Introduction
Picture this...You are driving home from work and want to stop at the grocery store. What are your choices? Before you make your decision, let’s think back to 20 years before. At that time what were your choices for grocery shopping? Well, first off there is Publix, Walmart, Albertson, Kash n Karry, Food Lion, Save-A-Lot and Winn-Dixie. These are your grocery chain choices, but don't forget all of the small mom-and-pop choices around town. So now fast forward back into the present and check out your choices now. It's the year 2008 and you need to stop for groceries. What are your choices from your list 20 years ago: Publix, Walmart, Winn-Dixie and Save-A-Lot. Look at how your list has been cut in half. Most of the stores on your original list are gone and consider how many unknowns have left us as well. So, the business market is competitive and closed it in. Your choices are narrowed down to where you spend your money and many people have lost their jobs as all these businesses are closed. So, what we are going to explore here is the recent buyout of Albertson stores by Publix. This was a big shock to many people, especially the employees. In the following text, I am going to inform you of the feelings, emotions, and thoughts of previous Albertsons employees, a side that has not been seen yet. It seems that people talk to the corporate level employees of both Publix and Albertsons, but honestly, for me, I do not care about what they have to say. I want to hear from the store level employees. They are the ones that matter here, in my opinion, and they are the ones who never get their voices heard. So here we will hear what the so called "little people" have to say about this major change in their life.
Background
Many are probably wondering why I have chosen such an obscure topic for my study and the answer would be that I used to work for Albertsons myself that is until my store closed 4 weeks ago. So, this topic is still fresh on my mind and I feel that the people who lost their jobs should be heard from. For a little background knowledge before we start, I have been involved with Albertsons my entire life. So, I in a way almost grew up at Albertsons. I accompanied my mom to work many times when I was younger and was a known face by the employees at the store. My mom worked there for 23 years, working in my different positions and management levels. She left four years ago when there were no more opportunities for her there. Before she left I began working there with her. It was an easy job to obtain, I told the manager I needed a job and I was hired. So many of those faces I grew up knowing, I now was working with them. It was a great place to work and even after she left I still enjoyed working there, although like any job there were bad times, but all in all it was a good job. I ended up meeting many amazing people and creating lifelong friendships with many of my co-workers.
Purpose
With this in mind, you can only imagine the anger that encompassed us all upon finding out we would no longer be working together and the fact we were losing our jobs. One thing that you must understand is that many of the emotions felt by the employees involved the idea that we would not be working together any more. For our store in particular, the employees had formed a family at the store. We were all close and enjoyed working with each other that is not to say that we did not have our bad moments because like all families we had disagreements, but in the end we were glad to be working together. So leaving our family behind we all moved on and have left each other, just in the workplace though. Most of us are keeping in touch the best we can, but it is nothing like working together. So now that you have an idea of the closeness of our store, think about the sentiment of leaving these people combined with losing your job, because that is the central focus here, job loss, but our emotions involved both of these aspects.
Cashier Interview
Now that you know the background to why I want to approach this topic let’s talk to some of the employees. The first interview I conducted was with a cashier who had been there for 3 years named Jessica. This job was a job she held through high school and had planned to use it while attending college. One thing to mention about Albertsons is their willingness to work with school schedules. It was ideal for a student, whether high school or college, to work there because they would completely work with your schedule for school and school activities. As for Publix, many of us that were students were not able to get a full time position which we need, because we were students and they refused to work with your schedule. Most of us were already taking pay cuts and then they were going to cut our hours as well, just because we were students, and this is the case with Jessica. So let’s hear what Jessica has to say. So I started out asking about her feelings to pull some emotion from her, “How do you feel about the transition from Albertson's to Publix?” (A side note on Jessica’s responses, her anger from this situation seems to have made her answers include some sarcasm, which to me I feel that it emphasizes the anger and point of this study.) “I feel the transition from Albertsons to Publix may have