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Best Buy Founder Makes $8.5 Billion Bid To Take Company Private
zacharye writes "Best Buy founder and the company's largest shareholder Richard Schulze has offered as much as $8.5 billion to take the company private. Schulze had been rumored to be preparing a takeover offer for some time, and he recently assembled a team of executives that will run the company if his buyout offer is approved. His offer amounts to between $24 and $26 per share, a premium of as much as 47% over Best Buy's stock price at Friday's close."
Title should read "Best Buy Founder Tells World He Will Try To Find $8.5 Billion To Take Company Private"
I doubt he gets it.
Last rumor I heard (here), he would take a golden parachute to escape before BB crumbled.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Today Best Buy closed at $19.99.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
It's a public company. While he's the largest shareholder (i.e. owns the most of it), there is no single owner of the company at this time, since other people own shares as well.
His offer amounts to between $24 and $26 per share, a premium of as much as 47% over Best Buy's stock price at Friday's close..."
Um, SOLD!!
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Title should read "Best Buy Founder Tells World He Will Try To Find $8.5 Billion To Take Company Private"
I doubt he gets it.
I have no doubt that he will.
First he's the founder and billionaire. That means he's got a "track record" among the money crowd.
He will have a plan when he goes shopping for money.
He's the founder who'll rescue the company.
The money guys will be drooling over all the fees, commisions, and every other way they'll make a fortune off of this guy - and they will be right there to help him get his money.
He will can hundreds if not thousands of people, restructure debt, and other things that will stick it up the ass of the working and middle class.
Oh, and he'll probably will NOT have to put up much, if any, of his own money.
Those people live in a different world than you or me. If they get into trouble with debt, the banks kiss their ass and help them to deal with it even if it hurts them. And no one calls them "irresponsible", "free loader" or any of those names. And if need be, some well placed calls to people in Congress and some really cheap taxpayer money will come their way.
They call them "job creators". And if you think he got where he is by hard work and some risk taking, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Now, I'm gonna go cry myself to sleep.
Everything there is at least 40% over what it costs everywhere else.
He should have bought it through newegg or amazon, it would save him a few billion.
Full disclosure here: I work on a Geek Squad, one of the few women in the business. Maybe I'm just lucky (large store in NYC, and no, I WON'T say which) but this GS seems a lot better than most of them. The dead weight from the last couple of hiring cycles is long since gone and we've all become a sort of piecewise machine. They also have me selling a fair amount, despite my habit of getting customers cheaper items and discouraging them from certain services and products ("Don't buy an ethernet cable here, don't bother with the restore discs, you can make those yourself and here's how").
The GS is not the problem. We're hamstrung by SOP for the most part. Left to our own devices we'd be giving much better customer service. But there are Ways Of Doing Things, which must be followed on pain of pain. My supe, bless him, allows us to bend the rules just short of breaking in the interest of customer service, and we get very high customer service ratings for a GS.
I guess the point is, we're not all bad. And the stupid high school kid in Bumblefuck, MO isn't representative of the entire brand. If you want good service, BE INFORMED. Ask us questions. Don't be afraid of the machines; they're just tools. Make use of us; we in the GS are the one contingent with a triple-digit IQ in the store. You can get much more than the brochures say.
How about renting out the geek squad space to 3rd party computer places at cheap prices then renting there own store front
This actually is very interesting. I don't know what the plan is for this, but i do know that being beholden to shareholders has forced many companies to make business decisions that were not very prudent in the long term.
by going private, this would allow Best Buy to alter their current strategy and become more competitive in the electronics marketplace.
no one is going to invest 8.5 billion dollars for something like this without a solid plan. i can think of dozens of ways to improve their bottom line, and i'm sure that people more experienced than i could think of hundreds. what best buy has at the moment is a huge chain (nationwide?) of retail locations that their local demographic typically depend upon for their electronics needs. however, with amazon and probably newegg biting hard into their overhead, this might be part of a strategy to expand their online presence. this would be a move that the shareholders would never agree to, as it would involve short term loss for long term presence - but as a private entity beholden to none, they could make a mint by simply offering electronics online or 'ship to store' at competitive prices by investing in distribution and warehousing facilities
If there is something you feel feel should be on Slashdot, there is a "Submit Story" link at the bottom of the page. I suggest you use it instead of posting an off topic comment.
