The proverbial poop has hit the fan! Carolyn lost her two oldest accounts; she acquired them both in 1995. It is an economy thing; they are owned by the same parent company and are tightly tied to the automotive industry. This goes to show how closely the American economy is dependent on auto manufacturing. I don't think the Federal auto bailout is going to help much; probably not enough money set aside for the car makers. Meanwhile, Wall Street goes its merry way with pockets stuffed with taxpayer cash, while Main Street suffers. These small business like Carolyn's employ more people than all the big business combined; a lot more. When these large companies make cutbacks, their vendors are the first to get crunched, especially "non-essential" service suppliers.
Even if we weather this, there will most likely be more to come. Another account told her that they are looking into cutting back, and that if they did, her services would be among the first to go. It too has big ties to the auto makers, but not as much so as did the two she lost. Another account shut the doors to one of its plants last summer and she lost that income, and its other plant that is dependent on the construction industry is iffy. My friend who lives just up the street from us was forced into early retirement from there back in December. He was a supervisor and had been with the company for 23 years.
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Not much else going on today ... I need to get away from the infernal machine for a short while.
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Even if we weather this, there will most likely be more to come. Another account told her that they are looking into cutting back, and that if they did, her services would be among the first to go. It too has big ties to the auto makers, but not as much so as did the two she lost. Another account shut the doors to one of its plants last summer and she lost that income, and its other plant that is dependent on the construction industry is iffy. My friend who lives just up the street from us was forced into early retirement from there back in December. He was a supervisor and had been with the company for 23 years.
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Not much else going on today ... I need to get away from the infernal machine for a short while.
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4 comments:
These are the things that most people do not associate with the auto industry. There are so many of these jobs that are feeling the crunch right now and nobody seems to care.
It is hitting us very hard. Carolyn will have to cut one of her employees back to 3 nights/week and fewer hours each night. We will drop a big part of our insurance--business and personal--and anything else we think we can get by without for a while.
Thats tough. Have you ever listed the business on Craigs List. It seems like the thing to do these days. Might not bring in much but who knows.
Thanks, Mark. Carolyn is getting bid opportunities, but she is getting undercut by some of the local moms-and-pops, plus some of the biggies like Service Master. She won't compromise quality work to get a job, because the hassle of dealing with complaints isn't worth it, and complaints ruin a company's reputation. If she was a few years younger, she could aggressively deal with this stuff, but at age 62, she is getting worn down.
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