Circuit City Fires 3,400

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Get this, Circuit City has fired 3,400 “higher-paid” employees so it can hire lower paid workers. What the!?!?! I know things are hard all over, CompUSA announced it was closing half its stores earlier this month too but I personally believe this will only hurt consumer confidence in Circuit City.

Circuit City said yesterday that it had fired 3,400 of its highest-paid sales staff and will replace them with lower-paid workers, a risky strategy to cut costs that goes beyond the layoffs, buyouts and hiring freezes commonly used by struggling companies.
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In April of last year, we took a look at Retail Computer Purchasing Experiences and found that, out of the four major retailers we evaluated, Circuit City had the most competent and knowledgeable staff. Imagine how it will be after this.
 
Holy cow. Why not ask them to take pay cuts in case they'd rather stay and have a job? Plus they already know the job.

Guess my morals would get in the way of successful business ethics. :(
 
I work at Circuit City here in Dallas, and 5 of my good friends got cut. Its not just to hire lower payed workers. The people that were let go were making well over their departmental pay cap's and not advancing anywhere in the company. They were given pretty payouts to go and get payed for a few days to end out the pay period. Not to mention all their PTO is payed out. My two good friends had been here over 11 years and were ready to go, they look at it as being paid to quit. Both have already got bigger and better things going, so when they were let go yesterday morning it wasnt a huge deal.

I do feel that they should have possibly left the option to take a pay cut, but I highly doubt anyone of them would. There are a few other people that they should have cut instead but oh well, corporate is full of "smart" people. Sucks for my friends, but they were making a pretty penny over the paycap and not really going anywhere.
 
They did let go of quite a few corp people as well, and a few from other corp departments.

I do wish the management bonuses would go away as the associates do all the work and get nil to a little while they get huge perks. But the difference is that the management is long term while most sales people have a high turn around rate.
 
It's not like this is anything new. Company's have been doing this for years. The guy with 20 years of experience gets canned in favor of the fresh college graduate who will do the same job for 1/2 the pay.
 
I usually knew more about the products they were selling than the salesmen. This makes sure that this will be the case. I bought my speaker system and a TV at CC, but I won't support a company that willingly cans experienced sales people just to save money. Even for the ones willing to be let go for some severance pay, there are better ways of going about it... like voluntarily.
 
As a former employee for 2yrs working at Circuit City this isn't a new practice. I was one of 1000's ..yes I said it ..1000's of employees cut back in 2002 when the company ended commissioned sales associates who were let go with no warning, not even to managers who would've let us know if they had known anything b/c they were former sales associates and actually cared for most of us as employees and friends.

In my area if you made over $15.75 an hour on commission you were handed a severance package and asked to leave at 8am on a tuesday morning out of no where. At my location there were 4 of us who got the boot, others who made close to the amount or lower were offered an hourly wage and allowed to stay.

All of us cut were excellent sales associates and made tons of money for the company by being extremely knowledgeable and providing excellent customer service and advice. The company has been hurting ever since, the sales staff now where near as knowledgeable b/c they get no bonus for selling accessories or their "Performance Guarantee" or at least that's what they used to call it.

The local punks in my area couldn't tell you the difference between dvi/hdmi, plasma/lcd or anything else for the most part. I have a hard time just getting any help or even being greeted when I walk into the store. If a Bestbuy were to move into my town Circuit City would be shutdown within a couple of yrs.

Basically, there's no competition in my area without driving 45mins so if I need something quick or don't feel like driving CC is my only choice. Honestly, I'd like to see the company fold up unless they change their buisness practice and start treating their employees like they did when I first started working for the company.

Best thing they could've done for me, b/c I went back and finished my college degree and I'm now an IT manager.
 
The employees at the local Circuit City (Bellevue, WA) seem to be of the lower-paid, recently-hired variety. But then again, I've never gone into a CC store looking for tech recommendations. It's just a convenient spot to pick up a game or spare part.

The store is feeling pretty ghetto these days though, especially compared to Best Buy and CompUSA. Even the regional Fry's Electronic feels upscale in comparison.
 
Screw both CompUSA and CC. I'll never set foot in either one again. CompUSA is no problem, the closet one is over 50 miles away. I started buying DVD at a new CC on the way to work. That's over with.
 
I totally agree. Hell, I am trying to find my way out of it. :D Most of these large retail chain stores become too impersonal that you can't expect to get any special treatment there as a customer. More experienced staff will deal with you on the personal level while the newly staff working for the mim wage won't even bother to greet you. Working in the management position I am very lucky that our staff, who are working for the mim wage also, would often go beyond their duty to help the store and the customers. They are like that because they are good workers, good people, and we see them as friends. The top dogs of the company don't see it that way. How could they since they aren't the ones spending 40 hours a week working with them.

Leon2ky said:
And the retail world just gets worse and worse.
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Yea this is front page news on the local paper here(I'm in Richmond where the corp office for cc is).

This just has to kill any moral the workers at the stores still had.
 
I really do hate the CC Rebate ( Or it should be RE-BAIT!) on almost everything they're advertised. I'll not buy anything from them because of it's rebate, so down with your "RE-BAIT" and you won't be missed. On the other hand, BB's giving instant rebate now and what's what it should be.
 