I've always considered Best Buy a terrific example to illustrate the quote "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
It doesn't have to be about fooling anyone though. They can get quite a lot of business just through desperation... sometimes you need a cable right now, and there's Best Buy.
The problem Best Buy has is that they are starting to stock fewer of those desperation items. I've not been there in years, even when desperate, because it became increasingly unlikely they would have what I was looking for.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Is there ANY good reason to go into that hellhole of a store?
That one time when I can't find something at Staples/Office Depot, am too lazy to drive to MicroCenter, but want it NOW, so ordering it from Amazon or NewEgg is not an option.
This happens about once every 2 years
They should just increase operations in emerging economies, Best Buy in Mexico is doing quite well as far as I know, the Guadalajara store payed off in 1 and a half years when the expected best case scenario was 4 years.
In the U.S. they should just decrease brick and mortar stores and move to online retailing.
C-x C-c
You know what would be a smart plan? Re-cast Best Buy as a "test the electronics" store. You charge $50/hour to rent a testing room where you can try any electronics that you like, and a means to easily order from Amazon on the spot.
The store doesn't have to have much stock, or as many employees (since they are not moving a lot of stock around). The would of course also get affiliate commissions from Amazon for all equipment purchased.
The difference is that it would be making money off the way people use Best Buy already...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Pure speculation based on past observations of other companies:
1) get some money together
2) get the current management on board (their help is needed to take it private).
3) given #2, get the stock to drop more (this step is optional but I just noticed #2 can help).
4) Offer a "premium" over the current price to get shareholders to allow the buyout.
5) Once private, sell all company assets (real estate) to companies owned by the same private investors - dirt cheap.
6) Lease said assets back to company on whatever terms will make the next steps work best.
7) Make some changes to make the company appear better than before
8) Issue new shares to the public to recover the money spent in #4.
9) Try to sustain it long enough to unload all the shares and keep a paying tenant in the buildings purchased in #5.
Since it is the founder this is less likely to resemble their idea of a plan. Let's see who gets on board with him.
I couldn't agree to this fast enough
I resent your use of Bumblefuck Missouri as a base point.....I was born and raised somewhere pretty accurate to the term "Bumblefuck," and I have a Bachelors from MIT...
"Bumblefuck" is not an accurate depiction of ANY brand. Its when their superiors start hiring salesman over knowledgeable people and give up everything just to get money.
Also known as "selling out" in other business areas.
-Noc
"Creating jobs" at Best Buy right now is like hiring people at a buggy whip factory in the 1930s to escape the depression.
(Never mind the economic absurdity of the whole "job creators" meme in the first place).
I went in there, in desperation, looking for a SATA controller. They kid they had on the floor says "oh all the controllers are over here" and took me to the joysticks and game pads.
That was the last time I went into Best Buy for *anything*. I refuse to walk into that store.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
So what are Best Buy's total assets for all their stores? That's a lot of prime retail space in many places, to say nothing of the huge quantity of electronics.
Cables are to Best Buy as soda is to McDonald's.
And, actually, as Best Buy prices go, $57.63 for TWO SATA cables isn't that bad. A couple years ago I had an immediate need for a USB cable. They wanted $50 for ONE. I decided my need wasn't that great. Ordered ten online (to meet minimum order requirements) and got them for $12 plus shipping. I was tempted to take the other nine and hang out in front of Best Buy offering to sell them for "half price".
I think in general the more you know the people the better the expectations. The problem with most chain stores (or large vendors) is that the personel are always temporary and very litle invested in their product or their relationship with the customer. This is not necessarily the companies fault, but the fact that most view their job as just something to get through summer already means quality will be determined by 'procedures' rather than human contact and trust.
Kudos to your supervisor for being more of a human being than most chain stores allow. Wish more were like him.
Jobs are a bit like energy, you can't really "create" them. Either there is a market or there is not. If there is a market, there will be jobs. By the very nature of the market laws. Someone will come and want to fill that market. And to do that he needs to hire people. If he doesn't hire people, then he will not be able to saturate the needs of the market and someone else will try his hand at it, too.
