Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott S
I just got word today that Wearahuaser and the other major timber companies(including the one I contract for) are planning indefinate partial layoffs at two weeks a month. These layoffs will include all logging, hauling, mill opperations, and exporting.
Things are going to get really tough here in the wet west, my crew members are going to have a very bad time as several have had spouses already lose jobs.
Most logging companies like mine have huge equiptment payments, we are going to bleed out quick.
Scott S
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I guess we won't be seeing any Weyerhaeuser going by on flat cars for a while either. Now, whenever I see a Weyerhaeuser load , I will think of you. I honestly appreciate, your can-do spirit.
I do truly feel for you with all the equipment that will be idled. You may remember I said I had to lay off quite a few guys after the Carter interest-rate fiasco. But I never had the kind of money in equipment like you must. It was nearly my last nickel, but I just didn't have, nor need, much to start with, since I started in my previous recession layoff.
The '79-'80 collapse was also unbelievably quick. One larger drywall/paint project I had was 144 unit apartment unit complex that had been progressing one 12 unit at a time. Suddenly, in the middle, they boarded up the next building, before I started, and I never went back for 2 years. And then, it went so slow, I did most of the rest of it myself. In the end, not one original permanent employee remained.
A self-employed business is not something that the breadwinner does independently. Self-employment is not for everyone. A few months before, I had my wife convinced that it would be OK, that thousands going in and out of the company checkbook a week was no big deal and we were steadily gaining. Still she worried about being so extremely frugal and resented phone calls that came anywhere between midnight and five in the morning. Every job superintendent was different. Some are night owls and some are early risers.
After the collapse, she definately wanted to get rid of the once private, now business ,telephone. It cost $50 a month compared to $14 residence charge. The $50 included a yellowpage ad and the number was out there on every statement , invoice, bid sheet and business card I had. I insisted there was no way I could afford to get rid of it. One job a month paid it.
But one day I came home after working and bidding a couple of jobs, and she had cancelled it. Embarrassed and shaken, I never even called these jobs back; they must have gotten a "No Longer in Service" message if they called. It kinda ripped the heart out of me for a while, but I knew what I had to do.
After a few dead ends, after a few years, one day the railroad called back telling her they paid $90 a day, free insurances and I made their cut. I remember she was so excited to tell me, when I got home that evening. She greatly admired this job ...up until I couldn't get off for her sisters funeral.
Job like this, they tell you up front, you marry it. Your family and friends become the brotherhood. It's more like the military than I would ever guessed, except nobody shoots at you.
I still think the job is OK, they get me for about 72 hours a week and I can still handle it just fine, even in my 60's. But successfully walking away from another trip, is not the same satisfaction as building real stuff with my own two hands, and never will be.
I hope you get all the moral support you need. It's worth it to rise again, doing what you love best, you only live once and what don't kill you, will make you stronger.
Wes
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