Lend Me Some Sugar

Lately I've been surprised by companies new methods of saving money.

A few weeks ago I got a memo about milk delivery and sugar at work. They are cutting back the milk delivery to two days a week and they are no longer buying equal as a sweetener. At first I was like WOW, is it really that serious? It's a sad reflection of the current state of our economy. But then I gave it a little more thought and I don't think the company would do it if it wouldln't provide significant savings.

Just think about how much you personally spend on milk. How much would you save if you didn't buy a gallon of milk every week? Now multiply that to the level of a company buying milk every week. And I don't feel too bad about the sweetener. They offer equal and splenda, so they decided to offer only one. It's better than no sweetner at all. I also think about how much milk must get wasted every week. There have been plenty of weeks where by the time the next delivery came there was still unopened containers of milk.

I talked to Poppa K and was reminded that his job has NEVER offered coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Small businesses don't offer those kind of perks to their employees. I never thought about them as perks but then again I have always worked for large companies where it was standard.

But then I heard even worse news. "Gannett to Furlough Workers for Week " What does that mean? The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs.

I can only imagine how many millions will be saved from a one week forced unpaid vacation. If you can pair the one week unpaid vacation with a one week paid vacation to have 2 weeks off I would try to find a way to capitalize on it. Whether it's a much needed staycation, extending an already planned vacation or doing what some employees that work for this company are doing...searching for other job opportunities. But the first thing I would do is turn off my Blackberry. Vacations are paid for by the company so I feel obligated to answer when I can on vacation. But unpaid vacation...I owe you nothing.

If your job told you that you had to go on an unpaid vacation, what would you do? Could you afford to go unpaid for one week? Have you noticed your job making any cuts in an effort to save and reduce costs?