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Circuit City's North Star
Circuit City to eliminate another 850 jobs

In late March, DailyTech reported that Circuit City fired 3,400 employees in an effort to trim costs. The jobs cuts represented eight percent of Circuit City's overall workforce and came just a month after the company's announcement to close nearly 70 stores in North America.

"These actions represent the execution phase of the work initiated this winter to accelerate Circuit City's transformation," said Circuit City president, chairman and CEO Philip J. Schoonover in March. "Unfortunately, a number of Associates are directly impacted by the actions, but we are making Circuit City stronger for the long term."

It now appears that the March firings were just the beginning. Circuit City is gearing up for another round of layoffs to build on its four pillars for success:  to win in home entertainment, grow its services business, leverage the shift to multichannel retailing, and significantly improve its real estate position. The pillars are a part of Circuit City's 5-year plan to restructure the company and expand its reach into more profitable sectors of the technology market.

This time around, the company axed roughly one manager from each of its 654 stores along with nearly 200 positions at its Richmond, VA headquarters.

Despite the 850 jobs cuts, Circuit City has plans to open 165 new stores.

Online forums have been abuzz since yesterday about the impending job cuts. Many who were fired have even expressed disdain for Circuit City’s “North Star” concepts which are supposed to help and guide employees:

  • Engage - Excite And Inspire Me
  • Respect - Treat Me Like I Matter
  • Teach - Guide And Support Me
  • Simplify - Make It Easy For Me

In today's increasingly more cut-throat marketplace, it appears that the "Respect" aspect of Circuit City's North Star initiative shouldn't be taken too literally.

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great plan
By MrBungle123 on 5/31/2007 12:18:21 PM , Rating: 2
Instead of kicking thousands of people to the curb, they could have cut the CEO who obviously wasn't doing his job if the company needs to "trim costs", that usually means "people aren't buying our stuff". Since the CEO failed to steer the company in the right direction, now the company is having financial problems, and the CEO keeps their (probably) multi-million dollar salary and 3400 people are out of work... Typical




RE: great plan
By BMFPitt on 5/31/2007 12:39:40 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe it was cheaper to keep him than to give him a $25 million golden parachute.


RE: great plan
By techfuzz on 5/31/2007 2:13:47 PM , Rating: 2
A $25 million golden parachute isn't worth anything if the company files for bankruptcy! If it's the CEO that's at fault, and it sounds like it is, then it's better to fire them now and bring in someone new. The situation isn't going to get any better by letting the current CEO try to fix a company they obviously couldn't keep from failing in the first place.


RE: great plan
By Christopher1 on 5/31/2007 3:44:58 PM , Rating: 2
I have to agree with those statements. It is about time that Circuit City realized that the REAL problem they are having is that their upper-management are idiots!
They are simply not doing the things that would bring Circuit City back to being a dominant player like they were 15 years ago.


RE: great plan
By othercents on 5/31/2007 3:47:33 PM , Rating: 2
So your saying they could have trimmed costs, kept all the stores open, and all the employees if they fired the CEO and hired a new one? I think the reality of all this is no matter who the CEO is they would have still fired employees and closed unprofitable stores to trim costs. At least this way they don't have to pay the CEO to leave.

Other


RE: great plan
By retrospooty on 5/31/2007 4:44:49 PM , Rating: 2
I think what is being said is that the CEO and upper management didn't do a good job at all of keeping Circuit City profitable, and competitive (it could be product placement, special promotions, advertising etc) so Circuit City has been downward spiraling for many years. Now that the $hit hit the fan, the CEO is off scott free and thousands of employees are laid off.


RE: great plan
By Chaser on 5/31/2007 12:40:01 PM , Rating: 5
Thats always a convenient argument. But a captainless ship will go nowhere and eventually sink. Although the existing CEO could have been the cause of C.C.'s present woes (although I think competition from Best Buy and other chains is probably more to blame) they'd still have to hire a new qualified CEO that I doubt would work for charity.


RE: great plan
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 12:57:27 PM , Rating: 2
I'm sure the OP was not suggesting that the CEO be fired and not be replaced, LOL.


RE: great plan
By MrBungle123 on 5/31/2007 1:52:18 PM , Rating: 3
if the CEO doesn't have the forsight to realize that the company will have competition, and a can't adjust the companies strategy to meet the needs of the constantly changing business environment so that they remain profitable and growing what good are they?


