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It looks like they owe insurance companies a large sum of money. Is that what you're getting from it? I hope it not from our health insurance costs.
I hope you're correct. I seriously don't think any of us can take another 6 months of this. The not knowing from one minute to the next is so unsettling.
6 more months of this? Say it isn't so! That would drag us through the middle of our slowest months. I can hear the whips cracking now.
There was a way to access and restore those old borders. I just don't recall how to do it. Does anyone else remember how its done?
If they close the doors tomorrow I think we'll still have a couple weeks to work. They'll keep us around to box up and ship back the studio contents. We'll still need to wrap things up. I highly doubt they'll want us to just walk away and leave the studios intact.
All I know for certain is that the waiting to see what will happen is making me nuts! I'd be more at ease even if I knew for certain we are going to close the doors. At least then I could start some kind of action plan.
The big dogs don't believe this! One of their all knowing "test"
results showed that customers did not want assorted backgrounds and props. Or at least that is how they have justified not giving them to us.
If they are on furlough they aren't getting paid to
do the job of a DM. CPI probably doesn't want to get sued again.
If they are on furlough they aren't getting paid to
do the job of a DM. CPI probably doesn't want to get sued again.
DMs not allowed to communicate with associates? Interesting.
I just spoke with mine today.
Too many rumors. Not enough facts.
All this does is make the stress of not knowing worse.
I'm so sorry for all of the DMs Rds and other
SMs who are currently unemployed!
While I do still have a job, my hours were
abruptly cut in half leaving me to wonder how
to pay for my car , my house and take
care of my kids.
I'm not bitter. I'm not taking it personally.
I'm just worried sick about what will happen
when the other shoe drops.
Until then I'm going to keep giving it my best
and do what they pay me to do for as long as
they pay me to do it.
Frankly I don't give a rats ast about the free
whatever or the AO.
I'm a good enough salesperson to work around
that stuff. What I am worried about is the constant
reduction in customer count.
We have, for one reason or another, managed to run
off our customers.
As far as I'm concerned, getting them back should
be every remaining RD, DM and SMs core focus.
I'd rather shoot 10 sessions and only sell an AO
than sit in my studio sweating and wondering if I'll
have a zero sit day that I'll have to explain to my DM!
I agree with you 100%! Properly trained SMs should be
able to manage their studios without a babysitter.
However, its obvious that some SMs are not properly
trained or just not SM material.
There is a consistent habit for CPI to be short
staffed and to throw an underdeveloped employee into a
SM position. Then its sink or swim. Too often continued
employee development goes to the wayside. Its not fair
to throw somebody into a position and not give them
support. And it is extremely inappropriate to put
somebody into a management position if they do not have
the skills needed for the job!!
Whats worse is that I don't think things have been
much different for some DMs. A lot of them were thrown
into a DM position with very little continued development
or support.
That is NOT the way to run a healthy business!
Don't feel bad. We have DMs who aren't even up to date on CPIs
marketing changes. Our DM spews all kinds of misinformation
on every single conference call. How are SMs to know what is
going on if they are getting bad info from DMs?
The lunatics are running the asylum at CPI!
Maybe I'm not understanding your position on the issue of our AO and free 10x13? They have put it to pen and paper. Check out the fine print in the middle of the flyer. It clearly says "Limit ONE per family through May 15 2013" It also explains the 9.99 AO is ONE for subject.
http://www.pictureme.com/cpi/en-US/SpecialOffers/CurrentStudioSpecials/
Now the PSC is another story. I've checked the browser over and over for the PSC rules but I can't find a thing. If anyone can provide a link for that info please share it with us!
Back in the day we had flyers that explained all of the PSC benefits. I haven't seen one of those in ages.
LOL You're too funny.
If I ever leave CPI, I'm NEVER setting foot inside of another
Walmart. Walmart gives me the heebie jeebies.
Marketing team? I'm betting the "marketing team" was separated from CPI months ago!
My guess is somebody in STL is just recycling campaigns from the past.
Is anyone else having issues accessing their studio email from home?
As SMs WE are the guidance. Isn't that basically what they pay us to do? I think ONE offer per family until May 15 is pretty clear cut.
I have a couple customers who are always trying to get products without ever making a purchase. Be assured I make them sit through a FULL sales session every single time. If they whine I explain that they are agreeing to sit through a sales session in order to be eligible for the free offer otherwis NO DEAL!!!. If they challenge me on that I tell them to call customer service. I explain they can expect excessive wait times before ever talking to a rep. One way or another they will have to invest about the same amount of time.
We're not a soup kitchen. Our intent is not to provide free goods for the sake of charity or good will. We have the free offers to get them in the door so we can sell them something. If anyone can't make that happen most of the time then maybe a job in sales isn't the right gig for them.
The rule on advertised/intro offers is ONE per family until May 15.
It says it on the flyer and the website. The same thing goes for the free 10x13. I strictly adhere to that stuff. You can choose to condition your customers to buy or to not to buy.
The fact that everybody makes up their own rules concerning the AO it part of the problem not part of the solution.
Your verbiage is so odd...where are you from?
ROFLMAO........That would be almost all of them. The studios have been bleeding red ink for quite some time. RED is the majority not the minority. The business is broken!! The corporate culture is diseased.
