Cox Auto Trader Makes Strategic Moves to Improve Online Automotive Advertising Business

[Don't be a hater]

Mean people actually putting putting initials up of their RD and bad mouthing them on a blog like this. You might as well write out the full name as if we cant tell who you are talking about.
How about some may have little education, however you clearly have no class.

 

[MH??????]

What line of work are you in now?? I can't imagine life without deadlines and working for people who appreciate your hard work and dedication!!! Been thinking of a career move - any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Jobless and Looking]

Hey Dan,

The Weather Channel was founded by John Coleman in May 1982, but he went to Frank Batten at Landmark with it, (not to COX) and Landmark took it, squeezed Frank out after about a year and developed it further and made it what it was until they recently sold it to NBC and the private equity firms Bain Capital and Blackstone Group.
As part of the TPC partnership, Landmark certainly helped make the company what it was before the split, and I don't think I can say enough good things about Conrad Hall. Without his incredible leadership over the last 18+ years, we would have nothing to be complaining about right now, because there would be nothing but little groups of publications here and there and a whole bunch of competitors. Without COX as a partner, we would have never had a unified brand such as AutoTrader, since they had bought the original publications from the founder in Florida.
It is unfortunate about what has happened and I sense alot of anger and dissappointment in these threads. It's OK to let it out and get it out of your system, but then take stock of your opportunities and move on.
Nobody likes having their cheese moved, and certainly this feels like the cheese was stolen, gobbled up and never to return, but it is what it is. Best wishes to my fellow comrades, I am out there looking just like you are.

 

[Longtime Cox/Traderpub employee]

FYI, I was talking to the 2 reps here who "got" to move to ATC, they said it was for 60 days, then the company would evaluate if they were going to stay or not. These 2 reps are supposed to be moving as much revenue as they can from print to atc. You know what will happen in 60 days to those guys of course. They were making big bucks at our office, the atc job pays QUITE a bit less I have been told.

 

[Employee]

Hello Fellow soon to be ex employees, the truth of the matter is we were told thru a mass email, that is what hurts, we worked in the heat, snow, rain, sick, you name it and we get told in an email. They have webinars, meetings every month for the vp's and the rd's, wine and dine them, and the people out there really giving there all for the most part find out like we are nothing. Or were we??

 

[What a Shame...]

Employee, how right you are. That's perhaps the most frustrating thing with all of this. With all the technology around, ie: cell phones, text msgs, etc., they chose to announce to over 4,000 hard-woking and very loyal employees that they would soon be out of a job!-Via email in the middle of the day, when reps are out on the road with no immediate access to a computer to read the announcement. While some companies would not even offer severance pkgs. and I'm thankful that I will receive one. However, I believe that a company of this size could have AND should have conducted themselves with a bit more class and shown more respect to those who were told their jobs are now gone. After all, this was supposed to be "The Year of The Rep". Everybody remember that one? Best of luck to those who are staying because it sure sounds like you'll need it, especially in this economy. Best of luck to those who were caught totally off guard on Jan. 5 with your job hunting, we will need it too!!

 

[CAT Independent Contractor]

I have wondered what's going on. Being on the distribution side for the print mags, I have seen decline, decline, decline in numbers and editions. I wonder when WE will get the news that our jobs are no longer there? ... and as an independent contractor, I have no recourse for unemployment or any other safety net, since my state does not recognize me as an employee. Does anyone know if CAT has to give us worker bees any notice?

I knew of the "re-assignment" of some employees to ATC, hearing through the grapevine that the chosen ones had to actually re-apply for their own jobs.

 

[Longtime Cox/Traderpub employee]

contractor, I have done contracting for newspapers for years, and also when my management position in Private Party was eliminated last year and I was moved into circulation, I can relate to what you are going thru. I can tell for in my opinion seeing what is going on from the inside, I dont see the books lasting more than a month or 2. I know for example, our lease is up at our location end of February and I cant see them paying to lease a new place. For whatever that is worth. As to your question of notice, our contracts state that either party has to give 30 days notice before terminating the contract. Thats not to say that contractors (drivers) did not quit on us all the time with no notice, but if Cox just dumps you without giving you 30 days, you have grounds to sue them. I guess the only loophole there is if your contract is coming up for renewal anyway, say, in a week or 2, then they could just not renew it and you would be SOL.

 

[CAT Independent Contractor]

Longtime employee, thank you for the insight. It is much as I expected, but in these days, I would not expect 30 days from a company in such trouble. If they can treat their inside employees this way, I would not be surprised at all if they just cut us loose, when the time comes. Who out here, as drivers and delivery people, could afford to sue Cox? And they know it. Coming from a corporate background, I can say that Cox is not the only company to treat its people so badly.

The thing that bothers me is that we have received NO word about anything! I've had to do my own web research to find out what is going on. Even my emails to request changes to my accounts have gone unanswered. I am already invisible. I just know that, in my 25-stop route, I am only delivering books to maybe 5 stops now.

 

[Jason (blog)]

Any rep or manager in a market wanting to continue in this still great industry can. We are in this business as an independent and can offer design, customer service, print, distribution and a major national web feed for any territory in the US. This is your chance to have YOUR own book, we don't want to own it but can provide all the infrastructure for you to own your own at a cost per page you can make a fantastic living on. Email me if your interested and I can send you samples overnight of printed samples and we can more on the phone if you have questions. [email protected]