December Blizzard, Malls, Santa, and Retail: Bah Humbug!

Black Friday has come and gone. Santa arrived at my Mall on November 18th........he would fall asleep from boredom until the last two weekends before Christmas.....then, upwards of 200 people would wait in line for up to 60 minutes on December 22-24. Uh huh.

On Wednesday, December20 th, a white-out blizzard of 18+” of snow and 40 mph winds hit Colorado Springs. It started snowing about 6:00 AM..........by 11:00 AM it was already 6” deep and drifting. The mediocre City of Colorado Springs.......population of 385,000.........only has 36 snow plows. Uh huh.

By noon, visibility was down to 100 feet.......was the mall thinking of closing?? No....it was under discussion. Yet, by then, the Post Office had closed, all military bases, the local and county governments, library's, and all airports. No one was in the mall except employees......no one could even get to the mall because no streets had been plowed, the Metro buses had ceased operations long ago. At noon the Mall slowly let out word that individual stores could go ahead and close without being “fined”. Uh huh. I asked, “So if all the stores in the mall close, the mall is closed?” Not necessarily, was my answer from Mall management. Right.

Thursday, the day after..........the Mall decides to open at 10:00 AM...........except they hadn't plowed the parking lot yet.......nor had any streets been plowed and were covered with abandoned cars! OK, they change it to 2:00 PM. One third of all stores did not open.......employees could not get out of their homes or apartment complexes.........yes, I was there at 9:15 AM. It was busy after 2:00 PM, except for the strange mix of Mall customers. I thought that two things occurred........all trailer parks were emptied....or WalMart was closed!
Friday and Saturday were insanely busy. The Mall opened at 7:00 AM on Sunday, Christmas Eve. The first customers showed up about 10:30 AM.......Mall anchor stores never opened until 9:00 AM....it was sloooooooow all day and no one made their numbers........oh wait, Christmas 2005 was on Sunday.......every store was up against a closing , so one sale made their day's sales! Uh huh.

It's over........... let the madness fade.......stop the 24/7 Christmas music.......take down the decorations.......Spring is on the way!

Holiday Marketing....A Fiasco?

OK, Black Friday has come and gone.........national sales figures are in and most are down. Why? Could poor holiday marketing be a factor? Well duh!

I work in the nicer of two Malls in town. Ours opened at 6 AM, however the four anchor stores opened at different times. Penney's and Sears opened at 5 AM..........Macy's at 6 AM and Dillard's at 7 AM.......all the rest of the mall opened at 6:00. My first sale was at 8:15 AM...many stores had no sales until after 10 AM.

The other mall in town, about the same size didn't open until 8 AM !

And today, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, was slow and most stores held huge sales with as much as 50% off of the entire store.....today, but not on Black Friday. This seems like poor or no marketing to me. Why didn't the malls coordinate this better? Why weren't all anchor stores made to open at the same time?

Perhaps retail store failures are in part due to their own poor marketing? Does anyone know their job?

The Wonderful World of Retail

Wow, after 20+ years I find myself back in the world of retail. Having worked as a retail grunt (salesperson, cashier, clerk) and through the ranks of management, I find many things remain the same, yet some things have changed.
Malls look the same, have tenant mix and traffic issues....depending on location. Some malls have 25% vacancy issues, which results in less traffic, low profits and huge turnover. Mall anchors come and go.

One problem, staffing remains constant. Low or even “poor” wages create problems of it's own. My current mall in Colorado Springs, Colorado must have dozens of stores with “Help Wanted “ signs. One manger told me he has only received 12 applications in two months. He wants skilled, dedicated labor for $6.25 per hour.........applicants want $10 per hour ! Never the train shall meet!

With over 10 years in retail, with management experience, it simply got me hired. The last retail company I was a management trainee for back in the mid 1970's didn't even interview me! It's obviously a vicious circle......stores/managers want skilled, experienced workers for $1 over minimum wage......and workers want a livable wage plus benefits.

I realized, after getting my first two week full time pay check, that I made twice as much take home on Michigan unemployment ! What is the incentive to work retail? I find myself applying for Food Stamps, and rent assistance..........all of which I easily qualify for, even working “full time”. I make less now than I did in 1999....$2 an hour less. In retail, where is the incentive to excel?

Working retail is certainly a quandary.

Career Builder, Monster, and All Those Temp Agencies...Do They Work?

I have been frustrated lately. After three months of living in Colorado Springs and registering with three different Temp Agencies, two of which I had “hooked-Up” with in Michigan, I have no results..........no jobs.....not even an interview!

