don't buy from Circuit City!

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muzikool

Act your wage.
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What a bunch of jerks!

From ABC News:
Circuit City Lays Off Employees for Earning Too Much Money

March 30, 2007 — At electronics retailer Circuit City, more than 3,000 employees — about 8 percent of its total work force — have been fired for making too much money, the company says.

One ex-employee Bobby Young told "Good Morning America" that the company had treated him like a number, not a person.

After 20 years at a Circuit City store in Virginia, Young is now out of a job. He was laid off, he says, because he was making $18 an hour.

"He [the man who fired him] wished me well, and that was it for 20 years of service," he said. "For them to do this the way they did, I'm disappointed. I'm hurt."

Young is one of 3,400 workers who Circuit City says were laid off because they "were paid well above the market-based salary range for their role."

The company's CEO, Philip J. Schoonover, said in a statement, "Unfortunately a number of associates are directly impacted by the actions, but we are making Circuit City stronger for the long term."

But some analysts question whether the cuts will actually help the company.

Not only does it hurt the morale of the remaining employees, but it can also be bad public relations.

Still, with Circuit City struggling to keep up with competitors like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, experts say the company may have felt like it had no choice.

"The major cost for [a] retailer is workers," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger Gray & Christmas, an HR consulting company. "If it has to cut costs, what else can it do besides lay off people or cut wages?"

The question now is whether more companies will follow suit.

In the summer, for example, Wal-Mart capped the pay of its veteran employees.

As for Young, he will get a severance package and can reapply for his old job in 11 weeks, but at a lower wage.

"That's an insult," Young said. "I have a family. I have two kids. I can't live off of $8 or $9 an hour."

According to figures from one congressman, the six top executives at Circuit City earned roughly $33.5 million over the last three years — enough to employ 450 people for three years at $12 an hour.

Bad public relations is right. How will this make them "stronger for the long term?" These people were obviously some of their best employees and salespeople, and now the public is aware of how these people were treated. CC has the right to fire them based on employee-at-will, but that doesn't make it right, and we can choose not to purchase from them because of their actions. :mad:
 
How about cutting the salaries of the "top six executives"? Hell, what do they do that is so important?
 
seriously screw Circuit City...I shop there as a last resort but will use them no longer...I guess Fry's will be my next alternative

eeeeeeeeeeeewwww Fry's
 
If I was working somewhere for 20 years and earning 18 bucks an hour, I would fire myself.

My $0.02.
 
Gone are the days our parents experienced in the work force.

There is no loyalty any longer, the free market is far too competitive. I agree with KC and Sazar, you should question your own right to exist in this world if after 20 years you havn't moved on to bigger, better challenges.

"were paid well above the market-based salary range for their role" - well in that case about 85% of the work force should be laid off immediately.
 
Personally I would want to quit as well before I hit 20 years making $18/hour. These are likely people with no higher education, though, so their potential for higher wages is not as good. Besides, if they are happy with their job and pay then I have no problem with it. Just a sad story for over 3,000 people.
 
You don't have to have higher education alone to move up in the world.

You also have to have drive/commitment and EXPERIENCE.

A person with 20 years of experience in almost any field is practically guaranteed a job.

20 years doing the same thing @ 18 bucks an hour is simply being lazy. He has a family and 2 kids.

For the other guys, I agree, I feel bad for them but this is business. Those same over-paid executives will likely turn the company around, eventually.
 
You don't have to have higher education alone to move up in the world.

You also have to have drive/commitment and EXPERIENCE.

A person with 20 years of experience in almost any field is practically guaranteed a job.

20 years doing the same thing @ 18 bucks an hour is simply being lazy. He has a family and 2 kids.

For the other guys, I agree, I feel bad for them but this is business. Those same over-paid executives will likely turn the company around, eventually.

Heck I was making 38k per year my first year out of the military, at one of the lowest ocst of living areas in the united states...

Although admittedly not every joe schmo is walking around with a top of the line DoD clearance...

:D
 
You don't have to have higher education alone to move up in the world.

You also have to have drive/commitment and EXPERIENCE.

A person with 20 years of experience in almost any field is practically guaranteed a job.

20 years doing the same thing @ 18 bucks an hour is simply being lazy. He has a family and 2 kids.

For the other guys, I agree, I feel bad for them but this is business. Those same over-paid executives will likely turn the company around, eventually.

A person with 20 years of sales experience should be able to fill a retail management position or even a corporate position with a retail outlet. Staying in sales isn't necessarily a result of laziness, though. It definitely could be, but people can also be afraid of change, or maybe they really like working with customers and get satisfaction out of helping them directly.

