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Went online this morning...you can still book appts at the studios that closed last week...wtf??
something fishy is going on and i don't like it lol.
Anyone else hate how sears was left holding the bag for customers orders?
has anyone else noticed that this stock has had a zero volume for a few days now? kind of like it's flat lining. that should be a hint right there i think.
Didnt push either...left it in limbo. I dont accept anything about the letter and I refuse to aknowledge (sp?) It without further information in writing about what I am accepting. It is a blanket cover letter only to protect themselves. I know im walking the line but dont really care as the law is still on my side. See any movement? No. Starting to think I called their bluff. Now until next week I know im speaking too soon, BUT... this seems like the same old story being written by the same old author. If im wrong, I will be the first to admit it, but shouldn't something, ANYTHING been available somewhere in the dusty corners of the internet?
Anyone got the cohones to call the lawyer listed as the contact for duff and phelps yet?
Not yet. I can wait...but its tempting.
Just Ducky, wondering if you clicked the "Accept" or "Decline" button on the Web Apps?? Signing the physical letter wasn't nearly as important as either of those things!! Hitting accept was your acceptance, hitting decline was your resignation. Sadly...I hit accept! :S I am really tired of their crap though!!
Aha. Well, my letter sits happily unsigned in a file of correspondence from cpi 2 years thick. I am still going in, am still working said butt off and I am supposedly unemployed? I think not. Will they let me go? Doubtful. Until I change my handle to DeadDucky I'm laying low and waiting for the bang. My three days is up, so let's see what happens next.
I suppose it is going to be the end of March and boom.." Sorry, the deal fell through" and since we have all signed the letter they can let us go whenever they want in that " 90 " days probation period.
So late Feb. early March we will be told more about the sale? At what point is it no longer early March?
I wonder if anyone in the home office follows this board? I like an earlier post believe that most the home office has been furloughed since January. Probably just a handful of employees doing the only totally necessary jobs and paying only the necessary bills. That is the way it was done last year. Everything that is happening is scripted from the previous year in the states. If you can land another job and cannot afford to be getting unemployment you better get looking. This industry is a dying business. No new money is being put into the business to improve the studio experience. All outdated props and other resources and tools we need to do the job are lacking. They have and will try to limp along until they can unload this sinking ship to some fool to satisfy the bank. Tough decision on buying this company or buying a company that manufactures VCR or DVD players. DVD players will last a few more years giving the units away almost until the blue rays players get to a low price where it only makes since to upgrade. Then they are a thing of the past just like this business. CPI is ran by risk management and an efficiency expert. They have shown no track record of innovation or sales or promoting new products. They have proven the ability to consistently trim cost and manage a shrinking amount of cash flow coming in to try to keep the doors open until they can sell. There is no future in the is business or company wake up.
Sorry double post
Can you clarify, was it your studio manager or district manager who was let go today?
I am from an Ontario studio.. Our manager who has been with the company for 10 years was let go today. I also do not agree with the letter stating and I do quite "We can also end your employment without cause at any time after the assessment period by providing you with a notice of termination." Now I understand in the world you have no guarantees about anything, but now after 4 years first time .. 2 years this time so 6 years in total for my job, which I love, I have absolutely no job security. I don't even have to mess up and hey we just don't need you ... Things are not sitting well with me and this " new company "
The DM said 99.99 % the purchase transaction is going through but they have not made any announcement about the date of when exactly the deal is sealed.
If they have already bought the assets of the company to keep all studios running why would they ask us to sign such letter in advance? They definitely are going to shut down the business at some point if not entirely it is partially so that they won't have to pay all long term employees severance.
I think we all better look for something else to start fresh although it is hurt.
What they did to all the employees in the US they would not treat us any differently.
Those individuals have no morale nor humane principles.
Yes. You can read all about what was happening in the states this time last year by scrolling through the previous posts, starting right after Christmas '12 till we closed.
We were told we have a buyer, then we had a buyer, then be patient we're still trying to get a buyer. Then our delivery schedules became vague, and we were told to tell the customer "We'll call you, when your pictures come in."
Please make sure that your customers all leave with a receipt, and the purchased cd, no matter how busy you are. I don't care if you have to go out and buy receipt paper out of your own pocket, and if you still have the option of an email receipt, do it.