My last company I worked for in Michigan.......a major Financial Services Company.........set me up with Spherion as my “official” outplacement resource. I met with a nice, helpful lady in the Troy, MI office, who after three hours “tweaked” my resume to it's current state. The value of a Resume vs Applications.....another discussion. Upon moving to the Springs, I registered with the local Spherion office.......to date zip!

In the past I had worked good jobs through Manpower, and SOS Staffing in Ft. Collins, Co and had success turning at least three or four of those “temp” positions into full time jobs! But alas, Manpower erased me from their entire HR System, and has no record of my 10+ years of employment or all the training I ever did. Bah!

Everyday, I get emails from my “Search Agents” on Monster and Career Builder. I send in resumes and applications several times per week........nothing to date. Many, even though the “agents” are supposed to be particular, aren't remotely connected to my search-background-education, or even interest.

Yesterday I went out “cold calling” on my own and in two hours found over 6 openings to apply for......none of which were in Career Builder or Monster.........even with agents set to look for those types of job openings!
So my question remains........are Temp Agencies and these On-Line Services worth any time or effort...................I think you get what you pay for these days.....they cost nothing, you get nothing!

A recent Sunday article in the CS Gazette, suggested if what you have been trying doesn't work.........try something new! DUH?

Spherion http://www.spherion.com/careers/career_center_home.jsp

Manpower http://www.manpower.com/mpcom/index.jsp

Career Builder http://www.careerbuilder.com/Default.aspx

Monster http://www.monster.com/

Looking for Work & Over Age 50

Age discrimination or market forces at work? I think it's a little of both. Never in my life have I had such a difficult time of finding a job, even through temp agencies.

Yes I wanted my last Salary + profit sharing + bonuses and great benefits.......but I didn't make over $100,000 per year and was asking for it.

By moving to Colorado, I knew there were jobs, but also realized that Colorado is the "Land of the Less than $10/hr Jobs!" Thousands of jobs that require a college degree and 5+ years direct experience typically pay $8.50-$10 /hr.....uh huh.

Even jobs with T Rowe Price, which the local Mayor lauded as "great jobs", are in the $35,000 range.........HUH?

Yet I am willing to work the next four or five years for $10/hr. I have, with the help of my outplacemnt firm Spherion, rewrote my resume as suggested and taken out all dates, including college and HS graduation dates..........no one knows I am 58........unless I get an interview (not yet).

There have been several news articles lately that "59 is the new 65", and that people over 50 take over two months longer to secure work than a younger person (that sounds like age discrimination to me).

I can understand the reluctance of a firm hiring a 58 year old demanding $75,000+ per year when they can get a recent college grad for 50% less. But where are the jobs for Seniors.....yup I am one.

Here are a few help sites I saw on the TV report or found myself. I think I'll check the local Senior Center for help also. Good luck to those over 50!

http://www.experiencedworkforce.org

http://www.seniorsforjobs.com/

http://www.snagajob.com

Thirteen hundred and forty-five miles latter, I am resettled in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It wasn't a bad drive......left at noon Monday and got here by five PM Wednesday.......moved into an upscale apartment on the following Monday. For $165 more per month than Michigan, I got a second bath and second bedroom, my own washer and dryer, a patio and a fireplace.
Plus the job opportunities here seem to be immense compared to the second highest unemployment in the nation. In less than a week after getting a phone and Internet access I am getting results!

The views are incredible, the weather cool and dry, and the humidity low!
But I also enjoyed my 7 years in Michigan. It is a nice state and has potential, if they can only figure out how to make it work! I've made my opinions heard on Unions before, but on route to the Springs, it occurred to me that perhaps my non-union affiliation had a determination on my Michigan job hunt. It was a question on every application! It had never occurred to me prior to leaving. Unionization of every aspect of employment is a negative thing in this day of globalization and off shoring!

I look forward to being involved in Colorado Springs.

Detroit, MI.......Economic Disaster

Well I have lived in the Detroit, Michigan area for over 6 years, working for a major Financial Services Co. Until May of 2005.

I recently have decided to "unretire" and look for work, only to find myself at age 57, competing with 300-400 other souls for any reasonable job.

I never do a "shotgun" approach to job hunting, but rather a very specific hunt for jobs that match my skills, experience, and educational level. Since March 1, I have had not one interview and can't even get a "Temp" assignment. That's with extensive Graduate work, and job ratings of "surpasses" requirements...................uh huh.

It's grim......so I am relocating. Moving back to the State of Colorado for the 5th time in my life.......but to a state with a over 2%+ better unemployment rate and to a city of 369,000+, Colorado Springs.

Colorado is also basicly a non-union state.....which will help!