RE: great plan
By Sleazell on 5/31/2007 8:47:59 PM , Rating: 2
I think you are correct. I worked for CC from 1998 to 2002 ( I was laid off from their first cut...didn't hurt me to much as I was in college). I remember in 2001 they held this store meeting to "make strategic changes". It was the beginning of us moving away from being knowledgeable about products and good customer services and becoming more like Best Buy. In fact that next year is when they cut all the people who were making a good salary from commission and went to hourly. I talked to my friends that managed to stick around and they said the store was doing terrible. A lot of the high rollers sales guys had built relationships with customers and without that Circuit City had nothing. Why pay more, when given crappy advice from someone you don't trust? If it didn’t work the first time cutting staff back why is it going to work this time? The point I am making is in competition there is #1 and #2. Sometimes you just have to except you are #2 and do that well (i.e. Target). At one point I think CC had a business model that worked but got greedy, didn’t want to pay their employees well and are now feeling the backlash. Management totally messed up what they had.


RE: great plan
By RjBass on 5/31/2007 2:27:04 PM , Rating: 3
I'm just making a wild guess here as I really don't know one way or the other, but maybe it wasn't the CEO's fault. Maybe it has more to do with our economy not being as good as some politicians would have us believe.


RE: great plan
By hubajube on 5/31/2007 3:24:29 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Maybe it has more to do with our economy not being as good as some politicians would have us believe.
Which politicians are those? I only see the "sky is falling" politicians preaching doom and gloom while the Dow is in record territory. All the while i make more money off of this "shitty" economy. Where's my "rolls eyes" avatar?


RE: great plan
By Spivonious on 5/31/2007 3:41:02 PM , Rating: 2
All I know is that the value of the dollar is falling through the floor. Heck, we're almost even with the Canadian dollar now!


RE: great plan
By encryptkeeper on 5/31/2007 6:01:27 PM , Rating: 2
Which politicians are those? I only see the "sky is falling" politicians preaching doom and gloom while the Dow is in record territory. All the while i make more money off of this "shitty" economy.

Didn't pay much attention in econ class did we? The Dow Jones is in record territory yes, but it's also not a Cliff's Notes guide to the economy. In short, economic growth of the entire US published every quarter is a much better way to gauge the entire economy as a whole. For instance, the GDP for the first three months of this year grew at .6% (and it was projected to grow at 1.3% for that timeframe). Overall, we're experiencing the slowest economic growth since '02. The Dow Jones is just a report of companies in the stock market, and to keep it very basic, it's not a full report of the economy because not nearly all US business trade stocks through the stock market and are therefore not counted. People mainly buy stocks either to sell them at a higher price and make money, receive dividends from their stocks, or to have controlling interest in the company.

At the same time, inflation is hurting the economy as well. Think about how much more you could buy ten years ago with 10 dollars. Now it's not quite so much. Sure there's more money floating around, but it's not worth as much.

According to msnbc.com, the main reason behind the almost negative growth was due to the trade deficit being much larger than was originally thought (other than that, I don't know or understand the trade deficit). Also, companies didn't keep as much stock on hand for supplies or sales to customers.

If you're making money in the stock market right now, and doing it consistently, congratulations as few people can do that. At the same time, your analysis of the economy being great were totally off base and quite frankly, uninformed. Please make sure to alleviate this for future posts, because when you scan through our humble www.dailytech.com, you'll find we pride ourselves on always making sure our posts are from well informed people.


RE: great plan
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 7:43:42 PM , Rating: 2
One thing you can say about the stock market relative to the overall economy is that the a rising (or falling) stock market tends to be a leading indicator of near-future economic growth (or lack thereof). So there is some correlaton, though not perfect.


RE: great plan
By Roy2001 on 5/31/2007 4:44:28 PM , Rating: 2
He makes as much as Intel CEO makes. What a shame.


RE: great plan
By mamabear on 6/1/2007 11:19:06 AM , Rating: 2
FYI: My son and 5 other "lead" employees of Circuit City in Newhall, CA were laid off yesterday as part of the Circuit City restructuring. May have been other employees laid-off too.


