Community Forums

Vegascpl · 03-30-2007, 05:30 AM

Don't know why this is a big surprise. For the last 6 years there have been big layoffs all over the country. High tech jobs, computer engineers, programers have gone to India. When is the last time you really understood the person giving you tech support! When jobs are created they pay much less than the ones that were lost.

As for health care, I think it's insane that the wealthiest country in the world doesn't have adequate health care for all of it's people. Remember Hillary's universal health care. Ya I know you hated it! Do you know why? The Republicans shot it down. That's politics but they didn't have anything of their own to replace it with. Now we are paying a huge price. We all pay for health care for those who don't have insurance.

What I don't understand is why so much concern for Circuit City employees? This has been pretty much business as usual in the US for the last 6 years affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

Michael

2005 Dutch Star 40' 4 slide
2005 BMW K1200LT motorcycle on lift
2006 Ford Escape Hybrid

RustyJC · 03-30-2007, 05:47 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Vegascpl:
Don't know why this is a big surprise. For the last 6 years there have been big layoffs all over the country. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ummm....this isn't a Republican versus Democrat issue. It's been happening for a lot longer than 6 years. Not every discussion needs to be politicized.

Rusty

rbracing60 · 03-30-2007, 11:23 AM

cc employee making 20 dollars an hour? Ive never met anyone in cc that I thought knew enough about their products to justify minimum wage. At least thats my experience.

chasfm11 · 03-30-2007, 05:47 PM

Richard, it didn't used to be that way. I used to buy nearly all of my electronics at CC and I had no problem finding someone who knew the products. I admit that not everyone that they had qualified as knowledgeable but there were always key employees and I soon figured out who they were.

Perhaps we consumers have played a hand in this result. While most electronics are commodities and the manufacturers exercise significant control over pricing (keeping it pretty level, store to store), some stores made a commitment to have people who could help you. I guess we collectively bought at the cheapest place regardless of service and proved that having knowledgeable and perhaps higher paid staff wasn't worth it.

rbracing60 · 03-31-2007, 05:40 AM

I suppose all of that has a ring of truth to it, we here in the rural south only started seeing these types of stores within the last 7 or 8 years, so I guess committment to service was long gone by then. I have always been able to find an employee that could quote specs, just never one who could answer the technical questions, guess thats why they have the geek squads now if you want the answers pay for it.
I guess you can count me as part of the problem now, I only use cc or bb as places to actually get hands on of a piece of merchandise, then if it is what I really want I will shop the internet for price, and on a rare occasion cc or bb will have a lower price.

Adventurer · 04-02-2007, 07:08 AM

WOW $20 an hour for no training necessary electronic retail sales? He must have saved some at that wage. You've demonstrated why they needed to cut wages. That number seems way out of line to me for a retailer that's trying to compete in a very tough market. Ironic you should mention health because a lot of trained and licensed health care workers don't make that kind of money.

As far as health insurance, COBRA is available, plus he can apply for his old job at a more competive pay scale after drawing 6 months of unemployment.

Joe-K · 04-02-2007, 08:12 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chasfm11:

Perhaps we consumers have played a hand in this result. While most electronics are commodities and the manufacturers exercise significant control over pricing (keeping it pretty level, store to store), some stores made a commitment to have people who could help you. I guess we collectively bought at the cheapest place regardless of service and proved that having knowledgeable and perhaps higher paid staff wasn't worth it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I couldn't agree with you more on the point that you made.

Buying at the cheapest location regardless of price does not always get the consumer (whether retail or commercial) the best value. When stores had intelligent, experienced salespersons who genuinely knew their products, purchasing an item was a pleasure. Now though, many consumers tend to shop price.

I'll admit many times shopping on the web to compare prices and often times I end up purchasing over the internet rather then in the store. I think it's that change from buying locally at the retailer you know, to online price comparisions that is pushing even the larger stores to cut experienced staff.

We've seen the demise of the local hardware store (you know the place with the hardwood floor and the owner working there who knew where everything was) as they were put out of business by the Home Depots. Now even the Home Depots and Circuit City's are letting got their experienced staff as they continue to try to cut prices.

Where does this leave us? Are any of us willing to pay higher prices for higher levels of service? I hope so, or we won't have many places left in business that provide the higer level of service. I know I've been giving more thought recently about where I spend my dollars.