A modest proposal: Circuit City CEO could be re-hired at a lower salary...?

Here is why they are doing it...

We have let ourselves become a Wal-Mart society. What do I mean by this? We expect everything at the lowest possible price, and we don't care what it takes to get the price lower. As long as it doesn't affect **MY** job then I don't care.

If you didn't see the flawed logic there, go back and look again.

Henry Ford realized that in order to sell cars, people needed to be able to afford the cars. That is why he instituted a pay program that was generous by most standards of the time. And guess what... Ford sold cars, lots of them. The workers made a good wage, Henry Ford made money, everyone prospered.

Today, greed and the "me" attitude has taken over America. People want it ALL. They don't care who they have to step on to get it. Give me, give me, give me. I don't care if my next door neighbor gets sacked as long as I can go get my DVD player for $15. It's his tough luck, not mine.

The problem is, when that Circuit City employee or your neighbor or that Wal-Mart worker can no longer afford to buy products, you do suffer. The economy is all connected. You might work for a plastics company and think "Well, I don't care about some peon at Circuit City, my job is safe!" Flash forward two years and because sales are down 30% at your company because people don't have as much money to buy goods you find that you are now the poor peon getting sacked. The cycle continues.

The rich get richer on the backs of the poor. And those of us who think we are "safe" have a rude awakening coming faster than we think.

What do they hope to gain? 3400 employees fired and rehired and lower rate, even if it saved them as much as $5 an hour per employee, which I doubt it will be that much, that's only $680,000. They could save much more than that by firing the ceo and replacing him with somebody cheap, and that wouldn't have the negative backlash. When you start screwing your employees over, they start to screw the company. Some will resort to taking a few unauthorized perks, like the occasional xbox here and there to make up for the drop in wages, some will think if their wages have been cut by a 1/3 then they are only going to actually work for 2/3 of the time they are at work. Many customers will boycott the stores because they disagree with this immoral practice.
It will also be a time for shop-lifters to thrive, because the employees will say to themselves, "I don't get paid enough to challenge a potentially dangerous shop-lifter, and if somebody else catches the shop-lifter I don't get paid enough to remember if I saw anything or not. Maybe I should just take my break or tie my shoelaces until the shop-lifter leaves." They just won't be paid enough to care.

I am proposing that my friends and customers rethink any and all Circuit City purchases.

I have been a long-term customer, and have influenced many purchases by my customers. One of the reasons has been the customer service on the floor. The other is of course, price. But if your customers won't walk in and check prices, you can't sell on price.

Circuit City has gone from #1 or #2 on my shopping list to #6, and that is one long drop. Company who don't value good employees, don't deserve long-term and loyal customers.

The REAL reason they did it. They didn't do it to save a bunch of money. They will only save some. The reason they really let those people go is because they had poor attitudes and didn't earn their money for the most part. They couldn't say that, but if you've worked in CC for any amount of time, you can attest to that. CC management will now be able to implement change quickly and more effectively now that those "roadblocks" are out of the way. It sounds cold; and it is, but that is the reality of the situation. And by the way, on average they saved almost $10 a person, not $5. Multiply that by 3400 and then multiply that by the next 10 years.

Um...I dunno where you work but the people who were laid off at my store were probably 5 of the best workers we had...

This is the text of the letter I sent to the CEO of Circuit City today. I think that executive need to remember there is such a thing as social responsibility.
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Mr. Schoonover;

I have been a loyal Circuit City customer in the past. I have always appreciated Circuit City’s good customer service and I’ve made Circuit City my first stop when shopping for electronics.

I am writing to tell you that Circuit City is no longer my first choice. Your action of firing 3400 workers just to replace them with lower paid workers is unconscionable and represents the worst example of corporate behavior. You should be personally ashamed considering your compensation package of $4.5m.

I will personally boycott Circuit City. I will publicize my discontent in public forums. I will tell my friends to avoid Circuit City. I will do what I can to ensure your actions have negative consequences.


Charles Griswold

I would love for the board to fire the CEO. I will no longer shop at Circuit City. I hope the CEO is rewarded appropriately with his firing.