By OxBow on 5/31/2007 12:43:39 PM , Rating: 2
This reminds me of a poster from Despair.com

"Sometimes the solution to moral problems is to fire all the unhappy people."

The quickest way to reduce costs and make the annual report look good is to fire people. This makes the accounting sheets look better, so the stock ticks up. The execs cash in their back dated stock options or exercise a little insider trading and retire to Bermuda. Such tactics did wonders for the US auto industry, made it what it is today. I'm glad to see that some tech related companies are following in this grand tradition.




By TomZ on 5/31/2007 12:56:08 PM , Rating: 2
moral -> morale.

Regarding the auto industry - the problem with the domestic auto industry is exactly the opposite. Because of the unions, the auto industry is unable to adjust their production labor costs as demand fluctuates. Instead, when demand decreases, they have to continue to pay everyone's salaries and rack up enormous costs. There is no such "quick fix" that I've ever seen executed in the auto industry through layoffs, at least in the past 20 years that I've been aware of the industry.

I'm not saying the problem with the auto industry is not entirely out of its control, but the holdover of the unions from the olden days when domestic automakers had monopoly pricing power are actually quite difficult to cope with.


By FITCamaro on 5/31/2007 1:21:52 PM , Rating: 2
Exactly on the auto industry. Unions ruined it. And they continue to try and do so. When you have uneducated people who build the cars and can't be fired because of a union contract making more money than the engineers that design the cars, thats a problem. There are US auto industry workers who do practically nothing making $25-35 an hour. Thats $52,000-$72800 a year which is a level I or II engineering salary. It's jobs like those that are the reason many kids today don't get an education. They see people making that much with no education and say "Why go to college" not realizing that those jobs are disappearing.

And the worst part is, a lot of that money goes to the union for "protecting their jobs". If the union wasn't there, their job wouldn't require as much protection. The workers actual salaries would be less but they'd still take home about the same and GM, Ford, etc. could afford to pay more of them.


By Christopher1 on 5/31/2007 3:51:22 PM , Rating: 1
Wrong. Unions did NOT ruin that industry, what ruined the American auto industry was making sub-standard cars for a long period of time, to the point where no one with a brain would buy a car from them anymore. My mother bought a Chevy Eagle and had NOTHING but problem with it 18 years ago, until she got rid of it 9 years ago.

It was a money-dump, it had problems with the engine that they could not seem to fix and was in the shop about every 3 weeks with a price tag of $600 dollars each time to fix for nearly 5 years and they NEVER fixed it correctly.

My father finally got tired of it, and we got rid of the Eagle and they bought a new Chevy SUV from a dealer who my father was friends with near our home and trusted.

Secondly, college is NOT the right path for everyone. I went to college 7 years ago, flunked EVERY SINGLE COURSE, and gave up for about 2 years. Then I went back to another college, which worked with my mental and physical disabilities that are state documented, and graduated top of my class.


By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 5/31/2007 4:37:36 PM , Rating: 2
Complacency is the word that comes to mind.


By TomZ on 5/31/2007 5:54:58 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, quality was an industry-wide problem back then - not just for the domestics, but also for the Asian and European imports. Do you remember early Hondas in the 1980's - they were terrible - every bit as bad as their domestic counterparts quality-wise.

The point with the unions is that they served the very useful purpose of getting large wages and nice benefits for autoworkers when the domestic OEMs had pricing power. Specifically, trade union negiotiations that raised labor costs could be compensated by raising prices. Since U.S. customers had no other choice, they had to pay.

Then in the 1970's and 1980's, you saw a large increase of imports because they were smaller than domestic cars at the time, and since we had some problems with energy then, there was a large demand for smaller cars. So imports got a good footing, and that eventually led the way to today's transplants.

So now you have many foreign automotive OEMs with plants here in the U.S. supplying to the local market... but with no union, and therefore, with much lower wages and little/no benefits. Even most cars that are imported have lower wage costs because of intrinsically lower pay in the country of origin, plus that most countries of origin also have national healthcare. But the domestic manufacturers (and some of their suppliers) still have unions and union contracts to deal with in their plants.

