Comcast Quietly Fired Hundreds in Direct Sales before Christmas

Megalith

Megalith

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Comcast has terminated over 500 of its door-to-door salesmen tasked with pitching the company’s telecom and TV services. This is an interesting turn of events, as Comcast claimed that the recent tax cut would create thousands of jobs. The workers had to sign NDAs in order to get severance, so the press did not get wind of the firings until later.

Comcast direct sales employees earned $50,000 to $100,000 through a low base salary and commissions, the terminated employee said. The commissions ranged between roughly $75 for a new Internet Plus customer to $350 for a new customer who ordered a triple-play package with home security, the former employee said.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
I've always enjoyed watching people get scammed by the promise of trickle down over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
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Mmmhm. The people that vote on it know this shit doesn't work, but they sure as hell are good at fooling their voters into believing it will work this time even though it has never worked in the past.
 
variant said:
Door-to-door salesmen still exist?

Also, just because a company hires new people and there is a net gain on the number of people working for a company, doesn't mean other people's jobs are a necessity and therefore secure.
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Yes there are. I get them from Comcast, Verizon and various energy suppliers all the time.
 
Pretty fucked up. Fire them all and threaten their forced retirement package with a total gag order.


Twisted Kidney said:
I've always enjoyed watching people get scammed by the promise of trickle down over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
Click to expand...

Trickle down works in an actual capitalist free market, instead of a statist corporatism market wherein big conglomerates do everything they can to prevent competition. Read this comment as many times as necessary until it makes sense:

TAP said:
And that's why telecom donates millions to election campaigns. What better investment than a monopoly?
Click to expand...

To expand on what TAP has stated here: when companies and government devise an alliance to institute a form of statism which is mutually beneficial to them both, then the consumer loses. Every time.

It's quite dumbfounding how many still don't know how to differentiate between capitalism and corporatism, and many of those are pushing to trade statist corporatism with statist socialism or even statist communism, thinking things would actually change for the better. When, in reality, socialism or communism would just be a boon to accelerating the damage done to consumer power that corporatism brings, since it allows the government the full power to pull all the strings of giving preference to which companies succeed and which fail, without the possibility of at least allowing some market competition to exist...
 
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I'm not going to get on here and start political bantering as it serves no purpose. I will say that what most folks don't get is that a majority of Americans are employed by small business, not mega corporations. I'm the CFO for a trucking company that has 800 employees. In a capital intensive business we need a solid POST TAX profit in order to have the cash to invest in more trucks, trailers, etc. Taxes have been killing us. If you think about it, current corporate tax rates have the highest bracket of 34/35% kick in at incomes over $335,000. That might sound like a lot of money to some of the less business experienced folks on this forum, but in the real world that's peanuts.....especially considering 1 new Class 8 heavy truck costs about $138,000 and has a life of about 5 -7 years. When the government comes in and takes 1/3 of your earnings after $335,000 its devastating to a capital intensive business.

Our reaction to the tax cut is already under way. We have put in a new truck order and have began hiring more drivers. We also now need more mechanics and operations personnel. We are also raising wages to attract these new employees.

Trickle down does not sound sexy when you think about Comcast, GM, GE or the other behemoth companies. But given that small business employs 60% of American workers, there is little doubt that lower taxes will driver job and wage growth. I'm living it first hand. Regardless of your political leanings, job growth and wage growth are the recipe for the growth in the middle class. The government cannot tax the heck out of job creators and create jobs and wage growth. I'm not a fan of the current administration but I am a fan of a vibrant economy.
 
DejaWiz said:
Pretty fucked up. Fire them all and threaten their forced retirement package with a total gag order.




Trickle down works in an actual capitalist free market, instead of a statist corporatism market wherein big conglomerates do everything they can to prevent competition. Read this comment as many times as necessary until it makes sense:



To expand on what TAP has stated here: when companies and government devise an alliance to institute a form of statism which is mutually beneficial to them both, then the consumer loses. Every time.