I worked in different retail positions through high school and college, and many of my co-workers were 60+ in age. Age discrimination does exist, sadly, and I don't necessarily think these people could automatically get a better job just from having years and years of experience.

At $18/hour, these salespeople probably were at the top of their pay-scale, and many will likely take a pay cut for their next job, at least starting out.
 
Personally I would want to quit as well before I hit 20 years making $18/hour. These are likely people with no higher education, though, so their potential for higher wages is not as good. Besides, if they are happy with their job and pay then I have no problem with it. Just a sad story for over 3,000 people.

Good point. Their potential for higher wages may also be out of their control - environment, crap school system, poverty - forced out of school to work to keep family eating/sheltered....

That however is a social problem that is multi-faceted and difficult to solve in a capitalist world.
 
Meh, I'll still go wherever the best price is.
Be it CircuitCity, Compusa, or Best buy....
This doesn't affect my thoughts at all...
It happens...
And that's why Circuit city still exists.
 
You don't have to have higher education alone to move up in the world.

You also have to have drive/commitment and EXPERIENCE.

A person with 20 years of experience in almost any field is practically guaranteed a job.

20 years doing the same thing @ 18 bucks an hour is simply being lazy. He has a family and 2 kids.

For the other guys, I agree, I feel bad for them but this is business. Those same over-paid executives will likely turn the company around, eventually.

You know Sazar, you don't know what you are talking about. First off, how do you know where this person began 20 years ago? And at what pay he was getting back then. Plus you where only 8 20 years ago. What do you think the salary was for a rookie salesman back then? And who knows if he even started as a salesman. Come back in 20 years and tell us if you've made a ton of money of have that huge salary that you seem to be hinting at that this person should have now. Why and with what right do you have to say that he is just lazy getting 18 an hour? You think he was getting 18 an hour for all them 20 years? Hmmmm. You don't start at the top of the food chain. That is some seriously bad thinking on your part.

Oh, and since he is... ummm, was a salesman, you would think he also got a commission on any sales he made right? So 18 an hour would be only part of it. But this only if he in fact got commissions on sales.
 
I make £12/hr at my main job and now at my additional part time job. Combined that has me on £35500 ish per year gross. I do tech support and sys admin. Relatively speaking $18/hr seems pretty good. Although currency conversion puts me at 2 lots of $23/hr...
 
Well that sucks for those people and I think all of us…once again a company screws its employees to hire lower paid people that probably will get NO benefits worth anything.

“Higher paid I would guess means older established citizens of our country that have earned there place in that company with decent benefits and a vacation package that cared about there customers and the company…I might add probably really like there JOB… that could greet us as customers on a first name basis when we walked in the door!!!!”

This irritates me every time I hear of these practices happening within companies because.

1--- You have people with family’s that earned an honest living that are affected here not the executives that caused the problems within the company. “how do I know the executives caused the problems because there the boss they call the shots!!!”

2--- This will affect all of us, a person making $6 or $8 an hour will not be able to support there local economy the same as a person with 20 years on the job making $18 plus an hour!!!. “No way in hell they can”

3--- Before you know it all of us will make $6 an hour and live in company housing, shop at company stores because there will be very few people left making decent money that can afford our services!
“< maybe a little drastic but think about it”

Key points here.

People.
With some type of benefits.
That have Families.
That I’m sure liked there jobs.
That were reliable with 20 years of service.
That had Vacation time.
That were probably some of Circuit City’s best customers.

These people deserve respect for there 20 or so years of faithful service to that company and contributing to there local economy for all of our benefit!!!

Thanks; muzikool for posting this I’ve been very busy and only heard very little about this until now so Thanks.

Circuit City will not get much if any of my business from here out!!!
 
You know Sazar, you don't know what you are talking about. First off, how do you know where this person began 20 years ago? And at what pay he was getting back then. Plus you where only 8 20 years ago. What do you think the salary was for a rookie salesman back then? And who knows if he even started as a salesman. Come back in 20 years and tell us if you've made a ton of money of have that huge salary that you seem to be hinting at that this person should have now. Why and with what right do you have to say that he is just lazy getting 18 an hour? You think he was getting 18 an hour for all them 20 years? Hmmmm. You don't start at the top of the food chain. That is some seriously bad thinking on your part.

I work in an environment where I have been in contact with sales people starting at the bottom of the rung, kids just out of college or not yet finished.

I have seen them a couple of years later in different positions and able to hold their own and make decent money.