So, bottom line is that domestic automakers have these huge legacy costs to deal with ( thousands of dollars per vehicle sold ), compared with imports and transplants that do not have any such costs. The poor financial performance of domestic automakers (as well as many suppliers) is directly related to these costs. Of course there are other factors, but clearly the additional costs do not create a level playing field.


By darkpaw on 5/31/2007 5:57:17 PM , Rating: 1
I've always wanted a Jeep myself, but until Chrysler can actually figure out how to make a transmission that lasts more then 80k miles, I'll stick with my import. My Grandma and Aunt were both lifetime Chrysler buyers and never had a vehical make it to 100k miles without needing major transmisison work. I don't know why my Aunt still keeps buying a new one every four or five years, my Grandma at least wised up enough to buy an import this time.

The union situation definately doesn't help, but most of the stuff Detriot put out (especially in the 90s) is pure shit which puts both sides at fault in my book. I had nearly 300k miles on the '84 olds I drove in high school, but the '97 olds my wife had didn't even make it to 130k before croaking and that was after a transmission rebuild at 70k miles. My '92 pathfinder had 200k miles on it without a problem before it was totaled in an accident, and I'm approaching 150k in the '97 pathfinder I replaced it with.


By kmmatney on 5/31/2007 11:45:10 PM , Rating: 2
We are at 135K miles on our Dodge Grand Caravan AWD. The transmission has been fine, even with the all-wheel drive, which is great for Colorado. It's been a great car so far.


Linked article doesn't match DT synopsis
By johnsonx on 5/31/2007 5:29:37 PM , Rating: 2
This is yet another of numerous cases where the DailyTech story doesn't match what the linked article says.

From the Reuters article:

quote:
Circuit City Stores Inc. said on Thursday it plans to shift some 640 store managers and trim its headquarters staff

quote:
Circuit City will shift managers from stores with low sales to busier outlets, affecting about one manager from each of its stores, according to a company spokesman. In addition, some will take on new supervisory roles.

quote:
"We will be eliminating some positions and creating other positions. At the end of the day the number of people working in our stores will be about the same."

quote:
However, 200 jobs will be eliminated from the 3,100 at its Richmond, Virginia, headquarters, due to cost cutting.


Headline and text of the DT article as posted right now:
quote:
Circuit City to eliminate another 850 jobs
- WRONG
quote:
the company axed roughly one manager from each of its 654 stores
- WRONG
quote:
Despite the 850 jobs cuts...
- WRONG

So all the main points in the DT article, and the overall tone, is wrong, and the headline is completely wrong. Almost every comment posted about it is a reaction to incorrect information. Nice one Brandon. Take 2 minutes and actually READ the damned article!




RE: Linked article doesn't match DT synopsis
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 5:58:07 PM , Rating: 2
You should consider the possibility that the linked article was also corrected/revised.


By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 5/31/2007 6:07:48 PM , Rating: 1
There was nothing to correct. They are firing approximately one guy from 654 stores, plus 200 from the HQ. Just add the two numbers up.


By timmiser on 5/31/2007 6:45:32 PM , Rating: 2
Who brought in the word "Firing"? These are job cuts, ie layoffs. There is a big difference between being layed off and being fired.


By TomZ on 5/31/2007 6:50:58 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
There was nothing to correct. They are firing approximately one guy from 654 stores, plus 200 from the HQ. Just add the two numbers up.

The Reuters article linked by your article does not say that. It clearly states that the 654 managers are being moved to other locations, not let go.


By Brandon Hill (blog) on 5/31/2007 6:06:35 PM , Rating: 2
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_busine...
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007...

quote:
Circuit City Stores Inc., the second-largest U.S. consumer-electronics chain and owner of stores in Brick, Eatontown and Freehold Township, said it is cutting about 850 jobs in the U.S., on top of 3,400 eliminated in March, as it realigns store management.

Circuit City plans to cut 654 positions as it will now assign store managers based on sales volume, spokesman Bill Cimino said. Locations will have three to five managers each. Previously each store had five managers regardless of revenue, he said. The cuts will be a combination of attrition, transfers and dismissals, he said.

The company also is cutting 200 jobs today at its Richmond, Va., headquarters. Circuit City employs about 3,000 at that location and 43,000 in the U.S. overall.


http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/31/ap377589...

quote:
Circuit City (nyse: CC - news - people ), the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer behind Best Buy Co. Inc. (nyse: BBY - news - people ), said it will eliminate an average of one manager for each of Circuit City's 654 U.S. stores and give more supervisory duties to midlevel sales staff. The changes will be based on store volume, the company said.

