Rental car giant Hertz files for bankruptcy

originally posted by: TheBloodRed
I figured a huge company like that would have measures in place for something like this.

How can anyone have measures in place for an unprecedented complete economic shutdown for months?

originally posted by: Daughter2
Well Hertz was in trouble even before the virus but others will soon follow.

Corporations don't usually sit on enough cash to withstand six months of zero revenue. When corps have cash, they will buy back shares, distribute dividends or invest in new projects.

Even good companies only make at most a 10% return. Do you really think companies banked profits for a decade?

There's going to have to be special bankruptcy laws. Debt, mortgage and rent will have to be reset - like the last six months to a year didn't ever happen.

I don't think it will happen, but we can either reset 6 months and put our economy 6 months back, or we can have a huge recession putting us 10 years back.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

In speaking with quite a few consultants, and from the survey's from where I work in regards to the internal employees, there are only a small percentage who actually want to travel again. All of our work can be done remotely and more efficiently due to the lack of travel days which would eat half a day Monday and half a day Thursday. This will also save clients a good bit on travel costs. I can't speak for every consulting firm of course, or even more than my own, but we are in discussions to tailor our service lines to be 75% remote. I imagine the travel industry is going to take a while to recover, probably years if I had to guess.

a reply to: 727Sky

Before I flew to Virginia yesterday I was trying to rent a car instead. I went to Hertz, and Avis, and almost Enterprise.

I called before hand and made it clear that I didn't have a credit card, and that I didn't know anyone who uses credit cards.

All three said it was fine, and that I could use a debit card, and that they just needed to do a credit check, and then they would put charge me for a safety deposit.

Cool.

So, I used Uber to go to Avis, I get there and there is a line of people complaining. Apparently, they weren't giving people their safety deposits back.

When it was my turn, they confirmed my reservation, and said that everything was good, and that they just needed to do the credit check. So, I said okay.

The lady told me they couldn't use my debit card to do a credit check. So, I pulled out my SSN, and said use this.

Apparently, that's a NOGO.

So, I said I want my money back. I had to call a corporate number. So, I called it and the woman I spoke with was super rude about it. Whatever, got them to cancel it, but it will apparently take me two weeks to get my $75 bucks back. Oh well.

Crossed the street, and went into the Hertz.

They were completely empty. No customers.

I asked if they had any cars available for rent. They said they did, so I asked to get whatever was the least expensive deal.

The guy behind the counter then asks me for a credit card. I told him I didn't use credit cards. No one I know uses them anymore. He said, quote for emphasis here,

"Yeahhhhh... We have to turn the majority of our customers away because of that."

So, I called Enterprise. And they informed me that they didn't require credit cards. So, I told them about my previous two experiences about credit cards for credit checks.

I said why can't yall use a SSN? They said they needed proof of residency. Okay, whatever. The credit check would show my current and previous addresses.

So, I didn't even bother.

Got a one way flight to Virginia for about $130.

The car rental business is probably going to die without a bailout and even then they are probably going to change how they do business.

originally posted by: Hypntick
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

In speaking with quite a few consultants, and from the survey's from where I work in regards to the internal employees, there are only a small percentage who actually want to travel again. All of our work can be done remotely and more efficiently due to the lack of travel days which would eat half a day Monday and half a day Thursday. This will also save clients a good bit on travel costs. I can't speak for every consulting firm of course, or even more than my own, but we are in discussions to tailor our service lines to be 75% remote. I imagine the travel industry is going to take a while to recover, probably years if I had to guess.

I think most companies are finding out:

1) They don't need so many employees and;
2) The ones they do need don't necessarily need to be in huge corporate offices
3) Working remotely can lower costs

I see a huge fallout in the Class A office building space brewing.

I was talking with wife. There are some more rural areas we'd love to live, but haven't because she is a corporate exec. However, now that she's been working remotely, it seems like it might be possible in the future. There have been many companies she turned down opportunities because they wanted us to relocate. I think many companies are going to find it simply isn't necessary to have all your employees locally. She saw and article where Facebook was saying their employees can work wherever they want now, but they will adjust salary accordingly for lower cost of living areas so it seems like they are seeing an opportunity to cut costs by not forcing people to live in San Fran which demands higher salaries due to cost of living.

When I worked in consulting I hated the weekly travel once I got married (kind of liked it when I was younger and single). Really no need for weekly travel to client sites imho. Most knowledge/service work can be done remotely imho.

a reply to: Edumakated

I'm surprised working from home wasn't a lot morr of a thing before.

Was it because it was associated with "lazy" millennials?

Was it because the older generation thinks that to work you actually have to "go" to work?

I was having a conversation with a friend and he brought up something that I hadn't thought about for some reason.

