Hertz so bad: Car rental agency to shed 4000 jobs
Over the years, when automakers had trouble selling enough vehicles to keep assembly lines cranking, they sold the leftovers to rental car companies. Unfortunately, when the world is embroiled in a nasty economic recession, people don't travel. And when nobody's traveling, the rental car industry takes a dive into the crapper. Hertz, the second largest rental car company in the States, is feeling the pinch along with 12% of its workers. Hertz will cut 4,000 employees in the first quarter, saving the company up to $170 million in 2009. The move to eliminate staff comes after a third-quarter profit of only $17.7 million; 89% lower than in 2007. Hertz will take a one-time charge of up to $25 million in the fourth quarter to pay for the layoffs, which means the balance sheet for the last three months of 2008 aren't going to be pretty.
[Source: Bloomberg]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pmiddle5 12:49PM (1/17/2009)
and I almost applied there the other day...
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spen1gh 12:54PM (1/17/2009)
Geez....things are not looking good at all. Oh wait maybe CHANGE is coming?...lol
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notYou 2:55PM (1/17/2009)
They must not have gotten the memo, there's a _lot_ of that going around!
But that's ok. Remember, there's always HOPE!
"Welcome to the New America!" - The Late, Great USA.
Mobius_1 1:04PM (1/17/2009)
Teh Carpocalypse be coming... damn this looks bad, for the entire world.
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1970Dodge 1:21PM (1/17/2009)
Carpocalypse eh?
I like it! Im stealing that word.
Mazda_323 1:04PM (1/17/2009)
CHANGE is coming...lolz
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MajorGeek 1:52PM (1/17/2009)
It sure is, 100+ million dollar inauguration.
Bush - 42, Clinton - 33.
Most expensive ever.
Looks like change is really business as usual.
Funny everyone got mad about executives riding in private planes. He should be sworn in and get to work. No cake, no party. The car industry, and everything else, could use 100 million somewhere.
James 2:12PM (1/17/2009)
The more things change...the more they stay the same.
Brn 2:15PM (1/17/2009)
A sheet cake is OK. Just one. Really small slices.
jc 2:18PM (1/17/2009)
I just got back from Orlando Fla.
Unusually quiet down there
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MajorGeek 6:22PM (1/17/2009)
jc,
I can't find it now, but there was a story on Yahoo a day or two ago that Orlando has been hit the hardest by the credit crunch, foreclosures, etc so that might explain it. I can't believe it was quiet there in January. We got about 80" of snow here, I am about ready to leave myself :)
GRADOR 7:43AM (1/18/2009)
And it is cold too.... 34 this am...lol
jc 4:23PM (1/18/2009)
It seemed eerily quiet to me.
I was the only person in the McDonald's I went to at 10:30 am.
That ,in my estimation, supported Hertz's decision to scale back.
Have a fun time in sunny FLA.
bill jackman 2:23PM (1/17/2009)
Maybe Hertz will start opening up to the idea that local people should be able to rent their cars. There's a huge Hertz here at the airport (15 minutes away) and I tried renting a Corvette from their "Fun Collection" for a getaway weekend. They wouldn't let me rent it without arriving by plane with a valid airline ticket.
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catgirlshyla 3:28PM (1/17/2009)
Plane Ticket? The Hertz near me requires the Hotel Reservation Sheet/Reciept as proof to even rent out the Shelby.
taipeileviathan 2:45PM (1/17/2009)
hertz so bad? groan... :)
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Aki 5:44PM (1/17/2009)
That's a great pun, haha.
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Sherry 6:10PM (1/17/2009)
The high cost of fuel this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. After a brief reprieve gas prices are inching back up again. Our nation should not allow other nations to have such power over us and our economy . We have so much available to us in the way of technology and free sources of energy. WE seriously need to get on with becoming an energy independent nation. We are spending billions upon billions in bail out dollars. Why not spend some of those billions in getting alternative energy projects set up. We could create clean cheap energy, millions of badly needed new green jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil all in one fell swoop. I just read an eye opening book by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009. It would cost the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to drive and charge an electric car.If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. Why don't we use some of the billions in bail out money to bail us out of our dependence on foreign oil? This past year the high cost of fuel so seriously damaged our economy and society that the ripple effects will be felt for years to come. www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
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MustanGTO 8:09PM (1/17/2009)
The title is very much fitting and quite funny. On the other hand, any company letting their employees go is not a laughing matter at all.
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