So please stop praising people who "create" jobs like they're the next coming of the messiah. The only reason they "create" jobs is that creating these jobs and hiring people to fill them is the necessary evil to them on their quest for money. If they could, they'd instantly cut all those employees because essentially they're just costing them money.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah, because it's feasible to have a country full of nothing but doctors and executives? FFS, SOMEBODY has to scrub the toilet, grow my vegetables, shovel the cow poop, and yes, work retail.
Thats one of the issues we have in this country today. Everybody thinks that those jobs are below them, so they opt not to work at all and game the welfare system instead because somehow that's less embarrassing and sadly probably is more lucrative...
The guy already owns 20% of the company
That just gave him even more incentive to not let his 20% goes down the drain !!
Plan works like this - He goes in and buys up the entire company, with other-people's-money
Then he "restructures" the company, selling off "non-core-subsidiaries", acquires some other companies and merges them into his now "core-operation", and in the process a lot of employees will see themselves being "made redundant" (ie, fired), before the guy turn around and sell off the whole thing (including his initial 20% stake) to some "investment trust", or something like that
He will end up laughing all the way to the bank, and many employees will end up jobless
That's the way it is, and that's the way it will be.
We are living in a different world now.
"Fairness", "Justice" and "Equality" no longer mean anything
So, if you want to succeed, you must think and act like those in the 0.1 percentile
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
"Make use of us; we in the GS are the one contingent with a triple-digit IQ in the store"
BZZZZZT.
To be fair, she did say "a" triple-digit IQ. That person is just on FMLA.
..when their superiors start hiring salesman over knowledgeable people and give up everything just to get short term money. They'd have a lot more money now if they had stuck with the knowledgeable people and payed them well.
Your comment leads me to infer that you believe:
- People are not embarrassed to be on welfare
- People make more money on welfare than on a minimum wage job
- Either: the few people who somehow "game the welfare system" make it not worthwhile for those who use it as a legitimate safety net
- Or: most people who are on welfare are gaming the system and riding the gravy train
- Welfare is cheating you out of your hard-earned money
- You, yourself, will never need a safety net
Jobs are a bit like energy, you can't really "create" them.
I own a business. I can create a job by choosing to hire someone. The job is real; a person would earn money from doing it.
If jobs could truly not be created there would be a fixed number at all times. That is not so.
If there is a market, there will be jobs.
Only if people are willing to enter that market as providers. There is NO market before someone decides there is a possibility of earning money performing some task or offering some service, but it's up to the job creators.
It's up to job creators to enter a market and to create the jobs.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Creating jobs" at Best Buy right now is like hiring people at a buggy whip factory in the 1930s to escape the depression.
Of course Best Buy would not stay as it is. Anyone thinking about buying Best Buy has some kind of plan to try and be profitable, which obviously would be different than what they do now as they are collapsing.
So YES it is job creation, it's the possibility of long term jobs vs. the reality (that you acknowledge) that without a buyer there is will be no Best Buy at some point.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
How'd this post make it to +5? I gotta ask, because it reeks of big city arrogance, especially on the comment that the "small town rubes" don't have a clue.
Om, nomnomnom...
People are willing to work for a good salary or a good hourly rate.
Drop the hourly rate and the benefits to below living wage, and they have no incentive to work full time, particularly if they can satisfy needs better with the social safety net. Why work if you're still going to bo bankrupt?
Of course, we then say "well then let's drop the value of the safety net so that it's below the wages that are available."
But then you risk another rational choice: criminal activity. Why work legally and go bankrupt if you can work in the gray or illegally and survive? That's where spammers and drug dealers come from.
Most people don't see any particular task as beneath them, but they do see some wage levels as pointless thumb-twirling. You want people to scrub toilets? Pay them an annual wage above the federal poverty level and they'll be happy to. Pay them twice the federal poverty level and they'll whistle while they do it. Pay them at minimum wage or below, and there are very few jobs you can get them to do.
Yes, this picture is incompatible with our macroeconomic situation. But microactors don't care about macroeconomics. They care about making ends meet and accounting to those to whom they are accountable (creditors, utilities, and dependents first amongst these, not "the system").