It's quite dumbfounding how many still don't know how to differentiate between capitalism and corporatism, and many of those are pushing to trade statist corporatism with statist socialism or even statist communism, thinking things would actually change for the better. When, in reality, socialism or communism would just be a boon to accelerating the damage done to consumer power that corporatism brings, since it allows the government the full power to pull all the strings of giving preference to which companies succeed and which fail, without the possibility of at least allowing some market competition to exist...
Click to expand...

A free market will always result in a few companies owning everything. Big companies will buy out smaller ones and do what they can to prevent competition. A totally free market is a wonderful idea on paper, but like most good ideologies it falls apart when humans get involved. The only way to solve the current problem would be to totally eradicate political "donations" and make it illegal for local governments to enter into contracts with companies. However, those contracts do have upsides. Tax breaks and other incentives do bring big companies into places where the job market could use stimulation or where that company can provide something smaller ones are unable to.
 
mdzcpa said:
I'm not going to get on here and start political bantering as it serves no purpose. I will say that what most folks don't get is that a majority of Americans are employed by small business, not mega corporations. I'm the CFO for a trucking company that has 800 employees. In a capital intensive business we need a solid POST TAX profit in order to have the cash to invest in more trucks, trailers, etc. Taxes have been killing us. If you think about it, current corporate tax rates have the highest bracket of 34/35% kick in at incomes over $335,000. That might sound like a lot of money to some of the less business experienced folks on this forum, but in the real world that's peanuts.....especially considering 1 new Class 8 heavy truck costs about $138,000 and has a life of about 5 -7 years. When the government comes in and takes 1/3 of your earnings after $335,000 its devastating to a capital intensive business.

Our reaction to the tax cut is already under way. We have put in a new truck order and have began hiring more drivers. We also now need more mechanics and operations personnel. We are also raising wages to attract these new employees.

Trickle down does not sound sexy when you think about Comcast, GM, GE or the other behemoth companies. But given that small business employs 60% of American workers, there is little doubt that lower taxes will driver job and wage growth. I'm living it first hand. Regardless of your political leanings, job growth and wage growth are the recipe for the growth in the middle class. The government cannot tax the heck out of job creators and create jobs and wage growth. I'm not a fan of the current administration but I am a fan of a vibrant economy.
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Good luck with your trucking business as the bridges and roads crumble.
 
Derangel said:
A free market will always result in a few companies owning everything. Big companies will buy out smaller ones and do what they can to prevent competition. A totally free market is a wonderful idea on paper, but like most good ideologies it falls apart when humans get involved. The only way to solve the current problem would be to totally eradicate political "donations" and make it illegal for local governments to enter into contracts with companies. However, those contracts do have upsides. Tax breaks and other incentives do bring big companies into places where the job market could use stimulation or where that company can provide something smaller ones are unable to.
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You just stated it...get rid of the political donation capability of corporations thus eliminating government sponsored monopolies. When government and corporations get together and the result is a few companies owning everything, that is statist corporatism, not free market capitalism.
 
Crosshairs said:
Yes, and in this case, they are scumbags that will lie right to your face to get the sale...fuck them all...Im glad they fired them.
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And yet the socialist/communist snowflakes here who never had a summer job, couldn't run a lemonade stand, and clearly can't grasp the concept that among other wonders of capitalism is creative destruction, with unneeded jobs being eliminated and new jobs in other areas created.

They look at every failed leftist state and insist they weren't "real socialists". Not the USSR, not North Korea, not Cuba, and despite years of leftists praising Venezuela's conversion to socialism, with increasing oppression and people in the streets starving, they've suddenly decided they're not real socialists either.
 
