gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

They actually tried doing that years ago, the dealers sued and the courts ruled against them.

 

I find that hard to believe. Regardless, you get the point I was trying to make. Don't alienate the customers you still have.

 

Here's one story of such. I thought the case had gone through the federal courts at some point, too, although I could be very wrong about that.

http://ad.usatoday.com/money/consumer/autos/mauto693.htm

And I do get your point, mustang.

 

No wonder I didn't hear about that, I was 15 years old when that article was written. I couldn't even drive.

 

Who said you drove all that well now? (grin)

 

If it were real, it would deserve a thread. So far, it's a rumor on a fans' message board/blog. That's not enough to go on, IMHO.

 

The suits want more profits and will do anything to reach that goal. They figure it's easier to fire people, do layoffs and cut expenses instead coming up with a real, long-term plan.

Even if it means eventually cutting themselves out of a job and ruining the industry.

 

Newspapers were instructed by Gannett to listen to focus groups which are a bunch of hogwash to begin with. More corporate Gannett speak crap. There is a market for newspapers and always will be a market for newspapers. Print newspapers. We're going all online because that's what Gannett wanted and scared everybody else into doing.

If businessmen with printing presses were smart they'd be prepared to start some newspapers in the markets where newspapers will ultimately go all Internet.

The economy will right itself in time as it always does and advertisers will want print ads not ads on the Internet where you immediately click X to close the ads.

 

I've been trying to contact the local businessmen with printing presses.

 

Try your backdoor channels...

 

Ford's big gamble a few years back was to go into several markets and buy back all of the local dealerships, consolidating them into two or three locations. It backfired because it alienated (the majority of) shoppers who preferred to visit several local dealerships to make the best deal.

In the old days, the shopper would go to several dealerships to negotiate the best price on a midnight blue Taurus because they had always driven Fords and wished to continue doing so. But with all of the Ford stores in the market now owned by the same entity, they were not going to get a better price by shopping around.

So instead of visiting another Ford dealer, they started visiting GM and Honda showrooms to see what else was out there. And too many of those formerly loyal Ford buyers started liking what they were seeing elsewhere.

Ford ended up selling the dealerships back to local businessmen -- at a sharp discount to what the automaker had paid just a few years earlier. Lucky for them, they didn't try this in too many markets before recognizing that they had screwed up.

 

Gannett Newspaper hiring a copy editor just a week after layoffs. Granted, I don't know what positions were lost in PH, but a bunch were lost in Battle Creek.

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1002652