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
The only reason they "create" jobs is that creating these jobs and hiring people to fill them is the necessary evil to them on their quest for money.
A more ignorant statement of why people start businesses, I could not imagine...
Most businesses are not really started around money, they are started because the owner wants to do something better. That is why I created my own business as a consultant, because I was fed up with how corporate IT did development and I wanted more control over the process of programming.
And yes I did CREATE that job. Before I started my business, there was no job - now it is a job paying for me and my family to exist.
I'm sure you think I am scum now that you know I have my own business, but if I cared what other people thought about anything I'd live a gloomy life indeed.
The thing is, the attitude you exhibit makes me sad because you are the reason the term "wage slave" exists. You have built the cages that keep you trapped in your own pallid existence, with no control over the job you have because you do not understand where they come from.
Wake up and better yourself man.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Your example is quite literally insane, and the most twisted idea of what a job is I have never seen.
The fact is I have created the job regardless of what the person does. They still get money from me. The job may go to someone else soon, but the job exists independently of the quality of the one that holds it.
Likewise, if you have an existing job that becomes open (employee moves, quits, whatever), hiring a replacement isn't "creating a job".
I cannot help here but brandish the colloquialism DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH.
Hiring a replacement for the SAME FUCKING JOB is not a new job, it's the SAME FUCKING JOB. That someone else created... How can you even use that as an example????
Nothing brings out epic levels of ignorance like discussion of what jobs really are on Slashdot.
I award you no points, and may the Flying Spaghetti Monster find something of worth in you to add to the Great Sauce.
I will respond no more on this topic, you may feel free to type as vigorously and foolishly as you will. I just hope that someday you understand the reality of how jobs are created so that you can benefit rather than be entrapped by the system in which we all live.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Move somewhere with a Fry's.
I would second that motion.
I have experienced "old-school" Radio Shack, Best Buy, Staples, MicroCenter, and Fry's, and of the lot I would prefer Fry's, hands down.
I think that Best Buy founder Richard Shulze intends to retain control of his company in the coming economic downturn, and removing BB stock from public scrutiny would limit the negative impact of some easily predicted future quarterly earnings reports. Speculators can very rapidly drive a stock price downward, making it a ripe Target for a hostile takeover.
I live about 3 miles from a Fry's. It's not that great; I usually order my stuff from Newegg instead. Yes, it is nice for those extremely rare times that I really need something fast, but this is usually just for work, not for personal use. The prices are OK, but the employees are annoying, the returns process sucks, and the other customers remind me of shopping at Walmart. Yes, the selection and prices are far better than Worst Buy, but they're still not as good as Newegg. I'm going to be moving across the country soon; I won't miss it much.
When he goes to make his purchase of BBY stock, will he do what BBY customers do and look up the item before buying?
He's offering $26 a share. I bet Amazon has it for $12, Newegg for $13 and Monoprice for $1.87 in five colors.
Ah the sweet irony if this could happen. Not only is BBY cornered by arguably better competitors, the competitors even sell the company itself for less.
Yeah this works best as a joke on a late-night TV monologue.
Sig for hire.
Which is accurate.
Not really.
The true job creators are the people who do real work to create real capital and wealth.
But the simple truth is that without someone buying it, Best Buy and all the jobs it offers now will go away in a few years. With a fresh multi-billions of dollars, and a good plan those jobs could be around indefinitely.
And if all the 'job creators' just went away, the market would solve the problem. That is what the free market is actually good at. We'd have a rush of new startups... without billionaires backing things we'd have smaller scale specialized appliance shops instead of a single big-box supermarket because that's all a regular person could put together. The more successful ones will absorb or destroy the less successful ones, and eventually we have a new best-buy. (Or not... if the market no longer needs one...)
Point remains -- Ayn Rand was wrong -- a so-called "job creators" caste isn't actually necessary. There will always be 'job creators'; remove the current crop and a new crop will take its place. Always.
Fry's Returns Process sucks? Is this the same Fry's that sells open box returns as new? Or am I thinking of some other Fry's Electronics?
