Wow, the weak econonomy, is hitting home. My son-in-law just had

dawn_mo

dawn_mo

Well-known member
his hours cut to 32 in order to avoid lay-offs. He is a machinist at a well-established company. This is getting scary. I know hub's company is hurting, but that is always the norm when you are consultants (cell phone games), but I was just wondering if any others are out there in the same position, feeling the crunch?

 
Here's a thermometer for ya...

Some of you know I work in closeouts and surplus food and merchandise. I broker most inventories (rather than buying and taking possession), and have done this for nearly 20 years, in good times and bad. (Commercial: Anyone know of any inventory that needs a buyer? PM me. (That's my UA violation of the day)).

Usually, my business tends to pick up somewhat dramatically during extremes in the economy. When the economy is hot, there is a lot of over-production, and, hence, a lot of surplus to sell. In the other extreme, when the economy goes into the tank, there is a lot of unsold inventory. My phone rings a lot, either way.

This time is different. There is tons of inventory available to sell (to be expected), BUT... no one is buying.

This started last summer.

On the positive side, I have seen the buyers loosen up a bit in December and into January. (This is good, since it reflects on their hopes to sell the product well into Spring, and not just during the Christmas season). I hope this is not a blip on the screen, but a trend that will continue into spring. My family is depending on it, and it may be a positive indicator of good things to come for the nation.

My advice (even though you didn't ask for it) is this: get resourceful. Earn money any way you can, and 'get on it' right now.

I am.

Michael

 
We're hearing this from many friends who have relatives who are getting cut or laid off. Fortunately

DH who is retired and a consultant has a client who has a government contract. The government always has money, do I dare say, our money? Unfortunately, I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. And yes, it's scary.

 
Yeah, dare. The gov doesn't make money...

...it prints it, or it takes it from us, the taxpayers.

You are fortunate, and if anyone has the opportunity to work in this way, now is the time.

M

 
Some small businesses I know are in various modes of damage control.

Two business owners I know are in "cut back" mode. They are in a situation similar to what Dawn talks about.

Another two I know are in "save the business" mode. They have to make radically hard decisions to keep from closing the doors.

I am trying to support any business in my wheelhouse that I can realistically support. I can do it if it doesn't take food out of my kids' mouths. I encourage anyone to do the same. Spend what you can, and support excellence, wherever possible.

M

 
Yeah - I keep trying to lay low so they don't notice me....

I keep thinking do my job and don't call attention to myself. We've been having layoffs and cutting our temp workforce. Who knows what the future holds.

 
My husband was laid off this past August. . .

Thank goodness we have our house paid off, and have no other loans.

At his (and my) age he doesn't really have hopes of being re-hired by anyone (he does computer programming) because all these companies want younger people without much experience who can be plugged into a job for much less money. The catch is, we could be very happy now on 2/3rds less than what he was working at especially if the job included health care, but how do you tell companies that they could a good worker for very much less than what he previously had been making?

I am working as a lunch lady at a local school; it is not much but buys groceries. I am also completing a certificate program in medical coding so I hope to have a full-time job in the relatively near future. We will see. . . !

I am sure there are a lot of people out there a lot worse off than we are, and I don't think we are getting the complete story in the media.

 
You all are just noticing now? My goodness. I already have a second job.

My wonderful wholesale travel business that grew leaps and bounds for 15 years fell back radically starting in about May 2008. Hawaii depends on tourism for about 80% of the total state economy (isn't there some wise words out there like "don't put your eggs all in one basket"....) and in May two airlines went out of business that brought about a million seats into Hawaii a year. Bad deal for tourism. Then the economy started to tank and people stopped spending as much then stopped spending on trips to Hawaii.

I saw it coming a long time ago and took a second full time job to supplement. Something I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would need to do. It had been 20 years since I worked for anyone else. Now I am really thankful for the extra job as unemployment on this little island is very high and decent jobs are almost non-existent. Small and large businesses alike are laying off or going out of business.

Nobody is safe from this economic crisis. Not this time. Time to hunker down and ride it out.

 
You are lucky to have a second job... I've been unemployed for how many months? Sigh, unless we want

to move (no) or I want to go back to school for yet ANOTHER degree (definately not!). Last one hired, first one fired, and I had been the newest one at work.

 
I'm also hunkering down at my desk...

working in the health care field has it's up side...being a bit more insulated from the downturn, but I still am looking over my shoulder at all times.

Clinical research is where the new drugs come from, so as long as the pharmaceutical companies feel they can survive, I'll be working.

 
which is why we will all be getting "I.O.U.s" instead of tax refunds this year... smileys/frown.gif

 
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