Circuit City fires 3400 employees

Circuit City really does suck, and this further proves that. As others have mentioned (seems to be the case everywhere), when I do go in the store here, I can never find anything I'm looking for at all. Nor do I ever see anyone working the cash registers. Everyone is just lounging around, not giving a damn if you find what you want/buy or not.

Ridiculous store.. I avoid them at all costs.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Mine is the same way. The only register that is staffed is the one they use at the customer service desk. Waiting on line there takes forever.[/QUOTE]
In our case, that's the only register we HAVE. :)
 
[quote name='mbstuff']LOL, isn't that IT's job function #1? To make themselves indispensible because management can't really oversee what's going on?[/quote]

It doesn't matter because soon pretty much any job will be sent overseas because as the "decider in chief" once said, "Outsourcing is right for America" :roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll: And free trade (I'll at least acknowledge it in theory) is right for America :roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll::roll: Give me a break. When China and India and every other nation in the world starts dealing in free trade and doesn't set up barriers, etc. to their own workers, economy, etc. then free trade and specialization may have a chance. Otherwise we're just shooting ourselves in the foot.
 
This comes as no surprise. I'd expected it sooner, actually.

Why? Well, I need only ask myself which chains have had the best blowout sales in recent times and know their collapse is in progress. Effective retailers don't need to have blowouts on the scale of what we've had in recent years from Circuit City, TRU, GameRush, and K-mart. While Best Buy had a big blowout recently, it was a paper blowout. What I mean by this is that while the printed list might have seemed quite spectacular the actual stock available to buy at those prices was pretty minimal. Most of it had long since been sold at far less painful discount. Which is as it should be.

The best ever blowout from Best Buy for me was when the Saturn was declared dead and all of the software was marked down to under $10. That was a looong time ago, almost a decade. During which Best Buy continued to grow. The bargains at BB come in ones and twos, as they do at Target. Both f those chains are strong.
 
[quote name='zewone']I didn't realize everyone's CC had the same shitty one cashier setup. [/quote]
Every CC I've went to makes you go up to the CS desk to buy. Most of the time, it's college kids that are near the sound equipment so they listen to music and talk with other employees while one girl at the CS desk is actually working.

Hopefully most of those layoffs were for people that were on the floor and did absolutely nothing.

Seems this got some attention, I noticed it on NBC news last night. Even they called it a layoff.
 
My CC is like many others here. Very few employees, no registers open (leaving checkout at customer service), and no sale signage on most videogames. One would never know something was on sale unless you looked in the sales paper for an item.
 
Yeah, one of my freinds got the heave ho yesterday. 20 frakkin' years !!!! All he got was an "I'm sorry" and 6 weeks severance. The guy had been working there since high school, 20 frakkin' years !!!

And just to add, there's 6 registers there and the only time I've seen more than 1 open. And that was just a few days before Christmas.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']
karl-marx-MED.jpg

"What did I tell you kids? WHAT DID I TELL YOU???"

;)[/QUOTE]

Yes, capitalism is to blame for the laying off of 3400 workers. If only it could be properly controlled by the workers, everyone could be provided with their very own, big screen HDTV and hybrid auto. The drawback is that toilet paper becomes a non-existant luxury and we have to wipe our asses with our left hand.
 
[quote name='A7las']They did something similar to this when I worked at CC about 4 years ago. They switched from commissions to a set hourly wage. All of the best sellers were told that they would not make near to what they used to, therefore they would be taking a pay cut or leaving.

Many left. So CC ended up with a poorer sales staff. It didn't make a whole lot of sense...[/QUOTE]

I remember when that happened. The customer service was lousy after that; no one knew where anything was located. The service was finally getting pretty good recently.

