Posted on 03/05/2015 6:17:40 AM PST by TurboZamboni
Some senior buyers are already gone. Vice presidents, too. But for 13,000 other Target Corp. employees in Minnesota, there's fear that the bull's-eye is on their backs. Target jolted the Twin Cities on Tuesday when it said "several thousand" corporate staffers will be laid off in a cost-cutting move. Executives didn't say who, when or where -- although the buzz is the ax will swing freely next week.
Since the news broke, reaction to Target's $2 billion cost-savings plan has been split, especially by street. On Wall Street, analysts mostly liked the plan. Target stock touched an all-time high Wednesday morning before slipping lower after a flurry of analysts raised price targets. "We came away positive on some of the early changes and direction the company is going," wrote Jefferies analyst Daniel Binder.
Efraim Levy, an analyst at S&P Capital IQ, upgraded Target stock to a "hold" from a "sell," but he recognized there was pain along with the gain. "Unfortunately for the employees that will be affected, it's a necessary part of the business," Levy said. "Competition doesn't stand still, and (Target executives) have to make themselves cost and operationally efficient and competitive."
But at Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, where Target has its world headquarters, morale was hardly at an all-time high. Online message boards were abuzz with worry and speculation about which departments were vulnerable, with particular venting directed at former CEO Gregg Steinhafel and Target's board of directors
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Saw this years ago when I worked for a retailer that filed Chapter 11. Lots of people with important sounding home-office jobs suddenly found they were expendable. At least out in the stores they needed somebody to show up with a key every morning to unlock the front doors.
The last commercial I watched from Target was about clothes or something. It seems they spent more time on selecting actors from the 5 basic food groups (black, Asian, Hispanic, mideastern, and a maybe-white person) than they did in making an actual commercial about a product.
A liberal LGBT supporting company like Targrt laying off that many? Well haven’t they heard? Obama’s economy is in the greatest shape its been in years. What is it down to 3% unemployment yet?
I work a one-deep job that isn’t the best but provides some security; I couldn’t imagine working a job where many others do exactly the same thing as me. I’d never sleep at night, and never assume I’d have a job the following week.
No wonder Americans don’t have families or buy homes...
That is many commercials today; they need every niche to buy their products, and nowadays would be attacked in they left out Pacific Islander gay amputees from their marketing...
I have friends who retired from Target a year ago, and they couldn't be happier to get out of there.
Look at the bright side, At least they will collect unemployment and food stamps which will help stimulate the economy, see Nancy Pelosi.
I remember one time as a young engineer traveling up to Beth Page on Long Island to visit Sperry about some work they were doing for the government on which my colleague and I were hired to monitor.
We spent an entire day there talking to the engineers and technicians there, then sometime after lunch, they handed us over to a guy who was avidly enthusiastic about the minutest of details in a radome fiberglass lay-up process, and he proceeded to tell us all about it in excruciating detail.
He finished at about 4:05PM and we walked out of the conference room and looked on a hanger-like open space of cubicles normally filled with UNION engineers that was COMPLETELY empty. Had been since 4:00PM.
They were hundreds deep, and they were unionized, and they had government largess behind them.
Is Target one of the retailers that went to over 10/hr? I wonder if those workers will be happy now?
Two of my siblings worked at Target. Neither liked it. Both left quickly. Poor, or more accurately, “strange” management. I did have an interview with them for a regional job. It was a very creepy experience. They had three sr. folks talk to me. They would purposely interupt and leave. Then another would come in. They all had a strange look in their eyes. It was as though they didn’t trust anyone and to get into their secret club you had to do something they wanted and if they thought you wouldn’t do that particular thing then no dice - if you catch my drift.
Not surprised. Just hope their losers don’t get important jobs with other chain stores. Remember when the Target exec got fired and hired at Wal-Mart? They went through a brief period remodeling stores with faux wood paneling on the floors trying to make Wal-mart more fancy —and the prices of products went up at those locations?
Wow; I hope they don’t assume that gravy train will go on forever. IIRC, Long Island lost a Grumman plant years ago (probably because of the same mindset related to government defense contracts).
Here in NJ our Motor Vehicle inspections are now limited to emissions; those remaining employees probably do well, but there are a lot less of them...
This was in the 1980s....I imagine that plant changed hands long ago. Several times in fact.
BTW, I was also at that Grumman Plant, too. Same thing.
Maybe they can all get jobs working for Al Franken.
When I forget to FF the dvr that is what I see. Almost every commercial has a queer, black, a doofus white boy, Asian, mexican, African, a power girl, a mixed racial couple, some have the evil middle aged white guy.
When I see commercials now, I go over a mental checklist on all the people groups.
Seems like everyone is a genetic mutt on commercials today.
Your observations are spot-on. It’s why I’ve become convinced that our electorate is about to take a hard-left populist turn.
Google the name “Peter Hollis”.
He took at least 5 large retail chains into bankruptcy.
Yet another one was always there ready to hire him
as their CEO.
I’m amazed he hasn’t turned up in the Obama Administration.
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