Weekly, What recent changes are going on at your work / local businesses?
Posted by AntiSonOfBitchamajig@reddit | PrepperIntel | View on Reddit | 138 comments
This could be, but not limited to:
- Local business observations.
- Shortages / Surpluses.
- Work slow downs / much overtime.
- Order cancellations / massive orders.
- Economic Rumors within your industry.
- Layoffs and hiring.
- New tools / expansion.
- Wage issues / working conditions.
- Boss changing work strategy.
- Quality changes.
- New rules.
- Personal view of how you see your job in the near future.
- Bonus points if you have some proof or news, we like that around here.
- News from close friends about their work.
DO NOT DOX YOURSELF. Wording is key.
Thank you all, -Mod Anti
AgileBet409@reddit
Management is cracking down on unnecessary minutes being clocked in for your shift, and pushing extreme productivity to the point of some nurses/ancillary staff having breakdowns in the bathroom. The regular supply issues have ceased for the moment, seems we have the needed amount of substitutes for our normal products. A lot of staff are either quitting or looking for new jobs, anticipate longer wait times in the hospital.
campingdadjokes@reddit
This! What is up with the micromanaging time cards? Out of nowhere, for equity towards all hourly employees, we’ve switched to a hard attendance policy. If you’re late, you accrue points. Gain enough points and it’s a write-up, which can result in coaching, limitation on your raise, loss of wfh benefits or put to termination. My team is one of the top 10% of the profit generation in the company and they’re ready to write up a tenured employee because I’m literally 1 minute late. Zero flexibility. All the coworkers with kids have just been royally screwed because of it too.
Jorgedig@reddit
And yet, the time you stay late doesn’t offset it…..
Jorgedig@reddit
RN at major urban cancer center.
Hiring freeze and rumors of layoffs…. Mixed with a labor shortage for physicians, nurses, pharmacists and pharmacy techs, and other allied health techs, like radiology.
We are already seeing supply chain issues with our everyday clinical supplies (IV kits, for example).
Drug shortages come and go, so we will see what the next few months bring.
Luckily, my employer and my state have both been stockpiling PPE, drugs, equipment and supplies since the pandemic.
grimbasement@reddit
Medicare healthcare company in the US is firing their entire on shore IT team to outsource to India. Close to 100 people affected.... Or 5% of the company. Also local hospital is on strike now.
Jaded_Rutabaga_5827@reddit
I work in restaurant supply. I am beginning to see 30% markup costs due to tariffs.
PokeyDiesFirst@reddit
Del Ton rifles just went out of business. Aero Precision is hanging on by a thread, as is Ballistic Advantage and Stag Arms. Anticipating primers from china are going to go up quite a bit, and some ammo manufacturers are going to double their prices.
hoodoo-operator@reddit
I'm actually surprised anyone is getting primers from china.
TungstenSparrow@reddit
Funny, prices usually go up when Democrats are in office
PokeyDiesFirst@reddit
As does demand. The gun industry historically experiences low sales during Republican administrations
TungstenSparrow@reddit
Good point.
totpot@reddit
Thread on the strippers subreddit on how slow things are now: https://www.reddit.com/r/stripper/comments/1k7wuat/are_all_clubs_dead_or_is_it_just_my_city/
AntiSonOfBitchamajig@reddit (OP)
Heh, good find!
gayweedandcats@reddit
Grocery store chain, they're cutting hours and don't plan to replace a full timer that quit last month. Corporate is pushing efficiency to the detriment of us struggling employees. Our prices have also been going up steadily over the last year, but there's been a noticeable increase over the last 2 weeks or so. The amount of business we're receiving is also going down, because we're no longer meeting our projected budgets despite our location having doubled in yearly profit over the last 2 years
CausalDiamond@reddit
How is efficiency evaluated for grocery store workers? Do they try to determine how fast you stock shelves or check out customers?
AsyncEntity@reddit
Idk about this guy but Whole Foods tracks their employees their entire shift via in store cameras and they get demerits if they don’t stock shelves or scan peoples groceries fast enough.
xlvi_et_ii@reddit
Things that belong on an episode of Black Mirror instead of at your local mall.....
pac87p@reddit
I work in the security industry. (Just just started a new job after a 1 year break) 99% sure it's AI with possibility of confirmation at the end by a real person
tommyballz63@reddit
I was unfamiliar with Whole Foods until recently and didn't realize they were owned by Amazon. From now on I will be boycotting them completely.