The past three times I've been to Circuit City (twice in the past week), the service has been excellent. When Shadow of the Colossus went Greatest Hits, I tried to buy it after the display featuring it was in the store, but before the Greatest Hits copies had been put out on the floor. When I had it price checked, it showed full price instead of $19.99, so the employee who price checked it for me went with me to customer service to get them to drop the price to $19.99. They argued that, because it didn't have the Greatest Hits bar on the top of the case, it wasn't the same price as the Greatest Hits copy. The employee who was helping me stayed there for a good five minutes and argued with customer service, explaining to them why it should be $19.99. Finally, we had to give up, and she told me to just go to GameStop because Circuit City doesn't care. I ended up getting the game at EB, but I was really impressed with how helpful the employee was in trying to get customer service to pricematch. It looks like we won't be having service like that at Circuit City anymore.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']
Oh and I get that companies have to these things, but there was absolutely no notice and no real precedence for this. And there's yet another kick in the chops. I came in at 2, well after the meeting (which no one was told about) but I happen to notice we had someone from HR around today in the store. Not once did they talk to me and I didn't see her talk to any other employees, just managers. Now you may wonder how many managers got axed? (3 guesses, the first 2 don't count). So it's lovely to see people representing corprate come in and essentially fire our co-workers and friends, rape whatever little teamwork or comrodery (sp?) we built, destroy any shred of worker morale, and then not say anything to us the whole day. They didn't ask me what I thought, explain the reasons why or give any details, didn't even ask how I was doing, or what my fucking name was. They didn't even bring it up to me, I heard it from my friend about 3 or 4 mins after I got there. That's pretty damn messed up to me...[/QUOTE]

This isn't just a Circuit City thing... this is how all stores lay off people. It's one quick stroke with never any warning at all, you just go into work like it's a regular day, and then BAM, you have no job at all.
 
[quote name='mtxbass1']My CC is like many others here. Very few employees, no registers open (leaving checkout at customer service), and no sale signage on most videogames. One would never know something was on sale unless you looked in the sales paper for an item.[/QUOTE]

Yup. There's also one guy there who's just a complete ass, too. And what's up with almost every CC I go to with the riced out trucks and Accords being parked diagonally?


This episode has gotten me to think about where I shop. Unfortunately, it looks like the pendulum has swung back to Best Buy with their open box items and better (sometimes) customer service. I still hope their PRP plans and Geek Squad dies though. CC blew it with their CS and no titles to speak of in the last few clearance rounds.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']Yup. There's also one guy there who's just a complete ass, too. And what's up with almost every CC I go to with the riced out trucks and Accords being parked diagonally?


This episode has gotten me to think about where I shop. Unfortunately, it looks like the pendulum has swung back to Best Buy with their open box items and better (sometimes) customer service. I still hope their PRP plans and Geek Squad dies though. CC blew it with their CS and no titles to speak of in the last few clearance rounds.[/QUOTE]

CC has their own ripoff of Geek Squad now... Firedog.

I was in the store (getting an old receipt, I don't shop at the shitty place if I can help it), and saw a card that for ONLY $40 they teach you how to use your ipod!
 
[quote name='Roufuss']CC has their own ripoff of Geek Squad now... Firedog.

I was in the store (getting an old receipt, I don't shop at the shitty place if I can help it), and saw a card that for ONLY $40 they teach you how to use your ipod![/QUOTE]

I can't blame them for trying to get in on it. GS invented ripping people off (note how I used the interchangeable initials), so I feel I can have a bigger hate for them.

I was actually thinking of starting up a business to undercut all of them called 'Grandson's Tech Service'.
 
[quote name='michaema']I hear a lot of companies are heading this way, which somewhat concerns me as an IT person. Theres always someone overseas who can do what you do cheaper. I guess people in IT need to start building in job security into their code. :twisted:[/quote]

To be honest, it sounds more like they decided to contract out their IT systems to another company - a technology company (IBM). Half the CC IT Dept became IBM employees and I doubt that IBM is going to offshore the rest of the operation.

It makes sense in that CC doesn't need a homegrown IT department - they are not in the business of IT solutions but rather the business of selling high end electronics - and as such contracting out their small IT operation to a business that specializes in IT solutions (IBM) only makes sense.

Most of the offshoring is done with low-end IT work. The choice IT jobs being offshored are mostly involving huge software projects, otherwise most businesses need their IT workers (designers, developers, maintenance) here in the US so that they can solve business problems real-time without time-delay or culture-related obstacles.
 
