Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

Ex-TM here who was forced out in the move to Metro Systems Integrators when the company hired a college kid willing to work 60 hours a week on a salary that was less than any SSI's, and didn't even bother to interview anyone else. That's right, people submitted applications and weren't called back. They never interviewed ANYONE nor did they thank or acknowledge the applications. That should tell you something about who we're dealing with. Yeah, it was nonsense particularly because the "metro" covered 110 miles and 9 facilities, which isn't a metro at all, in violation of their own stated plan for metros which were to be stores within 30 miles of each other. Anyway, don't blame the institutional shareholders for the ongoing sht show of bad planning and laughable 1989 technology still in place courtesy of global and regional. MANY great companies have institutional shareholders such as Vanguard Group, which has the lowest cost mutual funds in the industry and is a model of consumer friendliness cited by Consumer Reports and other progressive organizations. Costco for example has heavy institutional investment. The issue is not who is holding the shares -- everyone wants good long-term growth and a strong, efficient operation without undue disruption and drama. But I can tell you that investors are NOT happy with WFM top leadership. It's their OPERATIONS that are screwed up: From having all these regional bureaucracies, different procedures everywhere, different technologies and an ordering/inventory system that is positively AWFUL. The nature of the expansion has been absurd and if you listen to Wall Street analysts they are PISSED at WFM management. Wall Street never told WFM to open stores in redneck shtholes where pork rinds rule and people drink grape soda and sugary fruit punch. Investors never told WFM to engage in slash-and-burn job cuts and Hunger Games style competition for remaining jobs that blow up morale and drive productivity down. What investors want is simple: A modern retailer with a unique brand and fiercely committed customers with a dedicated, low-turnover staff. They want an operation that has its ducks in a row with ordering, inventory, vendors, accounting systems, point of sale efficiency and deliveries and an intelligent, thoughtful pace of expansion. Our new store was rushed to completion and had numerous electrical, plumbing, foundation and roof problems. HUGE issues. The power went out constantly for 3 years, and the geniuses at the region decided to place the store in the middle of an active construction site. Well this caused constant disruptions and finally one day a contractor split a power cable and we lost 100% of our temp-controlled inventory. All of it. The back of house was tiny and inadequate. And parking was all over the place...the developer built a huge parking deck that could not even be accessed without walking around a dark alley outside (which is the whole IDEA of a multi-level parking deck). Just horrible planning and execution from start to finish. I won't go into the numerous ongoing errors in pricing, signage, promotions and planning that drove customers positively INSANE and how the dysfunctional regional ding-dongs acted like petulant spoiled brats when all we asked for was accuracy and an ounce of COURTESY. Most of them were all friends and family who inherited their jobs from the original natural foods store that WFM bought back in the 90s and had NO BUSINESS running a region of a modern food retailer. And that scene was duplicated all over with a dozen regions, all disorganized and going off willy-nilly. I could go on but won't, but let's just say that imo, WFM is grossly mismanaged and these draconian and insane cuts at a company that is supposed to be growing do NOT inspire investor confidence. Investors aren't the guilty party here. The rot goes beyond any one store or region. The CEOs and entire executive team have failed the stakeholders AND the shareholders. Shareholders don't want a stock price that looks like a bloody roller coaster ride, soaring to unjustifiable highs and then plummeting to multi-year lows, then rising again toward the crazy highs based on hype like that forgettable and LAME ASS ad campaign, "Values Matter" and the nonsense about "investing in lower prices" (WHERE? I handled pricing and 99% of prices were always going up, up, up) and "investing in technology" that never worked right or even if it did made ZERO difference in efficiency.. stuff like those stupid iPads that they eventually took out because the apps were pointless and useless, and the iPods that allowed marketing people to do little store walks with regional people. The entire region was forced to spend $60,000 or more on iPods and iPads that mostly sat collecting dust in drawers, that did NOTHING to help serve customers better or order more efficiently or anything else useful. Meanwhile, the notorious four letter system (you know the one) which the world knows about due to the epic resignation letter -- that lives on forever. And on the PCs, all these crazy old Windows 95 era sucky apps that people had to use for ordering, food prep, scheduling on an Excel spreadsheet from the era of Office 3.1. CRAZY pricing changes 5 or 6 times a day in some cases while we threw up our hands saying to the region, "When will you people STOP changing prices all the time because YOU can't get the details right?" No one was ever held accountable as they botched and bungled their way through every day. Then there were all the different containers.. no wonder they got the tares wrong. Nothing was standardized. I think one report stated that amongst the 12 regions there were 67 different types of packing. WHY? We begged them to get their sh*t together and act like executives, properly standardize operations and invest in USEFUL tech. Instead, nothing but circling the wagons, passing blame down, opening new stores 2 miles down the road or 6 states away in some hick town, press releases and store walks with their noses in the air. Well whoop dee doo. Values DON'T matter, competence matters, and top leadership of WFM? YOU ARE INCOMPETENT AND YOU SHOULD BE THE ONES FIRED. You should have sold the company at $67 a share because we all know you want out. Instead, you were greedy and now you're looking desperate. I hope Sprouts, Kroger's Simple Truth, Meijer's Fresh Thyme, Publix Greenwise natural and organic, HEB Central Market, and Costco too... and of course, your biggest f&^%up, your botched non-acquisition of Wild Oats Market, eats your lunch and you end up with stock that's worth $1.98. Best wishes TMs. Just get out of there now if you can or hang around and watch them repeat this again and again. Bye Felicia.