CausalDiamond@reddit
Do they watch the employees live or review the recording later?
gayweedandcats@reddit
They time us for doing both of those things, yes. I've also been told we're timed for how fast we can get the store cleaned and closed for the night by my supervisors. I know our shop speed and take-out for Instacart pickup orders is tracked as well. That stuff is normal, but what's not is having fewer people scheduled to start with and sending staff home early even when we're having a busy day
Safe-Paper-9625@reddit
Nurse- We are on a hiring freeze indefinitely and we are looking at some of our programs (related to promotion of health) having to likely be cut.
MostNet6719@reddit
Higher ed here. Admissions up - probably because we are local and cheap for community. General whining just because we have lost so many employees- maybe 1/4 of faculty so we have to do more and more with less. Much worry about DEI laws and general random chaotic nature of governmental actions.
totpot@reddit
I remember that in 08 and 00. People who couldn't find jobs desperately trying to either plug a gap in their resume or pivot careers filled up all the schools.
MostNet6719@reddit
Yea. If you can’t find a job - and have student loan payments - enrolling stops payments, let’s you borrow more money, even campus housing/food if you get evicted, health care. Plus what you said. Doesn’t help campus employees though. They just get to do more with fewer people. I think things are about to get truly truly bad so I’m not sure if this pivot approach is going to work again.
campingdadjokes@reddit
Consumer lending checking in. Been doing this for 22 years and I’ve never seen such polarized situations. Most are either super prime credit, buying a house with $5,000+ mortgage payment and huge down payment from equity in their home they purchased for $200k pre 2020, now worth $600k+. Other half have 6 figure credit card debt, multiple car loans that are deeply underwater (like a 2015 F150 with 200k worth $15k and they owe $30k) and $5 in their savings account.
I also understand we’re foreclosing on a record number of homes that have 2nd mortgages at 90% loan to value due to non-payments.
I made it through the Great Recession and COVID. This feels different.
MostNet6719@reddit
Well if you lived within your means all along it’s fine. A 150K house bought 10 years ago with a 3 percent mortgage would mean a 1K mortgage payment. If people had spent the last ten years paying off debt, driving old paid off cars, etc they wouldn’t be in a mess. I realize that’s not how most people live, but it is possible.
campingdadjokes@reddit
Exactly. And I do see some of that. Those are the clients I work with who paid off their home or have a low 5-figure balance, like $40k and no debt because their payment was $1k for the last 10 years. They started a family and need more space.
These are also the people who did a 10 year mortgage, paid it off in 5 and now want to buy a new home. In their cases I can get them a limit up to $400k. They, in turn, can go and make a “cash” offer on a house $400k or less. Which is why, it seems, so many houses in the $100k-$300k range go so fast. They’re investments or someone is downsizing for retirement. Sell the old house after moving in, boom! No mortgage again.
MostNet6719@reddit
Selling my current home and buying my retirement home with cash is my plan. Retirement with no debt and cash in the bank. The scenario you describe of people deeply underwater on cars, credit cards, etc is deeply troubling. 50 or 60 million people like that seems a recipe for social disorder if we have a recession
contrasting_crickets@reddit
Do you mean people are buying a second home and still owing 90% on both homes?
campingdadjokes@reddit
It’s a 2nd mortgage, a home equity Line of credit. It’s separate from the first mortgage so you don’t lose your sub-3% rate. Yeah the rate is higher, but 2nd mortgages are usually much less of a limit than the 1st.
contrasting_crickets@reddit
Ok fair enough. Sounds a bit risky ?
GuiltyYams@reddit
In 2008 mortgage crisis, there were many people getting caught underwater and having two or three mortgages on the same house. Yes, it's risky. Even in good economic times.
campingdadjokes@reddit
Yes, it can be, but if you look at the bigger picture, the general purpose of a 2nd/HELoC is to use your equity to fix or update your home. $200k heloc is an addition. $20k can be a roof. $100k could be a kitchen. If your basement is unfinished, a somewhat handy person who attends YouTube university can finish the basement over multiple weekends over summer. The rates on a heloc is usually exponentially and significantly lower than credit cards (because it’s “secured” to your home). I mean 7% vs 26% on a Chase Freedom. Or use the Home Depot 0% financing for 6 months then pay the entire balance off with the heloc before they backdate your interest. It’s revolving and you can do whatever you want…pay of high interest debt, buy a vehicle (for themself or for their teenager), camper, invest in a business, buy vacant land to build on later (retirement?), buy shares in the company to become a Partner…
…Which can be the problem. I’ve heard of a few people using it to buy bitcoin or some get rich quick schemes.