CNote said:
Good work Tangerine Idi Amin
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Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. According to him and those like him, salespeople pushing cable TV packages, a dying product with less demand each year, should continue to be employed, regardless of the need for their services. And oh, it's Trump's fault, right deep thinker?
 
mdzcpa said:
I'm not going to get on here and start political bantering as it serves no purpose. I will say that what most folks don't get is that a majority of Americans are employed by small business, not mega corporations. I'm the CFO for a trucking company that has 800 employees. In a capital intensive business we need a solid POST TAX profit in order to have the cash to invest in more trucks, trailers, etc. Taxes have been killing us. If you think about it, current corporate tax rates have the highest bracket of 34/35% kick in at incomes over $335,000. That might sound like a lot of money to some of the less business experienced folks on this forum, but in the real world that's peanuts.....especially considering 1 new Class 8 heavy truck costs about $138,000 and has a life of about 5 -7 years. When the government comes in and takes 1/3 of your earnings after $335,000 its devastating to a capital intensive business.

Our reaction to the tax cut is already under way. We have put in a new truck order and have began hiring more drivers. We also now need more mechanics and operations personnel. We are also raising wages to attract these new employees.

Trickle down does not sound sexy when you think about Comcast, GM, GE or the other behemoth companies. But given that small business employs 60% of American workers, there is little doubt that lower taxes will driver job and wage growth. I'm living it first hand. Regardless of your political leanings, job growth and wage growth are the recipe for the growth in the middle class. The government cannot tax the heck out of job creators and create jobs and wage growth. I'm not a fan of the current administration but I am a fan of a vibrant economy.
Click to expand...

But people in your position get paid $500k+, while all these little people get underpaid, and you complain about stuff like this. How about take a major salary cut since most of people in your positions don't do anything, to help pay for those things you are complaining about and the lesser employees.
 
I'm curious about a few things with this story. I thought public companies needed to report mass layoffs. The shareholders and public have a right to know, correct? Of course I'm no labor law or SEC expert so I could be wrong.
Has Comcast not reported something they should have? We all know they are shady, but they may have broken some laws and/or rules here.
Then again they are slimy and probably have hordes or slimy lawyers who know every loophole in the book. Saul Goodman likely wouldn't even work for them.
 
DejaWiz said:
Trickle down works in an actual capitalist free market
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Where is the evidence for this? You saying so won't make it true BTW.

Gonna need a high quality citation since trickle down has never worked under Reagan back in the 80's, it never worked under Bush in the early 2000's, and never worked either back in the late 1800's/early 1900's when it was known as "the horse and sparrow" model of economics.

If it hasn't worked in over 100yr across many very different political and economic environments, of which many were FAR less regulated than they are today and therefore as close to your "free market" as you're going to get, then it'll never work at all.

DejaWiz said:
statism which is mutually beneficial to them both, then the consumer loses.
Click to expand...
Monopolies aren't "statism" and they form just as easily in "free markets" as they do under regulated ones. The difference with a regulated vs your "free market" is that the worst of their abuses can be mitigated or prevented altogether.

mediumraresteak said:
You twits need to stop saying "trickle down" as if it's an actual phrase or position posited by supply-side economists. It was a pejorative term created by Keynesian economists. You twits.
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Its an accurate description of it though still and its easier to understand than the whole "supply side" nonsense, which even today most economists call far more harshly "voodoo economics".

mdzcpa said:
In a capital intensive business we need a solid POST TAX profit in order to have the cash to invest in more trucks, trailers, etc. Taxes have been killing us.
Click to expand...
Taxes are on profits and if you truly make no money then you don't really get taxed and/or get to write off most if not all expenses.

If you taxes are "killing you" then its because you're incompetent as a small business owner.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
I've always enjoyed watching people get scammed by the promise of trickle down over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
Click to expand...
Keep spouting that liberal bias in outright ignorance!

A) Trump’s tax cuts haven’t had one moment to impact business up to this point. The ink is still wet on the bill, and that decision to fire salespeople was likely made at LEAST six months ago, if not a full year ago. Those types of decisions are NOT made overnight. You’d truly need a couple years and confidence the laws would stay that way to really start assessing an impact of the new Trump tax law.