I hear ya. Companies do this to make back some profit, but don't realize that most of the time they're screwing themselves up in the long run. I used to work for the WaMu call center here in Cali. When they announced the lay-off last year, they at least had the courtesy to give us a 4-6 month advance notice.

I showed up late about 1 month before said date, and got canned on the spot. They had started to try to get rid of anyone they could. My friend who was there until the end said there was maybe 20 people out of 1000 left.
Anyway, the had moved the call center to Texas. Last I heard is that it took them about 9 months to get that place running to capacity that we were, and even then people are leaving because they pay them about $7 an hour (opposed to the $13 we used to get).

Eh. I still bank at B of A.
 
They already have enjoy dumbass punks at the Circuit City near my house; they don't know their hands from their asses. Now you are telling me they are going to hire people even less responsible and even dumber than the previous crew!? I already hate that store enough which is why I like to do the ol' switch-er-roo once and a while there.
 
[quote name='camoor']To be honest, it sounds more like they decided to contract out their IT systems to another company - a technology company (IBM). Half the CC IT Dept became IBM employees and I doubt that IBM is going to offshore the rest of the operation.

It makes sense in that CC doesn't need a homegrown IT department - they are not in the business of IT solutions but rather the business of selling high end electronics - and as such contracting out their small IT operation to a business that specializes in IT solutions (IBM) only makes sense.

Most of the offshoring is done with low-end IT work. The choice IT jobs being offshored are mostly involving huge software projects, otherwise most businesses need their IT workers (designers, developers, maintenance) here in the US so that they can solve business problems real-time without time-delay or culture-related obstacles.[/quote]

You know I did read that they were contracting out to IBM I guess it just slipped my mind. Yeah, I see your point, it would be very difficult to outsource some specific types of duties. Besides for what i do, I dont think I will have any problems staying employed either where im at or any of the other IT jobs available. But i sill believe IT should build in Job security into their code by removing all comments. :lol:
 
I hate CC with a passion, finding anything in the DVD section is impossible and getting an employee to help is even harder.

The last time I was in there, there were 2 middle-eastern looking dudes stealing a PSP in plain sight. They forced open the locked storage thing the PSP's were in, ripped open the packaging, and pocketed the hardware all in the video game area.

I tried to inform someone, but by the time I found an employee that would listen they were gone.

I told the manager that if the first 2 employees I tried to talk to would have listened to me or even acknowledged me, they could have stopped the theft.
 
Glad to hear that neocisco, Duo_Maxwell, bill123 and DemoMan made it through the purge intact.

Certainly a shame to hear that CC is flushing through the "more expenseive" employees and keeping the lower-paid minions.

I know with their change in PM policy to not PM their own prices + 10%, it was one big reason not to shop there. Now that they're flushing through some of their staff because they're higher-paid, it's another reason.

Looks like the CC ad is going to be used at BB more and more.
 
I was one of the people let go yesterday morning. The way they handled things was terrible. Our store director was crying the entire time as he had to fire about 6 of us. They made him read from a book to give us the information and the few words he could say of his own, you could tell that he thought it was terrible as well.

I was making $2 an hour more than someone starting in my position, but I sell televisions, so that would be $80 a week more that I would have to make in profit for the store than my replacement. Basically I would have had to sell one more monster cable per week than an entry level replacement, which would be easy.

The really crazy part is that they didn't even give people the option of taking a pay cut. They might have been able to keep at least some of their good employees that way.

EDIT - I've already talked to other people who kept their jobs and apparantly most of the remaining employees were very upset about the moves and are considering finding new jobs. This is not going to end well for Circuit City.
 
CC is basically saying they want to survive on part time labor, and a handfull of underpaid managers to keep the migrant workers in line.

As soon as Best Buy appeared near me, I want to say in 2000......CC began an immediate decline.

Here is how you can tell a store is going to close:
1) Lack of employees

2) Gap between store shelves growing larger and larger...right now at closest CC to me, you can drive a bus down the aisles and you still wouldn't knock anything off the shelves.

