More CNHI

Agreed. *sigh* We are at 11 percent (not bad, especially considering the state of our industry and the terribly depressed market we are in), but cut to the bone to get there. In a work sense, we are on a bread-and-water diet.

 

I have heard several people say that right now, anywhere between 5 and 10 percent in any business is more than respectable.

I'm all for people making a reasonable profit. But to aim for something that's unreasonable at the expense of the working men and women is driving good people out of the business altogether.

 

Just received word our new region head is coming to town next week... uh oh.

 

Reminds me of an incident last fall...

Some business flunky announced he's going to run for president... of the United States. Calls the editor and wants to know if we'd be interested in doing a story. An exclusive. Um..... well, yeah, I guess. He's going to be in town tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon, he'll stop by for an interview between appearances at McDonald's and Walmart.

Only problem is we only have one weekend reporter -- a few folks on furlough --- and he has to cover some breaking news (a fire, IIRC). So poor reporter mate gets back to newsroom and is mortified to find he hasn't time to change into "proper attire" suitable to interview a presidential candidate..... albeit someone who none of us had ever heard of. He scrambles to be polite, do a pseudo-interview and ask halfway intelligent questions. All the while I'm sitting at the copy desk, trying to look busy and not to burst out laughing.

I can't remember if the story even ran or not, because I had to go on furlough the next day.

 

As Sam Walton wrote in his book: 3 percent to 5 percent profit in retail is acceptable, so Walmart's 5 percent to 7 percent at the time was considered outstanding. Newspapers have been living a dream for decades, and now they're still cutting vital jobs (and content) to keep their own profits propped up.

Dunno what the profit levels are these days, since the papers guard those like state secrets, but I still don't see many managers getting cut. It's always the desk, the desk, the desk ...

 

They informed our graphics people yesterday their duties are being outsourced out of state. They have a month's notice...

Sigh...

 

That sucks.

 

Sure does, Tarheel... comes is six months after they closed our pressroom. Lots of cricket sounds in the building at night, these days.

 

This is the same thing that happened at my former paper and why I asked if anybody had heard about this trend. I drove by the parking lot of my former paper this afternoon and there were less than a dozen cars in the parking lot. There's probably about 30 full-time employees covering all departments left in the entire building, five years ago probably 45 and 10 years ago about 60 full-time employees.

 

You HAVE graphics people? I figured they were long gone years ago.

One place I worked had a fabulous graphic artist who I valued more than anyone in the newsroom. No one else I have worked sense had one. Major loss.

 

I meant ad designers and builders when I said graphics people. Although, when we had a big ad department, I would ask the graphic designers to help me build editorial graphics and photo illustrations. They were mostly an easy group to work with.

 

They composed the ads. Obviously, their department, which had been called "graphics" for years, was misnamed.

Good people, all, though... just another in a myriad of sad, sad days.