Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Tuesday | Oct. 21 | Got news, or a question?
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43 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Has anyone gotten 401(k) statements recently? How bad does it look?
ReplyDeleteFrom USA Today, "MediaNews CEO: Outsourcing could be in journalism's future"
ReplyDelete"AVENTURA, Fla. (AP) — Newspaper publishers should consider consolidating and outsourcing news operations — even overseas — to save money as revenues continue to shrink, the head of a major U.S. newspaper company said Monday."
Thanks to Fading to Black.
a new DISTURBING TREND in Circulation.
ReplyDeleteHome Delivery STOPS. with following reasons are Spiking.
STOP-CAN'T AFFORD
STOP-TOO EXPENSIVE
STOP-NON PAY
I've never see the "CAN'T AFFORD" reason used before.
In addition, notices of:
SUBSCIPTIONS EXPIRING IN 14 DAYS are also increasing dramatically.
This coincides with the intensification of the global credit/financial system crisis. Also people are getting heating bills and lay-off notices (in many industries). I think this is going to get really bad.
Also seeing a lot of STOP POOR SERVICE.
ReplyDeleteWe used the STOP - CAN'T AFFORD all the time at the Courier-Journal.
ReplyDeleteafter 20 years of contributing to the 401K now its down 40 percent.I wll be working far longer than i expected to. But so will every one else in America ...this is now true for all companies...not just the newspaper biz.
ReplyDeleteI got a snail mail 401K satement recently. It prompted me to get online and create a username and password so I could see results more quickly. Shouldn't have done that. In the time it took me to get the printed statement and the time I logged on, my 401K had tanked more than 6,000 bucks. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteSnail Mail is like the Newspaper. Behind the times.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is the fastest way to get all your information. Unless the power is out. LOL
7:57 — That's when you turn on your battery-powered radio.
ReplyDeleteTRY SETTING UP a Self-Directed 401K (through Hewitt) and go to MoneyWatch.com; MoneyNews.com; FinancialArmageddon.com and get books (real & online) on investing LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Everyone will have to get smarter over the next 10+years about money.
ReplyDeleteWarren Buffetts's favorite book on Stock Valuation was written in 1933 or 34, in the depths of the Great Depression. He build his fortune on the simple principles contained within it.
DON'T listen to mutual fund salesmen or insurance salesmen, take more control over your investments. Line from Movie Wall Street; Gekko said, "you wanna know why fund managers can't beat the S&P 500....because their sheep, and sheep get slaughtered." Don't be one of the Sheep.
I did and my 401K is up 34% over the last 12 months. My trading account is up approximately 298% over the last 8 weeks (that's right UP 298%). I'm a low-level blue-collar worker....anyone can learn.
Good Luck
Buffett's favorite book is: SECURITY ANALYSIS - 1934 by Benjamin Graham.
ReplyDeleteQuote:
ReplyDeleteBe greedy when people are fearful, and be fearful when people are greedy.
W.Buffett
GOOD Quote 9.29.
ReplyDelete"It's Not What You Look At, It's What You SEE."
Henry David Thoreau
My point in saying people should not be sheep is that if more of "Us" (Americans) paid attention to our personal, corporate & Governmental borrowing orgy over the last 25 years, we would not have gotten to such a horrible point.
Now we have to go through a Trecherous Debt-Withdrawal that will(has been) destroy(ing) the uninformed's concepts of the United States & the world.
Hang on everyone....we're living through History. I just wish I could observe it from Space.
Has anyone else read today's AP story on Dean Singleton and his thoughts on outsourcing?
ReplyDeletehttp://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081020/medianews_outsourcing.html?.v=2
"Singleton said sending copyediting and design jobs overseas may even be called for.
"One thing we're exploring is having one news desk for all of our newspapers in MediaNews ... maybe even offshore," he said during the speech.
Other publishers also have consolidated newsroom functions this year. Two Florida papers owned by The New York Times Co. said in August they were merging news and copy desk functions, design, layout and pagination. The McClatchy Co. papers in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., are sharing sports and political reporting staff.