3) Lack of stock on the shelves.....they look like they are in permanant inventory mode.

4) Questionable display practices. When you walk into the CC by me, know what you are greeted with, besides aisles as wide as the Hudson river? Long stretches of beige racks with beige carpeting and beige paint housing....ready? 4:3 CRT TV's. Seriously....its like walking into 1988......"We have some fine HiFi VCR's available". And I'd also like to chime in, I totally agree with the statement that finding anything in order on store shelves is laughable.....I guess they figured their "high priced" employees still weren't able to put items away ALPHABETICALLY, so they may as well just cut their losses.

An entire electronics store manned by Wal Mart Greeters.....Awweezzzoome.

Good Riddance, they're a terrible place to shop. Not only have I never seen them sell anything cheaper than anyone else, but their selection is abyssmal.

Online? Not bad...but I'll almost never go into their stores....they have nothing on the shelf, not even fun to browse...at least around here.
 
[quote name='HeadRusch'] Not only have I never seen them sell anything cheaper than anyone else, but their selection is abyssmal.
[/QUOTE]

Either you have a Fry's near you, or you just don't pay attention to Circuit City at all, but the one thing they do right is having good deals on stuff, notably games. Hell, Circuit City saved me $20 this week on buying games.
 
[quote name='greendj27']I was one of the people let go yesterday morning. The way they handled things was terrible. Our store director was crying the entire time as he had to fire about 6 of us. They made him read from a book to give us the information and the few words he could say of his own, you could tell that he thought it was terrible as well.

I was making $2 an hour more than someone starting in my position, but I sell televisions, so that would be $80 a week more that I would have to make in profit for the store than my replacement. Basically I would have had to sell one more monster cable per week than an entry level replacement, which would be easy.

The really crazy part is that they didn't even give people the option of taking a pay cut. They might have been able to keep at least some of their good employees that way.

EDIT - I've already talked to other people who kept their jobs and apparantly most of the remaining employees were very upset about the moves and are considering finding new jobs. This is not going to end well for Circuit City.[/quote]
Man, that totally sucks. I didn't realize you were one of the CC CAGs. :shock:

I'm sure this will end up being for the better for you. Did they offer any severance, or was it just a solid kick in the ass?
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Man, that totally sucks. I didn't realize you were one of the CC CAGs. :shock:

I'm sure this will end up being for the better for you. Did they offer any severance, or was it just a solid kick in the ass?[/QUOTE]

I didn't work there long, just since last August. Basically I get two weeks severance pay and my vacation time will be paid out.

I'm not too worried since I may already have another job lined up that will pay more anyway, but I am still amazed at how little CC must have really thought this through before they went ahead with this plan.
 
[quote name='greendj27']I didn't work there long, just since last August. Basically I get two weeks severance pay and my vacation time will be paid out.

I'm not too worried since I may already have another job lined up that will pay more anyway, but I am still amazed at how little CC must have really thought this through before they went ahead with this plan.[/quote]
Sounds like you end up getting a month's pay for free, if the old job is lined up and goes through. Hope that works out.

And from what neocisco put in the first post, yeah, this sounds like nothing more than the bean counters trying to save some money in the wrong way.

If the existing employees decide to start leaving en-mass, that should be an interesting situation they get stuck with.
 
[quote name='greendj27']I was one of the people let go yesterday morning. The way they handled things was terrible. Our store director was crying the entire time as he had to fire about 6 of us. They made him read from a book to give us the information and the few words he could say of his own, you could tell that he thought it was terrible as well.

I was making $2 an hour more than someone starting in my position, but I sell televisions, so that would be $80 a week more that I would have to make in profit for the store than my replacement. Basically I would have had to sell one more monster cable per week than an entry level replacement, which would be easy.

The really crazy part is that they didn't even give people the option of taking a pay cut. They might have been able to keep at least some of their good employees that way.

