Best Buy Cuts 650 Geek Squad Techies 143
tripleevenfall writes "Best Buy has cut approximately 650 jobs from its Geek Squad division, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The cut represents about 4% of Geek Squad's total workforce. The consumer electronics giant said the workers primarily service televisions and appliances in consumers' homes. Best Buy's performance has struggled to keep up with changes in consumer electronics, as the weight of its big-box format inhibits it from fending off competitive pressure of online retailers."
Beginning of the End (Score:5, Insightful)
When you cut support you begin to cut your own throat.
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought charging for support accounted for around 90% of their profit?
If they are losing money on support they are totally fucked.
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If you had been reading financial news, you would already know that they are likely to go out of business soon.
This has been known for several months.
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I wouldn't call Geek Squad "support"
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:5, Insightful)
When you cut support you begin to cut your own throat.
The beginning of Best Buy's end started with the end of Circuit City. Best Buy thought that they were now free of competition, so they reduced the variety of the products they stocked and focused only on high-margin stuff (for example, Monster Cable and in-house brands). They thought that their customers no longer had a choice and so they tried to stick it to us.
Now you hear them whine about being "the internet's showroom" - they think people come in to look and then go buy online instead. That's almost a complete fallacy because almost all of their products are commodities, you gain basically nothing from a hands-on experience with just about everything they sell. Even things like TV's, AVR's and speakers don't really give up much useful information from the show-room experience because performance in your own home is always different from in the show-room. You are almost always better off reading a variety of reviews than trying to make subjective judgements yourself in the store.
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:5, Insightful)
You sound like an informed consumer, not their target market. People do walk around and then buy online, or at least comparison shop. Some people do it by sending teams to different stores, and the lowest price feature compatible item gets bought.
People don't want a hands-on experience - they do want to window shop, though. And it helps to stay organized if you have a limited selection, and maybe tiered pricing in several physically separate locations. Once you narrow it down, you find something similar online and buy it. Not that item, just something like it.
It started with people checking out specials on their website while in the store, and noticing price mismatches. Now word has gotten around that you don't buy without checking the price first - and while you're at it, why not check someone else's store too?
They did cut inventory and act like they were the only choice, and people started window shopping there and buying online, and it was entirely their own fault.
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I'm an informed consumer and I sometimes walk into a shop when I am looking for type of product I need, but just want to get a feel for what it out there.
Granted, most times I already have a product in mind and know that Best Buy carries it.
You hit on something with the price checking. That is why I don't think Best Buy is being honest when they say they dislike being the "Internet showroom". What they dislike more than anything is the fact they have to price match so often, and are forced to lower their
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I think we need to place a line between accessories and everything else. When I need an HDMI cable, I buy online. The vast majority all just work, and two seconds looking at comments and reviews reveal the one or two subpar cables that don't. I can buy a cable for a couple dollars online, or $100 at retail. That's a n
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Focus on the online presence, and the ability to ship to store to free on any item (Wal-Mart has this one nailed).
Almost nailed. They let you pay cash now too - you order online, you come into the store and pay cash, then they ship it to your house or to the store for you to pick up.
When I say "almost" the problem is that when you pay cash, they still ask for photo ID on pick-up so you have to have photo-ID (a lot of the people who don't have debit/credit cards don't have photo id either).
So far I've been able to bluff the kid manning the pick-up counter. But one day I might not, and then I'm stuck unable to pick up
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So what about shipping to home then? Ie. pay cash in person, have it shipped home.
Sure, but you link all purchases to the same address which is only a hop and a skip away from linking it to your name.
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How do you know the Walmart isn't using ANPR and facial recognition on their ubiquitous CCTV cameras?
ANPR does not connect you to the purchase, just with everybody else in the parking lot, it is even less useful if you use a unique name for each order. Facial recognition is unreliable and requires a database of face to name matches which are few and expensive. But mailing address databases are everywhere since any commercial transaction is likely to get logged into one.
Sure it is diminishing returns, but your examples are a lot further down the line of risk/return trade-offs.
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So, why aren't you just giving a fictitious name when you're having something shipped to your home? The USPS, et al, is fairly plug and play when it comes to adding "new" people to a domicile.
Because all it takes is one shipment with your name on it and the jig is up. You may not even have control over it, a relative could decide to send you a birthday present.
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As for your own house, have you considered removing your mailbox / stopping USPS service?
Tried it, doesn't go over well with the local postal carrier.
home ownership is a matter of public record, so unless your home is owned by a trust or a corporate entity
Done that.
None of this may be relevant to you (perhaps you rent),
Renting from a private landlord (versus a property manager) with all utilities included works well.