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
No, it's the same one. It's not nearly as bad as Worst Buy (holy shit that place is a nightmare if you want to return something; my wife and I tried that once because she didn't want to wait for a laptop from Newegg, so we got one at BB over my protests, and of course it had a problem, and they didn't want to take it back without paying a fee; now she refuses to step into another BB). However, it is a hassle, as it's very slow, as the line is frequently long, and they always, for some stupid reason, have to wait for some dumbass manager to come approve the return, and of course he's nowhere to be found when he's needed (and he's needed for every single return too). It's not like returns at someplace like Walmart or Target, which are lightning quick and don't have all the hassle.
Fry's Returns Process sucks? Is this the same Fry's that sells open box returns as new? Or am I thinking of some other Fry's Electronics?
I've never had a problem with the return policy even if it was simply a "I don't want it anymore" or "it didn't work for what I was trying to use it for" (I was doing something unorthodox). On my most recent return, they put a sticker on the box that knocked off a few dollars for the next customer to buy it (all the cables and papers were present). Seemed honest, simple and straight forward to me.
I own a business. I can create a job by choosing to hire someone. The job is real; a person would earn money from doing it.
Right - but if the market for what your employee creates is limited by demand (e.g. in a recession) then you will cause someone else to lose their job.
If a village has a fixed demand for 20 pies per day and one employee can make 10 pies per day then the village will be able to support two pie making employees - and, once bankruptcies are accounted for, "choosing to hire" a third pie maker will simply result in one of the three pie makers losing their job.
Bullshit. It's depositors and the flow of money that matter, not the banks or bankers. If BOA and Citi had gone under and their executives gone to jail, depositors would still have their money and would still be able to get loans from other banks.
Furthermore, all the bailouts did was make the banks less willing to lend money at reasonable rates, as they sat on every dime in an effort to keep themselves solvent.
Shorter version: customers (i.e. demand) and entrepreneurs create jobs. Not billionaires. There's nothing Larry Ellison does for $220 million a year that he wouldn't do for $2.2 million a year.
The flaw in your storyline: there's nothing those people do for millions a year that they wouldn't do for a six figure salary. Absolutely nothing whatsoever.
About you read up on how Rand took Social Security and Medicare instead of a shit novel attempting to give people a justification for being self-centered assholes?
I don't have any problems with your comment, I just find this hilarious
Full disclosure here: I work on a Geek Squad, one of the few women in the business
coming from an AC.
You can't handle the truth.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Welfare as a safety net is wonderful. I use it myself because I'm autistic, and it's a damned good relief not to have to bust my brains looking for a job that simply isn't there.
Nobody wants to hire me because I'm a lunatic with no social graces, and I was born that way.
To imply that I deserve to fall by the wayside is to imply that we subscribe to darwinian socialism of survival of the fittest.
If the guy has enough money to buy back the company now, why not wait for the downturn then buy it for less? Hostile takeovers are only a problem if you don't have the money to fight them.
People are not embarrassed to be on welfare - Sadly, some are not.
People make more money on welfare than on a minimum wage job - Depends on their situation, but it's entirely possible. It generally takes at least one minor involved to make this true though.
Or: most people who are on welfare are gaming the system and riding the gravy train - Doesn't need to reach 'most' in order for massive amounts of fraud to occur. See the article about something like 1.5k false rebates submitted to the IRS. It's not that everyone cheats, is that those who DO cheat generally do so massively. Still, fraud rates have been dropping for years with effective auditing/enforcement.
Welfare is cheating you out of your hard-earned money - I'd rather see my money spent more effectively, yes, but it's not strictly 'theft'. I try to be pound-wise by thinking that spending MORE, in the right spots, can ultimately save me money - such as more money for schools(where appropriate) can mean less expense for welfare. Though you gotta prevent it from being spent on more administrators, as opposed to books & teachers.
I don't read AC A human right
Ever think that maybe she'd get fired if BB found out about her slashdot post?
You do seem to be a job creator. It's a bit of a shame though that we don't have an opposing word for the kind of people who downsize companies, cut benefits, and out-source jobs. Somehow, they still seem to get called job creators, and end up grouped in with passionate guys like you
I think the problems have really begone to surface once the competition named 'CompUSA' was no longer present.
$50 for 10 is still crazy expensive.
As I said, the term 'full disclosure' sounds very funny coming from an AC. My point is simple - don't trust everything you see just because it's written down with a pen or with bytes.
