Monday, September 13, 2010

It's Been Awhile

It's been a while since I've posted. Life has a tendency of getting in the way of things I want to do.

Since I've last posted, the dealership where I work has lost it's Ford Franchise. I work at a Lincoln Mercury dealership. I've been a Ford Tech since 1983. I've been there since 2003.

While I understand that things happen, I can't help but wonder what Ford is up to.

They took no bailout money, and as such, was not forced to close a bunch of dealerships by the Imperial Federal Government. Which, I might add, costs the manufacturer virtually nothing, as dealerships are independently owned and operated small businesses. The closing of dealerships saved nothing, and actually caused hundred's of thousands to lose jobs, unnecessarily. Ford was also extremely profitable in the last two quarters.

It's funny, actually; well, okay, I'm not laughing at the moment. I'm out of a job, and the people that employed me for the last 7 years now have a worthless building with too much overhead to operate as much other than a New Car Dealership. But, I digress; Every morning, as a learned Ford Tech, I log(ged) into Ford's website to learn the goings on. One day, there was a notice to dispel the rumors that Ford Motor Company was eliminating the Mercury brand. The next day, that message was gone; couldn't even find it by searching the site. A week later, there was another message, saying that they were eliminating the Mercury brand. But, they were going to really push and promote the Lincoln brand.

Well, I thought, maybe Ford will do something right, bring more Lincoln buyers into our showroom, and make up for the loss of Mercury buyers. A month later, or thereabouts, the big bosses informed us that we have lost our Lincoln franchise, too. Ford, apparently, wants to build the Lincoln into a premier brand. And this includes completely removing their presence from our city. 150,000 in the city, and another 100,000+ in the outlying area. Second or third largest city in Illinois. No. Lincoln. Presence. Really? You want to improve sales by making it more difficult for buyers to find you?

I don't get it. But, then again, I'm just a lowly mechanic, and I'm not supposed to understand, right?