I worked for Circuit City for a good year and a half. I was part time working 40+ hours per week and not getting payed overtime because they classified me as part time. I sold better than their veteran sales associates and was treated like garbage there. Circuit City does not, under any circumstances, appreciate their employees. I ended up quitting on black friday 06'. Walked in with my uniform on, acted all ready to work, and then was like oh yea, btw, i quit, bye :) . best feeling i have ever gotten. ever since, i am treated like shit if i even set foot in there so i avoid it like the plague. this may or may not be a relevant post, but it is a former employees opinion on the company as a whole, and i can honestly say that this does not surprise me at all.
 
Apoxi said:
I ended up quitting on black friday 06'. Walked in with my uniform on, acted all ready to work, and then was like oh yea, btw, i quit, bye :) . best feeling i have ever gotten.
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All you did by doing that was hurt your fellow sales associates.

If you did better after that I guess it was worth it though.
 
I buy just about everything for my system builds online, not exclusive with but including this boards major advertiser. A couple weeks ago I cam across a good price on the LG L226WT 22" LCD monitor at the local CC I decided to snag it since it was with a $40 rebate and many places were out of stock.

I could see the only one is stock on the top shelf. I had to fight for an associates attention just to get it down so I could buy it. It was 15 minutes before somebody snagged the guy at the Firedog desk to pull the rolling ladder over to pull it down. I'm happy with the monitor and the price, but the service every time I've been in there has been not that good. I can't imagine what it would be like after this transition.

I'll probably be seeing the brown truck pull up next time I buy somethiing.
 
I'd rather buy from a place with smart people than a place full of dumb people that know nothing about what they are trying to sell. They might think its good for the company but for the consumer its a bad choice.
 
it is good for the company short term, because they can hire the same amount of employees for MUCH less, but long term, customers will not trust CC anymore *if they even do in the first place*
 
We all realize that, in the future, there will be no retail right? Some call it the 'shopping experience' I call it laziness because you don't research yourself and ask people around. Think about how you upgrade your PC...do you go ANYWHERE and ask someone you don't know.

Newegg has such good prices because they don't have to pay unnecessary things...
 
...so this only leave Worst Buy in my area in which hasn't laid people off.....yet. Well, American too, but I despise them anyway. Their salesmen are nowhere to be found when I have a question.
 
Consumer "Hello, how are you"
CC Sales Rep "Wuhsup yo"

Consumer "Could you perhaps tell me a bit more about the differences between 720P and 1080P LCD's with dynamic contrast and which have the best response times?"
CC Sales Rep "Yea.. like umm, the 1080p's are bigger and you like see more of teh screen.. right"

Consumer "So are you saying that 1080P is better because of it's higher resolution or that this particular unit has better overall features?"
CC Sales Rep "Yo you like car stereo's? we got a lot of those, throw some subs in your civic, that's hot"

:rolleyes: :p
 
Techx said:
Consumer "Hello, how are you"
CC Sales Rep "Wuhsup yo"

Consumer "Could you perhaps tell me a bit more about the differences between 720P and 1080P LCD's with dynamic contrast and which have the best response times?"
CC Sales Rep "Yea.. like umm, the 1080p's are bigger and you like see more of teh screen.. right"

Consumer "So are you saying that 1080P is better because of it's higher resolution or that this particular unit has better overall features?"
CC Sales Rep "Yo you like car stereo's? we got a lot of those, throw some subs in your civic, that's hot"

:rolleyes: :p
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More like...

Consumer: Can you tell me about the difference between 720p and 1080p?
Salesman: Ya, have you heard about our extended warranties?

:eek:
 
Apoxi said:
I worked for Circuit City for a good year and a half. I was part time working 40+ hours per week and not getting payed overtime because they classified me as part time.
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That is against the law. Regardless if you are "Part Time" or "Full Time" any work in excess of 40 hours in the work week is paid as overtime period. There are exemptions to the Federal Labor Laws, but being part time is NOT one of them.
 
Circuit City wanted to become different and not be like Best Buy. However, I work at a store that just moved, they fired everyone who was "payed too much" seeing how most the people that were cut at our store were the ones who sell, its not a black eye, its friendly fire. They get rid of the ones who sold their products.

And on top of this, if you walk in to any new Circuit City, its a Best Buy, just different colors and names.

And on top of this, we have to do a mass hire, $8 an hour warm bodies. $11.50/ hour full time sellers to $14/ hour were cut, who knew what they were talking about.

OH, and no management was cut BTW. Good idea!!

Oh and a lot of employees are wanting to quit on this news too, good way to energize the company ENRON, I mean CirCUT City.
 
protias said:
More like...

Consumer: Can you tell me about the difference between 720p and 1080p?
Salesman: Ya, have you heard about our extended warranties?

:eek:
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More like...

Consumer: Do you have any Ten Years After?
Sales Rep: Ten years after what?
 
