Will You Still Support Me Tomorrow?
Posted on | October 27, 2008 at 7:11 am | 1 Comment
So, it’s come to this. Not only are the banks begging for your business (as long as they don’t have to loan you money), but now retailers are trying to get your business by explaining why they think they’ll still be around next year. Heck, Circuit City is talking about possibly closing 150 stores. If I had bought something expensive from them, I would be worried about them sticking around to service and support it.
So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I got an e-mail from the CEO/Founder of Crutchfield (from whom I have bought equipment in the past) explaining that they are in very good shape financially and that you can depend on them to still be around after you’ve made your purchase. (The e-mail is reproduced on the company website here.) It’s very interesting reading. The fact that a company CEO felt the need to send out something like this to their customers says a lot about the economic climate we’re faced with right now. Assuming that he’s being totally upfront, it’s sounds like this is a company that is being run like all companies should be run: We have no debt, a perfect credit rating and a legacy of fiscal prudence. Therefore, we will be around to serve you as we have served millions of customers for the past 34 years and throughout the last four recessions. Wow, that’s really refreshing. My fear is that it’s the exception rather than the rule and that we’re going to see some more storied institutions taking the big dive in the months ahead.
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “great googalie moogalie you are having new mail in your inbox”.
Comments
One Response to “Will You Still Support Me Tomorrow?”
October 27th, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
Our Colorado-based credit union’s homepage now has a reassuring message about their sound financials as well. So my Mom’s $184 is safe.
But as for financials here in Australia, it’s been an interesting week. Apparently the government recently announced a broad guarantee for some kinds of deposits (savings/checking etc, I think) – like the FDIC the U.S. enacted in the 30s – leading to a mad dash of money being pulled out of other kinds of deposits (retirement funds, money markets? not sure) and resulting in some poorly-managed withdrawal freezes. The big question is whether or not anyone saw this coming and sounded the warning. Government officials are disagreeing over who all signed off on the idea, but the opposition party seems to be enjoying themselves…