Job Cuts For Dell, Motorola, and Circuit City

maeveth writes "Talk about not a good time to be working in the tech sector. Layoffs all over the industry have been announced, in a variety of different areas. Last week Dell announced they were partnering with Wal-Mart; this week they are planning a ten-percent reduction in their global workforce. Motorola was already going to cut some 3500 jobs by the end of June; they're now adding another 4000 pink slips to that number (and hoping that next month's RAZR2 launch will boost profits). To top it all off Circuit City is acting in a decidedly schizophrenic manner. The are going to axe about 850 employees, on top of the 70 stores they closed last month ... while also planning to open 165 new stores."

Comments

This'd be a feature of printing money.

[Colin Smith]

printing presses -> inflation -> interest rates -> bad times.

HTH.

Re:This'd be a feature of printing money.

[Vancorps]

Except that the only reason inflation is down is because people aren't being paid more to purchase all the goods that have gone up in price. I'd call that bad times for a lot of people. Fortunately I'm still due my raise, woohoo for no inflation!

Re:This'd be a feature of printing money.

[rleibman]

Yeah, except inflation is down.

Emhhh... please specify, that's only Core inflation, which doesn't take into account a huge amount of the economy. Core inflation is government's attempt at pretending that printing out bills is not inflationary. Core inflation does not take into account energy (I was paying $2.00 for gas not too long ago, now I'm paying $3.50...) My food bills are larger than they were a few years ago. I don't know if this measurement includes housing, but I've heard from others that the current housing "boom" is not a boom but actually taking steam off from the inflationary pressure of the 50 trillion in debt that our fiscally conservative government has borrowed.

Schizo closings/openings.

[ushering05401]

The submission suggests the decision to open new stores while closing others is weird... but it is not.

BGI (Borders, Waldenbooks, Brentanos, Paperchse) announced they would be closing/spinning off all international operations a day before they announced the opening of several new international stores. The intertia behind the construction, planning, hiring, etc was too great to halt. Additionally, the purchasing departments negotiate deals based on volume and there was *years* of planning/analysis/spending that affected the entire chain and would need to be revisited if the stores did not open as planned.

The damage to the company would have been greatly compounded if the new stores had not opened.

Finally, while closing locations is common practice for companies that are in difficult times, it is not unusual to continue expanding in markets that show more promise than the failing ones that were cut. Shoring up existing markets does less to placate edgy shareholders than showing aggressive pursuit of new opportunities.

Regards.

Re:Having shopped at Circuit City in the past...

[tomstdenis]

Oddly enough "the source" (what bought out Radioshack) in Canada tries the same shit. I recently bought a car kit for my ipod which was DOA. When I brought it back [with the ripped open blister package] they mentioned that they don't like giving refunds for packages that are destroyed like that (the kit itself wasn't damaged other than not working).

After pointing out, loudly I might add, that they can't restock broken gear and that they would have to return it anyways, they just gave me a "whatever" look and gave me the refund.

I knew a few computer stores in Ottawa (OEM Express and Targa Computing for those keeping track) who were bad at reselling broken gear. When I did buy from them [3-4 years ago] it would almost always involve a package that was previously open, or the tape seal broken, or small parts missing. The current shop I use [RB Computing] does resell returned goods, but they tell you upfront. And don't try to sneak it in the order. They're also zero hassle returns.

To me it seems like a stupid thing to fight the customer over. Usually when shit is broken the customer is already upset, trying to gouge them on a defective product is just adding salt to the wound.

Tom

Re:Dell, Motorola, Circuit City

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you did the laid-off workers a favor by playing the role of a cop without being one. Since you weren't laid off you should quit whining. Especially in tech and IT, you have to learn to wear a bunch of different hats. So pretend you're a nice, empathetic person for a couple hours. I'd give everyone my business card and offer to buy drinks. You can get some serious networking from an event like that, since all these people you know are about to leave for employers all over the place (aside from the fraction that remains unemployed).

Re:Dell, Motorola, Circuit City

[Bigbutt]

Then why all the cuts at IBM? 3,700 sysadmins in exchange for 19,000 Indians. 52,000 Indians hired since 2003.

[John]