more of this stuff. Our local newspaper let go the entire advertising production department. $10 an hour was too much to pay a local graphic artist. Where are the ads being created? Yep, India. All done by email. Yet they have the nerve to regularly run editorials decrying offshoring of American jobs.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA What I don't pretend to understand is how companies like Starbucks and In and Out Burgers can hire and retain and pay decent wages to their people -- and still make great profits. I walk into In and Out here in Merced, and the young people are just terrific - smiling, sharp, efficient -- they seem to really enjoy their jobs. Same at the one Starbucks we go to. [There are 3 here in Merced]. The employees there remember us, chat us up, remember what we order, [heck, the manager offered to sell us a new coffee maker and would use his discount]. Maybe that's commonplace and he does that with everyone, but as a customer, it makes me feel special, and keeps me coming back. The current 'vibe' at In and Out Burgers and Starbucks totally reminds me of the old days of Disneyland from the 70s and 80s. Back then, the cast members had a sensibility that said 'I'm excited to be here, I'll do what I can to make your day special, and my company cares about me.' Not so much these days...
Originally Posted By jonvn "Buy this $200 HDMI cable. It will make your system sound so much better." Actually, for a HDDVD player, by using an HDMI cable instead of optical out, you can get "TrueHD" sound which is a lot higher quality. Now, whether your stereo can handle it is another thing, but it will result in a higher quality signal going to your amp.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj << What I don't pretend to understand is how companies like Starbucks and In and Out Burgers can hire and retain and pay decent wages to their people -- and still make great profits. >> Every organization is different. In and Out is a bad comparison since it is a privately held company. As long as the family members that have ownership of that chain continue to maintain the standard of living that feel is adequate from that business, they'll keep doing business the way they have for years. However, I would expect that if the family income from In and Out decreases, you might see the same sort of issues. As far as Starbucks goes, I'm not sure the business model is comparable to Circuit City. Selling coffee is not the same as selling electronics. You can't go online and shop for the best price of a latte. You don't have competition from Wal-Mart on coffee. So, the pricing pressure and pressure to maintain profit margins is a little less severe in the world of coffee. I think Circuit City is on its way out of business, and Best Buy will be following them shortly. I have spent a lot of time in both of these chains, standing in front of very expensive products, and been offered no help whatsoever. When I seek out help, it is rarely sufficient. I usually use these stores as a place to do my "window shopping," and then I go home and make my purchase online.
Originally Posted By DAR <<I walk into In and Out here in Merced, and the young people are just terrific - smiling, sharp, efficient -- they seem to really enjoy their jobs. Same at the one Starbucks we go to. [There are 3 here in Merced]. The employees there remember us, chat us up, remember what we order, [heck, the manager offered to sell us a new coffee maker and would use his discount]. Maybe that's commonplace and he does that with everyone, but as a customer, it makes me feel special, and keeps me coming back.>> It's nice to know that customer service like that still exsists. I was at the drive-thru in Wendy's yesterday and I asked for an extra barbecue sauce form my chicken nuggets. You'd think I asked the cashier at the drive through to cut her arm off.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I use In and Out Burger and Starbucks because that's where the difference is. We have other fast food places where the service is below average or just average too.
Originally Posted By DAR I don't have and In N Out near me but of course I have two Starbucks within a half mile of my house. My favorite with Starbucks though is in Vegas especially NY NY, MGM and Excalibur, I swear they have two to three per casino. At least what I saw.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Our local newspaper let go the entire advertising production department. $10 an hour was too much to pay a local graphic artist. Where are the ads being created? Yep, India. All done by email. Yet they have the nerve to regularly run editorials decrying offshoring of American jobs.> The next time they do, you should write a letter to the editor that addresses this and see if they have the guts to publish it. Seriously.
Originally Posted By hopemax >What I don't pretend to understand is how companies like Starbucks and In and Out Burgers can hire and retain and pay decent wages to their people -- and still make great profits. There was an article a couple of years, in Business Week, about "The Costco Way," vs Sam's Club. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_15/b3878084_mz021.htm" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/ma gazine/content/04_15/b3878084_mz021.htm</a> Later in the article they compared "overhead." As for why other places don't do it, they also say, "Of course, it's by no means as simple as that sounds, and management has to hustle to make the high-wage strategy work." I don't think management at most companies wants to work that hard. They want to protect fiefdoms and enjoy the fruits of making it to the top.
Originally Posted By DlandJB I have encountered some variety in Starbucks, but mostly it had to do with speed and, for lack of a better word, intelligence of staff. But they are always pleasant. I know Starbucks has good benefits, including decent health benefits, for its employees. I'm not sure that is true with a lot of other similar retail jobs. I'm sure that kind of thing plays a role in employee satisfaction. No doubt they have other incentives as well.