But few have sent newsroom functions overseas, limiting off-shoring mostly to ad production and other non-editorial functions, said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell Inc."
I would strongly urge folks to think twice before you simply react to what's happening to the market right now. I know it's hard to see the savings dropping like a rock. But if you've got your money in an aggressive fund, you're better off in the long term just sitting still. The stock market isn't a short-term, get-rich-quick situation and people keep forgetting that. If you're closer to retirement, it's different, but if you're like me, in your 40s, you have a long way to go yet.
ReplyDeleteI haven't looked at mine. No reason to. I know that regardless of what the numbers say at this moment, I'm not going to move money around because then the losses are locked in.
Oops. Someone already has (sorry, kzandra!)
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the AP article and thinking that Gannett has to be at least looking at outsourcing, my question is would that actually be a smart move on its part, or another desperate move to save money by doing something (again) that ultimately will fail?
Regarding newspaper stops... I think when a subscriber says: "Can't Afford" what they REALLY mean is... "Can't Afford.. this." People will pay for what they value. They "can't afford" a subscription to a newspaper that is no longer relevent in their community, or is so "corporate entrenched" that it no longer has any populist or investigatory arm at all.... in other words.... people can't afford a BORING newspaper.
ReplyDelete10:39
ReplyDeleteThat is dead on. Why can't people see it for what it is.
Gannett thinks outsourcing is saving them money? Think again. As a head of a Creative Department I can tell you first hand that it is far from saving money. The work is half ass and never timely.
ReplyDeleteAt 2adpro, it costs $20-$30 per ad depending on the amount of photos in it. It would make sense to send all the full page auto and realestate ads but we cant do that because they cant handle anything this big. It comes back horrible and has to be rebuilt in house or it doesnt come back until very late that day. By then its too late for the customer to proof it. So, we are forced to send small 2x3 and 3x5 ads just to make the numbers that Gannett is expecting us to send monthly, per their contract with 2adpro. This makes no sense to send a 2x3 and pay $20 for one ad. My artist onsite can build five 2x3 ads (or more) in an hour and they only make $14per hour. So, tell me how this is saving Gannett money?
Back to the original question. I got laid off from this outstanding corporation and watched my 401K tank by $86k, or 41%, over the next few weeks. The only good thing that I did after the layoff is sell off all the Gannett shares in the 401k. If only I had thought to move it all to a simple bond fund.... I'd be much better off.
ReplyDeleteIn todays world every full time position that be be eliminated has an immediate effect in payroll and benefit savings to the organization and a longer term effect in employee legacy expense, such as retirement benefits, medical care and the potential for injury on the job etc. Basically every employee is a risk to the organization and the fewer the employees the less the risk.
ReplyDeleteCNBC said today (around 11:45 a.m. EDT) that Gannett in such sad shape because of the advertisement collapse that it will have to cut or suspend its dividend. Analysts are not seeing a turnaround in ads for at least two years.
ReplyDeleteGCI stock continues to tank, sank through $11 to $10 and still falling.
DEAR 10:20 - Personally I did not "React" to the Market, the reason why my 401k is UP 34%+ for the last year and my trading account is UP 298%+ in 8 weeks is because I ANTICIPATED the Markets deterioration on the unwinding of our total U.S. Debt of $42+ Trillion.
ReplyDeleteIt is late for inexperienced/unknowledgeable person to move their investments in this Economic Maelstrom. However, for the future, it is imperative that everyone from school age children to older adults LEARN about finance, economics & HISTORY.
Palm Beach shuts down printing; moves operation to Ft. Lauderdale paper:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2008/10/21/1021pbni.html
McClatchey announced today Sept numbers down 19.9 percent.
ReplyDeleteNY Times and Gannett both reporting this week following bad news from McClatchey and Media General.
We need a simple tutoring session on how idiots like me can make better decisions with their 401k plans.