contrasting_crickets@reddit
Makes sense. I think in this economic climate it might be best to heed in the side of caution
campingdadjokes@reddit
Agreed. A good number of people I’m helping now are literally opening a $50k heloc just in case. No plans, just an emergency fund if one spouse loses their job. It doesn’t cost anything and you don’t get a bill if there’s no balance, so why not? If you don’t need it, close it. Otherwise it can sit dormant
bumbledbeez@reddit
It almost sounds like they took out a second mortgage on the original home…
contrasting_crickets@reddit
At 90% owing ? That's a lot
campingdadjokes@reddit
Some people only put down 3%. Some qualify for nothing down (I think some VA loans allow that). But yes. Being at 90% owed on the house can be a lot, but it’s all relative.
contrasting_crickets@reddit
True
CausalDiamond@reddit
Could you expand on how you feel it is different? Does it feel more "K shaped" than the Great Recession and COVID? In other words some people are doing really well and some are doing really poorly instead of everyone doing poorly?
campingdadjokes@reddit
Exactly that. It’s a “K” shaped economy with almost nobody in the middle. You’re either married and pulling in $20k-$40k/month before taxes and your pandemic home is just too small so it’s time to give up the 2.5% for a bigger house (with a mortgage just below a Jumbo limit , likely a $700k 30 yr fixed at 6.7%). Or you’re married/single making 6k/month before taxes and everything is maxed.
staleswedishfish@reddit
I’ll add that in some areas, $6k take home is the “doing well” and there are a ton of people even worse off. They’re just not visiting lenders.
campingdadjokes@reddit
Very true. It’s all relative. Also, budgeting helps.
Two things in life you can control is where you love and what you drive (or don’t). Needs and wants can get blurred here really quick. Need a car? Ok, but you want a $60k Dodge Challenger. You need housing? Fine, but you want to spend $1M.
A lender is helping you facilitate your “want” part of that need. They’ll tell you what you qualify for (which can be scary high). It’s up to you to figure out your budget. I don’t care if you use this money to buy a Range Rover, just beware you’re going to be making that payment for 7 years and all vehicles break.
OhmSafely@reddit
Charter Communications just had mass layoffs.
spanishquiddler@reddit
In customer service?
OhmSafely@reddit
From NOC Technicians to basic retail stores closing down. 1000+ layoffs as the company shifts focus due to losing cable customers.
spanishquiddler@reddit
Ohhh. That makes sense I guess. I haven't had cable in 15 years, I forget some people could still cancel theirs.
Unique-Sock3366@reddit
Major medical center in Southeast US. It’s official: no overtime, very lean staffing. Administration has been rather gently leading us in this direction since January but it’s balls to the wall now.
Lots of my colleagues are polishing their resumes and applying elsewhere. Ours was an incredibly comfortable gig; I’m not sure that they will find much success finding something comparable.
sapfira@reddit
Outpatient healthcare in the mid-Atlantic: absolutely no overtime despite having multiple open positions.
Cyliciana@reddit
I second this. Direct patient care and non at my location have been getting "the talk" about overtime. We are no longer filling open positions in nursing. So floors are going without staff they need and having to run extra lean. I've been hearing complaints from nurses about it. I don't know how the other major hospital in my area is faring.
Unique-Sock3366@reddit
Excellent point about the open positions. We hired six brand new nursing grads recently and are in the process of getting them trained up.
I’ll keep an eye on hiring as people leave. I know we’ve had two very recent resignations. It will be telling how those vacancies are addressed.
ThisIsAbuse@reddit
You mean direct medical staff ? Nurses, techs, etc ?? Or support and admin staff.
When I go to see a doctor or get tests, everyone in the labs to nurses and doctors are short staffed and busy. I was told to make my next physical 1 year in advance as I left the office......including the visit after that - in two years !!!
Unique-Sock3366@reddit
Both!
We’re bare bones for both direct patient care and support staff. Floating “extra” nursing techs, medical secretaries, and environmental services staff to other parts of the hospital.
Our central staffing department must be ridiculously busy with our new policies.