Re:Beginning of the End (Score:5, Insightful)
Now you hear them whine about being "the internet's showroom" - they think people come in to look and then go buy online instead.
Not to mention that they hardly showroom any real hardware anymore. When I bought my mp3 player 7 years ago I bought it in a retail store because I wanted to interact with it first to see how I liked the interface, and if the hardware felt flimsy. Now I walk into a retail store, and the "display units" all have cardboard screens.
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Now you hear them whine about being "the internet's showroom" - they think people come in to look and then go buy online instead. That's almost a complete fallacy because almost all of their products are commodities, you gain basically nothing from a hands-on experience with just about everything they sell
Err...what? Go back over the past couple of years on Slashdot and find any one of several stories about Best Buy. You'll find piles of comments from people all saying this is the only reason they go to Best Buy. I realize that Slashdot is not the majority opinion, but still...
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Well... I go to Best Buy to just laugh at their plight and make snide comments about how anything above 5 dollars is retarded for a HDMI cable.
You know, that probably makes you more mature than 90% of the other Slashdotters posting on a Best Buy story.
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Bullshit. I spent $9 on a 15 footer and it was clearly NOT retarded. I can sit on the couch and have my laptop display on my HDTV without tripping over the cable. Also, my wife and I can watch... movies... in bed on the HDTV in the bedroom.
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Now you hear them whine about being "the internet's showroom" - they think people come in to look and then go buy online instead. That's almost a complete fallacy because almost all of their products are commodities, you gain basically nothing from a hands-on experience with just about everything they sell. Even things like TV's, AVR's and speakers don't really give up much useful information from the show-room experience because performance in your own home is always different from in the show-room. You are almost always better off reading a variety of reviews than trying to make subjective judgements yourself in the store.
Yes, but not entirely. I still wander through Magnolia when I'm shopping for something. If they have it for me to demo (speakers, TVs, etc.) then I will give them an audition.
Where they are really shooting themselves in the foot is that they won't price match. I gave them numerous opportunities to make a sale, but they wouldn't price match online prices from Frys.com, Amazon, or other online stores. They claim it's because those prices can't be verified or validated. In one case (an Onkyo receiver that
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Many of the receivers I have looked at say that they won't honor the warranty if it is not purchased through an authorized reseller, and the authorized resellers all seem to have the same price for the units, including online and brick-and-mortar...
If you want to save a ton of money, it seems like buying last years higher end model, which likely has very similar features to this years lower-end model, can be a huge price savings.
Sean
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Just buy from the unauthorized dealer and spend a couple of bucks on a 3rd party warranty like Square Trade. You still come out way, way ahead.
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Is it necessary to price match exactly? Maybe if they could be say $30 dearer it would be worth the premium of being able to buy right now. There is a value in being able to buy now and also be able to bring something back if it develops a fault.
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I certainly go in there if I happen to be stopped near a best buy and its been a while. Sometimes its nice to browse cameras or whatever, and hands on sometimes does tell you more than just the specs. That TV may be 1080, and may have 3 hdmi inputs, but are they well placed? How big is the trim on the screen? Etc etc, some things pics just arent as good as actually being there.
That said, I dont believe Ive actually purchased anything there in over 10 years.
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Re:Beginning of the End (Score:4, Insightful)
It's more like their throat is being cut for them, so they got rid of some throat.
The Geek Squad isn't about support, it's about selling you services you don't need that slow down your computer to produce additional business.
It's been said before that consumers of today are actually savvy and well-educated. Well, I think that's a load of horseshit; some of us are, but most people are as ignorant as ever about things that matter. Most people are merely better educated than ever before on what celebrities are doing and on what corporations want them to purchase. I would like to think that the Geek Squad is failing because consumers are wising up, but I suspect it has more to do with people having less computer problems because they're abandoning antiquated systems that can't reasonably be maintained or secured.
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Can you name one service that Geek Squad performs that "slows down" its clients' computers?
Loading crapware in the name of security. If you had google'd for "geek squad slows down computer" the top hit would probably have been this article on the geek squad optimization service slowing down computers [geek.com] and then you wouldn't have had to ask this question.
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Installing most well known consumer Antivirus products or especially security suites.
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That happens to be a national problem, not just at Best Buy.
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First Post (Score:5, Funny)
Brought to you by Monster Cable.
Re:First Post (Score:5, Funny)
Can I get a one year replacement warranty on that for more than the product is worth?
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Cool! (Score:1)
Headline incomplete (Score:1)
Very Shortsighted (Score:5, Funny)
You know, the customers' porn isn't gonna watch itself.