After 14 years of loyal service to Circuit City I feel like I have been stabbed in the back. Yes I made over their so called pay cap. But check this out, all raises were performance based. So to get your yearly pay raise you have to be a valued employee. So now after 14 years of working for that company I was fired because they say I made to much money. So why don't the CEO and other Excutives take a pay cut if the company is that bad off. I'm sure their stock options and other benefits they don't make public add to millions of dollars a year. So if you work for Circuit City look for the knife in the back before you accept that next pay raise, or you could be fired as well

TO: Phillip J. Schoonover, CEO, Circuit City
DATE: March 30th, 2007


Dear Mr. Schoonover,

I am in the market for a HD TV and a laptop computer. There is a Circuit City just across town from me and I have been there several times weighing out my options. But the following has made me re-think those options:

I was listening to the news this morning while preparing to go to work and I heard that your company was going to eliminate more than 3,000 jobs. That's huge. I almost found myself feeling sorry for your company since it came to mind that you must be in severe financial straits to affect so many lives by eliminating their livelihoods. However, this sorrow quickly turned into anger when the news continued to relate that you were going to offer these same folks their jobs back at a lower salary, and that they would have to re-apply for these same jobs, and that there would be no guarantee that others would not be hired in their places. It appears that your company is single-handedly trying to implement the concept of NAFTA in the microcosm of your own company.

On the one hand, you should be commended on the brilliance of this endeavor, since it eliminates the re-location process of your corporation to another country. On the other hand, you have nullified the commitment and loyalty of the American worker, who could have worked most anywhere, and yet, your company, was the one that was chosen. You have inherited a company that has greater than 11.6 billion in assets, and in less than one month's time of your arrival as CEO, you have wiped out 3000 committed employees who have given years of service to grow to that 11.6 billion.

I'm sure this was in the works before you came on-line, but it will count as your decision, since you allowed it to transpire.
I write this, not because I am one of those 3,000, nor am I related to any of them, but because I am infuriated with this type of corporate "gentricide" as a solution for increased profit margins to show sound business.

I, for one, will not spend one cent in a Circuit City. Thank you for showing your true colors early on, and before I had the chance to regret my purchases from anyone who thinks this is the way to do business.

Sincerely,

Paula Williams, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Dear Sirs,

I read recently your announcment of layoffs with the option for terminated employees to re-apply for their 'old' jobs at lower pay or for new hires to apply for the 'old' jobs at lower pay.

As a customer, I must inform you of my disappointment with Circuit City managment and its policies and as a customer I will inform you that I will not purchase another product from the Circuit City company in the future.

My past recent purchases have included, but are not limited to Large Screen HD TV, Panasonic hard drive/DVD recorder, Garmin GPS, MP3 players, Hitachi DVD camcorder, computer memory / hard drives / products, etc. etc.

As a consumer who is also employed by corporate America, the fact that you feel compelled to enact this horrendous policy upon your workers demonstrates just how out of touch you are with not only your employees, but also the consumers who purchase your products.

Possibly you should readdress your obscene salaries, option grants, benefits, bonuses, etc if you are looking for places to make significant cuts in your operating costs in an effort to boost profits for your shareholders.

Former Customer
Scott Uhrmann

Mr Schoonover
Shame I will never see the inside of another Circuit City store, It all boils down to. Play ball with us Join our team work hard for many years be loyal and in the end guess where we are going to shove the bat. And we wonder why we are hated throught the world-- Greed consumes------Shame -Shame Shame

Check out the great satire of Circuit City and their CEO at:

http://cantankerousconsultant.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-on-circuit-city.html

http://cantankerousconsultant.blogspot.com/2007/04/hedgogs-to-warthogs.html

[Text of e-mail sent to Circuit City CEO Philip Schoonover via Circuit City Web site, May 9, 2007]

To: Philip Schoonover

Schoonover:

For nearly a decade, I have been a frequent and loyal Circuit City customer.

No more. You and Circuit City deserve as much loyalty and consideration as you have shown some 3,400 of your most experienced and talented employees--little or none. Shame on you. On your knees, you greedy pig. Proud of yourself?

At Circuit City, as is the case with so many employers in George W. Bush's America and its perversely, deliberately job-scarce, low-wage economy, the prevailing watchword for employees is clearly now "Work hard, and you will be rewarded--with a pink slip."

What sort of "thinking" are you and Circuit City showing by laying off many of your best and most experienced workers in a shortsighted effort to save a few bucks--while ignoring the real reasons for your financial troubles? If you are really concerned about helping Circuit City's bottom line, you should be drastically cutting your own bloated pay and perks.