ThisIsAbuse@reddit
This is depressing and scary,
Unique-Sock3366@reddit
It’s a terrible shame for me, personally and professionally, as well as for our patients. I’d worked at the same hospital for thirty years, moved two years ago, and lucked into this excellent position at a fantastic hospital.
It’s still the most supportive position I’ve held. I’m well respected and treated. Very well compensated. But I knew from the start that it couldn’t continue in our present healthcare environment and economy. Knowing how things run elsewhere, at the expense of patients and medical professionals, it was inevitable that we’d see significant changes.
FJ-creek-7381@reddit
Curious what state you are in?
ThisIsAbuse@reddit
Michigan.
BoboChesty@reddit
Real estate sector. Local inventory and sale are down massively. Cant say more as I don’t want to reveal my line of work but we should be seeing a lot more sales this time of year and just aren’t.
Pontiacsentinel@reddit
Southern USA?
BJntheRV@reddit
Not who you are replying to but I'm in the SE US as a buyer and am seeing the same. Very little new inventory in an already very tight market. Still seeing most houses go pending fast (just not quite as fast) but also have seen a lot more go from pending back to active.
solobeauty20@reddit
Seeing the opposite in Florida. So many homes for sale - five alone on my street.
They equity group homes (3 out of the current 5 for sale) are grossly overpriced since no one wants to buy a house that was $350k in 2019 and has been vacant (but maintained on the outside at least) and sold/resold to themselves or other equity groups and is now listed at $1.73 million (for 1,800 sq Ft with no garage).
The condo market for older condo buildings is also collapsing. You can get a decent deal on some condos but the maintenance fees are now higher than any mortgage because of high insurance and required repairs after the law changed following the condo collapse in Sunrise. Plus ongoing high assessments due to lack of proper reserves.
The new condo buildings that have popped up have all been sold out quickly but it’s pretty clear that the actual occupancy of most new condos in Tampa and St Pete area are closer to 15-20% and that is being generous.
I’ve heard Ft Myers market is even worse with a glut of unsold inventory priced way too high for any locals to afford.
In The Big Short, Florida’s housing market was the canary in the coal mine for the housing bubble. I lived here then and feel like this time is different but in a worse way.
thcitizgoalz@reddit
LOADS of Canadians who own condos in FL are selling because of the Canadian boycott of the US, border policies, etc. And they are done. 100% done with owning in the US. I'm in a lot of Canadian forums and it's lockstep and intense.
spanishquiddler@reddit
Replying to AlexaBabe91...this is ... such a con.
DecrimIowa@reddit
this comment reminds me of that scene in The Big Short where the wall street guys go down to Florida and walk around the neighborhood with all the homes for sale.
BJntheRV@reddit
I've been lucky to be in markets that are largely insulated from market downturns due to already being so tight. Talking most homes are sold in days and when they aren't it's usually obvious why. We've had a shortage of housing for as long as I can recall.
BoboChesty@reddit
Southwest
House_of_Sand@reddit
I have noticed this too. Very little new construction or major home additions/remodels
agent_mick@reddit
I work in a construction-adjacent field. Long lead times and tariff surcharges on electrical components, wood/laminate items, special order hardware.
Firm-Smoke3132@reddit
I work in government. Half our office just took the second fork
Pdiddydondidit@reddit
what’s a second fork in this context?
Firm-Smoke3132@reddit
The second deferred resignation offered by the government
Firm-Smoke3132@reddit
Also if you believe the news much of section 8 could be moving to block grants in POTUS budget proposal… so 2.3 million people with disruption of some kind could be relevant reasons to prep
arb1698@reddit
Banking regulation. Banks are starting to get really nervous. They like the deregulation. But they are getting nervous that deposits are being pulled and less loans overall really hurts their bottom lines.
Also, US hedge funds are either getting margin called or dumping US stocks and Treasury notes for foreign stuff.
iridescent-shimmer@reddit
Oh yikes that hedge fund note spooks me tbh.
totpot@reddit
After 'liberation day', the price of gold crashed. Usually, gold is a flight to safety play and should do well during market chaos. But, so many funds were getting margin called that they were liquidating gold just to cover.
arb1698@reddit
Buffet also hasn't spent any of his cash in fact he sold more stuff and is holding a lot of foreign currency.
iridescent-shimmer@reddit
Ah, didn't realize he moved to foreign currency. I knew his shareholder letter this year indicated he was not confident in the impending economic outlook, but that's good to know. I'm feeling better that I've kept a consistent 30% of my portfolio in international stock and another 5% in emerging markets.
totpot@reddit
A friend runs a factory which so far has been hit with a 10% tariff increase. Their customers are demanding that they absorb the entire tariff increase... which is impossible as 10% exceeds their total profit margin. The customers also want to go from net 180 to net 270... which means 3/4 of a year before recieving payment. They're considering just shutting down and dividing the cash reserves among the employees instead.