There are 3,000 people employed at the chain's corporate offices in Richmond and company officials didn't specify which 200 positions would be cut.


http://www.sys-con.com/read/383021.htm

quote:
RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum made his comments in the wake of a Thursday report in the Wall Street Journal's online edition saying that Circuit City will eliminate the jobs of 654 store managers and 200 workers at the chain's Richmond, Virginia, headquarters. The Journal report cited an interview with Circuit City Chairman and Chief Executive Philip Schoonover.


By TomZ on 5/31/2007 7:44:47 PM , Rating: 2
How do you explain the discrepancy between these articles and the Reuters link in your article?


By johnsonx on 6/1/2007 2:54:12 AM , Rating: 2
Ok, on one hand, I take it all back...

On the other hand, I can hardly be blamed for reading the ONE article you linked pertaining to today's news, and finding it to say something very different than what your article says. My unnecessary hyperbole was the result of momentary exasperation, as this is not the first time I've gone to read a linked article and found a somewhat different story therein (in the past though it's been just the little details that had been misinterpereted).

It's clear though that the various news sources do not agree on this story. The Reuters article is quoting a CC spokeshole, who may well be dishing out newspeak instead of fact. Alternately the other articles may all have started out from the same flawed information.

I suppose in the grand scheme of things, whether a bunch of CC managers are getting re-assigned or laid off is of little consequence to anyone other than them. However it would be interesting to find out what exactly the truth is here.


You would think
By FITCamaro on 5/31/2007 12:23:17 PM , Rating: 2
You would think that Circuit City wouldn't roll out this campaign that their employees matter and they want to help them when they're firing them. Or is their idea of respect that they tell them they're being let go a week before it happens so they have time to look for another job?

Honestly I don't shop at Circuit City much. They have some great TVs and audio equipment, but the issue is that their service plans are far more expensive than Best Buys. Typically you can get a 4 year warranty at Best Buy for the price of a 3 year at Circuit City on the same product. And since you can price match, the price is the same at either store.

A friend is looking to buy a 1080p LCD TV. I found a great Mitsubishi one at Circuit City for $2100($1100 off). But after tax and with a 3 year warranty, its $200 more expensive than buying it online with free shipping, no tax, and a 4 year warranty(on-site). If the warranty periods were the same, I'd tell him to get it at the Circuit City since its more convenient. But why pay more for less?




RE: You would think
By BMFPitt on 5/31/2007 1:00:25 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
You would think that Circuit City wouldn't roll out this campaign that their employees matter and they want to help them when they're firing them.
I think you should have to at least have a one month waiting period between putting out a statement about respecting your employees and having layoffs.

I wonder if they all got called by the HR person who said "It's not you, it's me."


RE: You would think
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 2:10:34 PM , Rating: 2
In retail sales, it would be unwise to tell employees that far in advance. Consider the damage that could be done. I'm not saying that everyone getting the axe would, just some percentage.

It would be smarter to pay a severance package that amounts to some number of weeks of pay instead of having ex-employees coming into work every day.


I think I hear the fat lady warming up
By walk2k on 5/31/2007 1:21:54 PM , Rating: 3
Circuit City is such a crap store. I'm guessing they go fully under before the year is out.

Case in point, the CC nearest me is about a block away from the Best Buy. Walk into the BB on any Saturday and the place is packed. It's hot, noisy, and crowded.

Meanwhile the CC is nearly deserted. Well, except for maybe a half dozen teenage employees sitting around talking about the lastest "cool" band or whatever. No wonder they are letting these people go. Next, the whole company. Watch




By Hakuryu on 5/31/2007 2:14:45 PM , Rating: 2
Same thing by me. Best Buy is always packed, and the CC in the same shopping plaza has like 10 cars in the lot.

