Bean Pickers vs. Bean Counters

When the world was young (well, I was anyway) "marketing" was the key to life.  What was desired was manufactured and sold.  Things were displayed in stores in delightful ways using great point of purchase displays and wonderful store windows and end caps and things that go bump in the night.  Customer service was very important.  The consumer was in charge.  Companies cared what people thought about products.  Supply and demand was the key - if a thing was demanded - it was supplied.


Somewhere in the '80s things changed.  There was a three legged stool that became the elephant in the room.  One leg was mergers and acquisitions.  One leg was HIV/AIDS.  One leg was (and mind you - this leg was bigger than the others) was shareholders.

With mergers and acquisitions came jobs lost.  When two companies merge - there are two of everything.  Since the merger was done to help eliminate waste - one of the two jobs had to go.  It was called "downsizing" and eventually "rightsizing" as if we knew what was right.

With AIDS came a tremendous loss of creative people.  So many of the designers and visual merchandisers were lost in that battle.

Somewhere in all of this the internet was more widely "used" and the geeks of the world became the gurus.  LED message signs were everywhere.  The quagmire of advertising media became even more of an assault than ever.  Oh, and there were shareholders.


The consumer was no longer the person with money in hand - in a store.  The consumer was the person with money in their bank - willing to invest that money in a company for a big ROI (that's "return on investment" to us mere mortals).  The shareholders wanted more and more.  Books were cooked.  Shipments were timed.  Workers were told to work smarter not harder.  And all sorts of things went away.  Nice things.  Warm and fuzzy things.  Smile things.

A printing company in the Midwest used to gift all of their customers a two pound box of candy each Christmas.  During the period of change the candy shrunk to a one pound box.  Eventually the candy was nonexistent.  Too expensive. 

3M used to send a box to all shareholders containing their new products.  It was a treat - even if you only had one share - you got the treat.  Eventually a shareholder would received a postcard order form asking for money to cover the cost of the "gift."  And finally the box went away.  Too expensive.

The shareholders just got hungrier and hungrier. The shareholders were a "Glubba-duh Gubba-duh" machine that had an insatiable need for more money.  Lots more money. 

I close with this story -
In the late 1970's Ben Maze started a company in Las Vegas called Casino Signs.  This company was formed to create signs for inside casinos.  Game toppers.  Belly plate signs.  Exciting environmental signs and displays.  Ben also had the exclusive rights to the LED progressive signs that are almost ubiquitous in casinos.  Time passed and the company got bigger.  And bigger.  And very well known.  Ben and his wife Kay paid their bills on time without question.  They appreciated their suppliers.  The demanded excellence and they paid for it.

Over time Ben grew the company and added offices in Biloxi and Rapid City to keep up with the demand for gaming equipment and signs.  He also got involved in Casino security systems.  The fabrication for the signs was done in Las Vegas and eventually in Rapid City as well.   In the 90s Ben merged with two other companies - one was the provider of the security systems and the other was the provider of LED progressive signs.  The new company was called Mikohn.  Corporate offices were moved closer to the Las Vegas airport.  The fabrication centers were enlarged.  Ben was still one of the main sign companies for casino signs world wide.   And the company expanded into many world wide offices.

In the late 90s Utah wooed Mikohn to build a state of the art fabrication plant in Hurricane, Utah.  Rapid City was shut down.  Biloxi was shut down.  Everything was moved to Hurricane, Utah leaving only the Las Vegas fabrication facility alone.  However, the Las Vegas facility became the source of the art for everything.  It was a bit weird though - because the artists didn't always see the final product.

Then 911 happened and Las Vegas experienced a severe hiccup in revenues.  Many workers were laid off for lack of work - and never rehired when the times changed.

All this time competitors were nibbling at the marketplace and it was harder and harder to keep things afloat.  Mikohn began creating games which annoyed the original gaming companies. In many cases they stopped buying signs from Mikohn because Mikohn had become a competitor.  Oh, and did I mention the shareholders?  They were now really noisy in their demands for ROI!

Suppliers would get last minute orders and were told they must ship on a certain date.  The reality was the signs were not always needed when they arrived and they would sit in a warehouse for weeks.  The main point was a shipped sign can be invoiced.  The books were not exactly "cooked" but they were "enhanced" to satisfy the shareholder.

Ben passed away.

Suppliers no longer were paid on time.  The CEOs (there were a number of them) would yell at suppliers demanding to have things done in unreasonable time frames.  Budgets were cut.  Quality was sacrificed.  Long time suppliers were thrown out or forced to bid against other companies and every penny was scrutinized.

Then the economy shifted and casinos were in trouble because people didn't have expendable income.
Mikohn needed a great deal of money to keep up with the shareholder's demands.  There were so many loans that the interest payments were in the millions.  Partners were sought.  Investors were sought.

Eventually Mikohn was bought by a casino sign company in Las Vegas, Casino Lighting and Signs.  The Hurricane state of the art factory was closed and about 200 people were laid off over time.  All of the talented folks who knew how to create artificial authenticity were lost.

In all - probably 1000 people were left without jobs.  As of February, 2012 - the company declared bankruptcy and was put on the auction block.  It took two auctioneers to dispose of all of the equipment and assets.

The moral of the story - Don't trust a bean counter who hasn't actually picked beans.