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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Pohanka Lays Off 25 Employees In Very Soft Market


I received several messages recently concerning a recent layoff spree by a local Car Dealership who has proven to us at Salisbury News that they do in fact give back big into this community. Pohanka Auto Sales recently laid off 25 people with the hopes that the market comes back fairly soon. My point here is NOT to target just Pohanks, as I'm sure this is going on with every Dealership on the Eastern Shore and throughout the United States. When I contacted Pohanka they responded with the following message. In a separate message they did confirm laying off 25 people.

Dear Joe,

Unfortunately, yes it is true that we have recently laid off a group of people in order to try to remain in line with the market slow down. Most of the people who were let go were hourly employees, i.e. lot porters, mail carriers, etc. Under the circumstances, it was necessary for a few people to be laid off in order to protect the long-term livelihood of our company. During busier times, the people who were let go are definitely a necessity. But during slower times, many of the tasks those employees did can be done by salespeople or other personnel.

We certainly hope that the market gets better and that all of the employees who were laid off can be brought back. As soon as more people start buying cars again, I am sure we will begin bringing them back.


It's going to be a tough year for 2009 in any line of business. I can now say that I have met and have even known several people who work at Pohanka and they do treat their people very well. When I was in business for myself, these were the toughest times of all, having to let people go. Pohanka currently employs about 250 people.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How rediculous is that , as the number continues to grow for people unemployed in the area how in the hell do they expect to sell anything.Gotta have a job to buy a car !!!!

Anonymous said...

You hit the nail on the head months ago about gmac and banking, now they get bail-out money. Take tax payer money and lend it back to them, how ridiculous is that. You called it Joe.

Anonymous said...

its not just about people not haveing jobs. Its the piss poor manager. I went there first to buy my car when i left there i wss pissed. They dont let the salesman/woman do their jobs. They make the sale then that arrogant azz of a sales manager comes up and blows the deal so we the smart people buy elsewhere. i feel sorry for the sales people that lost their job but the first one to go should have been that sales manager. Just how many sales did he lose them? I would love to know. koon's was very pleased to get my business. Pohanka had a sale and blew it. So am i surprised? NO I'm sure i'm not the only one that bought else where because of their stupidity.

LaLou

Anonymous said...

Pohanka's latest commercial states their absolute "refusal to participate in the recession!"
Once again, Pohanka proves themselves to be the biggest of liars and the slimiest of the slimey!It appears they are participatng in the recession. Hopefully they will go out of business and be replaced by decent dealerships!
Polly Markis