If you are an AE - AM - or Regional Manager, they are going to lower your pay or show you the door. They will trim the B to B business to the bone. There are no other companies that have these high wage folks in the industry. Party is over! Staples just announced an "updated" commission plan last week. It will be very interesting what happens up to December and after. Remember, Shira worked for Bain Capital...... that company was famous for slash and burn.
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Don't layoff VS, turn the tables and make up some BS excuse to fire him for cause. That's his usual play when he wants a GM gone. $120,000 in payroll savings
"'m sorry . I didn't catch your name ..."
Still trying to intimidate lol. And still blaming everyone instead of himself. What a failure!
" I was told at an early age not to criticize what I didn't understand. Good advice."
Actually, great advice.
I'm sorry . I didn't catch your name
they're already looking for the first wave of layoffs, haha.
B&N are already regretting making Demos CEO.
Blaming store teams for not taking "ownership" is pathetic, but true to form for most of Staples execs.
VS would literally chase down customers in stores while demonstrating "good customer service". I almost died laughing when one lady told him to F off when he continued to try to "help" her while she was on her phone. Many customers just abandoned their intended purchases and walked out empty handed. We received complaints about his over aggressive helpfulness on CSATS.
"20 billion dollar company YOU built from scratch or have led for a decade or so" Every current exec had a part in Staples current poor situation. They blame the stores for not following through,
but their plans were poor and what they gave the stores to work with was not nearly enough.
Mobile phones for instance - from day one this was a poorly planned and executed initiative. Staples was 8 years late to the party and did not even advertise. The 3rd party company they brought in to handle phone sales was 3rd rate. (I had to send one home for coming in drunk). They blamed the stores. Then they brilliantly decided part time Staples associates who already have to much on their plates should be able to sell more phones than a full time 3rd party sales person. The sales and activation process took at least 45 minutes to an hour. In that time many regular electronics customers left empty handed. There was minimal training in phone features and rate plans, and the POS system constantly crashed or wiped associate logins.
Vinnie had several SMs fired that had good sales metrics other than phones. The whole mobile phone failure was blamed on the store's "poor" execution.
I'm sorry . I didn't catch your name . I also see you haven't mentioned the 20 billion dollar company YOU built from scratch or have led for a decade or so. I was told at an early age not to criticize what I didn't understand. Good advice.
I can assure you that none of the Staples executives would ever have to apply for a low level position. There is a reason these people got to where they are now, even if they aren't particularly good at their job. Look at Demos for example, he's now CEO of Barnes and Noble and if he's run that place into the ground he'll just move on to the next sinking ship or retire.
In case anyone is "worried" about VPs post close of the transaction, they got a nice bump in severance per the publicly available 8K filing documents:
Finally, none of us like to think about the “what if” — — so let’s get ahead of that:
· You have a severance benefits agreement that allows for 6 months’ base/bonus if you are terminated (not for cause). After closing, this is increased to
12 months’ base/bonus; in addition, all unvested equity will vest immediately
Can you imagine when Staples' upper management are out of a job and are interviewing for a lower level position at some desperate company and they're asked, "so what do you think attributed to Staples' demise?". Their answer will be, "the minimum wage part timers of course".
Dear @OfAs9Bj-1kgx ("The Take Ownership Guy"),
You are completely misinformed about how a business functions. My guess is that you truly are a Staples "higher-up". Judging from your observations, you believe that the success of a company falls on the shoulders of the lowest paid, lowest ranking people in the corporation. Classic Staples mindset. To cast your aspersions on these minimum wage kids and blame them for a multi-billion company's failure is absurd.
Also, judging from your grammatical errors and writing style, I suspect this is no other than Servello.
Quill is a legacy joke.
There's no real value there.
Just another illusion like so much else.
What about spinning Quill off to someone like Essendant (United Stationers) or maybe even Grainger? Or maybe as a Walmart company? Those are likely the only buyers with either the cash or the credit to buy that kind of business.