You can't handle the truth.
If you're basing your decision of what region in which to live on proximity to a retail big-box chain, you've got some serious fucking problems.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Maybe he means Fry's Food Stores, and he's off-topic?
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
At $50 for a USB cable, you're better off buying a $50 USB printer, and reselling the ink on eBay!
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Clearly, you've never heard of "Growth."
When "growth" occurs, you end up with more work than your existing employees can effectively handle, thus you add a headcount to handle the additional work. This additional person is then paid money as compensation for their time and effort towards the common goals and accomplishments of the business.
How is that not creating a job?
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I'm guessing via the belief that the entirety of human existence is a zero-sum game? Otherwise, dunno...
This is very true. The question is, will the market be regulated out of existence or not?
You forgot to look at the printer box.
Items included:
-Printer
-Power cord
*USB cable sold separately.
That's been the last 2 HP printers I have bought.
Schulze is putting up a one billion dollar equity stake:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444246904577572842651243850.html
Schulze is worth an estimated two and a half billion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Schulze
-kgj
Look, it's this simple: if you're born near a city, or move to a city, it means that you are smarter, faster, stronger, more ethical, more connected (that's true), and generally better than small town rubes.
Now get back on the turnip truck.
My mom, who knows nothing about technology, went into a Best Buy looking for a new 'DVD' player. She wanted the 'upgrade to DVD, whatever that is,' and she asked them for help figuring out which one she should get. She didn't want the high end one, and that's all she knew.
What she didn't know, and what the sales associate failed to inform her of, was that 6 months earlier BluRay had squashed HDDVD's. So next time I went to her house, and she asked me to set up her brand new HDDVD player, I just about went berserk. I should have asked where she bought it from before telling her why I was so angry. I suppose she thought I'd kill someone.
In hindsight, it's probably good she didn't tell me. I have a hard time stomaching any place that would take advantage of an old woman.
Except USB printers usually do not include the cable.
Please take it private. Better yet, close it! I'll never darken its doorways again, and you can take that to the bank!
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
I think the larger question is...Why doesn't Fry's expand across the nation...to fill the void left there by departure of Compusa, etc.....?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I guess the point is, we're not all bad. And the stupid high school kid in Bumblefuck, MO isn't representative of the entire brand.
You've just proven otherwise... Your ignorance is astounding.
One example of your ignorance is your use of the term "Bumfuck". It's a term which disparages not only folks of small (farming) towns, but also potentially Gays.
I was born in a small town of Missouri (population 200), now I live in Houston (4th largest city in the USA), and I've lived in other small towns and big cities over the years. As an Elementary school kid in "Bumfuck, MO", I built my own electronics -- I made an LED game of Tetris with only transistors, no ICs. When personal computers came around, I was the first in town to assemble my own. I now know almost everything about computing hardware. I write system level software, build my own compilers for languages I invent myself -- I Debug Machine Level Op Code when I make the Debuggers. I know how to build a hub from scratch -- I can "type" by making and breaking circuits with bare wires on the serial port. I certainly know far more about technology than you even care to -- My eight year old self would probably have bested you in any test of intellect. You're clearly a chauvinist. The environment does not make you stupid, only your ignorance does.
Furthermore, your big box electronic stores DO NOT EXIST in the places one would consider "Bumfuck"... further proving your ignorance.
Both large and small towns have pros and cons. In a small town you typically find individuals who necessarily wield a broad spectrum of knowledge within their field of expertise. In larger cities it's been my experience that there are far more specialists with deep but narrowly focused skill sets.
For instance, I repaired a computer for a friend in Pittsburgh, PA, who had returned from the Geek Squad -- The machine would turn itself on for no reason, but only when connected to her broadband modem. From this description I immediately knew where to look, but the GS was mystified -- As you no doubt are as well. It's an incorrect implementation of the Wake On LAN protocol in the motherboard's integrated NIC. A simple BIOS setting disabled WOL and solved the issue.
When I lived in a small community on Mars, I found the local computer Gal was on par with my level of experience. We talked computers and geeked out over electronics together -- I helped her fixed a bluray player (GS: "Buy a new one"), and she even repaired my classic Galaga arcade cabinet, FOR FUN. That's service you can't get at any big box electronics store -- Least of all Best Buy's Geek Squad.
