Circuit City sucks donkey kong.

[Jeff]

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6 people got fired from our store. People who I knew, liked, and had been there from my day 1. The reason..."Being paid to much." Screw this place, once I find something better I am peacin out. Justin the Roadshop manager gave them the news. 3 joked (college age guys), one walked out in a rage, and two cried (the ladies). No notice, no chance to take less pay, nothing. :evil:

[.RJ]

I wonder if CC forgot the cost of hiring new employees?

Oh well...

[HAULN-SS]

I didnt read the article, but i heard something about them firing liek 3400 people

[white_2kgt]

I fail to see why this is being made such a big deal of? CC needs to do something to stay in BUSINESS, so fire 3500 people now or shut down to doors in a few years laying everyone off with NO severance package b/c of undercut pricing from Walmart/online discount stores. Simple fact of the matter is these are RETAIL jobs, CC fired you, ok, go back to burger king or walmart, target, mall or whatever other bazillion retail sales jobs are out there. Not like the people working retail at CC are trained in what they sell anyway :roll: so go sell pants or fries and quit your crying.

yes it sucks they lost their job, yes I'd be pissed to, but they got a severance package and can use that while looking for another job.

[WRXtranceformed]

Welcome to the corporate world my friend. Downsizing is nothing new for any business. The only thing about that article that gave me a chuckle was that CC is offering to rehire the people that were laid off for less money.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

[BLINGMW]

no chance to take less pay

I thought I'd read that they could re-apply for a lower job in 10 days or something like that? Or is that just a way of saying they're welcome to apply just like any other guy off the street?

I wonder, would it have been better (for both CC and the employees) to approach these people and offer pay cuts? At least a choice of cut pay or you're gone? It would seem like the company would at least have SOME interest in keeping people who are already trained for the jobs.

[white_2kgt]

...already trained for the jobs.

You can train a damn monkey to walk around and scratch their ass, tell a customer misinformation, lie or just sit around and talk to other monkeys all day long. Help at CC/Bestbuy is useless, you had damn well better know what you want when you walk in those stores b/c if you ask them for a recommendations they will push whatever they have been told to push that week no matter if it's what you need/want.

[BLINGMW]

:lol:

[Sijray21]

selling lazy higher paying jobs i could understand or underperforming ones, but a business has to do what it has to do. When you're working for one just make sure that you can carry on your skills to another company whenever that layoff may happen.

sorry about your friend Jeff , but i hope they had some saftey money stashed away. Just kind of stresses to everyone the importance to save a little cushion incase of a layoff.

[G.Irish]

Well CC has been getting beat down by Worst Buy for some time now so its not really a surprise. But really, cutting jobs at the stores isn't going to help them at all. They need to get rid of the incompetent people at the management level who are making the bad decisions.

For instance, the Circuit City by my parents house only has 3 registers for the whole store so any time more than a handful of customers comes in it is total gridlock. The Best Buy 2 blocks away has like 16. I'm sure the rationale was that they wouldn't have to pay as many cashiers but they also can't do as much business.

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons BB is eating their lunch but the truth is that its not the rank and file store level employees' fault, its management. But of course the powers that be will have their golden parachutes to fall back on when the blame finally gets around to them.

[white_2kgt]

For instance, the Circuit City by my parents house only has 3 registers for the whole store so any time more than a handful of customers comes in it is total gridlock. The Best Buy 2 blocks away has like 16. I'm sure the rationale was that they wouldn't have to pay as many cashiers but they also can't do as much business.

Never go and pay for stuff at the front of the store, goto one of the registers in the computer or home theater departments. There's hardly anyone ever at those.

The best though is going shopping w/ the baby now. I get what I want together then make her cry, man they open registers like its nobody's business. I had a lady at sams club check out 2 carts of stuff at the jewelry counter a few weeks ago when the 10 lines were 8 people deep, it was great!

[G.Irish]

Yeah usually I'll go to the register at the returns department. But then again I don't make it a habit of going there at all so...

[Apoc]

The best though is going shopping w/ the baby now. I get what I want together then make her cry, man they open registers like its nobody's business. I had a lady at sams club check out 2 carts of stuff at the jewelry counter a few weeks ago when the 10 lines were 8 people deep, it was great!