We're going to see a lot more price rises in the future just from the collapse of competition.
freshoutafucks4ever@reddit
Barber - more cancellations than normal, people are booking out longer in between cuts.
FJ-creek-7381@reddit
To me that’s a really strong indicator that income is getting squeezed
freshoutafucks4ever@reddit
Agreed, we were talking in the shop today, I don’t think most are getting squeezed yet I work in a highly educated area with jobs like doctors and lawyer and such. These people see the writing on the wall with current politics and are preparing for the down turn. Save a few bucks in the beginning your middle to end is an easier ride.
Down2earth5@reddit
Tobacco companies are suffering. Likely some downsizing coming that way.
Acquaintance's hospital has tried hiring new nurses, but they're quitting almost immediately. My guess is because they're just throwing them into the deep end with no training on how to interact with patients. And the hospital is likely doing that only because they don't have enough experienced nurses for newbies to shadow.
FJ-creek-7381@reddit
I find these inquiries very helpful and interesting - thanks for posting and thank you this all who reply 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
tommyballz63@reddit
Yes this is quite a riveting post. Thanks all
Character-Dust-6450@reddit
Our doggy daycare is charging five more dollars a week than it did for no apparent reason. And our electric bill company is increasing its rates again.
Saloau@reddit
That’s crazy because I think doggy daycare will be the first thing axed from a family’s budget when things get tight.
bumbledbeez@reddit
Especially if a family member gets laid off/loses employment. They’d be at home to take care of their dog.
More_Dependent742@reddit
AI is eating massively into the teaching of English as a second language at two of my workplaces. If that's your line of work, come up with an escape plan.
DecrimIowa@reddit
heard the same from my friend in Vietnam. he basically said that experienced, high-level teachers will be more or less protected (although forced to adapt by incorporating AI-based tools into their lessons) and low-level teachers will become more akin to para-educators. But a lot of low-experience, low-level (ielts 1-3 roughly) foreign teachers are about to get replaced.
More_Dependent742@reddit
I'm sorry to say that this is a very overly optimistic view for the experienced teachers. I've been teaching in tertiary education for over 15 years, and it's disappearing there faster than anywhere.
The people who are willing to work for peanuts might actually last longer.
Mountain_carrier530@reddit
Budget cuts hit the West Coast DoD-wise. My shop is now responsible for all the subs on this end of the globe along with the region's fleet. Out of the 6 of us, 4 are currently able to do so, yet 3 of us are competent enough to actually do work, and now we're going to have to juggle surface and sub availabilities along the hemisphere where before it was solely surface ships coming directly from the base I'm at.
Way to boost our fighting capabilities by kneecapping it.
contrasting_crickets@reddit
How you doing all of the maintenance when there's no staff? I thought maintenance was a very big deal in this area
SaintMichael415@reddit
Software sales checking in. Asia sales are cranking hard. So is north America. No slowing down in this corner of Silicon Valley. Europe is slower but always has been.
Slammedtgs@reddit
We’re exceeding sales expectations in Asia (mostly China). Significantly better than last year. The rest of the market (medical manufacturing) is holding up well. Bookings are much more front loaded than we’ve seen in past quarters which could be inventory planning for when 90 day tariffs end and they go back up.
Professional-Row7461@reddit
Buddy does importing via containers, said volume is down but not low. He said no one in his sphere is panicked.
Another buddy does transportation booking (ftl, lol, piece). Said they have been steady, no one panicking yet.
I'm in multifamily real estate. We are slow just because of the Fed coming out with guidance in May, which is per the usual this time of year.
Obv just my .02, but it helps my anxiety for now.
dementeddigital2@reddit
I work in a market which is tied to international shipping. Bookings to the US are down 30% despite companies stocking up ahead of tariffs. CNY typically slows things down in late Q1, though.
I'm estimating a 3%-5% drop in bookings this year globally - worse in the US. Of course, one policy change could swing things in either direction.
Dzjeek@reddit
I do logistics and I see no signs of slowing down, what I do see is prices are still very low. For many drivers that is a killer if you can't pay for your home and you have to pay for constant upkeep on your truck.
