GM's Comeback Plan?

[FastRam]

If price is all that is important to you, by all means you should buy on the web or on eBay or wherever is the cheapest. I certainly do when service is not important to me on an item. But like I tell my customers who buy huge flags (IE 30' X 60', 40' X 70') from me every day that yeah, they can get them cheaper on the web and next time they need someone to come over in a friggin ice storm, or when the remnants of a hurricane are coming, to take their flag down then risk life and limb to come and put it back up in the middle of the night after the storm passes, call them guys 2,000 miles away that shipped the flag to them and have them come do it...

It all depends on perspective, and objective at the end of the day.

Steve, I agree with ya there. For the past 14 years, my Chevy dealer has serviced and repaired my truck, even simple stuff, oil changes, filters, you name it. Their service is always top notch. They fit me in on short notice and if a problem ever arose, it was taken care of no questions asked. But this time around the price just didn't seem in line with what had to be done. Even my friend who has been working on my truck at the dealer (for the past 14 years) chimed in on why their prices were so high. All we got back were shrugged shoulders and smirks.

 

[Texas Yellow Fever]

I never owned a business and never ran a retail business. However, I was part of a team that managed and operated a small minority owned design/build construction business. Our goal was to keep overhead expenses to a minimum in order to maximize profit. If we went above 10% OH, vice total revenue, we deemed ourselves an inefficient operation that was not meeting corporate performance measures. Granted a construction D/B firm is worlds away from an auto dealer but efficiency goals for operations should apply to both business sectors. I for one don't like to see businesses, any of them, go south. That means people are out of work and that's not good.

I understand management 101 better than most. For 25 years I was part of a management team that ran a company that grew to 80,000 employees. It did not prepare me for the retail world. Like I said, if you get a chance to run a retail enterprise, you'll understand. Until then, it's all therory and opinion.

 

[FastRam]

I understand management 101 better than most. For 25 years I was part of a management team that ran a company that grew to 80,000 employees. It did not prepare me for the retail world. Like I said, if you get a chance to run a retail enterprise, you'll understand. Until then, it's all therory and opinion.

Maybe someday I'll get the opportunity to run a retail enterprise. :dontknow: Who knows. But for now, I'll stay with my chosen career path -- it pays the bills