I'm co-owner of three Sprint/Nextel stores in Jacksonville, Fl. We've experianced huge drops in sales that started declining over two years ago.
Initially Sprint's lousy customer service (not that Nextel's was all that great) accounted for a lot of customers jumping ship to Verizon and AT&T. (you really suck if you can't compete against AT&T) As luxury items like cell phones for the kids are the first to go, then businesses trimming staff.
Well, two years ago my largest location was averaging 150+ new activations per month, now all three stores combined barely hit 100.
I haven't laid anyone off but I've also not replaced three employees that left over the last year. If things don't turn around by spring I'll close one location. Myself and the other two owners have cut our pay in half almost two years ago and I'm faced with hitting the employees with the $50 a head health insurance increase next month. (the insurance lady told us we were one of a handfull of companies offering 100% employer funded insurance that they deal with)
Between Pelosi and Obama we may not survive next year...
