I almost can’t believe Circuit City didn’t go looking for a handout from the fat cats in Washington, D.C.
Speaking of CAT, that company said if it got some of the bailout money, it would be able to hire back some of the folks it laid off. Soon as it got the money, the head of CATerpillar said the company would have to lay off some more people before it could hire any back.
He didn’t mention that those hired to replace the recently laid off will be in another country. U.S. workers afraid Mexicans are coming north to take their jobs can relax. The companies are going to them. Think of the money U.S. taxpayers can save laying off Border Patrol.
But Chrysler’s got the best ideas for saving money: it’s thinking Green.
It said this week it will take down all its wall clocks and save $20,000 a year, which, coincidentally, is about the life of a single double-A battery normally used to power a wall clock. Wal-Mart has double-A batteries, package of eight for about $5. That’s 32,000 wall clocks.
The bad news is no one will know when it’s time to go home? The good news is no one will know when they’re late getting to work.
Of course, the company already has laid off several thousand workers, which is why it will stop plowing snow off the top deck of its parking garages. That, Chrysler says, will save the company $350,000 a year it won’t have to spend cleaning parking places the laid off employees won’t need.
Thermostats will be at 68 degrees, which isn’t really all that cold — but in the hallways, not in the offices. The company thinks it will save $70,000 a year on heating its headquarters hallways. Of course, it also will remove half the light bulbs in the place, saving $400,000 a year. There would have been more savings, but the heating plant will have to work harder making up the heat loss from the missing bulbs.
Maybe workers in the new, darker, more intimate working areas will find other ways to keep warm.
Of course, the darkness will lose some of its ambiance when the company sells 32 pieces of art currently adoring headquarters’ walls. That’ll be about $2.3 million in the company coffers, if the artwork sells at its 2007 appraised value.
Hours in the main cafeteria have been cut, and other dining sites have been shut down. One presumes Chrysler will not save a large amount, unless it has been employing the food service workers. Most large companies award that to outside vendors, who pay themselves from the food they sell.
But the savings to remaining Chrysler employees will undoubtedly be significant. There are health benefits, as well, for the employees who will have to walk farther and faster to reach the only food court while it’s still serving.
By comparison, General Motors is a piker. It wants to sell Saturn (the marque that’s selling) and Hummer (the marque that isn’t).
We’re in for some Confucian times.