Wow.... nice...
I just lost my Best Buy (Geek Squad) job due to a lay off in early January...
Its ok though, I got a better paying job basicly being a greese monkey on Rail Road Locomotives... and I like it too... As well as it will be good for my resume trying to get an engineering job with BNSF or GE making the locomotives....
 
yagisencho said:
The employees at the local Circuit City (Bellevue, WA) ...

The store is feeling pretty ghetto these days though, especially compared to Best Buy and CompUSA. Even the regional Fry's Electronic feels upscale in comparison.
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LOL. That's because it IS in the gehtto. At least as much of a ghetto as you can have in a yuppie pit like Bellevue. There's a reason for the Bellevue PD neighborhood station at Crossroads.
 
This is very popular in corporate America, you hire workers for years upon years, they start to earn more, they exceed their cap... and then they are laid off/fired/separated in favor of fresh hires with less than half of their experience.

It's sad, but this is also coming from Circuit City, and anyone expecting job stability in retail has got a nice surprise for them coming
 
How disappointing. Circuit City was the only retail store I think I ever encountered knowledgeable, helpful salesmen who actually knew more about their products than I did. I've seen some shakeups happening at my local CC for some time, though. The experienced guys got canned a while ago and have been replaced with bimbos and dropouts who know jack about anything and everything.

What's really funny is how they're always all over me every time I go in the store asking if there's anything they can help me with when the answer always is - and will remain - a very literal no.
 
These guys got a damned good deal compared to most retail workers. Four weeks of severance? Not bad at all, considering the sector they're in.

That said, mass lay-offs suck. I know - I work for AOL, and we just went through a round of them that axed like 20%-25% of our workforce (more than 3400 people, I may add). No one really complained, though: it was clear from the way our business was shifting that we had to axe a fair few folks, because their jobs were becoming obsolete.

Is that true of Circuit City? I'm not sure. It's pretty clear to me that big box retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City will need to re-invent themselves because of increased competition from online vendors and places like Walmart and Target. Perhaps they'll try to get prices down by slashing sales associates and providing more customer self-help?

I think, in the end analysis, that employees need to understand that their loyalties should be in the same place as their employers' - the almighty dollar. If everyone's on the same page, there will be fewer misunderstandings.
 
Yep, more and more I find reasons to only buy online or from non-national (local only) stores. Corporate bean-counters know nothing about what makes a customer come back to a store. Products are only 1/2 the equation.... Someone to answer questions, that actually knows something about the product, makes up the other half.

I suspect there's some bean-counter out there right now trying to figure out how to replace most of the remaining CC employees with touch screen consoles that customers could look stuff up on products themselves without ever needing to talk to anyone. What retail chains need to be doing is figuring out how to replace the bean-counters instead.
 
they just have a better "Spin" department. They will be going through another round of "Restructuring" soon which I would guess means cutting Management and having the ones left run multiple departments, cutting employees and then cutting hours of those who are left.

I understand the online world is hurting the Big Box stores but if a customer can't go into Best Buy or Circuit and get help with their purchases, then they might as well stay home and save money buying it online. If I have to stay home and do my own research, then I'm gonna hit the Buy button before I get up. I think Retail outlets made a lot of money off impulse buys and credit cards, but now they don't have the people in the stores to WOO the customer into buying anything.

How long before they fire all sales people, hire 2 stock guys and one person to watch the Self Checkout line?
 
I hate to see anyone loose their job but from the dealings I have had with CC Worst buy and comp ussr ....CC at least had people that knew something about what you were looking for.
I don't mean tech details of things but where it was and how much. The other 2 don't know don't care just blow smoke.
I guess that after a co worker paid $320 at worst buy for a gig of memory....later he found out they only put in 512m....they told him that was all that the laptop would use. Did he get the other stick or a cut in price...NO
So after I told him what a Fing rip...he got his money back...went online and purchased 2 512m sticks and put them in his self for $168.
Wow what service, makes me want to run and buy something from them.

CC has never screwed over anyone I know, but now it looks like oh wait you make a living here,,,we can't have that. Soon they will be on the low end like the others.....looks like all purchases will be made online in the future and they will all go out of business or like Worst buy...they only sale console games and music, and computers to idiots.
 
Firing sales people that make $15+ an hour? Give me a break, I wouldn't pay those guys a $ above minimum wage. I'd have gotten the axe out at $10 per hour.
 
How is this even legal?
Letting go people with or without a package deal because the company is in financial difficulty is normal.
But doing the same and publicly admitting they're going to replace them with lower paid workers.. sounds fishy.
 
like what someone else said earlier, best buy has been doing this for the past year, but not as dramatic. I am glad I left 7 months ago as I found out since I was one of the highest paid Double Agents for the geek squad due to my knowledge/performance/years with company that I would have gotten the axe in January.
 
Whoops!!!

They missed someone, and this guy made $2,437,500 last year. W. Alan McCollough is the inept CEO (Chief Enema Officer) of Circuit City. I would imagine that his salary is slightly above the pay cap of average CC workers.

The sickest part of this is that CC stock has experienced a nice boost from this. Investors simply want to extract as much $$ from CC before it fails completely. They could care less about the long term impacts of this firing. After all, by the time the stores really start to loose business due to poor customer service, they will have sold their stock for a fat profit.
 
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