Posted on 05/03/2012 7:37:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Ron Johnson's plan to transform JCPenney continues to roll along, and many of its workers on the frontlines aren't happy about the changes.
JCPenney cut a bunch of middle managers across the country on Monday, according to multiple former managers we spoke with. We've withheld their names for their protection.
This appears to be part of the layoffs announced back in January, but it's unclear how exactly how many have been let go. One source says that the number may now be in the thousands.
JCPenney didn't immediately answer requests for comment, but a spokesperson did mention yesterday that the retailer will be “operating with fewer layers of management."
Here's how it went down, according to one assistant manager who was laid off Monday:
"One hundred store managers across the country were quietly laid off two days before they announced the home office reductions and the call center closing. The rest, phase two, happened Monday. They said it was done purely on year-end appraisal ratings, but someone in my store got a higher rating than I did (and was laid off anyway), and also they changed what the ratings stood for this year, and eliminated performance improvement documentation, so that they did not have to wait longer to do this. If my name or even state comes out I will lose my severance."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I’m not normally for government interference and regulations, but what the amoral raider Icahn did to TWA, and by association, the St. Louis airport hub at Lambert, should be illegal.
Great story about your MIL.
I’m old enough to remember poring over the JCP (and Sears) catalog. The arrival of the thick CHRISTmas catalog, was nothing less than a watershed event in our household.
I am certainly not saying they will pull it off, but definitely think they have a stronger group at the helm.
I’m not a big JCP shopper, do shop occassionally there, and personally I can tell you, just ending all the countless rediculous promotional pricing nonsense where the same product could be 3 or 4 difference prices in the same week or month I like.
Don’t know if the mini store within a store concept will work, but its definitely something that might.
Time will tell.
That just another gimmick, judging by the layoffs it's not working.
I used to shop at Penney's a lot. I've not been back since this new campaign, for a variety of reasons.
However, the last time I went, I replaced all of the bed pillows in the house. After Sales, and coupons, and more markdowns, it wound up being 3 or 4 bucks a pillow (for the good ones, not the cheap ones).
Mrs WBill used to clean up on clothes there, too, with much the same results.
Sez me, if you wind up selling merch for less than you originally paid, it's not a good business model.
They've certainly been around a long time.
I let him know I was none to pleased with driving all the way to the store to place an order that I could have done online at home.
The didn't get the sale.
“Also I can’t stand their checkouts. They ask you tons of questions and spend so much time punching buttons on the stupid cash register that by the time I’m done I never want to go back there.”
Yep. Sears has THE worst point-of-sales system in the entire universe. I actually feel sorry for the clerks who have to try to use it. And the REALLY sad thing? It’s vastly improved from what it was 10 years ago!
“Now, no more coupons, no more sales, plus the most obnoxious TV ads”
Interesting. The only thing that ever drew me to a JCP was the coupons and sales. Never realized they were missing now. Guess that’s why I haven’t shopped at JCP in a long while now.
Reminds me of what my local K-Mart was like. In my neighborhood there's a Walmart, Target and K-Mart all within about three miles. The Walmart was always packed, Target less so but still bustling and the K-mart rarely had more than a few cars in the parking lot.
I hadn't been to a K-Mart in years but I was curious as to why they were doing so bad so I popped in and had a look. I felt like I had taken a time machine back to 1979. The facade looked like it hadn't been remodeled in 30 years. The storefront sign had sun-bleached to an ugly pink color. The ceiling tiles were brown and faded, the floor tiles chipped and stained and an incredibly harsh, bright fluorescent lighting lit the place up from low ceilings. There was nobody there except for the employees who were basically hanging out with each other, shooting the breeze. Their prices were higher than everywhere else in town.
I don't even know if a major makeover can save K-Mart. Probably best to retire that brand and try and save Sears.
I think Mongomery W’s still has catalog ordering.
I, too, abandoned JCPenney. I didn't even bother to contact them. I hope they go belly up for their sodomite pandering.
Yes, there sure are and we don’t even know yet the exact number of long time employees they dropped without a second thought.
Video this morning was a joke, with some guy saying that they are just devastated about having to let all these fine workers go. But hey, we sure appreciate all your hard work, and want to make your job better.
Ack, I could hardly sit and listen.
I know that JCP doesn’t owe these people a job and that streamlining is the buzzword, replacing downsizing, of the business world, but it’s a little like what the libs would do to the country if they could. There is no middle, it’s a few at the top and the rest of us at the bottom.
Ron Johnson led Target and Apple, so he does have retail experience.
I think he looks at this as a big experiment to see if he can make it happen. It’s all about his ego and not about the company or the people who work there.
A lot of the people I saw in the store week after week have not been coming in.....they are going to KOHL’s. We have been getting different clientele, but since they don’t share the numbers with us anymore, I have no idea how the company is doing.
I do know that the store I work in was downgraded because it fell below the $22 million dollar mark, for the fiscal year 2011/2012 to be considered a higher tier/volume store.
We shall see. Right now, there are no greener pasture to move onto. Unemployment here is over 12% and I’m no spring chicken.
That being said, I'm not crazy about what I've heard. The treatment of long time employees, who after being terminated are escorted out of the store (usually by security). The apparent end of commissions to associates (in some departments), most of whom are only making something close to minimum wage. The elimination of numerous cash registers (or terminals). And of course, the continued pressure on store employees to acquire new JCPenney charge accounts.
When I add all this up, it seems the real goal of the new JCPenney isn't solely focused on transforming the retail locations at all. Instead, it appears the goal has everything to do with (promoting) an increasing presence of JCP.com.
The push to get new credit customers has been there for a LONG time. They give employees two bucks for every one they get regardless if they are approved. It’s a predatory practice in my eyes and though I do offer the card, I do not aggressively pursue or pressure customers about it.
I used to be commissions in suits and now am not. As I said they raised by hourly pay, which was $1.00 an hour less than minimum wage while commissioned.
The truth is I see absolute callousness and coldness from the top that makes me want to leave. NO loyalty from the CEO to long time employees and also none for long time customers.
We shall see, but I don’t think it’s gonna be good.
Icahn set the standard and 'precedence'. Once the politicians saw the potential, they jumped all over it.
Now... even Obama has adopted it as a way of washing money for campaign funding.
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