Is it this bad everywhere?

Pal

mewbie wrote: »

Edit: And, as it took me a while to realise.. you can't actually pluck a peasant.

You can, if they are on your land.

thriftybabe

We are in the middle of it as we are in construction. Will be paying off people before and after xmas and think things are going to get worse once all our contracts end. Lots of friends are in consultation (construction also) but everyone else around us seem to be doing okay. With no mortgage and savings in the bank we should be okay. However, it is absolutely horrible to see what is happening around us. People worrying about mortgages and how long it will take for their savings to deplete if they do not get another job. Hating this right now and hope that it will be short lived although I do not think it will.

fc123

thriftybabe wrote: »

We are in the middle of it as we are in construction. Will be paying off people before and after xmas and think things are going to get worse once all our contracts end. Lots of friends are in consultation (construction also) but everyone else around us seem to be doing okay. With no mortgage and savings in the bank we should be okay. However, it is absolutely horrible to see what is happening around us. People worrying about mortgages and how long it will take for their savings to deplete if they do not get another job. Hating this right now and hope that it will be short lived although I do not think it will.

Hope it goes OK. This whole crunch is not quite working out how I thought it would......chatting about it theoretically and living through it.....2 different things altogether.
Wishing you well.

thriftybabe

fc123 wrote: »

Hope it goes OK. This whole crunch is not quite working out how I thought it would......chatting about it theoretically and living through it.....2 different things altogether.
Wishing you well.

We personally should be okay. We have our finances sorted and have no mortgage. The problem is if companies go bust on us. The other thing is the people that work for us will be getting paid off - some before and some after Xmas. The problem is we have worked with them for years. We know them personally and it is going to be gut wrenching to let them go. They are great workers and it is a shame that things have got to be this way.

My OH reckons things will be okay in about 6 months. Unfortunately I don't. I think things will be bad for at least the next 18 months if not more. I know I am all doom and gloom and hope he is right but I really have my doubts.

lostinrates

Getting a bit close to Chez Lostinrates for my comfort...the below is copied from rollonfriday.com (including the picture; I promise I don't intent to start adding pictures to posts normally)

The London office of US firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has confirmed that it won't be keeping on a single one of its March 2009 qualifiers.

The three trainees were told this week that due to market conditions they would all be asked to leave on qualification. A spokeswoman for the firm stressed that this had nothing whatsoever to do with their performance. She confirmed that another four trainees were due to qualify in September, and while the firm would do its best it couldn't make any promises to them either.

This is shocking news both for the trainees and the firm. It costs a fortune to train new lawyers - on a conservative estimate, Cadwalader's just blown around a million quid in return for nothing but ill will and damage to its own reputation.





A trainee thrown in a skip, yesterday


Meanwhile, there are more and more rumours of redundancies from firms across the UK. In particular, RollOnFriday has been told that:


TLT is making up to nine real estate lawyers redundant;
Travers Smith has made redundancies in corporate and real estate;
Berryman has confirmed that it is making a number of redundancies - RollOnFriday has been told that it has lost twelve people since the start of November;
Salans has confirmed that a small but unspecified number of mortgage conveyancing staff may have their jobs at risk;
Scottish firm Biggart Baillie is looking at making up to 30 people redundant, some 10% of its workforce. While many firms are suffering and it is clearly a tough time for anyone to lose their job, there are also many firms that are actively recruiting -

geoffky

thriftybabe wrote: »

We personally should be okay. We have our finances sorted and have no mortgage. The problem is if companies go bust on us. The other thing is the people that work for us will be getting paid off - some before and some after Xmas. The problem is we have worked with them for years. We know them personally and it is going to be gut wrenching to let them go. They are great workers and it is a shame that things have got to be this way.