In short this is just not going to be sustainable for many. Last year alone 1000's of trucking companies went under (drivers and dispatch). Along with 5000 brokerages. Capacity will tighten the longer it goes on and if tariffs are still a thing, we can see much higher prices.
CannyGardener@reddit
I'm starting to see stores, especially ones that know the products that are imported, stocking up. I have a chain client that imports all of their cups from China, and they are freaking out. Initially noone thought that the tariffs would actually come to fruition, that there would be some sort of backtracking to get us closer to normal operations here at some point, but faith that that will be the case is waning, and people are starting to take action to try and protect themselves. That said, when this sort of thing happens, sales eventually drop, and if these store operators have already invested all their cashflow in hoarding stock, things could get dicey... Putting things on allocation as I see this happening, to try and help protect folks, and my current inventory that I'm trying to use to float out until July when we have a more firm idea of what to plan for...hopefully. Honestly, no-one is panicking yet, but people are getting anxious that the rollbacks may not be coming in the amounts that they are hoping. If tariffs on China are reduced from 150% to 90% that is still crushing, and I'm still not convinced (personally) that China is even going to come to the table without a full tariff roll-back and some massive concessions.
winchesterpug@reddit
I work in an autism clinic, we had our CEO post updates about RFK’s conferences and how the company will go about it. They’re updating their security policy and letting us know that they’re protecting the clients as much as they can. Just super scary for us.
Also, AZ finally decided on a DDD funding plan so I don’t have to take time off until July thank god
kezfertotlenito@reddit
I'm a software engineer working for a company that works with healthcare data, mainly Medicare. We are in "lean" mode for sure, hiring essentially frozen & being asked to find places to aggressively cut computing costs.
I had to turn off several functions in our software this week because data we should have been getting from Medicare about claims paid just... didn't arrive. I don't know if that means Medicare didn't pay, or if something else is happening to keep data from being sent out. I don't know that much about the whole process in general, I just know that I was asked to turn off these functions because the data wasn't there and that seems concerning to me.
(and yes, I'm extremely aware that I'm not likely to have a job for very much longer. Just hanging in there until the checks stop coming.)
Pontiacsentinel@reddit
Good luck to you as this takes a new turn every week. The wear and tear of worrying is not insubstantial.
kezfertotlenito@reddit
It's certainly stressful, but I'm in a better position financially than many, and can weather a period of unemployment if I have to. The company I work for does quite frankly ground-breaking work that quantifiably improves the lives of patients, and I will keep doing that work until they turn off my servers, because it is making a difference. It might be too little too late, but it's making a difference for people right now and I won't walk away from that <3
Adolfo1980@reddit
I work in animal welfare on the west coast and am seeing a very marked spike in both use of services (low cost veterinary and animal food pantry) but also cases of individuals having to relinquish pets due to economic issues (losing their jobs, losing their homes, having to move in with family, etc). In addition to the public, several of our regular volunteers are also being laid off from their day jobs in various sectors.
DecrimIowa@reddit
my sister is a vet and told me the same thing last weekend. the hospital she works at supports shelters all around a major city and said that every single one is swamped because people are giving up their pets
AlexaBabe91@reddit
I'm sure this happens en masse during any downturn but this still makes me so sad, I can't imagine how hard it would be to give up a pet when you have no other choices
Crazylittleloon@reddit
Childcare here. My school hasn’t been feeling any direct pressure because we don’t receive any federal funding (and very limited state funding), but other schools in the area are feeling it. The phone has been ringing off the hook from both people looking for a place for their kids and people looking for jobs.
polchickenpotpie@reddit
My company holds medicine for other companies to conduct trials or sell to others. We had a couple of busy weeks as all the Canadian and European companies essentially took back most of their stock. Since then our pickers have been averaging about 10 orders a day each, sometimes less. They used to do 40-50 a day, each, easily.
Ok-Row-6088@reddit
Had to order a new range stove top from a major box store because my 30-year-old one died. Ordered an American brand. It’s on backorder indefinitely. They can’t give me a delivery date, no reason given but I’m sure the components come from China.
CannyGardener@reddit
This happened to me during covid. Had my stove and fridge crap out in January 2020. Placed an order for a new set with Costco. After waiting a month I started calling weekly. Called weekly for updates until June of 2020 (using a loaner fridge from a friend, and just cooking everything in the oven or microwave). By June I gave up and went to Lowe's and bought the last of their display units...which crapped out 6 months later, but that is neither here nor there. My advice: cut your losses, and buy a unit that you can physically see with your own eyes...