I don't expect this person to have a huge salary or anything of the sort. But if he has been with a company for that length of time, you would expect him to be doing something. If you are not seeking growth, you are indeed lazy. He has plenty of incentive to further himself.

18 an hour is not bad pay. But after 20 years, it is, regardless of what the payscale may have been to start with.

Oh, and since he is... ummm, was a salesman, you would think he also got a commission on any sales he made right? So 18 an hour would be only part of it. But this only if he in fact got commissions on sales.

I am sure there was some commission incentive. You also get taxed at about 30% for commissions.
 
You don't have to have higher education alone to move up in the world.

You also have to have drive/commitment and EXPERIENCE.

A person with 20 years of experience in almost any field is practically guaranteed a job.

20 years doing the same thing @ 18 bucks an hour is simply being lazy. He has a family and 2 kids.

For the other guys, I agree, I feel bad for them but this is business. Those same over-paid executives will likely turn the company around, eventually.

i disagree ..thats a double edged sword. No one will hire "old" people ..because the money invested to teach them is better spent on younger people. Go figure huh?

anyone that is 45-50 years old and recently out of a job is pretty much stuck ... they are over-experienced for any openings in most cases ..and have to compete with college educated younger people ... and like i said above ... an employer in most cases would rather hire a younger person with little experience and pay them half and then teach them to do the job.


Personally, I strongly dislike Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, and pretty much every big box store. If anyone thinks Wal-Mart is good for our economy ... think again ... its Wal-Mart and Wal-mart alone setting the benchmark of shipping our manufacturing and even sales base overseas and cutting corners and costs with everything there and in between. Unfortunately ... Bobby and Susie don't understand the larger picture here ..and praise the 10c they save on a can of corn and the sub-standard television they purchased at walmart ..and even a cheap variation of the once mighty Schwinn bicycles ... slowly ..bobby and susie are supporting Communist China and sending our jobs overseas ... and forcing the rest of the American Work Force to compete with the likes of Wal-mart and China.

Eventually ... China will have ALL the manufacturing capacity of the world ..and will be able to strangle the USA. Then people will be asking ... why is crap so expensive ... and it will be too late ..because we lost all of our knowledge and expertise in manufacturing and engineering ...an entire generation lost ...all because of that 10c savings at Wal-Mart.

So ..the United States is heading to a giant Wal-mart or Wal-mart Clone sort of retail system ..where basically ..they are the owners of the supply, the supply chain, the transportation, the manufacturing, the outlet, and of course the labor involved with each. And if they can find a way to send it to China or India ...they will ...and will continue doing so ...until Bobby and Sue finally boycott Wal-Mart. If they don't ..then eventually Wal-mart will be its own worst enemy.

A very simple way of fighting this is an import tariff on anything that we can make ourselves. Something that levels the playing field. You think China imports as much as they export to us? No way. The thing I don't understand ..is why an American Corporation of any caliber ..finds this acceptable. has it really become profit at any/all costs?

Even a better point ..are all the bobby's in the states really that desperate to outlive their means ... to save 10c on corn ..when they could keep our money here ... and support our economy? What does 1250usd more per year really get you when you lost your 50k/year job for a 25k/year job ..all because you didn't spend that extra 10c at another store?

I was proud of Chicago for not having a single wal-mart in the city limits ... but now there is one ...so i'm sure more are coming ...and the destruction and domination continues.
 
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Personally, I've never liked Circuit City. Their prices aren't usually that great. Most of my shopping is now online.

As far as the back and forth conversation about whether this guy should have fired himself or not goes...

I have to say that at $18/hr he was earning roughly $35,000 a year. And depending on a commission rate. Even if he earned 3% commission, and selling $8000 a week which is possible depending on what department, he's making an extra $12,000 a year. So he could have possibly been making $47,000 a year. We don't know all of the details. But all of that aside, the company probably started him off at $7-8 an hour back in 1987. He's probably earned raise after raise over the course of 20 years. He put the effort in and honestly, I think he's a good man for staying with a job for that long. Retail is not an easy business. And he might even enjoy what he does. You know, there are people that actually enjoy their jobs, even in the retail level. And of course, money is not everything in this world. So he could be perfectly happy with his income. It would be insulting, to be belittled with an offer of being rehired at the company you've spent the majority of your younger years at half of or even less than half of what you've been earning with them.

I think Circuit City could have come up with a little better tact at this. Maybe offer to move these people to places in management, after some real HR work. Maybe sideways promotions or even small raises to take on some more important roles in the company would have made more sense.

Anyway. That's my .02
 
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