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smithphoto

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"Up to 1,700 workers at struggling photographic chain Jessops face a black and white choice of going part-time or losing their job.

Bosses announced a drastic shake-up of staffing as they battle to save the business from collapse.

Currently 90 per cent of store staff are full-time which, the firm argues, has meant too many workers on at quiet times and not enough when it is hectic.

Instead it wants to have more part-timers - perhaps up to 90 per cent - to cover busy periods.


To achieve it, full-timers will be asked to cut their hours - and pay. Those who refuse face the boot. Chief executive David Adams told Your Money: "This is a huge change. There will be a lot of pain but there is no other option."

Adams, who joined in 2007, slammed pervious management for expanding too quickly.

Since joining he has closed stores - another 21 have shut since February with the loss of 80 jobs - and axed 250 head office workers. But things have worsened with losses of £5.9m in the six months to the end of March, up from £2.9m the same time last year, with sales down another 4.5 per cent.

Bosses admit failure to renegotiate a £60m debt with HSBC could see the firm go under"
 
foodpoison said:
I bet he doesn't take a f'ing pay-cut though.
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No, I'm afraid these people don't. The last place I worked at, after there were loads of redundancies, the managers still received company cars and new office furniture.
 
I work at jessops for 6 hours on a Sunday running the lab! Yep, one day a week, and have just been told that they still want to reduce that by half!! I live 15 miles away from my branch, so now it's not even worth going in once you take off petrol costs.
 
I really don't know why I haven't quit yet and gone to work in sainsburies.

£6.80 an hour, decent kitchen area and staff room, over time, no pressure to sell waste-of-money insurance, and employees treated with a moderate amount of respect by higher ups and customers!
 
foodpoison said:
As I said, I doubt they'll actually hire anyone.
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Why are they advertising on the front page of the site then? I'll bet they will be hiring, they need to replace any staff who won't go part time and each store will need twice as many staff if they halve the hours...
 
Cant be all bad news, maybe they will start selling more stuff on the cheap :)

But for you lot who work there, It really must be hard, all this loss in wage and hours must easy affect you photography side of your life as well as you day to day things.
 
It does'nt really make a great deal of difference to me. As I mentioned before, I only work there one day a week, so what money I earn is really just pocket money. For me I enjoy it because I get to chat to like minded people, and the staff discount of course!
But I do feel for some of the staff. After the Assistant Managers going, they expected the next in line (Mr full timer) to step in the shoes of the AM, responsibilities and all.
Why does'nt someone at jessops hq realise that the whole Jessops work model is'nt working. They need to start specialising again, selling used equipment, serving the photographer instead of joe public... after all, they can go to Boots!
 
Not good - sounds like they are on a downward spiral.
 
if the prices matched other local shops first hand and not having to negotiate and haggle for price matching then maybe peopel would go there buy and not have to go to internet shops.


i would rather do face to face trade than internet. but over the years the reputation and abilities have been poor.

only the last two times i have been in has the service been any use.

Carlisle and newcastle branches appear to have some staff now that know what they are talking about and prepared to assit not talk down to you about things they had no idea about.

so drop the price and not on top end prices that there is never any stock of, this may get peopel back to the shops.
 
hotchef23 said:
if the prices matched other local shops first hand and not having to negotiate and haggle for price matching then maybe peopel would go there buy and not have to go to internet shops.


i would rather do face to face trade than internet. but over the years the reputation and abilities have been poor.

only the last two times i have been in has the service been any use.

Carlisle and newcastle branches appear to have some staff now that know what they are talking about and prepared to assit not talk down to you about things they had no idea about.

so drop the price and not on top end prices that there is never any stock of, this may get peopel back to the shops.
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They do and have always matched prices locally,the only criteria is as long as the item you want matching is in stock at the other shop, and it is within a 10 mile radius, then there is no problem matching prices.
On a personal level though, if I saw an item cheaper in another store, I would'nt particularly want the hassle of going back into jessops to see whether or not they would match the price the other retailer has it on offer for, i'd just buy it!
Also dropping prices is just not an option these days. Don't forget all of the major players have increased their prices. How can you expect Jessops with their store network and overheads to drop prices further. They would be selling at no profit at all.
 
hands up who's waiting for them to go under so they can buy equipment on the cheap :)
 
Remember, these are peoples jobs and livelyhoods you're joking about Buckas
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Why are they advertising on the front page of the site then? I'll bet they will be hiring, they need to replace any staff who won't go part time and each store will need twice as many staff if they halve the hours...
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If they halve the hours, why would they hire twice as many staff?
Surely they are trying to cut costs?

3 people during the week, with 2 part timers on a saturday and 3 people on a sunday.

They only need 2 full timers per store. Say they work monday to friday - 2 days off a week.
Then a 6 hour contract guy monday to friday.
On saturday, 2 whole day guys, 2 others on 5 hour contracts. One to start at 9:30, one to start at 10:30 and the other at 11:30 so they're staggered and cover the busiest portions of the day.
On the sunday, the 2 whole day guys work as they did on the saturday, and get another guy in to cover lunches and busy sales periods.
 
buckas said:
hands up who's waiting for them to go under so they can buy equipment on the cheap :)
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The last time, when they closed the 81 stores, it was an entirely separate company (I forget the name) that handled the sale,goods bought in the "sale" shops could only be returned to the brach where they were purchased, not to other Jessops stores....

As FP points out, most of Jessops inventory is on SoR anyway, so it will just return to the suppliers.

foodpoison said:
If they halve the hours, why would they hire twice as many staff?
Surely they are trying to cut costs?

3 people during the week, with 5 part timers on a saturday and 3 people on a sunday.