The only time I go into CC is when I read the Sunday ad's and find something cheap. Circuit City really is a terrible store for many reasons :

- only 2 checkouts behind a desk, resulting in occasional waits of 10+ minutes to buy a CD.
- enough paper in the receipts to fell a small forest even when buying something small like a cable.
- store layouts are retarded... instead of walking by CD's and newest DVD releases like BB (which is a major part of their sales), CC makes you walk by $2,000 TV's and 100's of cell phones. Like I'm really going to decide to buy a TV or phone while waiting to checkout, rather than a DVD or CD's that surround Best Buy cashiers.
- Dumb or untrained associates (take your pick)... bought a G15 online with store pickup, and it took them like 25 minutes once I got to the store to get my keyboard... and I ended up getting a $24 gift card because of this wait (not from the store - argued with employee's about it and got nowhere, went to the CC site and complained and had the gift card mailed to me).

I don't think CC will last another 5 years.


RE: I think I hear the fat lady warming up
By werepossum on 5/31/2007 2:19:17 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Well, except for maybe a half dozen teenage employees sitting around talking about the lastest "cool" band or whatever. No wonder they are letting these people go.


No, they're keeping the teenage kids and getting rid of the people who've been there long enough to achieve a decent salary. It's really good business since if you assume every employee is equal. It's not so good business if you assume that working at the same store selling the same products for ten years might have taught you something about the products and about selling them. And IMHO not such good policy to shout it out. "Come to Circuit City; we've screwed our employees to save you money!" Personally I'd feel unclean if I bought something there. Also, it's not very good for those employees still there. If you let them know there's no profitable future there, the good ones will look for jobs elsewhere (Best Buy?) and you'll be left with the dead wood.


By Christopher1 on 5/31/2007 3:54:06 PM , Rating: 2
I have to agree. While I have nothing against teenage kids, it seems that they are never the ones to go first, it is always the older people who are deservedly making more money.

Circuit City needs to do a few things in order to come back to profitability, from lowering prices (they are more expensive than Best Buy) to offering better Customer Service to negotiating hard for discounts on things.


I was laid off this morning.
By cinder on 5/31/2007 12:39:20 PM , Rating: 2
I was a part-time senior sales associate. I was let go because the "restructuring of the company eliminates my position." There is a supervisor position but it was given to the full-time senior in my department. Luckily for myself this job was for extra cash while I am still in college. I haven't heard much of who else was laid off.




RE: I was laid off this morning.
By eggy04 on 6/1/2007 3:28:47 AM , Rating: 2
i know how you feel, i have been working full time hours for a year and a half and baging for full time but never got it, then this morning i got laid off because there was a manager in training in my dept. and i got a pretty small severance pay-check.. i was there for 3 years and posted top sales in the store most of the months i was there


circuit city firings
By SJAmes on 5/31/2007 4:11:55 PM , Rating: 2
So the mgt eg the CEO gets $5 mil, and prob about $10-$20 mil in stock options, while CC goes through their third round of firings, in a race to the bottom. It is their contribution to moving America towards the country becoming like medieval times - populated by super rich Lords, and the rest are Serfs (Is Serf the root word from which 'slave' comes maybe?)

There is a solution. It goes beyond not shopping at circuit city, and remembering that friends dont let friends shop at circuit city. Get together, all of you, in your churches. Somewhere we can bring together a movement that competes with the GOD OF GREED that seems to rule so much of corporate America these days.

A late uncle of mine, whose parents came from eastern europe and lived in several different countries before they came to the US about 1890 explained long ago that that there are rich people everywhere, there are desperately poor people everywhere. What was different was that there was a middle class in America, and you had the money and time to earn a decent living, and take care of your family. This is all being destroyed by the Greed of Wall Street and the super-rich. Meanwhile our soldiers, our volunteers, our finests, are being murdered in a war based on lies, ignorance, and arrogance. Get together with your church leaders, and we can change the direction of America. Circuit city is just one example of many. We need to do something. I was a republican all my life, I even voted for Bush the first time until I understood what he was about. But if we get together we can turn this country around, and circuit city is one place to start.




RE: circuit city firings
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 7:49:52 PM , Rating: 2
One possible alternative explanation of a declining middle-class in America is that Americans have become more complacent and maybe a bit more lazy. I'm not saying everyone - I'm just saying there doesn't seem to be a real passion for success like there was 100 years ago, when you had a large influx of immigrants arriving at our shores with literally nothing. These people - our great and great, great grandparents for those of us of European descent, built their own success, worked hard, saved, etc.

