Laid off/Unemployed

[Wes Tausend]

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

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


...

[Ron61]

We only have one mill left here and it has shut down one shift and is shortening the hours it is open. I don't see many logging trucks going over there now. Just no market for timber around here.

Ron

[Scott S]

Originally Posted by Ron61

We only have one mill left here and it has shut down one shift and is shortening the hours it is open. I don't see many logging trucks going over there now. Just no market for timber around here.

Ron

The big shoe dropped, today I laid off eight guys, four sub-contractor cutters, and four log trucks until April...perhaps.

This is the toughest industry in the States, I feel pretty wimpy right now.

Scott S

[Wes Tausend]

Originally Posted by Scott S

The big shoe dropped, today I laid off eight guys, four sub-contractor cutters, and four log trucks until April...perhaps.

This is the toughest industry in the States, I feel pretty wimpy right now.

Scott S

When the fickle economy crashes, I don't think anyone is quite prepared for it. If we were, we'd have to have a permanent suspicious, gloomy outlook on life, not very conducive to progress as a whole.

When I earlier stated that demand creates jobs, not employers, I didn't mean that those of us that assume leadership are unimportant. Don't ever feel wimpy for very long.

Employers, while just a cog in the economy machine, and not really heroes deserving of huge bonuses over labor, are a most important cog, so keep your chin up. God grants the skill of leadership, to serve all humans, like He grants two hands. A man is not expected to get huge bonuses over his brethran, for being lucky enough to have both of them.

I think you will find your mind is at it's most innovative when pressed like this. Perhaps a recent example was a post you made in jest that was not merely good, but brilliant in combining ideas for a new concept, even if it was just in fun. I think this is sort of innovation more likely to happen when ones subconcious is working overtime. Your mind will further open up to solve the problem.

This all seems bad, but where there is lemons, there is the innovative possiblity of making lemonade. If you can find a way, some of the machinery you need will sell at near firesale prices. When you start back up, you can be at the head of the pack. Remember, the need for houses never goes away, and if it hiccups, there is a shortage right after.

Even if you had one of the most efficient operations going, there is always room for improvement. You will need all this when you start back up. Sales prices are not likely to be so good at first. Instead of being discouraged and disgusted, try to direct your thinking to a better future and what you can do to streamline your operation.

Perhaps you can get by with half your original employees. The originals are likely to be not all available when things break loose anyway. I could tell one of my long stories about how I streamlined my little home-building nook, even though I knew I had to quit early on. It took me fifteen years to find a reasonably paying substitute and I never again needed more than two employees, while still in business. I know I often preach socialism, taking care of our fellows, but I know, in the end, that it is a dog-eat-dog world. The fittest survive in dire circumstances. When the going gets tough...

I am reminded of a story.

A couple of buddies, Joe and Mike, were hiking in Yellowstone.
They came upon a sign that read, "Caution, beware of grizzly bears".

Joe sat down and began to replace his hiking boots with track shoes.
Mike asked, "What are you doing? You don't expect to outrun a grizzly bear, do you?".

Joe replied, "I don't have to outrun the bear ...just you".

You are one of the good guys.
I sincerely wish you the very best.
Get your track shoes on.

Wes


...

[VRM]

I got laid off this time last year. I got a contract job 2 weeks later that I am still working at. My manager wants to convert me to full time, but the company is also going through layoffs (5500 people). My project is doing well and looks like it is going to be a very long term thing. I also have a years salary in cash sitting in the bank just generating interest. I know I am a lot better off than some others.

I've had 3 close friends get laid off in the last 2 months. One works in HR, another ran a printing press, and the third is a materials research scientist. The company I used to work for is closing the facility I worked at and sending the work to India. The 5 people that survived my layoff last year will be laid off at the end of this month, along with the rest of the staff there.

I have seen a huge problem with this country for a long time, and it involves just about everyone from the lowest paid to the highest paid. Nobody really considers quality or responsibility anymore. The CEOs only look at the bottom line today and don't seem to realise that cutting elements of the customer experience (docs, support, features, quality) lessen the likelihood that you will get a repeat customer. Bonuses for CEOs and others should be tied to customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and progress on short and long term company goals.

The flip side of that is the workers who 'phone in' their work, and don't actually care that the work they do is shoddy. This is where the model for unions falls down; they expect a basic minimum for job performance and have no incentive to to a better job. This attitude is shared by a lot of non-union workers as well, and it needs to change.

I have a (very) small side business that is a one man operation. This side business involves research, graphic design, and printing. I looked all over the US for a print shop capable of doing the level of work and detail that I wanted, but none of them had the quality I was looking for. My product is now printed at a shop in Italy because, while they are a little difficult to deal with (they don't react well to deadlines), they are also artists at what they do. They make every effort to make sure that the final product is exactly what I want.

As a result of me being ultra-anal about what I produce I have become a bit of a legend in my little niche market. I have more customer requests than I can handle, and I hear that I have taken a chunk out of a couple of my competitors (including a big Japanese one that just does sloppy research - 50 stars on a 1958 American flag!!) .

We are now a throwaway culture - many of our products are crap, and other countries are catching up (or have surpassed us). If this continues to happen our middle class will vanish, and so will the success of this country.

Steve

[Ron61]

Steve,

Your ideas are good and the day I started work for the labs and phone companies in 1965 I started putting back money in accounts for my retirement. But so many have waited until now and put nothing back that it is almost impossible for them to save anything with the prices the way they are. I watched one of the over paid financial geniuses the other day telling people that are still working they should put back at least 60% of their pay in case they lose their jobs. With the price of food and the other bills, just how is the average working person going to live and do that?

Ron