B) I'm not so thick as to even blame this kind of thing on the Democrats. You read in every thread how hated Comcast is. You have seen for years now that internet streaming services like Netflix, prime, Hulu, etc are eroding cable companies’ strangle holds. These cable companies have been losing market share for YEARS. This is hardly even news.

C) The stated $50k-$100K is a nice salary in the US. Teachers make $30k starting, and IT professionals make $40k starting in the US. So capitalism, conservatism, and trickle down economics is to blame for these salespeople being (over)paid well when the business is doing well. As to being laid off - the opposite is true. The business must make cuts, or flounder. Exactly how much salary does an unskilled (no education required) salesperson make in a socialist or communist country?

In what wacky universe are you applying trickle down economics to this benign and expected cable company downsizing. Use your head man. You, and all those who liked your post, astound.
 
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Archaea said:
A) Trump’s tax cuts haven’t had one moment to impact business up to this point.
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Oh but I thought they did? Wasn't he crowing the success of it the moment some large corps said they do a one time raise as a "result" of the bill not too long ago?

The effects of the bill are fairly easy to predict, the effect of tax cuts that mostly benefit the rich are well known and understood. We saw this with the Bush tax cuts and the same thing happened with tax cuts for businesses done by Reagan. If you give corps tax cuts they don't hire more people or buy more goods/services. They just pocket the tax cut as increased profits.

There is little evidence that the Bush tax cuts, or any other tax cuts directed at the so-called job creators, have had a noticeable effect on economic growth. And the promise of broadly shared prosperity has not been realized.

Most of the gains from economic growth in recent decades have gone to the top of the income distribution while the inflation adjusted wages of the working class have been relatively flat. Furthermore, the tax cuts have not paid for themselves as promised, and it hasn’t even been close. The Bush tax cuts have already cost us trillions in revenue, and if they are extended for high income tax payers, they will cost us roughly another trillion over the next decade.

The failure of Republicans to deliver on their promise that tax cuts would be mostly self-financing is a large factor in the deterioration in our long-run fiscal outlook, and it is putting considerable pressure on programs such as Social Security. In fact, the Bush tax cuts can be thought of as a loan from the Social Security Trust Fund that was supposed to be paid back with the revenues from higher economic growth, a loan that is presently in default.
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Archaea said:
These cable companies have been losing market share for YEARS. This is hardly even news.
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And yet tax cuts were supposed to be an unalloyed good benefiting everyone? And these companies still make money hand over fist BTW.

edit:
Archaea said:
The business must make cuts, or flounder.
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If they're already profitable then how are they floundering? Show the numbers that demonstrate they'd be floundering without firing these people.
 
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Jim Kim said:
Comcast is the new maga. Sign an nda or no soup for you!
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These types of NDAs have been around a long while now. Companies hope they'll be able to get ahead of the negativity related to major layoffs by forcing those affected to choose between silence and severance. It should be illegal!

On a bright note (/sarc), expect more calls to your home at odd hours as those sales functions were most likely outsourced overseas. #MAGAinAction
 
DejaWiz said:
Trickle down works in an actual capitalist free market, instead of a statist corporatism market wherein big conglomerates do everything they can to prevent competition. Read this comment as many times as necessary until it makes sense:
Click to expand...

Free markets naturally give rise to oligarchies, concentration of power is the nature of a free market. In a free market established players consume smaller players, that's how it works. That is the free market, that's the market we've lived under since our very first towns and cities.

Free markets are also inherently unstable, they collapse constantly. We use socialist policies to prop up collapsing free market economies until they stabilise. With collapse averted the free market allows our economies to grow. Socialist economies are very resistant to growth, the resources of the market are just constantly spread thinner and thinner so people get inexorably poorer. We've watched both systems fail time and time again, that's why we don't use either one of them.