Which technicians were cut? (Score:5, Interesting)
Which technicians were cut?
The ones with the lowest technical aptitude, or the ones who pushed the least amount of unnecessary service on their customers?
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Actually, like most other job cuts, it was random.
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Correction: most job cut decisions are geographical, either on the earth or on an org chart.
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I couldn't find a video clip, so the text will have to do. [subzin.com]
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Most are certainly not random.
My guess is those that sold the least amount of protection plans. All BestBuy is based is upon sales metrics like 80% of the rest of retail. Credit card sales and protection plans are YOU OUT OF THERE.
Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:4, Informative)
Then GeekSquad is like the rest of the IT field.
Remember back in the good old days when a System Administrator who had 7 years experience pulled in $120,000 a year? Now if you make over $40,000 you are eyed to be axed. After $45,000 you have to walk in water and know everything to justify to keep your job. They can find some guy with 1 year experience in help desk to always replace them for $32,000 a year to manage their mult million dollar IT infrastructure ... rolls eyes.
I guess cost centers are always treated like crap even if they generate revenue and actually hurt the company when cut
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Actually the lesson learned from the good old days is that the service provided just isn't worth $120k per year. Our company of 30 can get by fine with a monthly visit by a consultant for 8 hours. He can still make $120k or so, but we pay about $13k. Our total support costs, including my time and another guy that spends a few hours a month settin guy new computers and rotating backups adds less than $20k fully burdened to the equation. We could scale to 80 people in one location before our total IT labo
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What's so hard about that? Even a little child can walk in the water. Now walking on the water, that's a whole different kettle of fish. Of course, back when I was working in IT, I preferred to part the waters and cross on dry land. Maybe that's why it kept getting harder and harder to get new jobs as time went on. Interesting.
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Walking on water, and wielding a magic wand that fixes any sort of technical or mechanical issue, doesn't help much any more.
As one CEO said, "Why should we keep paying him $50k/yr, when I can hire a kid from McDonalds at $16k/yr to to keep the same chair warm?" The mention of "Well, the guy making $50k knows how to do the job. The minimum wage kid doesn't have a clue" is answered by "He'll learn."
Companies would prefer to cycle through people working for the
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Uh, thanks for the offensive reply.
I do contracting and I am not a sys admin. I have seen all too many times some young 28 year old who was help desk do sys admin for 1200 computers with outdated domain controllers with stale OUs all over the place because the senior guys who made 70k were let go due to economic times etc.
I have not seen any respectable sys admin make more than 55k in years which is shocking since having a crappy help desk costs little compared to having the network down!
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Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:5, Funny)
Which technicians were cut?
The ones with low agility, the others moved out of the way fast enough.
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"no animals were harmed during the making of this movie. we tried, but that monkey was just too darned fast."
(colbert, I think).
((not the monkey. I don't think...))
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Single skilled in home appliance and TV techs were cut (I being one of them). Dual trained (as in repair both TV and Appliances) were not impacted as much
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Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:5, Funny)
Which technicians were cut?
The most emo ones. They volunteered to do it themselves.
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Geek Squad? (Score:2)
Heather Number One just looked right at me!
Geek Squad is where what we are threatened with (Score:3)
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. . .what where we. . .
. . .in anticipation of a final exam this evening.
. . .bad for English!
I really hope that after two drinks, that this evening's final exam isn't in English. :-)
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As an expert in business (Score:1)
I concur with the other posters that should never *ever* cut any part of a business, and especially never fire large number of employees.
This is based on the two principals of economics that (A) there is an infinite amount of capital available so a business should continually invest in and expand every part of itself, and (B) there are no other opportunities for shareholders to invest their money, and all money should be re-invested in a business, no matter how small the return.
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May I ask which "other posters" you are talking about? I mean real ones, not imaginary ones.
No Faith (Score:2)
"Best Buy Cuts 650 Geek Squad Techies..." (Score:2)
wait, what? (Score:1)
Geek Squad are "techies" now?
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flunky comes to mind
Oh NO! (Score:1)
Where else can I find these all so valued IT professionals? They are the only ones who know about these gold plated MONSTER grade $120 HDMI cables and those $60 power outlet extenders for superior computer performance and TV picture quality.
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It's not like there's any competition (Score:3)
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Before Best Buy bought them, Magnolia Hi-Fi was actually a pretty well-regarded retail chain. It was not a high-end audio boutique by any means, but they had knowledgeable sales people with a choice of numerous premium brands. If you were in the market for a $4000 Pioneer Elite RPTV or a Yamaha Natural Sound amp, Magnolia was a good place to look.