Of course BUT when nearby studios are not on the same page it
makes things difficult. Customers want to know why one studio allows multiple AOs when others do not. However, if the DM could get her chit straight and not give out bogus info it might help.........there are always those associates who enjoy giving stuff away for free or selling multiple AOs.
PMs AO says the same thing but our DM is so out of touch
that she swears they can come once a week for one.
I just wish they'd get some leadership that knew what
they hell they are talking about!! You should hear some
of the whacked out stuff she says.
Who are you to give us directives and order us "back to work"?
In the event that you are not aware, most studios are CLOSED on Tuesday.
I just called ADP to see if they could explain but they told me they cannot speak to employees. We have to contact our payroll dept. to find out what is going on.
Who is volunteering to call payroll ?
No big deal. I deleted the group. My intent was good.
Sure it is........you're not obligated to give accurate personal info. You simply create alias info to fill in the fields. You can also create a alias yahoo account to get group alerts.......unless I'm missing something?
Mine too. Wonder whats up with that! This is very unsettling.
Way too much drama for so little money!!!
OK here it is......join if you'd like
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePortraitProfessionalsGroup/
I'm starting the Yahoo group now. I will not use CPI in the groups name because it is trademarked. I'll take the first reasonable response into consideration for the groups name. Keep in mind we need to make it easy to find so fellow employees are able to join.
The point is, we are really not using this forum in the way it was intended. We can blur the boundaries with a bunch of verbal mumbo jumbo but the facts remain the same. We are not traders or stock investors. We are misusing this space/forum!
I think one of CPIs biggest issues is that the VIP incentives have forced us to build part of our customer base on impulse buyers. Most items bought on impulse are not considered functional or necessary in the consumers' lives. The more we chase VIPs, the less stable our customer base is.
The way I've understood it, the purchaser is the party
responsible for filing/documenting their purchase
with the SEC.
I'm not sure if it would be reflected in any of CPIs
SEC filings. That is where I think the challenge of
knowing where to look for the information comes
into play.
A company usually files bankruptcy so as to permit
the rehabilitation and continuation of their business.
It seems to me, that if CPI has decided bankruptcy
is in their best interest, they'd want to get along
with that process rather quickly.
The Mo. bankruptcy court knows instantly if a company files.
There isn't a wait time for something to post when you call
them directly
If they file they should file with the Eastern District Of
Missouri Bankruptcy Court. As of today that office shows no
bankruptcy filing from CPI Corp.
All bankruptcy filings are a matter of public record.
Since they are still a publicly traded company, they also
have to report to the US Securities And Exchange Commission
(often abbreviated as SEC). The SEC is a federal government
agency.
They (the SEC) don't care what "level" a stock trades at.
If the stock is publicly traded they must report to the SEC.
Also, if someone purchases more than 5% of a company's
equity (financial interest or cash value)
he or she must report to the SEC within 10 days of the
purchase.
There really isn't a way for a publicly traded company
to hide much.The challenge is often knowing where to
look for the right information.
My guess is the people who are on here screaming the loudest are some of the people who are/were the most passionate about their jobs. You won't see many of our part time associates on this forum
ranting because they aren't that invested.
FYI: There is no glory in being part of a herd of sheeple!
The fact that we do have a paycheck is a good sign.
KK didn't get paid at all for their last 2 weeks.
If the company was sold, maybe the new owners are
responsible for paying us after the date when a
contract was signed?
The extended forbearance agreement expired on the 15th (Friday).
I'm pretty sure we're about to start seeing the results
of what that will bring.
I appreciate your sentiment but if it were that easy nobody would be disgruntled.
Its not as if we're all doing poorly because of our less than perfect attitudes. Its more that we have less than perfect attitudes because we're doing poorly in spite of our hard work and tireless efforts.
I think your remarks smack of unaffected simplicity and that they almost teeter on the edge of condescending, but thanks for dropping in to share your thoughtless thoughts with us.
Do what you know works and control what you can control. Obviously CPI's upper management lost their credibility for being effective leaders quite some time ago.
You know what I love? I love when a DM demands that we be
"positive" (or else). I especially like when a DM demands that we be "positive" while threatening us with "final" write ups in the same breath.
Really!? Where on earth do they find these people??
The DM before her was even more of a gem. Everyday my inbox was flooded with email after email after email. The emails were mostly gibberish, written with cap locks on, in bright red. I might have seen some sense in the communications but who could even decipher the messages core meaning when the content was written so poorly and incorrectly spelled?
And when did sending nasty grams become an effective management tool?
The job was a lot fun for a while but these days between the insultingly low pay and leadership freak show it is pretty much a joke.
Sorry that is just not true. I had a freakazoid call customer service and make up a bunch of weird BS trying to get free stuff. I got the call from "customer service" yesterday asking me what was up.
When we signed up for health care benefits last year it clearly stated that the benefits are effective until April 2013.
That leads me to further believe they had a plan in place last year to either bankrupt and/or sell. I'm totally subscribing the the winding down model!
I even have a conspiracy theory brewing. I wonder if CPI bought PM, KK, Bella and all the others just to cannibalize them so they could do away with all of SPS's competition.......or were they really so ignorant that they thought they could make so many bad moves and prosper?
It is possible that a buyer could purchase only one brand.
It was my understanding that when Lifetouch was interested,
they were only interested in Sears. Who knows how correct
that info is though. There are so many rumors and no real
way to prove or disprove their accuracy.