been an okay move for Publix now, but may be a bad move in the future. Why it may be a bad move is because our economy is so low right now people are going for the cheapest possible and are not shopping as much as normal. But most of all I feel that it was a crappy move on all the Albertsons employees because Publix doesn't care about whether they have a job in the future, all they care about is how they will be able to make the most money possible out of this buy.” Now I felt like we should talk about her thoughts about it. “Why do you think that Publix bought Albertson's?” “To buy out the competition, Albertsons was Publix's competition besides Wal-Mart. That is one of the reasons they went for Albertsons, sales wise, Albertsons was the one giving them a run for their money. They just want to try and be the only grocery store out there.” “As an Albertson's employee, do you think that this was something coming for some time?” “I thought we were most likely going to go bankrupt but not bought out. I also didn't think it would have happened while I was still employed there, I thought it would have been farther in the future.” “How did you feel in 2005 when the company was sold to Cerebus Capital?” “Eh I didn't really care as long as I still had a job.” “Does it upset you that you invested time into a company that is now gone? Why? “Yes, it does upset me, I worked hard to stay with this company and show my future employers that I am a stable and hard working employee. But, now I have to start all over, at minimum wage, in a new environment with new co- workers. It is not fun.” “Do you think that Publix made a good move?” “Ha! It will be only if our economy comes out of recession. That's my opinion. There is going to be so many Publix's I don't feel they all will last that long.” “How do you think Publix will use this to their advantage?” “There will be fewer grocery stores to shop at.” “Do you think Publix will be successful with this move?” “Maybe.” “As an Albertson's employee, what do you think about the process of Publix hiring Albertsons associates?” “Ha! That's a joke right. First I don't even think my interview counted and that they really took the time to review every employee. Plus they hardly hired Albertsons employees. I think it was a joke.” “Do you think the severance plan is fair?” “Ha! Another joke right. I haven't even heard anything about my severance and I worked for the company for three years plus.” “If you were offered a job by Publix, how do you feel about the offer that was made to you?” “No offer!” “ Do you think that Publix will keep open most Albertsons? If so, how do you suspect they will do this considering the close proximity of the stores?” “Yes I believe all will stay open, one being a Greenwise the other being a normal one.” “Do you think morally that this changeover is something that should have happened?” “NO! People need variety and choices. Now we have fewer and more expensive ones.” “With the state of the economy, do you think that Publix should have done this to the Albertsons employees?” “No they shouldn't have, will the job market at its lowest in years, almost have the employees will not find a job and will be unemployed.” “How do you think the way that Publix has handled hiring of Albertsons employees reflect their commitment to families and represent them as a company?” “Well before Publix used to be a family kind of store. It used to be closed on Sundays and closed on most holidays, but not since the money hungry company overlooked their old views. They are now open on Sundays and some holidays. Also for the Albertsons employees, yea they didn't really care, because half those employees had families to support and now they are out of a job and looking for jobs that aren't even out there. Thanks Publix!”
As you can see after hearing from Jessica there is some slight resentment towards Publix as an Albertsons employee. This is the general attitude of Albertsons employees and feelings of them as well. As for Jessica I agree with her feelings completely, Publix has royally screwed many families. One thing about Albertsons is that there were a lot of husbands and wives, sons and daughters, and many other family members employed there. Now all of these people who have families to support are at a loss because there is nowhere to go. Jessica is right, jobs are few to be found and with so many people with the same experience, looking for the same type of job, there is nothing for them to find. Many outside people think that they can just depend on their severance until they get a job, well there are two distinct factors concerning that idea. First, as Jessica stated, many do not know when they will get severance and IF they will get it. Second, severance only lasts so long, they still have to find a job IF they can! Therefore now you have both parents out of a job left to take care of their families. I would also like to put this out there…I know that this is just not something that has happened to Albertsons employees, that it happens all over all the time to other people, so I am not discrediting all the other unemployed people searching for jobs, I just want to focus on something close to me and that consequently involves me as well. With that said, let us hear from another point of view.