They only need 2 full timers per store. Say they work monday to friday - 2 days off a week.
Then a 6 hour contract guy monday to friday.
On saturday, 2 whole day guys, 3 others on 5 hour contracts. One to start at 9:30, one to start at 10:30 and the other at 11:30 so they're staggered and cover the busiest portions of the day.
On the sunday, the 2 whole day guys work as they did on the saturday, and get another guy in to cover lunches and busy sales periods.
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Because part time workers don't have to get paid lunchbreaks, or holiday pay, or sickpay - that's why Sainsbury's work that way - saves them a fortune compared with employing full time staff.
 
smithphoto said:
They do and have always matched prices locally,the only criteria is as long as the item you want matching is in stock at the other shop, and it is within a 10 mile radius, then there is no problem matching prices.
On a personal level though, if I saw an item cheaper in another store, I would'nt particularly want the hassle of going back into jessops to see whether or not they would match the price the other retailer has it on offer for, i'd just buy it!
Also dropping prices is just not an option these days. Don't forget all of the major players have increased their prices. How can you expect Jessops with their store network and overheads to drop prices further. They would be selling at no profit at all.
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i think you will find that is what i said about if the price was as others i wouldnt have to go else where.

as for prices how can others do the prices that tthey are then, check camera price buster and jessops can be £200 more than an independant shop price on some lenses. so i dont think the price rise can be blamed for that.

with the buying power that they once did have they should of been able to wipe the market but no went for as much profit as possible, which to share holders is a requirment but in this current climate i think share holders would prefer a shop than paper only fit to wipe yur arse on that were the share certificates
 
Flash In The Pan said:
The last time, when they closed the 81 stores, it was an entirely separate company (I forget the name) that handled the sale,goods bought in the "sale" shops could only be returned to the brach where they were purchased, not to other Jessops stores....

As FP points out, most of Jessops inventory is on SoR anyway, so it will just return to the suppliers.



Because part time workers don't have to get paid lunchbreaks, or holiday pay, or sickpay - that's why Sainsbury's work that way - saves them a fortune compared with employing full time staff.
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No, they don't, but in Jessops contract of employment, they do.
 
Advertising and Media Communication.
It's a HND, so a more vocational course, with a massive scope for things you can do.

It's a 2 year course, at £1000 less than a ba(Hons), but then I can do a 3rd year top up course in Integrated Promotional Media for £3000 and come out with a HND and a degree!
 
hotchef23 said:
i think you will find that is what i said about if the price was as others i wouldnt have to go else where.

as for prices how can others do the prices that tthey are then, check camera price buster and jessops can be £200 more than an independant shop price on some lenses. so i dont think the price rise can be blamed for that.

with the buying power that they once did have they should of been able to wipe the market but no went for as much profit as possible, which to share holders is a requirment but in this current climate i think share holders would prefer a shop than paper only fit to wipe yur arse on that were the share certificates
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I said that jessops match prices locally within a 10 mile radius. I am not sure where you are from hotchef, or whether any of the retailers listed on camera price buster selling the lens you mentioned, fall within that criteria. But the retailer doing that offer needs to be within the 10 mile radius of the jessops store you are purchasing from, and excludes web orders.
You will find as far as profit making is concerned, the web only companies are actually making more money out of you as their overheads are lower in comparison to jessops. You don't need 5 or 6 staff to man phones or process internet orders, where as in a store with physical footflow, the store needs to be constantly manned.
I cannot respond to your last paragraph regarding the share holders as I cannot understand your gramma?!
 
foodpoison said:
Advertising and Media Communication.
It's a HND, so a more vocational course, with a massive scope for things you can do.

It's a 2 year course, at £1000 less than a ba(Hons), but then I can do a 3rd year top up course in Integrated Promotional Media for £3000 and come out with a HND and a degree!
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That's the smart way to do it,if you need any help with the theory work, let me know,for my sins I did Marketing :bang:
 
smithphoto said:
Remember, these are peoples jobs and livelyhoods you're joking about Buckas
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pipe down pup- read again what i said, i didn't say anything about the workers

far as i see, jessops are in this mess as they've been overpricing everything for years - i mean MEGA overpriced compared to other shops, which i why 9 times out of ten i went elsewhere

in stores, fair enough as there's more overheads but even their online shop has things hundreds of pounds more than their competion companies WE/dcc etc
 
Buckas, it's all the same company.
Hence why their prices are similar online as they are offline. :thinking:

And no you didn't say anything about the workers.

But don't blame your ignorance for your rudeness.

You said you want Jessops to go under for the sole purpose of personal gain, clearly ignoring the thousands of people who rely on Jessops as their only income.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Because part time workers don't have to get paid lunchbreaks, or holiday pay, or sickpay - that's why Sainsbury's work that way - saves them a fortune compared with employing full time staff.
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I thought the law had been changed and that part-time staff were now entitled to holidays with pay and sickpay? :shake:
 
i think they should put jessops in the hands of people like foodpoison who work there and have an actual passion for photography, if we photographers owned it then we can cut the prices instead of people.
 
mastertrinity said:
i think they should put jessops in the hands of people like foodpoison who work there and have an actual passion for photography, if we photographers owned it then we can cut the prices instead of people.
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If photographers owned it it would contain a wide variety of photographic equipment, not just a myriad of different compacts
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
If photographers owned it it would contain a wide variety of photographic equipment, not just a myriad of different compacts
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If photographers owned it, it would be in even worse trouble. It's need to be run by businessmen, obviously better than the current ones :P

They had two stores in Basingstoke for years, I never quite understood why. No other company felt the need to have two locations in one small town centre. Commercial suicide.
 
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