My OH reckons things will be okay in about 6 months. Unfortunately I don't. I think things will be bad for at least the next 18 months if not more. I know I am all doom and gloom and hope he is right but I really have my doubts.

you have to get your husband to understand this is going to go on for a long time..drum it into him. beg him. tell him... as this is how i went under last time i thought it would be over in 6 to 12 months and planned that way...i sunk after 11 months....good luck

fc123

geoffky wrote: »

you have to get your husband to understand this is going to go on for a long time..drum it into him. beg him. tell him... as this is how i went under last time i thought it would be over in 6 to 12 months and planned that way...i sunk after 11 months....good luck

Without wanting to be too personal, what did you do? Also, what were the 'errors' (if any) that you made, that now, with hinsight, you wouldn't have made? You can PM me if you don't want it on The Scarrry' board.:D

I only ask as we have already made some decisions to try and follow through, and it's scary because we won't know what the right or wrong ones are until later on.

fc123

lostinrates wrote: »

Getting a bit close to Chez Lostinrates for my comfort...the below is copied from rollonfriday.com (including the picture; I promise I don't intent to start adding pictures to posts normally)

The London office of US firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has confirmed that it won't be keeping on a single one of its March 2009 qualifiers.

The three trainees were told this week that due to market conditions they would all be asked to leave on qualification. A spokeswoman for the firm stressed that this had nothing whatsoever to do with their performance. She confirmed that another four trainees were due to qualify in September, and while the firm would do its best it couldn't make any promises to them either.

This is shocking news both for the trainees and the firm. It costs a fortune to train new lawyers - on a conservative estimate, Cadwalader's just blown around a million quid in return for nothing but ill will and damage to its own reputation.





A trainee thrown in a skip, yesterday


Meanwhile, there are more and more rumours of redundancies from firms across the UK. In particular, RollOnFriday has been told that:


TLT is making up to nine real estate lawyers redundant;
Travers Smith has made redundancies in corporate and real estate;
Berryman has confirmed that it is making a number of redundancies - RollOnFriday has been told that it has lost twelve people since the start of November;
Salans has confirmed that a small but unspecified number of mortgage conveyancing staff may have their jobs at risk;
Scottish firm Biggart Baillie is looking at making up to 30 people redundant, some 10% of its workforce. While many firms are suffering and it is clearly a tough time for anyone to lose their job, there are also many firms that are actively recruiting -

I read 'The Gods That Failed' by Larry Elliot and Dan Atkinson recently and they reckon that Tescos Law will affect the legal preofession more than people anticipate.....also pther trad middle England professions

The legal services that aren't specialist feel they will be unaffected, and the nature of the work means that they won't be , in terms of skill and specialism, BUT what will be affected is the pricing of that work as the more 'ordinary' work gets priced down, it sets a new benchmark of price and expectation of price amongst clients....all the way up.

It may take a decade to work through the system but my sector experienced the same thing with Tescos etc developing clothing ranges.

You can argue it's totally different, no way can one compare a frock with specialist, complicated legal work that required years of experience, but it's the same thing in terms of providing a product /service at an expected price.



When the supermarkets first went for it, the whole industry, myself included didn't think it would affect us much...what I do is specialist and niche, couldn't possibly be compared to £9.99 mass produced, plagiarised products sold in vast, souless stores.

What it did do though, was set an expectation of price to the general public that, in the end, DID affect our sector a huge amount but in an indirect way.

An example would be plain tops. We always provided plain tops to complement bold print or fussy skirts....it's what they needed.

5 years ago you'd sell the exciting, unique skirt (£35) with plain top @ £15.

3 years ago, you'd sell above skirt (£35) with plain top now down to £10.

2 years ago, you'd sell above skirt (£35) and they would try on the top to see but not buy...then go pick one up similar for £4 from High St chain.

Then we stopped selling plain tops as they used up expensive rail space.

Then the skirt price was challenged....skirts elsehwere (though not comparable in design but certainly on quality) were on sale in High St / supermarkets for £8....making £35 seem pricey.

1 year back, skirt sells for £25.

One supplier of mine who has traded for 30 years, always decribed his product as budget end.
Without changing his quality or price points, he is now Middle Market.
We were joking, by the end of all this, he'll end up Top End with same quality and price points.