bigmouthlass:

dollsahoy:

cosmomoore:

artikgato:

cosmomoore:

waiting-for-never:

cosmomoore:

waiting-for-never:

cosmomoore:

dollsahoy:

as if trnmp cares about small businesses and charities in this country

Nooooo, ugh, it probably will happen, but I surely hope it doesn’t.

I HAVE VERY STRONG FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.

The tarriffs part sucks— but the “woe is us, it’s not our fault” tone of the email really pissed me off. JoAnn’s prices have gone up each of the 3 years I’ve worked there, and the employees (of course!) aren’t getting paid more.

The company is actively shutting out their older client base– customers who may not spend much, but who come in regularly for supplies. The VIP discount program has been discontinued (shutting out the older generation of quilters/crafters en masse), and I’ve had many elderly women say that they’re going to have to give up their hobbies because it’s just too expensive.

So, all of this is to say that the way JoAnn has prioritized profits over people has led to this. The wanted reps who would lower taxes and loosen regulations for businesses while pushing their employees to the wayside. They got that. Now that their wish has backfired??? Awww, it’s a MADE IN AMERICA TAX THAT WILL HURT SMALL BUSINESSES.

No, it’s the fact that their customers can’t afford a blanket 25% increase in already ridiculous prices, and the tarriffs will cut into their profits.

I wholeheartedly agree that we should be calling our reps over these tarriffs, but it’s also the culmination of profit over people. Everything is made overseas because those workers are paid so little. Minimum wage workers (hello, all of JoAnn’s retail employees) can’t afford to buy anything, just as most retirees on social security can’t afford anything other than the essentials. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BUSINESSES ARE ALLOWED TO DO WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT.

Ahem.

On a more personal note, I was at a brand new store when Jill Soltau did a walk-through. The store was full of employees who had put everything together to get ready for the grand opening.

She came through without saying a word to any of us.

So, this email that’s attempting to make us believe that JoAnn and its CEO really care about people?

Ha.

For the love of all that is holy, get out and vote in the midterms. Not to make sure that businesses don’t see a change in profits, but to change the government’s focus back to the people.

Reblogging for commentary, it is such a shame how many American companies are prioritizing profits over people.

Corporate greed is a terrible part of the American Way. From a quick Google search I gathered that JoAnn’s is no longer a public company (it was privatized in 2011) so they can’t even use the excuse of shareholders to blame the rise in prices over the last few years.

Here’s to hoping this doesn’t increase them further, but shame on JoAnn’s for doing it previously.

If the prices on Halloween decor are any indication, they’re already doing it. Yarn and fabric are going up as well.

I definitely noticed it on fabric, I had to double take when ¼ yard of fabric was $3.00!!

This is basically the reason that Hancock Fabrics went out of business (I mean, I know there were a lot of reasons that Hancock Fabrics went out of business, but this is a big one at least). They froze wages, cut hours, had their stores being run by basically a skeleton crew – and tried to claim that they were failing as a business because “nobody would buy anything without using a coupon”, shoving the burden of their business failing onto the customers, when really the company was being run terribly, workers had no loyalty because we were being paid minimum wage with no hope of any kind of raise, managers were extremely overworked…

Unfortunately corporate greed seems to be the downfall of many American companies. That is basically what happened to Toys R Us as well. No one has any loyalty anymore because the basic principles of a living wage and decent benefits no longer exist. As long as the people at the top can maintain a hefty salary and get a yearly increase, the people who work the hardest get the short end of the stick. It is shameful how larger American businesses have become.

Don’t forget how the internet means people have options they didn’t have in the past, but the corporate greedsters aren’t willing to let their companies change, because change = risk, which = potential bad things happening very fast, while ~sticking to the old ways~ means the company death will be slow and able to be milked for years.

And the ones that do change and thrive?  Get bought by Amazon or Walmart, so it’s a different kind of death.

(of course I’m being a bit facetious here.  a bit.)

This is a common theme, as retail continues to eat itself to death. Ames, Circut City, Radio Shack, JC Penney’s, Sears …

When times are bad and resources are overstretched, customer service is where bad leadership makes the deepest cuts. Fast-forward and the staff is crap (you don’t get good employees by paying them crap and treating them like shit) and your customers are gone and your company is bleeding cash–

Online shopping didn’t kill retail. Retail killed itself and Amazon is feasting on the corpse.

JOANN stores could be hit by tariffs, discouraging American-made clothing, home items