In conclusion, think on this: You'll naturally find far more butt-fucking high school aged individuals in a larger population density.
I don't get your point....?
Are you saying someone should set an artificial limit on how much one can make...that Larry can't make over $2.2 Million...that's it..top allowed salary in the US?
Exactly who makes that choice? What gives that person/state/govt official the right to do that? Where is that in the Constitution?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Being as I'm coming from experience on this, your statements are a bit absurd.
- People are not embarrassed to be on welfare
Um, many people are. Some people are embarrassed to collect unemployment insurance, though they're the extreme. At least for many men I know, it's embarrassing in the same way that it's embarrassing to "let" their wives mow the lawn: it's their job to do it, and it makes them uncomfortable.
- People make more money on welfare than on a minimum wage job
I don't know what minimum wage is where you're at, but it's still $5.15 in Wyoming. For a single person with a single child, it is absolutely easier to make more than you would working multiple fast food jobs by collecting from misc. federal and state welfare programs for food, housing, etc.
For instance, I know of a single mother of two who is able to make her rent in a 2-bedroom apartment, buy food exclusively from healthfood/organic stores (think: Trader Joe's, but more expensive), own a working vehicle, and take semi-regular trips to visit friends and family. She hasn't had a job since at least 2004, but her children get better healthcare than many working people I know. (She's also disenfranchised from her family.)
California's minimum wage is more than I made in a 'professional' non-helpdesk IT job 7 years ago. Not everywhere in the country works on the same wage scales.
- Either: the few people who somehow "game the welfare system" make it not worthwhile for those who use it as a legitimate safety net
- Or: most people who are on welfare are gaming the system and riding the gravy train
Yeah, it's a full-time job to game the system. The safety net is set so low, however, that by the time you actually need it, it's not going to be all that effective at catching you as you fall. It's set that low due to all the people who intentionally climb to the top floor to repeatedly jump off.
- Welfare is cheating you out of your hard-earned money
I don't know about that, but I do know that the single woman I spoke of earlier is cheating the system through the 'free' money.
- You, yourself, will never need a safety net
Bold words. I've needed one (several times), and for several weeks attempted to get it. By the time I 'qualified', I was up to my neck in bills and a day from my first paycheck at the next (temporary, part time) job. Had I not spent so much time dealing with the inane bureaucratic hoops I had to jump through to get the welfare checks (incl. the measly 'unemployment insurance' check), I'd have probably found another job sooner.
I've also been 'unemployed' long-term. More than 6 months. There comes a point (about 3 months in, if you haven't got much for savings) where you've either got to commit to gaming the system full time or "make ends meet" in some other way, because an empty fridge and overdue utility bills just don't cut it. This means several part time jobs amounting to over 50 hour work weeks, taking full part in your local barter economy, and yes, even illegal activities like taking wild game out of season (for many).
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
I don't get your point....?
So you threw an irrelevant strawman up and then claimed the constitution doesn't support it?
People like to toss around the "W" word, and it has a bit of a stigma attached to it, so I don't like using it. I would guess that you're actually being assisted by Social Security disability benefits. Is that correct?
I'm guessing it's largely because there is no void. There's a reason that CompUSA couldn't survive...
That is almost correct, as I receive SSI. I would have received SSDI or whatever if I had worked long enough first. I associate it with welfare because it is remarkably similiar in effect and principle, just from the treasury of a different level of government.
Just let the free market sort it out.
Labor is a commodity just like anything else, and should be treated accordingly.
If those jobs are undesirable, well, so what? If you need someone badly enough to do them instead of another job or mooch off welfare, pay more to attract them. If you can't get a cow crap shoveler for cheap enough, maybe you should rethink how badly you need one.
It's all about supply and demand.
As long as people aren't committing perjury on their welfare applications, they should be free to do whatever suits them. It's the market's job to send pricing signals about how badly things are needed.
He may HAVE BEEN a job creator, but that will end with the leveraged buyout. The vast majority of LBOs are immediately followed by massive down sizing and a fire sale of assets to raise money to service the new debt.
