It's funny how these discussions morph into something that is totally unrelated to the original subject.
In New Hampshire, the unemployment rate is under 5% which is a lot less than the rest of the country but the economy still stinks. Everyone that I speak to agrees that since Thanksgiving business has taken a nose dive.
There are 2 things that I dislike most about a bad economy, one is that all of the snake oil merchants come out of hibernation- like the people selling rebuilt batteries and two, dealers start selling off their rental fleets and depress the value of all other trucks on the market.
It seems that most people that engage in this forum are from the non management side of the aisle but two good things about a bad economy are that good people become available which makes some current, low productivity employees uncomfortable and makes it easier to hold their feet to the fire because they are afraid of not being able to find another job if they lose theirs.
As far as the benefits Crown offers, all that I would add is try running your own company you will soon find out that a fair amount of employees (way too many) absolutely, positively believe in their heart of hearts that they always have the best interests of the comapany in mind when in reality their behavior and decisions make it impossible to profit from their employment. I haven't found too many people that beleive it, but it costs the rest of the good employees and management and owners big time. How many of you have taken a bad apple aside and admonished them or is that strictlly management's responsibility?