Meijer layoffs mirror industry's struggle (1900 jobs)

[UpInArms]

http://www.detnews.com/2004/business/0402/08/a01-58064.htm

Huddled in a conference room with 40 other Meijer managers, Nancy Jaroniewski couldn’t believe what she was hearing: The company had to restructure, jobs would be cut.

“I was shocked,” said Jaroniewski, 43, of Shelby Township as she recalled the meeting at Meijer No. 57 in Rochester Hills. “This is where I had planned to retire.”

Two days later, Jaroniewski learned her fate. She and several of her fellow managers at the store were being laid off.

In all, Meijer cut 1,900 management jobs in five states last month, including about 300 in Metro Detroit. It was the largest work force reduction in Meijer’s 70-year history and the kind of brutal corporate downsizing some employees thought would never happen at the family-owned company.

...more...

[displacedtexan]

1. I love Meijer!

I lived in Michigan for 5 years, and I loved Meijer (pronounced Meyer) stores! Open 24 hours and a great alternative to Wal-Mart!
I suspect Meijer is being crushed by the Wal-Mart-funded BFEE.

[FreeperSlayer]

2. Spot on!

Meijer's problems are a direct result of the influx of Wal-Mart. In my "hood", they plunked one down within a half-mile of my fav Meijer.

[ignatius]

3. Same here in Indiana, the evil "mart" opened just a short

drive away from the Meijer store and our Target store. The wierd thing is, in our County there are alrday 2 Walmarts, within a couple of miles from this one.

Walmart, the sale of the soul of our country.

[Lefty48197]

8. Walmart is trying to put Meijers out of business.

There are two Meijers near my house. Walmart then built stores right down the road from each of them. The negative stories about Walmart are starting to have an effect, but a militant boycott is still needed.

[RoeBear]

12. Every message board I post on...

...has 'I hate Wal-Mart' threads.

[jmowreader]

18. Wal-Mart is trying to put *everyone* out of business

Folks, Wal-Mart is starting to sell lumber.

Lumber is as far from Wal-Mart's core business as groceries would be to mine, but the fuckers are selling lumber.

Translation: they want to put Lowe's, Home Depot and Menard's out of business. And there's no one at Home Depot that doesn't believe they could do it, too. Guess why the first afternoon of the annual Store Manager's Retreat is invariably "How to Compete with Wal-Mart."

[will work 4 food]

22. New overtime laws have alot to do

with the management layoffs. You can now pay your supervisors straight time for hours over 40. Supervisors do more, with less managers. The corp. saves a ton on bennies and salary. Thanks W. :mad:

[booksenkatz]

4. I love Meijer, too

We moved up here in 1995 and the minute I set foot in a Meijer, I instantly understood how Michiganders manage to continue their lives when mired in snow and ice: Meijer has EVERYTHING you need under one roof! The employees are like family now. As my area continued to grow, a K-Mart was added up the road, and there was plenty of business for both stores. But when the Wal-Mart came in, this gorgeous, new K-Mart had to shut down and suddenly my Meijer is suffering, while the Farmer Jack stores are barely hanging in there. But Wal-Mart is doing GREAT. I can't help but notice the correlation, it's sickening to see what Wal-Marts do to a community! Pretty soon we'll only have Wal-Marts to shop in, even though my area is still one of the fastest growing areas in Michigan... one would expect a diverse choice of stores in which to shop.
:mad:

[UpInArms]

5. I have had a similar experience

where I live in Missouri.

There were 4 grocery stores (Hy Vee, EconoFoods, Food for Less, John's Market) and there were great choices and prices between them all. The competition was healthy and the selections were good - the Market had the best produce and the other stores worked hard to not fall too far behind in quality.

Then the SuperWalmart came and now there is only the Hy Vee left to compete with it.

The selections and prices are lousy - I haven't spent a penny in a Walmart or affiliate in 4 years - but the quality of life is definitely declining.

Makes me sad :(

[zbird]

6. Meijer is definitely my choice too. They have everything!

I live in the extreme southwest corner of Michigan and shop in both Indiana and Michigan. WalMart and Meijer are pretty much across the street from each other in all the locations that I shop. Meijer by far has the better sales and the prices are pretty much comparable on everything else. I was shopping the day that the layoff meetings were being held. The workers were all visibly upset and worried. I watched as a few of the workers came out of the office with barely contained tears. It was absolutely horrible. The checker told me they had gotten rid of the entire Loss Prevention divsion (the visible security folks that walk around in brown uniforms), then went on to detail all the management that had been let go to that point. Definitely a sad day for my favorite store.