Intrepid_Advice4411@reddit
We ordered an over the range microwave two weeks ago. It's on back order until 6/2. Fingers crossed we actually get it. It's the only one that fits in the space we have.
I'm sure this will happen with lots more products if these tariffs keep going.
Pontiacsentinel@reddit
Are there any in-stock somewhere you can drive to? Might be worth a weekend trip to get one. I had friends who lost their refrigerator last week and they went that day to get one that was in stock. Delivery is only one day a week in their area, so they will have to wait that long, anyway.
songofthewitch@reddit
Same here, and I ordered mine in February.
Individual_Fig_8705@reddit
I know there were a lot of price changes done last week. Bulk pricing is being eliminated, and there's absolutely zero overtime, even though we've been getting slammed with freight these past 2 weeks. I work for a local home improvement box store. I'm tired, boss.
Elegant-Procedure-74@reddit
I live in a southern state, and in the city I work in has lots of lay offs happening from small to bigger companies. One of our good friends was just laid off, in a round of 50+ lay offs and that was just round 1.
In my job, material, especially aluminum has gone up.
ESB1812@reddit
In “industrial production/chemicals and polymers” company has put all further training for advancement on hold, hiring freeze, and cut maint. Schedules and Staff. Also greatly reduced overtime, trimming back the number of folks required on a shift. Other than that business as usual, stock price took a hit, but…haven’t they all
cogwheeled@reddit
3 months ago I reported on here that my company had suspended all business travel and my husband's company was preparing to do layoffs.
As of now, my automotive-related company has still shut down all business travel and they ended up laying off around 300 people in Europe. And my husband's SAAS company laid off 900 employees globally.
Crickitspickit@reddit
Most of my MAGA cliwntsarent bragging anymore.
diwhychuck@reddit
I guess “soo much winning” isn’t happening?
JovialKatherine@reddit
I work in a department that handles supporting retail facilities. Tariff pricing is starting to take effect on refrigeration parts, with at least one supplier hoping they go away soon.
drewc717@reddit
Sales have softened (Amazon and Shopify) and my ad spend has been turned off to $0 because I can't restock (importing from China) even if I wanted to unless something with the tariffs settles down.
If no tariff relief comes within 1-2 weeks, I'd expect to see widespread empty shelf issues by July if not June.
drewc717@reddit
BTW I'm not even a prepper or doomer, but I appreciate this sub.
I was one of the few people stressing about covid 19 actually in 2019 because I had production going on I was concerned about exporting Q4 '19 and had no real news source or experience to navigate it while the USA was the only country not taking it seriously.
I nearly went out of business July 2020 because that shipment didn't leave before shit hit the fan (I should have pulled the trigger exporting sooner).
I feel the exact same way about this tariff war as I did Covid 19, in 2019.
The implications of 100%+ tariffs active for 30 days or longer will be catastrophic. Empty shelves, physically backed up ports of entry from importers unable to pay their tariff on time (due on arrival), logistics layoffs, stock market crash another 10-20%+ easily.
If 100%+ tariffs on China last 6 weeks, we could turn into Cuba pretty quick economically. We have an administration (again) disregarding the constitution and ignorant to their own irreparable harm.
All that to say I don't want to cause panic, I hope something good happens (SOON), but I am trying to prepare myself to be more mobile vs anchoring down.
Y'all can have the Alamo. I'm trying to get to Colorado, California, or Portugal for whatever the next reboot phase of my business looks like and needs because I may very well be better off selling everywhere but USA.
confused_boner@reddit
Finance/Banking - effectively under a hiring freeze but not 'officially'. Can't get any additional help which sucks, but luckily have not heard about any reductions...yet.
Our work is being tracked now though, in extreme detail. Feels like they are either trying to determine if a reduction is needed or maybe they are collecting data to see if anything (anyone) can be automated.
4FuckSnakes@reddit
Lots of “Never 51st” stickers showing up on job boxes and hard hats.