If I had to guess, I’d say that Sycamore has no long-term interest (or operational capabilities) in the complexities of B2B. This move will simply be a play to “unlock value” by spinning out Staples Advantage as a short- to medium-term move and maybe sell it off to a company like Wal-Mart or Costco (or eBay, for that matter), which desperately need a B2B growth engine right now.
Quite simply, there is currently no credible horizontal B2B supplier that can compete with Amazon Business.
america destroys people who are honest and work hard.
that's why the leadership are sacks of sht
"take any ownership of their own actions" Why take any ownership when they do not get the rewards of ownership even when they hit goals?
You give stores impossible sales goals and no incentive to hit them. "Star Points" are worthless. You fire or harass out all the good store managers because they "make to much", you pay the rank and file crumbs. You put thresholds on reviews so only a very few can get that 25-30 cent raise, the rest get maybe 15 cents, and you expect a solid work ethic? Many work hard anyway , but just get blasted for it not being enough, and "what have you done for me lately?" attitude.
Even when the stores do perform Framingham takes away the manager's bonuses, but the execs still get their stock options and other additional forms of comp.
The mess Staples is in is 100% on Framingham, the SVPs and RVPs. SVP and RVP positions offer NO VALUE to the corporation. None of these people are actual leaders, just Yes men and bullies.
What kind of ownership you talking about when you hire minimum wage and the turn around and cut payroll and blame associates for not making goals makes no sense while executives get unearned bonuses for saving hours. What kind of loyalty do you expect from fresh out high school teen.
"When are store teams going to take any ownership of their own actions"
Another corporate shill.....they must be shaking in their boots.
I would love any of these clowns to actually try working in a store. You have no clue what you are talking about. As far as employees "standing around" that sounds like a quote from VS. Most times there are only 1 manager /keyholder , a cashier a tech and a copy center person. There's no time to just stand around.
Taking ownership is irrelevant because even when things go well corporate still short changes store staff and just blames them for anything wrong with the company.
When are store teams going to take any ownership of their own actions. I get that you need more labor but how about effectivily using what you have first. I live in a market well outside of Boston, in a city with around 10 stores. With the exception of 1, each time I go in associates are standing around on their cell phones or they are all standing together talking. How about walking the racetrack and ask the customers if they need help,how about greeting a customer as they walk in. Only area that I can consistently get help is in the CPC. They do need more help their. If you don't believe this check out our Facebook page, constant complaints about associates just standing around. Your lucky DMs/RVPs aren't reading those complaints.
Ignore it all...?? Yes.... this must be a Staples C level or higher scared sh--less... and.... rightly so! Party is over dude!
I'm not an ex-employee nor am I a troll or disgruntled. Some of the posts are questionable but most are spot on. I've been with Staples for 10-15 years and can assure you that most posts are legitimate.
None of what is being discussed here makes any business sense nor does it match any of the plans being discussed
since when did anything at Staples make business sense?
i think these posts must be spot on!
Ignore it all HAHAHAHAHA coming from c level exeucutive GTFO !
Ignore 100% of the posts on this board. Trolls or disgruntled ex-employees. None of what is being discussed here makes any business sense nor does it match any of the plans being discussed or what Sycamore has done with prior mergers.
Ignore it all.
Please show OP, TB, GV, the exit door they are worthless you will be saving so much money .
Hopefully Sycamore see how stores are badly ran by these Svp's Rvp's Dm's that have no clue about running a store and only care about making themselves look good .
Why would they trim the B2B business to the bone? That's where they see our ability to grow. Where are you getting your information?
They pay all these VPs 6 digits and bonuses and hand out star points to the bottom feeders. been with the company 20 yrs seen all the looting by executives. I remember the svp in the west coast dickie was making money off paper ream empty boxes selling them for 1 dollar would visit stores just to look for stacks of empty boxes on the aisle .
Show VS the door. He is worthless.