EDIT - I've already talked to other people who kept their jobs and apparantly most of the remaining employees were very upset about the moves and are considering finding new jobs. This is not going to end well for Circuit City.[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hear about that. The store I work at lost 7 of our best, with 3 of them having being there over 10 years. I've been there over 7 years and missed the axe by 1 cent, but I, like I'm sure a lot of other CC employees, am looking for a new job, because I'll never be able to get over this bitch move on CC's part. Good luck in the future.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']
If the existing employees decide to start leaving en-mass, that should be an interesting situation they get stuck with.[/QUOTE]

There will always be people who will be willing to work for less, though.

The quality of the store will go down, but I can't see Circuit City getting any worse at this point.
 
A lot of people with families are now jobless and now you hope that this will help you find your DVD on sale that you're looking for 2 days after the sale started when it's $10 cheaper than the next guy. Many of those people have nothing to do with the DVD/games sections. Instead it's just going to hire more of the same kind of people who work there, but now they'll be selling you TVs and computers too. A lot of the people who barely stayed at my CC are already looking for new jobs. When Firedog doesn't become as successful as they hope it will be, CC will most likely become online only.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']There will always be people who will be willing to work for less, though.

The quality of the store will go down, but I can't see Circuit City getting any worse at this point.[/quote]
Yes, there will always be people who will work for less, though as we both know, the rest of the people there might not want to deal with new employees who don't have a clue what's going on.

It's one less reason to go into CC, at this point. What'll be interesting is to see if BBY does the same thing after CC's lead.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Yes, there will always be people who will work for less, though as we both know, the rest of the people there might not want to deal with new employees who don't have a clue what's going on.

It's one less reason to go into CC, at this point. What'll be interesting is to see if BBY does the same thing after CC's lead.[/QUOTE]

Well, not only that, but having to train these new people will be hard knowing that they're the cheap replacements of fired coworkers. Should make for an awkward situation.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Sounds like you end up getting a month's pay for free, if the old job is lined up and goes through. Hope that works out.

And from what neocisco put in the first post, yeah, this sounds like nothing more than the bean counters trying to save some money in the wrong way.

If the existing employees decide to start leaving en-mass, that should be an interesting situation they get stuck with.[/quote]

This is probably the incentive I need to get out of the comfort zone and find a new job. It will be a few months due to plans for this summer but I need to be gone before the next holiday season.
 
[quote name='greendj27']I didn't work there long, just since last August. Basically I get two weeks severance pay and my vacation time will be paid out.

I'm not too worried since I may already have another job lined up that will pay more anyway, but I am still amazed at how little CC must have really thought this through before they went ahead with this plan.[/QUOTE]

This sucks dick, man. I am very happy to hear that you have a better job lined up, but I'm sure nearly all of the people fired DO NOT. It's incredible how they handled it. I had hopes previously that CC would find itself out of its rut and end up getting better, but this just confirms that they will be heading down the path of CompUSA in the next few years.
 
[quote name='epobirs']This comes as no surprise. I'd expected it sooner, actually.

Why? Well, I need only ask myself which chains have had the best blowout sales in recent times and know their collapse is in progress. Effective retailers don't need to have blowouts on the scale of what we've had in recent years from Circuit City, TRU, GameRush, and K-mart. While Best Buy had a big blowout recently, it was a paper blowout. What I mean by this is that while the printed list might have seemed quite spectacular the actual stock available to buy at those prices was pretty minimal. Most of it had long since been sold at far less painful discount. Which is as it should be.

The best ever blowout from Best Buy for me was when the Saturn was declared dead and all of the software was marked down to under $10. That was a looong time ago, almost a decade. During which Best Buy continued to grow. The bargains at BB come in ones and twos, as they do at Target. Both f those chains are strong.[/quote]

Good point and good post as always. I guess we'll be seeing Gamecrazy go this way soon as well.
 
At least they know how to do a clearance for once they do go out of business.
 
[quote name='y2jedi']Yeah, one of my freinds got the heave ho yesterday. 20 frakkin' years !!!! All he got was an "I'm sorry" and 6 weeks severance. The guy had been working there since high school, 20 frakkin' years !!!