It was not considered good news among home-theater enthusiasts when Best Buy bought the company, put it that way.
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Magnolia was originally a local Seattle chain, with only a few stores. I don't know if they had expanded much beyond the Seattle market before BB sunk their claws into them.
But yes... grilling the salesdroids carefully before giving them your money, as their employer should have done but probably didn't, is a smart tactic.
This should come as no surprise... (Score:2)
...because Best Buy has demonstrated a lack of respect for this particular group of employees by giving them a derogatory title.
I think Best Buy and the author missed the point (Score:2)
"the weight of its big-box format inhibits it from fending off competitive pressure of online retailers."
If I'm in the mood to save money, or be patient, I find it hard to save less then about 40-60% off of the price at Best Buy. Amazon/Walmart/Meritline...
The layout/pricing/(lack of)knowledge of the stores make me cringe.
I don't know how companies like Fry's can possibly compete...
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I'm not sure about the "great layout" part - I love Fry's as much as the next slashdotter but the way the stores are organized is ridiculous. For many categories of things there will be at least two separate places in the store with a selection of said things (not the same selection, a different selection). You can't just go to one aisle and expect to see everything in that category.
I mean, that does make it fun, because you have to hunt around the store meaning you'll see all kinds of other neat stuff - av
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Everyone who's ever been to a Fry's, but now lives in an area without one, wishes they'd expand to their area. The nearest one to me is 470 miles.
On a work sponsored road trip (transporting servers), We stopped at 5 different Fry's locations, just because we could. I picked up all kinds of crap that I didn't "really" need, but I wasn't going to find elsewhere for the same price. :)
And (Score:2)
Nothing of value was lost.
Do you suppose... (Score:3)
Sorry...that was mean. There probably are some Geeks that know what they're doing and I'm sure they're brilliant at getting Grandma on Facebook. I just get the call when one of them has screwed up somebody's server or line of business application because they had no idea what they were doing. Which happens way too often.
Who cares? (Score:1)
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Right I lived in MPLS when Geek Squad was an independent entity. I never used them because I never had a need, but I know plenty of people who did.
They actually were staffing people who knew how to do things like run mem maker and configure emm386 to get your kids DOS game running properly. I know people who did have them do things like recover files of corrupt FAT floppies with hex editors. I am sure most of older slashdot'ers have been their done that and got the t-shirt but it really was a valuable ser
Likely to become 3rd party contractors (Score:2)
Likely to become 3rd party contractors doing the in home stuff. Like the cable CO's and staples.
yes staples does farm out some of there in home stuff to 3rd party contractors.
wonder what kind of knofe they used (Score:2)
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oh no! (Score:4, Funny)
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great. who am I going to get to exorcise the virus from my power supply unit now?
For $30 an hour I will, just wire me your bank details and I'll do the required rituals remotely, I've got the pentagram and candles already.
The Best Buy Conundrum (Score:3)
Best Buy is the only company who can lay off 650 of its technical support staff and have its IT competence remain exactly the same.
Best Buy sells nothing exclusively (Score:3)
So there's no reason to go to Best Buy. To get a better deal on a TV, check Amazon or Walmart. To get a better deal on an appliance, go to Lowe's or Menards or Sam's Club. Want a better selection of movies, games, or music? Amazon.
Screw Best Buy, with their overpriced products and ripoff "services". Plus, the Geek Squad is mostly known for screwing up customer's machines and stealing software.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ie=UTF-8&ion=1#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=geek%20squad%20screwed%20me&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=54147a6c24560a3&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1599&bih=963 [google.com]
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/05/geek_squad_caug/ [wired.com]
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" built-in superconducting magnets in the souls"
I believe Massive Dynamic has a patent on these actually.
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built-in superconducting magnets in the souls
Is that how ghosts are made?
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In-home service is about the only place they can provide value though. My mom paid $500 to get her TV installed (cheaper than me doing it!), and I wouldn't think twice about paying $150 for someone that would put on the wedge anchors, mount the wiremold, and make it look pretty, short of carpentry or painting. They could have gotten an extra $100 from me for the hardware (50% margin) as well!
But, I would want the job done right-- none of the using a 5-20P where it should be a 5-20C, etc.
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Wire is wire, unless the wire has to hold up to some unusual environmental conditions like mechanical abuse or something. If there is some "higher quality" wire out there, you probably won't be able to tell the difference if you can just plug it in and it sits there, and isn't abused. I always buy the online cables for $5, and BB is out of their gourds if they think I'm paying $50 for a cable I can get for $5.
And, I gave up on "rebates" years ago. Don't tell me about a rebate, just give me a good price.
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