Just curious to see how many people have been directly effected by the economy so far yourself or you spouse.  Shortened hours, layoff, shutdowns, etc...

They laid off 125 floor workers and about 30 in the office where I work a month ago.  STORY

We found out yesterday that they will be closing our plant for a month in two weeks.  From March 16th - April 10th.  STORY

Unfortunately I have a really bad feeling that it won't be the end of it for us. 

I work for Pella Corporation in Pella. I have been affected by it more than i realized. our hours have been cut back was working a steady 40 then down to 28. we have no second shift production anymore at our Pella site. We have offered early retirement incentive programs, and separation incentives, and voluntary layoffs. the most recent thing has been a rotating layoff. each line is split up in about 5 to 6 teams, each week one team is off and is eligable for unemployment. untill this past week my fiance and i haven't changed our spending habits. we just realized how fast our accounts got depleated, and mainly on the new fishtank haha. but i'm being optomistic about it all. The financial problems we are having anymore are because people wont spend or invest, so i'm doing my part to help the economy and spending all i have and staying broke :)

I've been super lucky so far. The company I work for schedules so many projects in advance we have work for at least 18 months with alot of work being bid. Hopfully they will keep us busy, they've suspended hiring and offered us more hours if we need them so it's nice to know they care alittle.

My wife has been laid off for about a month she is 7 months pregnant so she is enjoying the time off. She is receiving unemployment.

i work at international paper in waterloo and we have had fridays off for over a month,but the company has atleast offered cleanup on fridays to get your hours in.

Me and my girlfriend work at whirlpool in amana, and after 8 years we had to go back to 2nd shift due to layoffs. Now they have had talk about shutting down 2nd shift all together. Plus we have been having down time about 3-4 days a month. I so hope this gets turned around for everyone soon.

taavis i worked out at amana along with a lot of pople I know. What line do you work on

We've been busier than usual since this "depression". In fact in the last month alone we've hired about 10 guys and more to come.

Posted By REEFer Madness on 02/27/2009 01:00 PM
We've been busier than usual since this "depression". In fact in the last month alone we've hired about 10 guys and more to come.

So what business are you in?  Debt collection? 

ha ha no.   I work with railroad tank cars.   I get inside them and line the rubber.   B-Rad uses a huge water gun to blast the rubber off and I put in new rubbing lining in them for acid cars.

We worked 3 Saturdays in a row last month and a lot of us have been working 10 hr days.   40% of our company was bought by Warren Buffet and they are trying to impress him with pumping out more cars than before so he'll buy the rest of the company.

Interesting...I had no idea that they were made in this area. It's pretty cool to hear about the variety of products that are made in the state.

--AJ

We are busier then ever. People arent buying new cars, they are fixing the ones they have.

I suppose they don't need a new car when they don't have a job to drive to!

There was a whole program dedicated to that on NPR a few weeks ago, Craig. It's not so much a "new car", but if it comes down to 1,700 to fix the car they have or just scrap and get a used one for 3 grand, now they don't have the choice and need to fix the car the own now.

I bet you've been seeing some repairs that normally would have ended the vehicles life or be sold a few years before.

we are slow. i work for United van lines, moving stuff

Not many people buying new homes but we did deliver about 23,000 cases of girl scout cookies last week

Wow! That's a whole lot of Thin Mints and Carmel Delights

yea, too many that I gett sick of just smelling the mint and looking at them that I havent ate one in like 2 1/2 years

I have just been "Effected", we found out today my company is closing at the end of this month. I'm actually pretty excited about it as I will be able to collect unemployment for 18 months. Thats 18 months of hanging out with mydaughter and watching her grow. I'm also considering going back to school to further my education.

Sorry to hear about that...sounds like you're making the most of it. I hope it doesn't impact you too bad. You'll get lots more time to work on your glass and sell frags! With your company closing, doesn't that make you eligible for government grants to help pay for your education?

--AJ

Posted By Waverz on 03/04/2009 02:57 PM
I have just been "Effected", we found out today my company is closing at the end of this month. I'm actually pretty excited about it as I will be able to collect unemployment for 18 months. Thats 18 months of hanging out with mydaughter and watching her grow. I'm also considering going back to school to further my education.

That sucks man, but at least if they're going to close the doors you can pretty much go back to school on the government.  See you in line at the unemployment office!