Manager Interview
This next interview is of a manager at Albertsons who has four kids to support. I jumped right in with him hoping to get a different perspective on this situation. “How do you feel about the transition from Albertson's to Publix?” “I feel like it is a setback on the my pay that I have worked very hard to get to in the past 8 years and I feel like I have to prove myself again with a new company. I have to completely start over my career. As for the pay I now have to financial readjust my life with my children because I am losing money.” “Why do you think that Publix bought Albertson's?” “Albertson's was in financial red zone and Publix saw an opportunity to buy Albertson's out and they jumped on it. I think they really did not consider the consequences it would have on many people.” “As an Albertson's employee, do you think that this was something coming for some time?” “Yes for the last five years and it was just a matter of time. Management knew it would happen eventually.” “How did you feel in 2005 when the company was sold to Cerebus Capital?” “ At that time I knew it was time for me to find another job.” “But you didn’t go find another job, why not?” “I looked around and could not find something that was monetarily similar. At the time my children were still young and my wife stayed home to care for them and that is the way I wanted it, so I stayed at the place where that would be possible.” “Does it upset you that you invested time into a company that is now gone? Why?” “Yes I feel like I threw eight years of my life in a company that's now gone. I was progressing with the company nicely and was hoping to move up in the company. Why, because now I feel like I have to prove myself everyday and start over with new people.” “Do you think that Publix made a good move?” “For them, yes. It will make them more money. As for us, no I don’t because so many people are losing their jobs, a job they depended on.” “How do you think Publix will use this to their advantage?” “I feel that they probably will be able to raise their prices since there are less options of where people can shop now. Also, they are expanding their sales by incorporating liquor stores into their company.” “Do you think Publix will be successful with this move?” “I think they will be very successful but from Albertsons customers that I have spoken with, they said they will not shop there. So it seems to me that maybe the loyal Albertsons customers will not help them be successful.” “As an Albertson's employee, what do you think about the process of Publix hiring Albertsons associates?” “Publix was able to hand pick Albertson's employees. They got exactly what and who they wanted, by not taking on all associates as part of the buyout, even though they will need even more people than Albertsons employed to run the stores. This was just another part that made this deal unreasonable and unfair.” “With the state of the economy, do you think that Publix should have done this to the Albertsons employees?” “I feel that Publix dealt Albertson's employees a bad hand and really did nothing to try and help them out. I have a feeling that mainly for management, the ones that were taken on by Publix, will not last working there. Not that they cannot perform, but I think Publix will let them go because they only took them to make it look like they were trying to help the employees out and not give the public a bad image of themselves.” “How do you think the way that Publix has handled hiring of Albertsons employees reflect their commitment to families and represent them as a company?” Publix left a bad taste in most of Albertson's employees mouth, which, if they were hired by Publix they probably will not give Publix 100%. But like I said before, I feel that they only took on the employees that they did to protect their image to the public, because if they didn’t it would be a big deal in the press and people would think badly of them.”
After talking with Greg I thought about the many conversations I have had in the past with my managers. There were two that I was pretty close to and we casually talked several times about Albertsons future or it just kind of came up in conversation. At one point a few years ago I was talking to our grocery manager. We were discussing the recent buyout of Albertsons by Cerebus and that he did not trust Albertsons future. There was no way of knowing that each day you would have a job. I was fascinated with his uncertainty. I have always found our managers to be gung-ho Albertsons people, where Albertsons is the way to go, but here I witnessed the personal side of a manager. He did not trust the company because of his family. He had a family to care for and Albertsons now was not something he could count on. He then informed me how he pays all of his bills a month in advance, so that if one day he walks in and doesn’t have a job, at least he will have a month of bills taken care of and he won’t have to worry about that. I was surprised about his action to support his insecurity in his job. It made me doubt whether or not staying was a good idea, and actually this came to be a thought for many. A few employees actually left the company because of their ambiguity with staying. Another time speaking with our drug manager in casual conversation I discovered his uncertainty with Albertsons as well. This was about a year and a half ago and he had to leave his truck because he could not get it to work. This was not the first time he had trouble with it so I asked him why he doesn’t just buy a new truck so he did not have to deal with the problematic one he had now. His response was that he knows the second he buys that new truck with those new car payments attached to it, that something will happen to Albertsons and he will not be able to make the payments. I again, even years later, was surprised about another manager’s hesitation about the company. This was another long time employee of the company who had no faith of whether or not he was employed day to day. Although the showing of uncertainty was within our management I decided to stick with it and stay with the company and even though it turned out that I lost my job, I do not regret this decision at all.
Finally, I want to get a long time employee’s point of view. Although her employment at this time was only part time, she still has enough experience to share her feelings on this takeover. The previous people spoken to and even the managers spoken of, their time with the company is not as much as this next person. For the past 6 months she has been working again with the company part time and was able to experience this major turning point in so many people’s lives. Being with Albertsons 23 years before leaving I felt she would be an asset to this study and her reactions to Publix’s big move.
