MMSA CEO cuts pay and expenses as skier visits drop

[Mikee110]

Great points skihoth, but there's no such thing as cheap gas

carpooling will solve that though

We always carpool, keeps costs down and I get to control the radio

[Stuie_Louie]

On the gas price subject: I was in Command Performance this past Sunday morning and we were chatting about gas prices and I learned something new. When you shop at Vons and use your Vons perferred card, you get points posted into your account. These points can be used for per gallon discounts on gas at the Bishop Vons gas pumps. I haven't tried this yet as I just found about about this option, but it might help.

If someone knows more about this, please chime in.

[TheSnowman]

The Von's deal is great... we paid 2.60 a gallon last time we went to Bishop.

[MountainNut]

What can you say (about the situation)?

With the realization and/or perception of high gas prices, high nominal/regular lift ticket prices (NOT those RECENT discounts, obviously), high housing/rental costs, a low snowfall year, and a depressed economy ... is it any surprise?

People are hurting out there, except for 2-3 fortunate friends with government jobs, with lotsa seniority and time in.. Strapped with heavy personal debt, my friends and co-workers think skiing/riding these daze (sic) are simply for the ultra-rich (& Trustifarian ski-bums). And that scenario, when compared to the 70s and 80s .. when seemingly everyone went skiing. How/why is THAT?

The MMSA layoffs are no surprise to me.

These things ("boom & bust") happen in cycles, however regular, irregular, or sad they may be.

When the US economy gets better, so will Mammoth Mountain.

[snowfiend]

The Von's deal is great... we paid 2.60 a gallon last time we went to Bishop.

It's been a long time since you have been to Bishop!

[mtbphoto]

Vons rewards are awesome, got gas for 3.60 earlier this week

[CalvaryMike]

The Von's deal is great... we paid 2.60 a gallon last time we went to Bishop.

It's been a long time since you have been to Bishop!

Not really. It depends on how many reward credits you have. They ran a gift card special early in February, where you received double gas rewards.

[Sierra Lady]

On the gas price subject: I was in Command Performance this past Sunday morning and we were chatting about gas prices and I learned something new. When you shop at Vons and use your Vons perferred card, you get points posted into your account. These points can be used for per gallon discounts on gas at the Bishop Vons gas pumps. I haven't tried this yet as I just found about about this option, but it might help.

If someone knows more about this, please chime in.

This program has been going on for the last 2-3 years. We benefit from it all the time when filling up at Vons in Bishop.

Vons gas reward program

[moresnowplease]

Wow. I just spent like 15 minutes reading this thread. Its always makes me a chuckle a bit reading opinions of people who prolly have never run a business let alone a giant ski resort.

Just sayin...

Good thing we actually have real business people running things or we would for sure be up sh!ts creek.

[Sierra Lady]

While we understand that a business must often make difficult decisions we are a bit miffed as to why so many long-term employees were hit without notice and right after a pay cut. That part does not make much sense.

How will this impact current services? Does this mean the mountain will close much earlier this year? Will we see dramatic price increases next year for MVP's? We just filled our gas tank this morning and it costs 4.69 per gallon!

TOML/MLLA Issue + MMSA Issue + LADWP Issue + Skyrocketing Gas Prices =

Our hearts go out to all of those impacted and we hope the situation gets better..........SOON

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't somebody say there would not be any layoffs? I'm sure they were made soley from a business decision and it needed to be done, but why not give any notice?!?!?! I have takled to numerous (former) employees that have been with the company for 10+ years and they claim they had no warning. If that is true, that sux. You think they could have atleast given some notice like - hey we are very uncertain with things going forward - get your resumes ready just in case.

If your zipper breaks or you get a hole in your jacket, don't go looking for the seamstresses at Main Lodge because of today they are both gone (2 person dept.) Leslie had been with MMSA for 31 years and Cat for a long time, too. Leslie returned from her days off this morning and was given her final check. She was able to go to her office to pick up some person items and food out of the refrigerator and that was it. She told me that the only sign placed on the door reads "Closed for the season" and there are still guest's personal repaired items inside, but she doesn't know who will give them to the guests or how the guests will know who to speak to about retrieving their property.

Leslie does personal sewing at home as well and has been doing ours for 25 years. She can sew and repair anything so if you can throw some business her way, PM me and I'll give you her phone number and email.

