Verizon shedding stores signals a shift in the way the carrier does business — here is a clear breakdown of what happened and why it matters right now.
The details below put the news in context: the key points first, the background after.
Being a major wireless carrier isn’t what it used to be. The stakes are high, and competition is stiff. The landscape has changed considerably over the past ten years, and brands like Verizon are shifting strategies to try to alleviate some of the pressure.
While price hikes and expanded offerings are the norm here, we’re now getting word that the brand is shedding some of its stores. Fierce Network reports that Verizon will be selling 247 of its corporate-owned stores. In addition, it will also be cutting 500 corporate jobs.
It’s never a good day when reporting on job cuts and losses. The silver lining here is that Verizon is selling off these stores to interested parties, and the word is that they will continue to run just like business as usual. Going forward, these stores will become authorized dealers.
For the most part, you should get the same service when heading into one of these stores even after the reins have been handed over. With that said, the service in the end for your phone will be supplied from Verizon, which doesn’t change regardless of where you sign up.
Furthermore, there’s probably a pretty good chance you’ve already run into one of these stores in the past, since they are somewhat common. Fierce Network reports that the change will happen next month on August 16.
Verizon spokesman Rich Young states that “about 3,000 jobs are impacted, of which 2,500 are retail employees.” While it’s unclear just how many of these employees will be retained, Young states that “about 70% of our retail employees go to work for the new franchise locations when those opportunities become available.”
Ultimately, the carrier will still be able to continue to collect from its customers with wireless carrier subscriptions no matter where the contracts come from.
Whether you’re a customer or someone working for a wireless carrier, the tensions building. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen drastic changes in how carriers do business. AT&T, Verizon, and even the once mighty Un-carrier that was T-Mobile, are having to change their ways.
For the most part, these changes haven’t been that good. Most recently, T-Mobile made a controversial announcement towards the end of last month, sharing that it would be retiring legacy plans and moving customers to new ones.
While it sounds okay on the surface, these changes also include price hikes. Customers were outraged. And some are even fighting it. In the end, customers will always have the option to choose who they do business with, at least for now.
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