They voted the night of April 3rd, 2013 to close and then put a pop up on the computers so we could see it the next day. The RD/DMs were called, and some of those stepped up on their own time and contacted their teams, and some did not. Those teams who were not contacted found a pop up on their browser, informing them not to clock in they were closed. Your letter will not protect you, and though I'm no lawyer, I think the wording is designed to protect them not you.
From my understanding photos unlimited is our current executive board who are trying to buy assets of CPI. And of course the letter is a formality. It's to cover their a$$es. Basically they will be able to let us all go without having to pay us a red cent. That is how I am interpreting the information I have.
My DM was supposed to have a conference call this morning and when we all went to sign in it says the passcode was invalid. It did that last Monday to. Average tickets are no longer available and the shipping schedule only added 2 more weeks to it... or something like that. 45 day audits hasn't been updated since February of last year. I made up my own to stay on track.
There is a lot going down that makes me question everything they are doing and its making it hard to stay happy for the clients with this impending doom lurking over my head. I don't know how to tell them to get the CD without making them nervous.
I am wondering if they did something similar to the states.
I spoke with a dm who was just layed off. She was not offered any kind of severance. How are they allowed to do this?
For stores the have been closed we're you offered another position in the company?
Why do you think they are based in New York ?
has anyone noticed that things aren't being updated on the browser, such as the weekly audit (60 and 45 days) it hasn't been updated since the end of the fiscal year, the delivery schedule only goes forward a couple of weeks, average tickets, and sales goals are slow coming out. My guess is St. Louis is facing layoffs or relocation. I can't see the relocation being New York that seems strange.
I spoke with a rm about the letter, I was told the letter was a formality, from hr. If the letter was not signed it is considered your resignation.
I have some issues with the letter. First the fact that we have know idea who photos unlimited is. The letter is worded in a way that it almost seems like a leverage buyout from the top guys. When I asked the rm she said that her understanding was it was a group of investors and couldn't say who it was.
I don't like that photos unlimited has access to our personal info through sas yet they won't tell us who they are.
I do know through some internet searching that photos unlimited.ca (the domain name) was purchased through go daddy on February 8 th 2014 the purchaser was listed as private so I could not get any other info. So photos unlimited is new and not an existing company.
I really don't like that we are hired as a new hire and have a 3 month probation period. Meaning if we are fired in that time we get no severance based on tenure. That sucks. Anyone who has been around for a while who is making a good wage should be worried, I imagine that they would be the first to get trimmed.
Before I open and sign my letter I will be seeking some council on it.
Oh yeah the rm also told me the 3 days starts from when you open the letter, so if you haven't opened it yet don't do so until you have time to get council on it.
I signed the letter. I thought, I might as well make a few more dollars before they start thinning the herd.
My goal is to be gone before Christmas. That is if the company even makes it that far and I have a sinking feel it won't be. My gut hasn't been wrong yet since being with this company.
There is nothing they really need to do. I was told that ui is on an individual basis, and anyone that has the hours would be eligible if they don't sign. You would also be eligible if they let you go in those first probationary months as well. Its really your choice. I was told by both ui and labor board that they are a little leery of me signing it, and suggested a lawyers advice. So, that is about it. UI or employment. No raises for a year at least is my bet, and a real push for the next year IF everything pans out. I've had friends already dropped (no letter) and will not be signing. I feel sick. I don't think another year is in the cards for me, but leaving is tearing me apart.
These guys are pro's on sticking it to you. Look at what they did in the US no Warn act, No severance and No paid accumulated vacation etc.
Is it something that the Labor law can step in and fix it?
That's what I'm afraid of.
The 25 studios that closed were not offered severance of any kind!
They will dump some of the stores but they would not do it in a legit way to avoid paying long time employees severances. So they force us to sign this letter that way with timeline in 3 days before they make announcement of the closure.
It is every unethical because basically the same kind of people that jab us in the back and never give any appreciation of the hard work that we have done.
Who does the executive commitee consist of? David Meyer etc. board members or Barry Grant, Chris Goeckner types?
According to "the letter" our current Executive team is negotiating to purchase assets under a new name, ie. Photos Unlimited. Same people, different name.
