I understand how these people could be foundering in the economy we have now. What I don't understand is how we ever had a booming economy with people like this as part of it. Were they just parasitic, skimming money off the top without producing anything, or was it really that easy to make money and we just missed it?

What is it that these people do? I mean, what is it they provide to people whose leads they get?

Jonathan - No, no, this company spun (sold) off their successful concept four or five months before they hired me. This is a New Concept that was never properly implemented.

This was a large, very successful franchise organization. Their new CEO Jason (someone with zero qualifications for the job, appointed because they had no other internal candidate) sold off 85% of the business.

It was his opinion that the 85%, the part that--wait for it--actually made money, was dragging the company down.

His plan was that the remaining 15% would form a new business model, moving stuff as the Sold Locations had done, but Big Stuff, not Small Stuff, allowing them to charge a lot more money per job.

Conceptually, the idea wasn't all bad. Had the New Concept been implemented, refined, grown, and stabilized for two or three years, it might even have worked.

Or, you know, had they had a solid (real) business model for the New Concept and had they implemented it firmly across the board, enforcing the rules and stuff.

Not to be Inappropriately Political, but clearly Jason (whom I factually know to be staunchly, even wingishly, Republican) is a neocon.

Like them, he decided in his head what would happen in the real world and then when Life got messy, he just stood around looking surprised.

I'm very cagey, aren't I, Dail. I live in fear of one of being exposed as a malcontent.

Okay, not so much "fear."

I'm sorry I haven't offered a context for my rants. They must seem very random if you can't even associate them with an industry!

They p-a-c-k stuff and s-h-i-p it. There's a category of stuff (too large for the Post Office or U-P-S but not large enough to interest a m-o-v-e-r) they s-p-e-c-i-a-l-i-z-e in.