The end doesn't justify the means.

I've stopped shopping in store for no other reason than the lines and annoying customers and employees. Well, that and I can sit on my ass and make it come to me... for cheaper.

[white_2kgt]

The best though is going shopping w/ the baby now. I get what I want together then make her cry, man they open registers like its nobody's business. I had a lady at sams club check out 2 carts of stuff at the jewelry counter a few weeks ago when the 10 lines were 8 people deep, it was great!

The end doesn't justify the means.

Trust me, I need those extra 10 minutes these days...

I order as much stuff as I can, but when you need something small and quick right away sometimes it's worth the extra few $$$ just to get it done.

[PGK]

If I can just add a few observations....

The article states that CC is firing higher-paid employees and hiring lower-paid employees. The implication is they are sacking people of value to the company, people that know their stuff and are good at what they do, in favor of hiring monkeys for less, a-la Best Buy.

The article also mentions that other big-box retailers, like Home Depot, are offering higher starting wages to attract people with more product knowledgeÔÇöit mentions carpenters and electricians specifically. I understand that Home Depot and Circuit City are not exactly competitors, but big retail is big retail, and more to the point retail is retail. People that know the product are important, and Circuit City is saying that people who know the product are not important.

I honestly haven't set foot in CC in nearly a decade, so I can't comment on the state of their retail environment, nor would an experience in one store be indicative of the state in stores company wide.

[BLINGMW]

Circuit City is saying that people who know the product are not important.

I think you're right, and it seems like they're going the wrong direction. If I want no support, no product knowledge, why would I go to a store when I can just order it online? Sure, there are lots of customers that still don't do things that way, but it's only growing and will continue to. So why should I drive out to a brick and motor store if they can't offer me any further assistance than I could find online?

OTOH, if Breast Buy or Circuit Shitty had a knowledgeable staff, added some value to the sale, then I might very well go there instead to get good advice and service. I guess companies like Walmart have proven that approach is not worth the investment, and most customers would prefer a lower price rather than any sort of good buying experience. So they all just compete on price, service be dammed. The mom & pop, small stores that still do provide service are sadly a thing of the past.

I guess it makes sense? If you're an uneducated customer, then you don't care and only buy on price. If you're an educated customer, you have the tools to educate yourself, decide on the product you want, then go buy it on price. So neither customer really needs support. When I think about it, there's a few small electronics, home theater, stereo stores still in Roanoke, like Lee Hartman & Sons, and holy hell I would never step in there because their prices are so out of line.

[HAULN-SS]

My parents buy there - Lee Hartman...they like the fact that if they have a warranty issue or whatever, they can walk in and talk with the guy that sold them whatever.

[Feersty]

The mom & pop, small stores that still do provide service are sadly a thing of the past.

My dad owned a small pet store in Prince George's County for 20 years from 1978 to 1998, until a P.T. Moran opened up within walking distance of my dad's store. P.T. Moran was later bought out by Petco. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him, and he was very knowledgable of the products he was selling. What tropical fish were good with others. Sadly he could not even compete inventory wise. His square footage was about 1,100, and the Petco was about 10,000. With a larger inventory their prices could be a lot lower, and he was forced to liquidate his store. It was good while it lasted, but as mentioned before, price will get business every time.

[Apoc]

I guess it makes sense? If you're an uneducated customer, then you don't care and only buy on price. If you're an educated customer, you have the tools to educate yourself, decide on the product you want, then go buy it on price. So neither customer really needs support.

Think you worked the head of the nail pretty good on that one.

[Jeff]

I mean, I understand why the did what they did, but I think the method was rather underhanded. Chrysler is going to lay off 5 times as many people, but they have warning. I understand that they get a severence package, but that is little consolation for people like Angie who had been there for 5 years or better. She was very good at what she did and I will miss her more then any of them. We lost a roadshop sales guy too, but he said he will be re-applying. Not everyone they let go was a mindless 17 year old Chad. Also, its 10 weeks wait to re-apply, not 10 days. They were giving people the axe for making 50 cents over the cap...then they give me a $200 bonus for productivity. I mean, I guess a trained "skilled" employee is worth more then a customer service senior with 5 years experience or a seasoned salesman.