My personal opinion is that Unions have destroyed the economies of Michigan and New York with their huge wage demands, taxes, etc. that result from union employment. Huge layoffs of 10,000's in the auto industry can't help.

Let the adventure begin!

Craigslists

I came across this before, but never used them. I searched a few cities...they seem to cover most. The word "Barter" came up in the thread I was reading. Barter is good.

Has anyone out there used these lists successfully? Let me know!

Kudos...Some Excellent Ads

Some worthwhile and entertaining ads via TV Commercials are coming around.

I like the Jaguar "I've Got My Camera On" ad, Dodge's "Silly Fairy" ad for the new Dodge Caliber, the jazzy ad for downloading IPOD music, The new Toyota Camry Hybrid....hmmmm they're all car ads.

Big bucks get big results!

Display & Exibit Production

I was reading a production and display magazine at the library the other day, the tile fails me.

I was surprised though that this huge million dollar production house used the same software I use for soundtracks and audio....."Audacity"..........freeware from the web!

I have similar "open sources" or Freeware Software for graphics, photos, drawing, etc.

I find them to be transparent in use to such packages as Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, Dreamweaver, Powerpoint, etc.

Here are some links..........check them out, save some production costs!

Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Picassa http://picasa.google.com/

Gimp2 http://www.gimp.org/

Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil......Uh Huh !

Remember those three monkeys? Those must have been the original PC (Political Correctness) police.

Political correctness rears it's ugly head everday in Advertising. Look at just about any TV commercials, on any station. Yup there is the token African-American, the Hispanic, the old lady, and more recently lots of Asians!

Why don't commercials at least reflect the demographics of the market they play in?

One reason.............. the advertisers are too cheap to tailor make ads for each market. Hence the "perfect demographic" commercial featuring "one of everyone"!

Does this annoy anyone besides me?

Let's hear some opinions.

Buyers or Lost Customer?

Does saturation of a commercial sell your product to customers or does it turn them off?

Do you care? You should.

I spotted a Volvo commercial that ran 4-5 times per hour, multiple TV stations, all day long. After the 12th viewing it started to annoy me. After 50 times, it pissed me off.

There are several commercials out there that are neither clever, interesting, nor informative.

What are these ad agencies thinking.............or are they thinking at all?

What about the TV Stations....... surely there are volumes of data to support the frequency of advertisements and their results on consumer behavior. Doesn't anyone use them?

Airing your commercial 50 times per day, 7 days per week? We get it......and don't want it!

TV Ads......What you hate.......Are there too many?

Ones I hate? The stupid HP photo printer ads with the little frames, that go on, and on, and on.........all the Comcast ads...........all the Erectile Disfunction ads, feminine hygine, etc. ................that they run at mealtime! All ads that run the same commercial more than 5 times in an hour!

Back in "the day", TV ads ran at the top of the hour, 15 after, the half-hour, and 15 minutes before. They ran for 2 minutes!

Now advertising runs 20 minutes of every hour show..........some cable stations such as TNT and Spike TV are even worse, especially at late night. They have commercial free music stations, why not commercial free TV?

I for one, think it is out of control!


I hate all the Jewlery (diamonds) ads for any holiday! "Marry me again?"

I hate the ads for "Sandals", Jamaica, and other exotic resorts.

I hate the new "Comcastic" ads that break over other ads! They're "Comcastic"

I hate all the ED ads.........I guess "everyone" has it by now! ED, the new Aids?

Dietech....when will it ever end?................and that damn psycho Burger King figure!

Valentines.......and soon Easter......stop the madness!

I don't want commercials on Pay TV...I don't want commercials at the Movie Theater (man was I shocked and pissed when they started doing that! The last time I went to the movies, about a month ago.....the first 15 minutes were commercials! before the previews)

I guess I need to read more......with classical jazz playing in the background!

Ameriquest Financial Services.......that show all those old hippie types and slackers back in the 1960-70s who sold out and are now the yuppies wanting to live the "good life" in their golden years.

Former Manufacturers Representative

I was a Manufacturers Rep for several years and a member of The Denver Advertising Federation.

I sold Exposystems Modular Tradeshow displays at one time. Most of my products were architectural materials....Skylights, glazing plastics, and other building supply related items.

I worked in the State of NY, then moved to Colorado and had Arizona, New Mexico as my territory. I can claim clients such as Coors Brewery, State of New Mexico, Vail ski area, and Eagle Claw Fishing Tackle.

It was fun, but hard work, with small compensation for all the travel.

Blogvermercial-Advertise here!

A blog devoted to all things commercial.........advertising, marketing, displays & exhibits, Manufacturers Representatives, OEM Sales etc.