No social, political, or economic system is immune to corruption. We've watched corruption damage all economic and political models. That is what this really is: Corruption.

Archaea said:
Keep spouting that liberal bias in outright ignorance

A) Trump’s tax cuts haven’t had one moment to impact business up to this point. The ink is still wet on the Bill. You’d need a couple years and confidence the laws would stay that way to really start assessing an impact.
B) Im not so thick as to even blame this kind of thing on the Democrats. You read in every thread how hated Comcast is. You have seen for years now that internet streaming services like Netflix, prime, Hulu, etc are eroding cable companies strangle holds. These cable companies have been losing market share for YEARS.

In what universe are you applying trickle down economics to this benign and expected cable company downsizing. Use your head!!!
Click to expand...

I could type out a long response to this about Comcast and their co-marketing of this tax cut with the government they bought and paid for, but why bother.. In a few years when the net loss is thousands of jobs, will you still check the talking points to make sure you only post the hires? Don't forget those $1000 bonuses for their employees they announced to help the party market that tax cut.

It's hilarious that you're trying to separate the mean ol' company from glorious daddy.
 
Secret reason, they were the ones running the astroturfing campaign.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
Free markets naturally give rise to oligarchies, concentration of power is the nature of a free market. In a free market established players consume smaller players, that's how it works. That is the free market, that's the market we've lived under since our very first towns and cities.

Free markets are also inherently unstable, they collapse constantly. We use socialist policies to prop up collapsing free market economies until they stabilise. With collapse averted the free market allows our economies to grow. Socialist economies are very resistant to growth, the resources of the market are just constantly spread thinner and thinner so people get inexorably poorer. We've watched both systems fail time and time again, that's why we don't use either one of them.

No social, political, or economic system is immune to corruption. We've watched corruption damage all economic and political models. That is what this really is: Corruption.



I could type out a long response to this about Comcast and their co-marketing of this tax cut with the government they bought and paid for, but why bother.. In a few years when the net loss is thousands of jobs, will you still check the talking points to make sure you only post the hires? Don't forget those $1000 bonuses for their employees they announced to help the party market that tax cut.

It's hilarious that you're trying to separate the mean ol' company from glorious daddy.
Click to expand...


https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=D000000461

True free market capitalism hasn't existed since the early 1930's when the 16th and 17th amendments we're ratified. It was further regressed with New Society and New Deal.
 
DejaWiz said:
True free market capitalism hasn't existed since the early 1930's when the 16th and 17th amendments we're ratified. It was further regressed with New Society and New Deal.
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And yet the "horse and sparrow" method of stimulating the economy (aka trickle down) didn't work even before then. It'd been in use since at least the late 1800's BTW.

So even by your own definition (edit) or standard of "free market" there is good historical evidence showing it failing.

But really though, how in the world does allowing a income tax (16th amendment) and allowing popular election of senators by the people (17th amendment) somehow prevent a "free market" from forming or operating? None of those things had anything remotely to do with the taxation of companies or really the regulation of their operation either.

I really don't think you know what you're talking about in the slightest.
 
DejaWiz said:
Pretty fucked up. Fire them all and threaten their forced retirement package with a total gag order.




Trickle down works in an actual capitalist free market, instead of a statist corporatism market wherein big conglomerates do everything they can to prevent competition. Read this comment as many times as necessary until it makes sense:



To expand on what TAP has stated here: when companies and government devise an alliance to institute a form of statism which is mutually beneficial to them both, then the consumer loses. Every time.

It's quite dumbfounding how many still don't know how to differentiate between capitalism and corporatism, and many of those are pushing to trade statist corporatism with statist socialism or even statist communism, thinking things would actually change for the better. When, in reality, socialism or communism would just be a boon to accelerating the damage done to consumer power that corporatism brings, since it allows the government the full power to pull all the strings of giving preference to which companies succeed and which fail, without the possibility of at least allowing some market competition to exist...
Click to expand...

