Hold This Rope

For the second time this year employees at Pittsburgh Paints have experienced mass layoffs losing as many as 100 coworkers last week when the company vacated more than 150 positions in their mass merchants division. 

Eliminated were regional managers and in-market representatives servicing Home Depot’s nationwide representing as much as 75% of that division’s head count.    

THE action brought little comfort among the remaining 25% I was in touch with who service Menard’s, Walmart and for the time being Home Depot, though I suspect this move portends a possible end to that relationship. 

Those left standing are right to be worried as it’s likely the division remains unprofitable despite these cuts, due to Pittsburgh’s low manufacturing margins on those accounts rather than the size of their overhead. 

Unable to find a buyer for the division Pittsburgh CEO Brian Carson was left with little choice but to dismantle Irick’s Folly, because private equity is not known for being patient and this division would not be quickly turned around.

But while I’m expecting more cuts at Pittsburgh in the coming months or perhaps even weeks I am not expecting further cuts in this division anytime soon.  Had Carson envisioned he could make the division any smaller while maintaining operations he would have done so with this action. 

Likely leaving the company owned stores division as next neck on the block.        

Since acquiring Pittsburgh Carson and the chief executives who came before him have offered this division for sale in whole or in part to anyone with standing enough to be considered a prospect.  Cold calling industry board rooms looking for a deal.    

Many listened to the pitch though that effort has yet to identify a buyer for the more than 700 retail locations Pittsburgh operates across the United States and Canada.  Despite that failure rumors abound of regional or even market divestitures, as happened last week at Richard’s Paint.

But for Pittsburgh to divest by region or locality would take years, a timeframe I doubt Carson’s private equity ownership would have patience for.  Not to mention the feasibility of such an undertaking. 

Because of Pittsburgh’s more than 700 stores as many as half are unprofitable, a reality Carson will be forced to address now that a buyer has failed to materialize.  PPG kept these stores opened for reasons known only to them but to Carson they're low-hanging fruit, with no means with which to fix them I'd expect those stores to be closed.

Meaning even fewer desks at their recently sold corporate headquarters in Cranberry.

Can You Lift that Rope Please?

While Carson was cutting I was working my last billable hours before a summer intended to be worthy of a teacher’s envy.  I spent those hours reporting the findings of a survey of independent paint retailers I had conducted to the clients who engaged that work. 

THE document two-days longer than I had forecast, no surprise given the revelations I had received. 

When I put my pen down summer began with a trip to Washington, DC and a tour of our nation’s Capitol which did not begin in the visitor’s center.  Instead we walked the private corridors of the People’s House escorted by Robert, a United States Capitol Police officer in my life’s inner orbit. 

THE tour took us to areas the publicly cannot access including leadership suites and offices, ceremonial rooms and a crypt intended to hold the remains of George Washington; who despite history’s intentions remains buried in Mount Vernon.

It’s in people like Robert that I found hope for our nation’s future as we traverse this challenging era.  Dedicated to the building and all it represents Robert eschews politics, stereotypes and prejudices while offer his protection to all who work or walk that building’s hallowed halls no matter their party, size or skin color. 

THE most American of sentiments modeled for those who most need to learn that lesson.