If you aren't part of the solution, then there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
yea, he does hold 20% of BB stock. And you know that's not going to increase in value by itself.
There is a difference between a safety net and welfare as it exists is many cities or neighborhoods in our country.
Some people actually treat it like one and get off it in time.
But you cannot deny there are those who live off it rather than get a job of any kind when they are more than capable of doing so. I call those people people lazy. And I say open up the borders. Let anyone in who wants to come in. I don't have a problem with that. But for every person that comes in because they want to be a citizen, we kick out one of the lazy bums.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
I can create a job by choosing to hire someone.
Except you don't really "choose" to hire someone. You either think you need to grow your business or you don't. If you do, then you need to hire. It's not a choice between hiring a person and hiring a klingon (which would be a real choice). It's either hiring a person or forfeiting potential money you could be making, not a choice at all 99% of the time.
The words "job creator" are bullshit marketing speech for "rich people" that were focus-tested and found to have a better response than the latter.
The point is simply that if Larry Ellison doesn't get $200 million per year, the society won't suddenly collapse overnight.
Yes, I was serious... in relation to more recent stories, they could even host Amazon Lockers there. Instead of ordering from traditional Best Buy and getting it in a week you come in the next day to pick it up.
Literally, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Perhaps I'll go arrange financing of a billion dollars and just start up said stores myself, since everyone else thinks it's such a lark. They won't be laughing in five years when they must PAY to enter my abode... :-)
Plus I would totally continue the spirit of 200% markup on cables you were desperate to have that day, although I would not push magical properties upon them... just note how handy it would be to buy that cable right now with the TV you just got.
I'd even post comparable inline prices right next to the cable to let them know exactly what was going on. What are they gonna do, wait a day?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What I mean to say is that if there is a market opportunity, someone will come and fill it. If he finds people willing to work for a wage lower than their gain for him, he will hire. If he cannot find such people but others consider the market big enough for more than one supplier, they will compete with him.
It does not matter whether you "create" that job, whether someone else does, or whether someone comes along and opens a competing store. If there is enough work for three people, three people will have a job, one way or another. Either as three competitors or as one employer with two employees.
What I meant with you cannot "create" jobs is that you cannot magically change the laws of the market by fiat. You cannot simply hire three people if there is not enough work for them. Or if you can (or could) you probably won't do it for monetary reasons. If there is work for ten people, ten people will have a job. If there is only enough work for three, you can't simply hire seven more and create jobs for them.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Depends, does it cut into the revenue of someone who bought a sufficient number of politicians?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Well my point is...who CARES if Larry Ellison gets $200 million a year or not?
Shouldn't everyone be more concerned with trying to make more money for themselves?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Yeah, I'm done with BB after experiencing their returns process recently. If I really need it today, I check WalMart. If they don't have it, too bad, Amazon will have it here tomorrow for $4.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The trick often works with card readers, USB hubs, and other accessories except printers. Sometimes you can get the cable you need, plus a "free" USB hub, for less than the cost of the cable by itself.
I think the point some people are making is that it isn't the business owner that created the job. It is the Growth of the market that created the job. It's more of an economy thing rather than one person deciding to create a job out of thin air.
If that business does not hire a new person to handle the extra growth, then one of their competitors will, because the market is there. It's a supply and demand thing.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Two businesses compete head-to-head in the same market. One is has better managed expenses, does a better job of marketing, and thus increases market share and hires more people; while the other stays stagnant due to having poor market visibility and unnecessary overhead, and doesn't hire more people.
Would you content that the better management is creating jobs, where the poorly managed company is not?
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
That does sound logical. My only concern with giving all the credit to the people running the company is they don't take the blame when things go bad. When the economy crashes and they have to lay off people, do they then become job destroyers? If you can say the created jobs when expanding, then they must destroy jobs when laying off. It's only fair.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
I've never actually seen a USB printer come with a cable...
Yes, but what is the point of saving it if the management is toxic, selling the "extended warranty" matters more to them than customer satisfaction, and the workers are both ignorant and unhappy?
They've been digging their own grave for years now.
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== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Looking at stockchase it looks like Best Buy is pinging between don't buy and top pick. Their price also has been pinging between 16 and 18 dollars.