Everything Swank

Almost one year ago, I forecast Circuit City’s demise. In it I berated Circuit City for firing it’s most experienced workers and sales staff, and replacing them with low wage replacements as a cost savings effort.  In retrospect, Circuit City stockholders would have found far better results if the management at Circuit City replaced itself with low wage earners.

To help further illustrat Circuit City flushing itself down the toilet, here is an excellent timeline provided by the great folks at Consumerist, the best blog on the planet for consumer activism.

Circuit City did the unforgiveable.   They are in a the service industry.  Their product line does not differentiate itself from their competitors in any significant manner.  That means any added value must be gained form the service that the stores render to the customer.  The fuck ‘tards who were in charge of CC have the highest amount of arrogance.  They think their leadership adds value, and they can get any $8/hour scrub to succeed because their leadership is what matters.

The market always punishes such arrogance.   Their operating officers thought they were in the electronics business, when in fact they were in the service business.  They took their single most imporant assett and flushed it down the toilet.  Good riddance. Anyone who was still at Circuit City after the cuts one year ago was asleep at the wheel.  This company had horrible leadership and was doomed.   When you have screw ups like Philip Schoonover running the show first get rid of the stock.   If you work for that company, it is time to jump ship.

Find the companies making gross errors and short them all the way down.  You can no longer count on companies to hire CEO’s that have a clue how to run a business.  Schoonover had a deal for $6-$8 a share. amd Circuit City piddled around until Blockbuster got cold feet.   A big “Fuck You” to Philip Schoonoveris deserved, but understand he isn’t the only one.