According to this CNN article, earlier today Borders announced that it will be liquidated. A lot of companies go bankrupt and survive. When a company liquidates, however, that basically means it is completely finished. Think Circuit City.
I have a really close friend who works for Borders. So does his wife. They just had a baby three months ago. He had worked his way up in the company following college and is now a store manager. Unfortunately, he’s now going to be a manager in search of something new to manage. I know he’ll bounce back, but it reminds me of the need for married spouses to, if possible, diversify their income sources. Not to be a downer, but it looks like things are agains getting worse rather than better. Although the writing has been on the wall at Borders for a long time, I’m sure its talented workforce still feels blindsided by the news.
What disappointed me was when I read the comments to the Borders story on CNN.Com. It seemed like 1/3 blamed Obama, 1/3 mocked the “untalented Borders employees,” and 1/3 left intelligent but uncaring comments such as: “the whole industry is changing.”
Perhaps it’s because I know some of the Borders’ workers firsthand, but I sure hope the majority of people care more about humanity than those comments show. To think otherwise, would be totally depressing.
Best of luck to anyone suffering job loss, with Borders or otherwise. Let’s all keep networking, whether we are currently employed or not…
because the worst may still be to come.
Chris Thomas, owner of the online freelance writing and web-copy company, FreelancePF. Chris’s interest in personal finance stems from leaving grad school with six figures in student loan debt.