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HP to cut 25-30k jobs

bbc.com

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Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#91

Post by x0x0 »

joshmn wrote: post #19
spacehome wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They cannot afford to lose healthcare coverage. And with Obamacare, they don't have to. They should be able to purchase decent coverage on the exchange, right? That's what we did when I quit my job.

The amazing coverage they have is barely cutting it. He pays pennies on the dollar for the coverage they get. I can't imagine it would be like this at all on the exchange.

Good news: you're almost certainly wrong :)

Obamacare in MN is through https://www.mnsure.org/ . Your father being fired or laid off qualifies as a special enrollment event.

If your mother is seriously ill, look at gold plans and simply look at the maximum out of pocket. Find a plan with a maximum out of pocket of $2k or even $1k pp. They'll spend it all, and after that, your out of pocket expenses will be limited to copays. They will even be eligible for assistance paying for it if your parents' income falls.

From a brief poke around the above website, for zip 55401 and two adults born 1/1/1960, you should be able to find a plan for under $1k/mo unsubsidized with a $3k/family/year maximum out of pocket. This is almost certainly less than cobra will cost. Be careful of narrow networks though, particularly if your mother is being actively treated by a doctor/hospital.

Good luck to you and yours.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#92

Post by x0x0 »

rcurry wrote: post #51
joshmn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amazing coverage they have is barely cutting it. He pays pennies on the dollar for the coverage they get. I can't imagine it would be like this at all on the exchange.

You're right - private health insurance will be far more expensive than what he's paying now. I don't think there's any way around that. If he can afford to pay the vig, then COBRA makes the most sense for the short term.

cobra is often much more expensive than obamacare; at least it was for me

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#93

Post by x0x0 »

test001only wrote: post #67
joshmn wrote: post #8

My father is a field-service engineer for HP in Midwest (based out of Minneapolis, but he has calls all over from Fargo, ND to Mpls, MN to Madison, WI). He is _the_ go-to for their biggest, most senior, most mission-critical clients. He put together UMN's Alpha setup, is the only guy that USPS will call for help, MNSCU, Best Buy, UHG... basically, anyone with an HP setup (server or printer) that's a Fortune 1000 (and…

I am sorry if this question comes of as naive. Is the medical cost so high that it can only be covered with an insurance? Would a small amount of savings set aside for this purpose be viable in case somebody loses their medical insurance? Also would you not be able to take your own medical insurance which is independent of the company you work for? I am just trying to understand how the medical system there works. I…

CA/usa, broken ankle, two surgeries: $110k in billings. All told, probably 10-12 doctor-hours.

Insurance, beyond insuring you, does something perhaps more important: they negotiate massive discounts with all medical practices/hospitals/etc. My insurer negotiated that to something reasonable (approx $35k, though memory fails me); I could even afford that if I needed to. Crucially (and I understand this is fucking stupid; go 'murica), uninsured people pay way more than insured people even including what the insurance pays. Like integer multiples greater than 3 and up to 20 times more.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#94

Post by kalleboo »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #6

Wow this is a pretty huge cut. However, I won't lie/sugar coat it -- I think of HP as one of the most stereotypically bad big companies (where you can go in get a job, and almost never get fired, despite not doing very much work), so this is probably a great move for them. I can't imagine it really takes 300,000 people to do what HP does. I'm sure there are departments that do cutting edge hardware/software work at H…

The problem is they tend to cut the wrong people. The bloat is usually in middle management (people "fail upwards" to where they can do no harm), but the people who get cut are on the bottom.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#95

Post by CaptainZapp »

brudgers wrote: post #28
ekianjo wrote: post #7

> The tech company has struggled over the last decade to keep up with changing demands as customers move away from desktop computers. Maybe, but laptop or desktop, HP has been always synonymous with crappy quality and design - among the worst I have ever seen. I just can't wait for them to stop making PCs so that we can get at least half-decent laptops from other manufacturers.

I have an HP11C calculator I bought in 1989 I still use. It cost almost $100 back then. The first HP printer I bought was a DeskJet 550c. Made a beautiful whooshing and humming noises. Kept it for more than 10 years. When they discovered a tendency for premature wear on the pickup rollers, HP sent me a maintenance kit: one day it just showed up with instructions. I had a zd7000 laptop in the early oughts. It was pret…

I still regularly use my HP 48GX.

Alas, nowadays I use it for the equivalent of using a Mack truck to drive 300 metres down the road to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Nevertheless it's a fantastic product, which never fails me.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#96

Post by chrisbennet »

seunosewa wrote: post #74
stevewepay wrote: post #43

The sad part is that it's Carly Fiorina's fault for turning HP into the mess it was. And now she touts that as the reason why she should be president. It's a sick joke that she thinks gutting one of Silicon Valley's preeminent companies makes her worthy of being president. HP was the first company to pioneer Silicon Valley culture, ie. The HP Way. It was only after Fiorina's tenure that HP turned into a shadow of its…

What precisely did Carly Fiorina do weong, and what precisely should she have done instead?

That's a good question. I don't know why someone downvoted you. My best friend worked for HP and disliked her but I too would be interested in knowing the answers to your questions.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#97

Post by x0x0 »

wpietri wrote: post #21
aggronn wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there's as much demand for him as you're describing, he could probably make a much better living doing consulting for these companies than he could working for HP.

Definitely. Or, if consulting isn't to his taste, take a job with one of them. In his shoes, I'd also make sure I keep contact information for all his best customers. Because if he gets laid off suddenly, he'll want to go back to them at least to say, "Hey, do any of your vendors need a reliable field service engineer?"

keeping contact information is probably against his contract, and covered as customer information under noncompetes

discovering an interest in being linkedin friends with them is not afaik

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#99

Post by alphadevx »

HP should have done something meaningful in the profitable consumer electronics space with Palm, rather than gutting it. That was an opportunity for some market growth squandered, where else is their growth going to come from? I have lots of sympathy for those losing their jobs, but none whatsoever for the senior management team or board.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#100

Post by emj »

wyclif wrote: post #89
emp_zealoth wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Rant incoming. Im just aghast how shitty your country is. I can understand living in fear of mortgages and the like, jak with at will nonsense and the like ( gags ) But your employer having a gun to your beloved's head - that what it basically is - is just rotten. I genuinely wish that any libertarians here (in Poland) move to USA or, Friedmans beloved, Chile. I hope they get to experience shit like that. I gues…

Chile is a far stronger economy than Poland will probably ever be.

Is this a joke? Poland has a larger population than chile, better per capita GDP, and is a power house in the middle of Europe. They do still have some internal problems but this is nothing compared to the (low key) international conflicts Chile still is involved in.

I love both countries though.

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