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Best Buy lays off hundreds at stores as sales move online
Fox Business ^ | 4-14-23 | Sarah Nassauer

Posted on 04/14/2023 6:15:29 PM PDT by dynachrome

Best Buy Co. is cutting store jobs across the country, as the electronics and appliance retailer works to lower costs and shift its business as more sales happen online.

This week, many store workers that specialize in selling more complex products such as computers and smartphones, dubbed "consultants" inside the company, were told their jobs would be eliminated, according to people familiar with the situation.

The decision affects hundreds of jobs across the more than 900 U.S. stores that Best Buy operates, the people said. The tasks performed by consultants will be moved to a smaller number of similar roles and affected employees can reapply for open positions within the company or receive severance, the people said.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bestbuy; economy; layoffs; retail; walmartnext
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To: dfwgator

Yea, but junior miss and junior johnson in high school needed a new one all the time.

Those days are over.

I noticed diesel dropped in NC to 3.74 in some counties today.

That is worth looking into.


21 posted on 04/14/2023 6:36:58 PM PDT by eyedigress (Trump is my President!)
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To: Fiji Hill

Totally agreed.

That goes for returns, too.

If you get it yourself, you’re less likely to NEED a return. If you do, it’s much easier and to the point.

Sorry, constant boxes doesn’t do it for me.

Catalog shopping (that’s what it is, people, don’t give yourself airs) has its place, for many simple things, but live in hand is still much better for so many things.


22 posted on 04/14/2023 6:45:03 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMV.)
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To: dynachrome

The reality is people look up review videos of the product on YT and decide before buying a product...If they research at all, its all made of crap materials anyway, so its only going to work for a year at most.

You’ll be renting your TV and the chair you sit in to watch it in now time. At the rate we are going.


23 posted on 04/14/2023 7:08:12 PM PDT by Bayard
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To: dfwgator
Now everybody has their iPhones, and it will be at least a few years before they will need to upgrade, as the technology has matured.

Every year, when Apple releases its new version of the iPhone, I’m amused by the inevitable complaints that Apple “didn’t do anything innovative with the form factor.” These people expect Apple to constantly change the shape of the phone just for the sake of “change.” But the function of a phone naturally leads to a certain shape that’s not likely to change much, especially when it has to accommodate a large flat screen.

And you’re right about the technology having matured. I’m the classic technology early adopter, but the last time I updated my phone, in 2020, I bought the iPhone SE, which is the cheapest iPhone. It was only $399 (instead of at least $1,000 for the flagship - the iPhone 11 at the time), yet it had the same processor as the flagship and did everything that matters just as well. It’s also smaller than any of the flagship models, which is important to me. I don’t know how people carry the giant “max” phones that won’t fit in a pocket. Now that the technology has matured, the only real reason to upgrade is when the camera receives significant enough improvements to warrant an upgrade, but the camera on my SE is plenty good enough to last for a long time.

Apple has realized all of these effects, which is precisely why they created the SE model.

24 posted on 04/14/2023 7:16:08 PM PDT by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I disagree about Best Buy being a bench marker.

Why? Because the market is saturated with smart phones, TVs, computers and tablets.

Furthermore, you can buy them cheaper at Amazon.


25 posted on 04/14/2023 7:21:32 PM PDT by Enlightened1
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Don’t forget Lowe’s (the more civilized version of Home Depot).


26 posted on 04/14/2023 7:21:38 PM PDT by 4Runner
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To: dynachrome
In the last few years I've bought two TVs....high end 4K sets ...at Best Buy."Open box". Both still had that very thin plastic on the screen which says to me that they were both buyer's remorse...which probably happened when the guys' wives first saw them and ordered them to bring them back.

I got a really good deal on both and they're both still rock solid.

Of course I bought both in nearby New Hampshire...no sales tax!

But other than that I haven't bought anything there in 20 years.

27 posted on 04/14/2023 7:30:23 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Two Words: BANANA REPUBLIC!)
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To: Grampa Dave
There's a very nice,and very big, mall in my town. Many high end stores. I go there often to walk (in bad weather) and because they have a great supermarket.

Today at least a third of the storefronts are empty and you never see many people there. I don't see how it can survive much longer.

28 posted on 04/14/2023 7:35:11 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Two Words: BANANA REPUBLIC!)
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To: dfwgator

I miss the old Fry’s. Better than the other stores. I went towards the end and I was sad.


29 posted on 04/14/2023 7:43:44 PM PDT by moviefan8 (life is full of risks so take a shot)
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To: dynachrome

I went to a best buy to find a land line with a cord telephone.

They had 2 models-—that looked like multiple line office phones-—at $167.00++

I told the clerk : That is more than my first single family house payment was-—PITI.


30 posted on 04/14/2023 7:47:54 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: dynachrome

At first the stores were OK. Now they’re crap.


31 posted on 04/14/2023 7:53:29 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: dynachrome

Has Brandon advised them to get jobs coding?


32 posted on 04/14/2023 8:51:15 PM PDT by Mastador1
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

And nobody high-pressures you into buying an “extended warranty”.


33 posted on 04/14/2023 9:00:27 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: dynachrome

I used to do a lot of shopping for DVDs and CDs there, both on sale and impulse purchases. When the eliminated CDs and reduced DVDs to about a tenth of the old shelf space I just stopped going. MicroCenter had better computer deals, many more parts and a skilled staff.


34 posted on 04/14/2023 10:18:38 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Democrats' version of MAGA: Making America the Gulag Archipelago )
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To: lightman

But they DO pop up the extended warranty boxes! I had to laugh — a few days ago I bought something that doesn’t use electricity and an extended warranty for electrical products popped up!


35 posted on 04/14/2023 10:33:57 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (I don’t like to think before I say something...I want to be just as surprised as everyone els)
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To: dynachrome

FTA: affected employees can reapply for open positions within the company or receive severance

This means all are fired.
I worked at a printing company that closed 42 out of 60 plants (printed checks) back in 1996 and the 150 people there at my place were offered a chance to work at a new plant about 30+ miles away.
Only 10 “qualified”.


36 posted on 04/14/2023 11:14:22 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: minnesota_bound

“Only 10 “qualified”

It’s a whole lot easier the pink slip poor performers when downsizing, or bankruptcy. There’s a lot of paperwork that doesn’t have to be done during those periods of downturn. My observation, and we talked about this in business school, was that company’s often look forward to seachange to make course corrections.

Sometimes everybody gets laid off or let go, but if there’s a restructuring going on you can probably bet your bottom dollars the poor performers are going to be shown the door first. And because of the economics of it all discrimination lawsuits (i.e. paperwork) are easily parried.


37 posted on 04/15/2023 4:04:22 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: dynachrome

I haven’t been in or ordered anything from Best Buy in years.


38 posted on 04/15/2023 4:10:02 AM PDT by corlorde
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To: Enlightened1

That’s the effect after the cause.
Best Buy reinvented electronics a day appliances and created a niche industry. Hence, they’re the benchmark.


39 posted on 04/15/2023 5:49:05 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: dynachrome

Don’t blame online, blame the tax code.

Stores must sell all inventory by December 31st or they are taxed on held inventory. I think this has been since 1988. Since then, inventories are held to near zero. Go to a store, they ain’t got anything.

Secondly, wholesale has taken the profits from retail. Retail used to be a 50-100% markup, so retailers could afford inventory. Not any more. A mere 5% is now considered retail markup.


40 posted on 04/15/2023 6:01:12 AM PDT by CodeToad (No Arm up! They have!)
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