ReplyDeleteSeriously.
Wouldn't that be useful for a lot of people?
The Journal News started shipping department responsibilities to other papers--for example accounting went to Ithaca--This is all part of their scheme to rename the papers with some sort of Hud in it. The Journal News is now "LoHud" Poughkeepsie will be Up Hud." etc, etc...And the only one reading the paper will be Elmer Fudd.
ReplyDeleteTodd....your small time comments are getting old. you obviously have no life and no love. You sound like you are desperate for attention. its getting embarrassing.
ReplyDelete11:35 AM
ReplyDeleteYa want to talk real risk, take a look a past post that says how much a few people will get when they leave either voluntarily or involuntarily. That's where the big bucks are.
@ 2:38, Don't you have to get back to the INFORMATION CENTER to post a two line NEWS UPDATE on how the Antique Show at the town center is going?
ReplyDeleteHas anyone really though about just how ridiculous it is for a news company to write press releases, bragging about how they're coordinating and collaborating all over the place to produce and bring you deeper and richer advertisements? Think about it. You'll laugh too. When was the last time you heard a news consumer complain and tell you they want to see more ads online?
ReplyDeleteTV stations push programming on consumers, not commercials. Now what would make news organizations think that news readers give two hoots about commercials (or ads)?
the most IRRITATING thing ON earth may be the random throwing in of UPPER case letters to denote emphasis that only THE author understands. Perhaps #2 is extra. punctuation. or instead. AVOIDING punctuation at all is the best way to get all YOUR important THOUGHTS out before YOU forget THEM.
ReplyDeleteThere. I just avoided beating a copy editor for release. Thank you for your indulgence.
Anon 2:38---Like I said before you're obviously one of the laceys that Gannett has chosen to run their ship. I have to say that you are doing famously.All the pain this company is presently experiencing they deserve. Not the people who have put years and years of blood , sweat and tears into their jobs---but the Corporate jokes and the management at the local level. I can only speak for the Journal ( LoHud) News--and their management is atrocious with a product that is laughable.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way Anon 2:38---If you don't like to read the truth--don't read my comments in the days to come. All the JN Management will be brought to the cleaners.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTodd, I feel like you are toying with us. If you have something to say - say it. What gives?
ReplyDeleteTodd, a lot of people on this blog are about to be laid off. You are immature, a coward, and a low life. So go away and let us deal with real issues and real life fears.
ReplyDeleteManagement is not hurt be any of this...only the workers, so all your comments do is shine a light on your own evil spirit and rudeness. your parents did not raise you right. period. You are an irritant. Going after people personally behind a cloak is cowardly and makes you look like the loser you are.
I am not management but I'm tired of the garbage you scatter around this blog. I am a blue collar guy who fears losing my job and come here for information. Not personal attacks because you were fired. I am certain you deserved it.
Normally this blog is a fairly reliable source of what's about to go down, but lately it is just nasty and not much substance. The Boy Named Sue, not withstanding.
ReplyDelete10:02 We are all waiting for the shoe to drop. We now know it is coming, but we don't yet know when and quite where.
ReplyDelete8:35 Now ain't that the pot calling the kettle black? Just remember: we all have a voice here in this blog site! Only thing I want to know is how actual names got mentioned instead of simple job titles in 4:54's staement. Whenever names get mentioned at any of our sites in our state, our entry won't get posted or it gets taken down. If we are free to name names now, great, we'll have at it, too!
ReplyDeleteI just deleted a comment that constituted a personal attack on an individual identified by name. Please don't do that.
ReplyDelete10:02.."The boy named sue, not withstanding" What does that mean??
ReplyDelete10:02 says ...
ReplyDeleteBoy Named Sue is the name of a famous Johnny Cash song.
I was using it to refer to the anonymous poster who earlier told us that Dubow had said at a site visit that there would be layoffs by Christmas. The poster was anonymous but then wrote "You can call me Sue.''