He asked me if my cell service had been horrible since the lockdowns began, and I told it sometimes. He asked me if it was during the morning, mid-day, or evening. And I told him that it was kind of throughout the day mostly at certain times.

He said that he thinks it's because there are a lot more people working from home so that strains the network providers more than they anticipated.

So, here's to 5G lol

a reply to: Edumakated

Unless you live in California. The Unions have been hitting the work at home crowd pretty bad in Cali.
My Niece's husband works for a cyberschool. Until this hit, our Governor was trying to get them eliminated. Right now they are swamped with people wanting spots for their kids for the next school year. I have friends who are setting up their own network of places for their kids to do cyberschool from. I have been approached about using the hall of our club for it.

Things are changing and not all of them for the worse.

originally posted by: AutomateThis1
a reply to: Edumakated

I'm surprised working from home wasn't a lot morr of a thing before.

Was it because it was associated with "lazy" millennials?

Was it because the older generation thinks that to work you actually have to "go" to work?

I believe it's a mix of both actually. I've seen an uptick in meetings for some of our leadership where I work, they want almost daily video chats to discuss projects where previously an email once a week would suffice. I'm still doing the same amount of work I was doing previously, unfortunately the rest of the time is taken up by meetings, virtual happy hours, morning coffee chats, etc. Normally my Friday was the only day with meetings unless I was doing client facing meetings, now it's every single day, even if I have client calls. So I suppose some people the appearance of being busy equals productivity? Which makes sense when you think about the word "optics" as it pertains to consulting. Even if you're not doing anything for the client, if they're still in the office, so are you. Screw that.

a reply to: TheBloodRed

In all the times I've ever shopped around for car rental or looked to purchase former rentals, Hertz was always the worst in deals.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: TheBloodRed

In all the times I've ever shopped around for car rental or looked to purchase former rentals, Hertz was always the worst in deals.

Knowing how I and co-workers treated rental cars, I'd never buy one from a car rental company....

They just have to do this, to protect themselves as they have just so many assets that are just depreciating without generated revenue.

When this gets better, they will be back, just like the rest of the big rental agencies that are about to do the same thing.

a reply to: Edumakated

We've always had good luck with them. Had them go way up into the hundred's of thousands with minimal trouble before the major repairs beyond normal wear and tear related stuff started in (knock on wood).

originally posted by: AutomateThis1
a reply to: Edumakated

I'm surprised working from home wasn't a lot morr of a thing before.

Was it because it was associated with "lazy" millennials?

Was it because the older generation thinks that to work you actually have to "go" to work?

I was having a conversation with a friend and he brought up something that I hadn't thought about for some reason.

He asked me if my cell service had been horrible since the lockdowns began, and I told it sometimes. He asked me if it was during the morning, mid-day, or evening. And I told him that it was kind of throughout the day mostly at certain times.

He said that he thinks it's because there are a lot more people working from home so that strains the network providers more than they anticipated.

So, here's to 5G lol

I think it is cultural more than anything.

Some companies are of the mindset that if you aren't in the office you aren't working. However, this lock down has gone a long way to changing attitudes.

a reply to: Edumakated

I hate the idea of working from home. It means you are always at work. I don't actually care about the need to 'go' to work, but there needs to be clear boundaries and separations, and the more people work at home the more eroded that gets.

In both my schooling and my job I am expected to be constantly reading emails at all hours of the day/night and on days off.

Hertz, SEARS, JCPenney, Army and Navy

Companies over 100 years old don't go bankrupt because of a 2 month slowdown / shutdown

Hertz had $19 billion in corporate debt, which was a situation that was impossible to sustain, even before Corona Virus hit

These companies have gone under through crappy management over years, Corona Virus was just the last nail in the coffin

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: Edumakated

I hate the idea of working from home. It means you are always at work. I don't actually care about the need to 'go' to work, but there needs to be clear boundaries and separations, and the more people work at home the more eroded that gets.

In both my schooling and my job I am expected to be constantly reading emails at all hours of the day/night and on days off.

You're not "always at work" if you have a separate space for an office. I'm a programmer and have worked from home for years. I leave my work laptop "at work" in the office and never look at it on my days off.

Being "expected to check emails 24/7" is not realistic or legal under any labor code. Your employer is required to give you a certain number of hours completely unavailable to work. Check the labor laws in your state

a reply to: Hypntick

Yeah. I totally get what you're talking about. Management and bosses can feel a little... how to say this. Uneeded? When they realize that they can't constantly drop in and bother their employees to make sure they're working.

Why else have daily meetings when a Friday meeting used to be the norm?

A feel a lot of management positions will be eliminated as well. Why have five or more managers when all you need now is one?

Times are changing. I think we were always heading in this direction, but the Corona scare and economic plunge sped it up quite a bit.

I fortunately saw it coming. I positioned myself to have the experience amd knowledge to be able to work from home.