Very true, power corrupts right. These kids growing up don't think things like communism through, but they don't know where to turn (and most kids, I call them kids, are very liberal minded - I was, mohawk and all) and want to be edgy so...Stalin, Che! Things aren't working so try something new. Welllll, it ain't gonna work. I think what they meant by "Door-to-door Salesman" are the reps you find in your local Best Buy or Walmart, there is very little Comcast door to door. Unless you are in the business sector, and then they don't freaking leave you alone. Would be nice though if they offered Comcast Security for business, I might do that.
 
Mugato said:
Very true, power corrupts right.
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Yeah because a Congress with a average age of around 60yr means you can totally blame the "kids" for everything going wrong today right?? *rolls eyes*

Given that there is no word of these door to door salesmans' age or politics being a factor in their firing I don't know WTH you're bringing that up anyways.

If you want to talk about the BS ginned up generational wars crap go start another thread for it elsewhere.
 
DejaWiz said:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=D000000461

True free market capitalism hasn't existed since the early 1930's when the 16th and 17th amendments we're ratified. It was further regressed with New Society and New Deal.
Click to expand...

This is going to explode your brain, but here it is anyway: The world doesn't particularly care about American amendments.

Are you ready for another brain explosion? The socio-economic and political systems of the world consist of more than just Communism and America.

Most third world countries were real, fully free market economies that weren't in possession of the resources necessary to prop up the boom/bust of the free market with civic spending. Guess what happens there? Corruption, that's what. Only in those countries there were no regulations to limit the influence of a single body on the free market so it completely collapses and simply ceases to exist. Whether it's civic or corporate the free market is tool of choice for the destruction of the free market.

The free market is every bit as unfeasible as a socialist economy. The fact is that it comes down to the rule of law, that means regulation.

The trick is to regulate in a way that prevents corruption as best possible and still allows for free market growth. It's a nearly impossible balance that requires constant change and constant vigilance. Change is scary and the cold comfort of a tradition of failure allows people the remain apathetic, apathy gives rise to corruption.
 
NIZMOZ said:
But people in your position get paid $500k+, while all these little people get underpaid, and you complain about stuff like this. How about take a major salary cut since most of people in your positions don't do anything, to help pay for those things you are complaining about and the lesser employees.
Click to expand...

He adds more value and generates more profits to the company than one of the truck drivers who gets paid a small portion of what the CFO makes.

Let one of the truck drivers run things for a bit and see how things turn out...

All of us employees are replaceable, to some degree.
Those people who get paid a lot of money are harder to replace than those who get paid less. It's just a fact.

Not everyone is equal, sorry to say.
 
craigdt said:
He adds more value and generates more profits to the company than one of the truck drivers who gets paid a small portion of what the CFO makes.

Let one of the truck drivers run things for a bit and see how things turn out...

All of us employees are replaceable, to some degree.
Those people who get paid a lot of money are harder to replace than those who get paid less. It's just a fact.

Not everyone is equal, sorry to say.
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Maybe in your view, but not in ours. We been through 3 CIOs in the last 2 years because each of them screwed up our company and wouldn't listen to what the actual people who do the work recommended. And I can tell you for a fact most people in those positions don't know jack.
 
NIZMOZ said:
Maybe in your view, but not in ours. We been through 3 CIOs in the last 2 years because each of them screwed up our company and wouldn't listen to what the actual people who do the work recommended. And I can tell you for a fact most people in those positions don't know jack.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have an organizational problem, then.
 
craigdt said:
Sounds like you have an organizational problem, then.
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Nope, because one person wants to go one way and waste millions of dollars and then screws up, then the next person rips all those changes out and goes another way and then puts the company in a wrong direction causing lots of customer service issues due to his changes. And so on. Like I said, they act like they know how to do it, but they don't.
 
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