People now seem more complacent, like they expect that somehow everything will work out for them or be given to them, and that they don't have to work hard to get ahead. I don't know how to explain it besides that.


another one
By duh what on 5/31/2007 9:05:32 PM , Rating: 2
Norbit - DVD $16.99 at Best Buy
14.99 at Circuit City, WoW!




RE: another one
By eggy04 on 6/1/2007 3:29:28 AM , Rating: 2
circuit city is terrible customer service


circuit city?
By eggy04 on 6/1/2007 3:20:06 AM , Rating: 2
I have worked at Circuit City for three years, well worked there, and i have been refusing to follow it for some time now, especially after the first wave of firings. I was a senior product specialist and i got laid off because the position was no longer available and i was not offered another position even though i had been one of the most loyal employees since i had been there. My manager was also released and he was the hardest working employee in the store.. I just do not believe this is the right action plan to take. I have lost total faith in Circuit City...




RE: circuit city?
By Darith on 6/1/2007 11:13:00 AM , Rating: 2
Put that on your resume and get a job with the blue team.


The firings shall continue...
By HVAC on 5/31/2007 3:03:11 PM , Rating: 2
...until employee morale improves.




By encryptkeeper on 5/31/2007 5:32:35 PM , Rating: 2
"Unfortunately, a number of Associates are directly impacted by the actions, but we are making Circuit City stronger for the long term."

Actually, if their round of firings are of the employees that have been with Circuit City for years that means fewer knowledgeable experienced sales people. Naturally they expect that this should not have any negative effect on sales (makes hand gesture simulating male personal stimulation) but guess what! It will likely result in lower sales, lower profits and MORE firings thus beginning a vicious circle of events for the company. Unless these people were TRULY dead weight, this will only have a temporary relief for Circuit. Personally I don't shop at one anyway, I'm not a fan of their stores and there's nothing that makes me want to shop there, but that has in no way affected my opinion of them. Not at all.

In all seriousness, this kind of thing is what businesses have to do to stay afloat in bad times, but really why is it the lowest people on the totem pole go before someone high up with a HUGE salary that can be expendable?




Circuit Pity
By Supersonic3474 on 5/31/2007 6:00:37 PM , Rating: 2
Really, well maybe they will go bankrupt after all. I feel sorry for the employees however.

www.circuitpity.net to see my story.




4 pillars of Integrity?
By Chadder007 on 5/31/2007 6:18:52 PM , Rating: 2
More like the 4 Pillars of Irony....am I rite? :D




Check your facts first
By duh what on 5/31/2007 8:58:02 PM , Rating: 2
Sony 46" LCD HDTV (KDL-46V2500) $2499 at Circuit City
Same TV at Best Buy $2799
Cheaper I think not




By Natoma77 on 5/31/2007 8:59:44 PM , Rating: 2
We just found out today. Quite sad. She's only a few years from retirement too. :(




By mamabear on 6/1/2007 11:17:58 AM , Rating: 2
FYI: My son and 5 other "lead" employees of the Circuit City store, in Newhall, California, were laid off yesterday as part of the Circuit City restructuring.




Circuit City rudderless
By The Raging Haggis on 6/1/2007 12:19:34 PM , Rating: 2
"These actions represent the execution phase of the work initiated this winter to accelerate Circuit City's transformation," said Circuit City president, chairman and CEO Philip J. Schoonover.
What a crock!!!
Unknown by most is that most of the team chartered to do the transformation, including the VP of Business Transformation (not me but my highest boss), were among the people fired. Guess old Phil's plan just wasn't cutting it. Sales sure don't hide the facts.




Not All The Facts!
By Dinnerlee on 6/4/2007 1:11:09 AM , Rating: 1
I work for Circuit Shity! What they say is about one person from each store is laid off, and that new positions are being created. But what they carefully leave out is that this new position is replacing old ones for less pay. They are offering this new position with more duties for the same or less pay. If you say no to this position or if you are part time, then they are making employees sign paperwork saying you just voluntarily quit! That can't be legal? I was given the same choice because my position was erased and given a new supervisor title with about a $10,000 a year pay cut. I will be leaving the company as soon as I use up my payed time off. I can't work for this company that only cares about its stock holders and CEO!!!!




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