So, I was a little ahead of the curve, now though even before the scare there has been a move to position automation technicians to work off site and from home.

Whenever somethong goes wrong with a piece of equipment a call gets made to a automation technician, who can usually, if they know what they're doing, fix it while they're chilling in bed.

A lot of the more up-to-date manufacturing facilities can run with only one or two mechatronic technicians actually present.

And since there has been talk about bringing manufacturing back into the United States I feel this is relevant.

A lot of the industrial manufacturing facilities we do have in the States is old. And I do mean oooold. I'm talking about running off of PLCs that have been around for half a century or more. They just do what they can to keep it running. If that means using a paperclip or shorting it out in some manner they will. These facilities are all about squeezing as much money out of something for as long as they can.

But, I do believe that some companies are preparing for the future. Many of them are neglecting certain facilities and building new ones that feature state-of-the-art technology.

I've bashed Cargill before, because there are some Cargill facilities that are straight up abysmal, but they have one in Nashville that is pretty top-notch. The management sucks there, but they can literall run the whole process autonomously. There is very little human interaction with the food product. Even the forklifts are robotic.

So, some businesses are ahead of the curve, and any company wanting to return stateside are going to have to bite the bullet and prepare to spend a bit of revenue to compete with those companies that are already upgrading and building new facilities.

A new facility with new technologies can cost billions of dollars, and that can be a hard thing to swallow for quite a few companies. Even if they can realize it.

In the end though, we will have modern industrial manufacturing here in the states that run with very little personnel.

People in the future are going to have to adaot to the changing workforce needs.

They will need to learn how to design new technologies, or maintain them.

Management will be almost nonexistent as new technologies actually record their own parameters and tell you how much longer components will last. The equipment provides its own maintenance schedule.

As far as administration and white collar stuff goes. I have no idea, as I've never been interested in paper pushing and big business practices, but I assume it will likely go through something similar as even office work can be automated now.

The machines aren't going to take over, but we will need to tend to them to allow them to continually provide services for us.

That is, until we design technology that can fix itself. Which we are still quite aways away from. Then it's a totally different matter.

a reply to: babybunnies

I've worked for some places where they actually do expect you to answer any business calls and to be able to come in regardless of what time it is.

It's legal.

For instance, my actual "shift" would be something like 7am to 4pm. Those are the hours I would be paid Monday through Friday for working from home.

Let's say I got a call at 10pm. I'd be required to answer it, and if possible fix the problem from home. I'd get paid for the time I connected to the equipment to the time the issue was resolved, or for the time I was on the phone with some asshat who lied on his resume and was acting like an electrician. If I couldn't fix it from home I'd be required to drive or fly to the location and fix it myself.

So, no it's not illegal.

But there have been some companies I worked for where they tried to say that I'd be required to, and depending on what the circumstances were I'd tell them that it wasn't my problem. Sometimes that just pisses them off, and sometimes that gets you fired or transferred.

I've done the work from home bit for years. It came in handy when I trashed a knee and was flat on my back for a few months. The places where I did this had policies that made a lot of sense. We had what we called "Core Hours". Usually that was from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. You were responsible for answering e-mails and being available for online meetings during that time.

a reply to: AutomateThis1

Yeah my specialty area of cyber security is in ICS, OT, and IoT. I've seen some amazing automation technology in place, and remote troubleshooting with predictive failure monitoring is a sight to behold. I've seen some exceptionally old hardware as well, everything from electro-mechanical, old non-routable modbus, profibus, etc. When you think about the power industry right now, realize that a good percentage of it runs off of this old stuff, and really can't be upgraded due to the need to always be operating. I remember getting into ICS at first and was asking folks at my job how the packet construction of their proprietary protocol was, couldn't find a single person who actually knew how it was constructed, had to figure it out myself in order to figure out how to secure it beyond the standard IT stack.

I do look forward to the more modern industrial manufacturing capabilities, I know there are vendors out there that can support it (worked for 2 of the biggest).

I can see where on-site work would be needed in some instances with that. For cyber though? You have physical red team, wifi security assessments, implementation and transformation, and a few instances for incident response. Otherwise, there's no need to go into the office. Considering the amount of employees we have, it would be considerably cheaper to offer a 1k per year home office stipend. Make sure that everyone has access to ergonomic chairs, desks, etc. and cover the cost of internet access. That has to be cheaper than keeping our NYC office open on its own.

I get how folks can abuse the stay at home aspect of things, but they would weed themselves out fairly quickly. Everyone else, you can generally trust to do their jobs correctly. We're all adults, most of us with over a decade in our respective fields, published or on the convention speaking scene. So for the most part none of us are going to throw away our careers just to slack off at home. I imagine most other industries that are capable of working from home are similar.