[RoeBear]

7. My daughter works at a Meijer...

...and mentioned that they got rid of their loss prevention team too.
Why not just put up a sign that says "Shoplifters Welcome"?

Or better yet their slogan has been "Meijer's- Why Pay More"
change it to "Meijer's- Why Pay at All"

[Lefty48197]

9. That's a pretty cynical attitude

Is the threat of getting caught the only thing that can keep people from stealing?

[RoeBear]

10. Well in a manner of speaking...

...yes.

What do you think would happen if any store advertised the fact that they had no loss prevention staff anymore?

(why the personal attack anyways?)

[ajacobson]

11. Several Meijers managed to stay open

during the power outage in August. That was a great relief for a lot of people. Because of that civicmindedness, I cut them more slack than most any other company.

[LoZoccolo]

13. Support union Meijer's over union-busting Wal-Mart!

I'd rather go to mom-and-pop stores (here in Lincoln Park in Chicago there's a lot of those simply because you couldn't put a big box in the middle of the neighborhood, but there's starting to be a disturbing trend toward actually fitting them in to places with two-lane streets - there's a Best Buy on Clark and a Home Depot on Halsted like right in the neighborhood), but if you need a paint roller at 3am or something, Meijer's is the way to go!

Meijer's was my first real job, like where I paid income tax and stuff!

You can tell who's from like Michigan and stuff a long time ago when Meijer's was coming up because they say "Meijer's" instead of "Meijer"; this is probably because we remember when it was called "Meijer's Thrifty Acres" up until it's new image in the mid-eighties.

[scarlet_owl]

16. Wow! Meijer is union in your area?

There are no union stores around here, a fact that pisses me off, since the cost of living is kind of high. The stores around here all pay minimum wage or just a tad over, and offer no benefits or benefits after one year of working.

[scarlet_owl]

14. My mother works for Meijer.

They keep having these employee meetings where they tell everyone things like "we're making more money than eveer!" or "this has been our most profitable year!". Then they start laying off people. She currently works in the seafood department without a manager. They kind of un-ceremoniously put her in charge of all the ordering and manegerial duties, without the pay. The last three managers they have had for that department have run it into the ground, but they have all been transferred to different departments and are making more money. As a former employee of Meijer, I can tell you that their administrative system is really screwed up, and I'm speaking for the store in my community only. They seem to fire managers that do a really good job and reward the bad ones. Why the hell are they laying people off if they are making so much money?

On edit: I still continue to shop at Meijer, though I won't buy seafood there. They make the employees hold perishable fish for at least fourteen days. To me, that isn't a "higher standard". Wal-Mart is trying to open up a new store right down the street from Meijer. IF they close and my mother loses her job, I don't know what she will do. She has an injured husband at home and they rely on her insurance.

[Mari333]

15. Lotta people outta work near me in Kalamazoo

and Wal Mart is who is causing it
Our town here, small town, feeling the horrible crunch of a wal mart supercenter that wiped out the supermarket I worked in..lost my job.
wont work at Wal Mart tho..rather eat worms.

[KalicoKitty]

17. There will be three Wal-Marts in the Kalamazoo area.

I am also from the Kalamazoo area. There is a Wal-Mart out Gull Road NEAR Meijers, one out West Main Street NEAR Meijers, and a new one to be built NEAR Meijers in Portage, a suburb of Kalamazoo.


We should ALL be boycotting Wal-Mart.

[Mari333]

20. Yep know right where it is Im in South Haven

and the supercenter here wiped out tons of small businesses in our town..
Evil Empire indeed.

[Occulus]

19. I'm there, Mari

Kzoo is getting hit hsrd jobwise. The employees at the Meijer on West Main are somewhat worried, as a Walmart just went in... basically across the street.

[Mari333]

21. Yep Pfizer too..outsourced jobs

Im glad my son moved out of K Zoo...and my other sons left Michigan too...
Not a good place for young people to find jobs..
Thats why my stepson joined the Army Reserves, no jobs here
and now he wishes he hadnt, hes on his way to Iraq.
Thats Bush's new draft...no jobs for young people.