And just to add, there's 6 registers there and the only time I've seen more than 1 open. And that was just a few days before Christmas.[/QUOTE]

Is your friend, how shall I put it, impaired? After 20 years he should either be in management or have several Special Olympics medals at home.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']Yup. There's also one guy there who's just a complete ass, too. And what's up with almost every CC I go to with the riced out trucks and Accords being parked diagonally?


This episode has gotten me to think about where I shop. Unfortunately, it looks like the pendulum has swung back to Best Buy with their open box items and better (sometimes) customer service. I still hope their PRP plans and Geek Squad dies though. CC blew it with their CS and no titles to speak of in the last few clearance rounds.[/QUOTE]

Geek Squad is a big growth sector for BB. CC is lamely trying to imitate it with their Firedog offering but it isn't getting much traction. When a know-nothing needs help with his computer, is his first instinct to summon a geek or a dog?
 
[quote name='epobirs']Geek Squad is a big growth sector for BB. CC is lamely trying to imitate it with their Firedog offering but it isn't getting much traction. When a know-nothing needs help with his computer, is his first instinct to summon a geek or a dog?[/QUOTE]

I can't speak for other stores, but I know that our store and most in our district are hitting our firedog budgets.
 
[quote name='epobirs']Geek Squad is a big growth sector for BB. CC is lamely trying to imitate it with their Firedog offering but it isn't getting much traction. When a know-nothing needs help with his computer, is his first instinct to summon a geek or a dog?[/quote]

Or Apple's version: the Genius something or other (don't remember the last part, just the pretentious genius bit).
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']Or Apple's version: the Genius something or other (don't remember the last part, just the pretentious genius bit).[/QUOTE]


Genius Bar
 
[quote name='greendj27']I can't speak for other stores, but I know that our store and most in our district are hitting our firedog budgets.[/QUOTE]

But what is the density of Best Buy in that same region and how ambitious are those budgets? According to trade publications that track such operations Geek Squad has the highest name recognition and revenues by a wide margin. CC is really dropping the ball on developing consumer awareness, which takes a serious investment. At the very least, they could have followed BB's example and bought an established operation to take national. Make It Work, which is a Geek Squad clone here in Southern California, would have been a very good candidate.
 
Wow, CC sucked before, and now it will suck even more. I'm glad there is a newly built Best Buy across the street. I will think twice now if I decided to pick up a clearance game at CC.
 
[quote name='Dkellar']Wow, CC sucked before, and now it will suck even more. I'm glad there is a newly built Best Buy across the street. I will think twice now if I decided to pick up a clearance game at CC.[/quote]

Buy all the clearance games you want. There making very little, if any, profit on those. Just don't buy anything anywhere near retail price, especially accessories. Those items have huge profit margins.
 
My sincerest sympathies go out to anyone who lost their job to this batch of layoffs.

I've had first hand experience with being laid off, so I know it's not fun at all. In fact, when I got laid off, there was a bit of an extra twist. I was laid off over the phone while I was in the middle of a vacation in California. My first decent vacation in years, and my fucktard company figured out a way to ruin it. It's not much fun going to theme parks and zoos when you know the money you have is going to have to last a while. I didn't even get any severence pay.

So, to all those that lost their jobs, good luck to ya! We'll all laugh as CC continues to shoot themselves in the foot.
 
I only like the idea of cutting cost if I see a difference in the prices. Econ one of the few classes I am good at this is an interesting idea and I think its going to be a trend in the US market that is well past its peak. If they can cut cost by paying people less the odds are good that the prices of items over there will go down. With the weak doller the consumer needs all the purchasing power they can get.

Its more of an economic move more then anything. I think you will see this more in the future.
 
[quote name='packerfan10']I only like the idea of cutting cost if I see a difference in the prices. Econ one of the few classes I am good at this is an interesting idea and I think its going to be a trend in the US market that is well past its peak. If they can cut cost by paying people less the odds are good that the prices of items over there will go down. With the weak doller the consumer needs all the purchasing power they can get.

Its more of an economic move more then anything. I think you will see this more in the future.[/QUOTE]

Prices aren't going to go down if the reason they are cutting costs is because they are losing money.
 
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