You might think that corporate train wreck Circuit City (NYSE: CC) would have a lot of things to worry about -- like, oh, I don't know, the fact that it lost $165 million last quarter. Or the stock price, which has gone from $30 to $2 in less than three years. And with fellow wreck Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) having withdrawn its proposal to acquire the company, Circuit City is even out of the running for the prestigious Stupidest Merger in History That Doesn't Involve the Company Which Owns This Website Award.You might think that Circuit City management has plenty to keep it busy, but you'd be wrong. Circuit City banned its stores from selling an issue of MAD Magazine that made fun of the company, referring to it as "Sucker City." Hah.
But yesterday the company reversed course and allowed the magazines to be sold, with a PR spokesman blaming "some overly sensitive souls at our corporate headquarters" --
We apologize for the knee-jerk reaction, and have issued a retraction order; the affected stores are being directed to put the magazines back on sale . . . The parody of our newspaper ad in the August MAD was very clever. Most of us at Circuit City share a rich sense of humor and irony . . . but there are occasional temporary lapses.
Now there's a PR guy who deserves a raise -- turning a pretty pathetic situation into a funny situation, even offering the editor of MAD a $20 gift card toward the purchase of a Nintendo Wii, if he could find one.
And as for the "overly sensitive souls at corporate headquarters," maybe they should put down the magazine and do some work. Maybe lose only $50 million next quarter. It would be progress!











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-05-2008 @ 3:42PM
NYC Banker said...
Aside from the financial's, circuit city is a horrible store. No matter which store I go to, all the dvd's, video games, and music, are completely out of order making it impossible to find anything. Its a task to find a staff member to help you. I will always go out of my way to shop at a best buy. *I own neither of these stocks. *
8-06-2008 @ 7:27AM
MikeNYC said...
I got some of my best buys at CIRCUIT CITY. All stores need to train their staff to answer technical questions like: Is that peak or RMS watts? etc. I use CC's free shipping for $24-up often. Those who track prices see that many stores maintain a REPUTATION for low prices which is mostly not deserved.
8-06-2008 @ 7:37AM
MikeNYC said...
Please remember that corporate-attacks come from many directions: some are designed to eliminate competition and raise prices, some are for wrecking a company and buying it out at fire-sale prices, etc. Be aware of long-term strategies happening right in front of you! Consumers lose when choices disappear. Do NOT allow that.
8-06-2008 @ 3:40PM
Ann Fry said...
As an expert in creating FUN workplaces, I commend their media relations department for trying to deflect and I hope this experience serves as a "wake up call" for making things better over there. A company IS responsible for the actions of their employees, but with a great attitude and a sense of humor they can usually find a way to crawl back out of the hole and up the ladder. Humor at work is an absolute necessity.
10-03-2008 @ 12:10AM
IThinkYourRude said...
Ok First of all let me tell you i am one of the FEW employees that still happens to be around from May 30th 2007. (4 Years and counting)
I will personally say that since the management reconstruction, we have had more sales associates to assist customers, but that is only because we over compensate with scheduled work hours. Basically we have to over staff. For instance Customer Service ONLY asks for 2 people all day! from 9-5 2 people and from 5-close... 2 people... So what about lunches? That leaves 30 min. or even an hour with only one associate at the front counter which makes it hard if your just trying to check out when there is an issue. & at some stores it only requests one person!
If you attend stores in my area you won't be dissatisfied with the Look, Sound, and Feel of the store. We are completely up to speed, and we know what we have to do to make things work.
However, In reference to the "media" dept. comment.
When Phil Schoonover decided that he wanted one dept. to cover 3 areas and only have 2 associates work. It made everything so much harder for us. So organizing Dvds, and Cds, can wait when it comes to providing proper customer service. May i add that we have recently gone through another company reconstruction with who takes owner ship of the media dept. as well as the RoadShop (Firedog install)
In my store we greet customers as they walk in, and offer assistance within 30 seconds of them entering each dept. When they leave we have our AP's greet them to make sure that they're been provided excellent service, and offer solutions to issues that we may not be able to resolve.
Customer service in my store is our number one goal. I go out of my way for each individual and i take pride in what i do.
I believe that CCity will eventually get out of this horrible hole that Phil placed us in. It just takes time to get all of the other stores on the same page.