As a long time employee of Follett I welcome the B&T folks to the fold. I know the merger was attempted back in 1994 but with the market as it is, we at Follett benefit and hopefully your addition will help us all in the long run.
I stumbled onto this website after the first of several major Follett layoffs in November of 2013, and chose my alias from the project code name of these layoffs (project blue.) Follett has had a very rocky road since then with siloing and suspicious hiring and firing practices over the past few years. From the hiring of seemingly all of the former Sears executives into new SVP and VP spots to millions invested in projects that failed spectacularly and hammered the bottom line. We've seen successive layoffs to follow as the blame trickled down.
That said, with your help we may still right what many compare to the Titanic. Be weary of double speak from on high, be vigilant of those who claim to know what's best for you, and if you haven't yet done so, dust off your resumes. There are a lot of trolls on the Follett layoff board, but there is wheat amongst the chaff. Above all else, watch for redunant structures as they have a nasty habit of being the first to go. Follett most enjoys a slow drawn out carving up of existing structures and rarely provides justifiable causality save the 'lean and more reactive to customers' defence. Always ask yourselves 'what is Follett's angle and is it best served by throwing me under the bus?' If you believe this exaggeration I fear it's only a matter of time.
Above all else, good luck to all of you, I can only hope your help is what it takes to get us all going.