Long Time Employee Interview
This person is my mom and here is how she feels. “How do you feel about the transition from Albertson's to Publix?” “I don't really care at all since I wasn't picked up by Publix.” “Why do you think that Publix bought Albertson's?” “They bought Albertson's because they want to be number one in the market.” “As an Albertson's employee, do you think that this was something coming for some time?” “ Since I go back as far as 1977 with Albertson's I knew this was coming for years.” “How did you feel in 2005 when the company was sold to Cerebus Capital?” “In 2005 I had already left Albertson's after 23 years so I wasn't too concerned one way or the other. I had left retail and moved on.” “Does it upset you that you invested time into a company that is now gone? Why?” “Yes it does because I go way back. When I started with the company the pay was the best in our area. The insurance offered by Skaggs Albertson's, as it was called back then, was one of the best insurance policies around. To make it even better we didn't have to pay for it. It was paid by the company. We were also given Christmas bonuses, we could get overtime and the hours we worked were not followed to the minute in fear you would have overtime. Over the years we started losing more and more benefits. We had to pay our insurance, which seem to get higher every year. We also lost our Christmas bonus, and overtime was a thing of the past.” “Do you think that Publix made a good move?” “They made a good move for Publix, but shit on the majority of Albertson's employees.” “How do you think Publix will use this to their advantage?” “They are trying to control the food chain market. When all is finished with the Albertson's buy out and remodels, they will start on Sweetbay or Winn-Dixie. Then all they will have to compete with be Super Walmart. Save A Lot is not a threat to Publix.” “Do you think Publix will be successful with this move?” “They will if they keep their prices competitive. If they start raising them they will price themselves maybe not out of business, but it will hurt them when you think of the prices Walmart offers.” “As an Albertson's employee, what do you think about the process of Publix hiring Albertsons associates?” “It was the worst most unfair process I have ever seen. They only offered positions to a few, mostly management, at a fraction of what they were earning with Albertson's. The pretty much shit on everybody else.” “Do you think the severance plan is fair?” “I wouldn't know, I was only working part time so I won't get any. From what I hear some people that thought they were getting severance are not and I've heard talk of getting lawyers to fight Publix.” “If you were offered a job by Publix, how do you feel about the offer that was made to you?” “I was never called with an offer.” “Do you think that Publix will keep open most Albertsons? If so, how do you suspect they will do this considering the close proximity of the stores?” “I think they will close the older smaller Publix and Albertson's, keeping open the larger stores.” “Do you think morally that this changeover is something that should have happened?” “No I don't. This has put a lot of people out of work. Some that I have known for years with families and roots in Florida. I spoke to two ex-Albertson's store directors today. They were offered such terrible pay they declined the offer and are moving to North Carolina where they have been offered positions with a large food chain.” “With the state of the economy, do you think that Publix should have done this to the Albertsons employees?” “ No, but corporate companies do not think about the little people that keep the stores going, they only think of the money they make.” “How do you think the way that Publix has handled hiring of Albertsons employees reflect their commitment to families and represent them as a company?” “I use to think that Publix cared about families like their television ads have shoved down our throats for years. Family values, core shoppers. Bullshit. They only think about the almighty dollars and how they can screw the little people and make the corporate honchos richer.” After talking with my mom it was evident that she was filled with a fusion of feelings about this takeover. Even after leaving the company she is still angry about this move. Albertsons has been a part of her life for so long. It is now gone and it upsets her to think that the company where she spent most of her life at has just disappeared. She is just one in 5000 who feel this way and for many they are left at loss as to what to do.
Conclusion
It is evident that many Albertsons employees place the blame with Publix, while some say it is the economy and knew it was coming for sometime. As I am writing this conclusion I think about the recent takeover of Wachovia. An interesting thought comes to mind with this, when my mom left Albertsons she went to Southtrust bank, where after a few months it was taken over by Wachovia. Soon after this took place she left for a different bank, but just think if she had stayed she would now be experiencing another company takeover. The point I am trying to make here is that when Southtrust was bought out the employees retained their jobs, but as Publix takes over Albertsons they let their employees go, only taking on a few of them. I wonder why that is? All of these company takeovers makes me feel for the employees there, it is a horrible feeling of losing your job. It is a scary thing when it seems like job security is nonexistent.
Ethnography
Erika
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