Bivouac_woodworks@reddit
State Government employee. Lots of layoffs at other departments from federal funding cuts, more coming soon to my division.
grummanae@reddit
SW Ontario Canada Third Party ISP
Seeing businesses change ISP's a bit more than usual... A business changing ISP usually brings added cost to them just for the changes with static IP etc and they seem to be a bit less focused on that ROI and more focused on the cost of the services... Why this is odd ?: to get a IT tech onsite going rate is 150 to 200 per hour and a minimum of 2 hours so normally companies would change if it saved on services plus the tech cost over a year ... the cloud services etc making static IP not crucial is aiding but still seeing more and more both into and out of employers customers
For anyone familiar with tpia in Canada this isn't so much news but just a trend I'm noting
On our Residential side : more focus on tightening belts and keeping services at a price point
Seeing a slight uptick in new orders but nothing like past years
Seeing cancelations more as people move ... again those that know third party internet in Canada will Cleary understand
Not seeing many move orders this spring either
DorothysMom@reddit
Manufacturing in the industrial sector. We are still doing a 'wait and see' approach - investors don't want us shifting our supply chain if this ends up being temporary. Expect higher prices in the meantime. Finance is having a really hard time with projections with this level of uncertainty. Expecting lower demand with this uncertainty.
Matticus54r@reddit
Commercial vehicle upfitter warehouse d bag here…we upfit work trucks/vans for repair and service companies, .gov, railroad, etc.
The receiving dock is slooooow…we took a noticeable deep decline in inbound inventory last Thursday. The UPS truck used to drop off 30-50 packages a day. Yesterday I got six. FedEx had five. Our main supplier of parts (inside sales/we bought that company years ago) used to send two to three semi loads a week from China and India . $250k or so a truck. Last big shipment was last week. Yesterday I got four pallets from a hotshot driver in a 24 foot box truck that drove from Baltimore to KC.
The warehouse has never been cleaner. No word from up high.
Pontiacsentinel@reddit
Has this impacted the ability to complete jobs in the pipeline or are the fewer jobs meaning that less parts = no problem? Sending you good vibes for continued employment.
FJ-creek-7381@reddit
Props to you for taking the time to add the sentence about good vibes- this is what we as a society need to demonstrate more - kindness and care - in hopes it will rub off. ❤️❤️❤️
songofthewitch@reddit
I work in the ed tech and no schools have been spending money since last year. There were two executive orders yesterday related to education, both higher ed and k-12. I can’t imagine anyone serious is going to be interested in these projects because of all the contracts this administration has just pulled out from under people. I imagine it will be the “move fast and break things” tech bros with no education experience who take it up, and just make a mess.
To be very clear - I am about 45% move fast and break things myself. But the other 55% of me is an educator of 10+ years and knows we have to balance priorities. I don’t know if this is going to be worse than there just being no interest or investment around and us needing to figure it out like we’ve had to for so long.
Away_Help_8847@reddit
At my local Walmart I went to visit the hardware section. Fans, janitor supplies, lights etc. Some of the shelves are empty but to make them look full they filled them with those blue empty five gallon water jugs that you are supposed to take to the water machine to get filled.
shibbypants@reddit
Machinist in the semi conductor sector. Orders almost disappeared a month ago. We're mostly running parts for stock right now. I didn't expect us to be hit this hard, but it sounds like all of our customers are holding their breath atm.
ThisIsAbuse@reddit
New Rules...
My company had a leadership meeting and we discussed the depressing process of trying to hide our DEI or green (climate change) policies and processes from the federal goverment. Basically scrubbing words from anything on the net, or documents, while trying to actually continue our culture and way of working as we always have. We may not be able to do that fully.
We were also told that we will be forced to include new employment posters in our break room which would instruct employees to report us if they see things not inline with the new views of the executive branch.
iridescent-shimmer@reddit
We learned that a manufacturing component supplier (sort of competitor) just announced a 100% increase on all of their products made in China. This includes some fairly critical components. Last time (Covid) there were shortages of this component from other suppliers, we ended up on back order for 3-6 months. I'm very curious if it'll cause a run on our stock since our tariff charges are lower, since our production of those products are in a less tariffed country.
SWtoNWmom@reddit
The crazy part of that is that the tariff is 145%. So even if they raise the prices by 100%, they are still eating a 45% increase on their end.
There really is no way for a company to handle this.
Fickle-Ad1363@reddit
Goldsmith here: Because of the really high Goldprice we sell a lot less jewelry.
On the other hand we get a lot more jewelry to repair and to rework, which is actually a nice trend considering that there is enough gold around and how damaging mining is for nature.
squidwardTalks@reddit
Sounds like when I was in the industry around 2008. I thought 2000 was high around that time.