Schoonover, if that means you have to make do with only two new cars or so every year rather than three or more, if that means you must "deprive" yourself of that dream home in, say, Aruba, make do. Why have you expected so many good employees to "take the hit" for your own bad decisions, Schoonover?

By penalizing rather than protecting or rewarding high-performing employees, by laying off, not mediocrities or stumblebums (including, in many cases, highly overpaid executives and managers whose decisions and actions, far more than any rank-and-file workers in most firms, are the ones that drive such companies into the ground), but their *best performers first*, Circuit City and its ilk are sending a frightening message to American workers about loyalty and high-quality work.

*To get loyalty, one must first give loyalty.* By unilaterally shredding the "social contract" that guided employment relations throughout most of America from the New Deal era until the time of Ronald Reagan, greedy, out-of-control employers like Circuit City are continuing not only the destruction of America's middle class, but America itself.

Don't laugh, Schoonover. People in America who believe as I do are everywhere. We
are outraged at what we've been seeing happen to our once-beautiful country, our economy, and our living standards, especially since the early 1980s and Ronald Reagan, and even more so under George W. Bush.

Whenever workers' sovereign rights are violated by arrogant, out-of-control employers like Circuit City, we as a society need to start imposing stern financial penalties and, when need be, long prison sentences upon those who violate workers' rights; swift confiscation of "responsible" executives' and managers' personal and corporate assets and their redistribution to wronged workers; public humiliation of those who dare to violate workers' rights; and, when need be, legalized seizure of and takeover by workers of corporations that violate workers' rights.

Don't laugh, Schoonover. People in America who believe as I do are everywhere. We are angry at what we've been seeing happen to our once-beautiful country, our economy, and our living standards, especially since the early 1980s and Ronald Reagan, and even more so under George W. Bush.

Bet on it--we *do* write our lawmakers and take into account employers' actions when we decide whose products and services we will or won't buy--or recommend. And we *do* write letters to news media and post on the Internet about these issues. Yes, Schoonover, that *does* include you and Circuit City.

For the record, I will henceforth do all I can to avoid doing business with your company and will now urge others to consider how you and Circuit City have treated employees when considering where to shop.

History can and again will repeat itself. Working people will rise again, never again to be defeated. We will make it clear to out-of-control corporations and the rich, yours and you included, that *we* own this country and its economy, and that *we* are in charge here.

Let me know what you and your fellow Circuit CIty execuscum think of *that*, boy.

Do let me know what you have to say for yourself--and for Circuit City. I am very interested in knowing what you have to say for yourself and your company.

Yours for liberty and justice--for *all*,

Scott Enk

senk8105@sbcglobal.net

[other contact information here omitted]

Circuit City Protest Rally

Sunday, May 27, 10am - 1pm (meet early in front of store)
6401 Canoga Avenue, Woodland Hills, CA - South of Victory

Please join the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats, California Young Democrats, Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, Valley Grassroots for Democracy, Valley Dems United, Stonewall Young Democrats, the Jewish Labor Committee, Stonewall Democratic Club, Democratic Women of the San Fernando Valley, and other supporters of workers. Please arrive early and BRING A SIGN! (Also water, sunscreen, snacks, etc.) Come show your support for fired workers and encourage consumers to take their business elsewhere! If your organization would like to join as a sponsor of this action, or if you would like to participate in a conference call planning the action, please contact Damian Carroll at dcarroll@sfvyd.org. More information about the Circuit City boycott can be found at http://www.sfvyd.org/ .

Philip J. Schoonover

To Whom it may Concern since there is no way to contact Corporate office.

On June 13, 2007 at about 1:10 pm I called the Circuit City on 2817 South Market Street, Gilbert, AZ 85296, for a question on a new release video game that I had wanted to purchase from there. I had wanted them to hold one. The first attempt I was transfered to the wrong area, then the sales person said that they had the game and that they would transfer me to the people that could possible hold it for me. When they transfered me the phone rang and then whoever was at the other end just hung up. The second attempt I went throught the automated system and got back to the same department but instead of getting a salesperson I was hung up again. On the third attempt I called customer service to speak with a Manager on Duty and they told me that the Manager was unavailable. This will be the reason I no longer shop at Circuit City. I will now drive out of my way to Best Buy. Thanks.