Its not a done deal. Transaction should go through today or sometime next week. that is if it goes through at all
Is this a done deal with like an actual buyer or could this thing fall through like the US deals where the buyer backed out?
you will find the letter in web aps at the bottom of the list. it should say employee letter. put in your 4 digit code and EAC password and bring it up to print. print 2 copies. then you either his accept or decline.
i was told by my DM that it's all a formality and that we as managers are "good".
my husband made a good point last night. it's probably still CPI but they are changing their name to something else to "Start over". i have a sinking feeling that we'll be out of a job in 3 months regardless.
Where is this letter?? Does it arrive by mail? In studio? I had one of the other managers call me yesterday asking if I got it. Nope. Should I be worried???
Please let us know what you will find out with the Labor Board tomorrow. As far as I was told that we are basically new hires. So what happens to the benefits and all the vacation hours that we have accumulated over years of employment with CPI?? I have been with the company for years, does that mean I am qualified for 3 weeks of vacation any more??
This so called " Photo Unlimited" company sounds like the same CPI with a makeover name. Some insider dudes from St. Louis who ran away with the money of the old CPI, must have bought this out of the receivership and rename the company.
This is so shady to me.
Well I am going to take this letter to the labour board tomorrow and see what this means to me. Seems like I did find a law pertaining to employees in ontario retaining their length of employment even after a sale, so get googling and see if I read that right. Don't void your rights if you have them. I dont know if I do, so will be looking into it tomorrow. I may not get anywhere, but at least i'm not going into this completely blind.
Did not get my letter, said it was unavailable. Not happy to hear of the probation. I'm one of the studios closing, there's been little communication and no clear direction. Kinda ridiculous they've made us pack up everything when some of us have no jobs after tomorrow.
I agree with you! I don't know what to do myself, wish there was more information.
Also, who ARE these people? I don't exactly feel too cozy with the idea of blindly being employed by an unknown entity. Are we not even allowed to know who our bosses are? what the background is? Ethics? PRODUCTS?! its like answering an ad in the paper and getting the job and you don't even know who you work for! Creepycreepycreepy!
Hold on! Isn't anybody concerned about this darn letter?! I personally feel a little blackmailed- 3 days, (dated 2 days ago, BTW) you can earn the same wage you already got only as a newbie with no rights and can be let go for no reason within the first three months?! And nobody is concerned? AND the sale is still an IF, according to the letter. so if I sign and agree and get let go in three months so they can hire someone cheaper, how does that affect my ability to collect unemployment? oh, I LOVE deadlines set over weekends, makes it hard to get the 'independent legal advice' they suggest we obtain. We are the ones making and selling ALL the product they produce... I thought we deserved a little more respect and consideration than that.
I imagine the St Louis Location will be consolidating with the
new company that bought us, I believe they are based in New York.
I wonder how much that will impact the field when they transfer
the Home Office operation to the new Company's facility.
I imagine home office will be consolidated to one location. No reason to pay two leases and duplicate personal. Isn't New York their facility and location? Wonder if they will have a STL cutoff while the operation is transferred and how long of a down time if any for the studios on portrait deliveries.
you have three days to sign it. from my understanding if you don't sign in three days your offer is revoked and you're let go. no one has any answers about what this company is like. no website, no nothing.
i was told it was new company and photos unlimited may not be the actual name in the end. it's all confidential and photos unlimited is just what they are going with right now. no idea what it's going to be like.
I am Sears one of the ones staying open
No such news here in Sask. Are you guys sears or walmart? I am walmart.
Got my letter as well, says the same thing.
Do we know anything about Photos Unlimited. Would like to know if company is going to be similar to what we do now or what types of changes, before I sign it.
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CPI Corp., through its subsidiaries, develops and markets consumer services and related products. The Company operates professional portrait studios throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. CPI also operates posters, prints, and framing outlets throughout the United States.
As of November 10th, 2012, it operated 2,701 professional portrait studios in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, 176 of which are temporary in nature, throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, principally under lease and license agreements with Walmart and license agreements with Sears and Toys "R" Us. The Company also operates websites that support and complement its Walmart, Sears and Toys "R" Us studio operations. These websites serve as vehicles to archive, share portraits via email (after a portrait session) and order additional portraits and products. CPI Corp. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
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