[rusty]

Hi guys,

Yesterday was an awful day. Instead of trying to answer your specific questions or comment on this thread, I'll give you a short explanation of why we laid off 75 of 359 total year round employees with an average length of service of 10 years. This layoff is the most severe reduction in our work force since 1991 when 150 employees lost their jobs in what is now known as Black Monday.

Yesterday's layoffs are an extension of cost cutting that began on January 1. With no snow on the horizon or on the ground, other than what our snowmaking crew had provided, and with 30% less revenue coming in each day than we expected, costs needed to be cut. First and foremost, we didn't and won't try to save money by cutting back on mountain or guest operations. You can count on us keeping all facilities open at Mammoth according to our normal winter schedule as long as there is sufficient snow to ski to those facilities. You can count on us operating all facilities through the spring break holidays when we close typically Canyon and Eagle. We will operate the primary lifts around Main Lodge to the top of the mountain for as long as the snow lasts up through the July 4th holiday. You can count on us opening next year as soon as there is enough natural snow to ski Chair 1 or the first Thursday in November if we have to rely on manmade.

Starting after the New Year holiday, we cut non employee expenses wherever we could and began reducing the hours of seasonal employees, cutting many to 0 hours. We then reduced our year round hourly employees significantly, in some cases down to 20 hours per week. We provided free meals at Canyon Lodge to keep our seasonal employees in town and help with expenses for our year rounder's. We crossed our fingers for snow by mid-January. Snow finally came on January 21st, but unfortunately skiers and snowboarders did not - at least not in the numbers we expected or needed. Realizing this was no ordinary drought and that the market was not going to follow the patterns of the past, we cut more expenses by cutting year round salary employees pay 10% and I cut my pay 15%.

It snowed a couple more feet right before the President's Holiday and we had our first busy weekend with 16,500 visits on Saturday and 17,500 on Sunday, which was by far the best weekend all year although still less than typical 20,000 visits per day for this holiday. The following week visits trended back down to the season average and has stayed there ever since. If this trend continues and I see nothing on the horizon that indicated that it won't, we will bring in $40,000 million less in revenue this year than last year's total of $140 million. We simply don't have enough money coming in to pay the expenses for the size year round staff we are carrying. Cutting seasonal employees further would require us to reduce operations and I WILL NOT DO THIS. Additionally, by March 15, we will be in breach of our loan covenants, which means that the bank will make us cut expenses aggressively. I decided to cut year round jobs. I believe that if I didn't act yesterday that I would be causing many more job losses later this year. I learned this painful lesson in our slow response to the circumstances that led to Black Monday and the layoff of 150 employees referenced above. This is no one else's decision other than mine. Barry Sternlicht didn't tell me to do this. Neither he nor any of our other partners has told me to do anything. They remain supportive solid partners and friends.

Monthly revenue is running $10 million less than last year. I had 5 days of meetings with my top managers to figure out which year round jobs to eliminate in order to save $500,000 per month. We did our best to cut jobs that would not directly impact the day to day operations of the mountain or guest services. Management and higher paid jobs in administration, IT, accounting, and maintenance took the biggest hit. 2 VP's were let go. I delivered the news personally to the 10 employees with the longest tenure with the company, from 28 to 44 years. I am still crying. But my pain is nothing compared to the pain and hardship I have burdened 75 top performing, long time employees and their families with.

The majority of the 150 employees who were let go on Black Monday in 1991 were rehired by the company within 1 year. I hope and pray that this will be the case again. Because I know you Forumites care about our people and like to know the details I have included the letter that each laid off employee received.

Rusty

[Hutash]

Thanks to SL for this link...
http://www.sierrawave.net/10469/rusty-g ... marketing/

...and Rusty for posting this in The Mill

Re: I heard a Rumor

Postby rusty » Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:20 pm
Hi guys. We did have a major layoff yesterday. I'll be posting details on Sierra Lady's tread shortly. For the record, Starwood Capital is my majority partner. Starwood's head guy Barry Sternlicht is a powerful guy, a successful businessman and a good friend. He has never given me an order and I can't imagine him ever doing so. I get most of my orders from you Forumites our other loyal and opinionated (a good thing) guests. If I don't make the right decisions in dealing with this year's low business levels caused by the drought I'll be taking orders from our banks which don't know much about running ski resorts.

Rusty

edit: Rusty beat me here...good onya

[Hutash]

Hey Rusty,

You have offered to buy me a beer on a couple of occasions (usually when I was giving you a hard time), but since I see you had to take a pay cut, the next beer is on me

This economy and weather sucks, and not in the June suxs way. My own business is way down, Pets aren't always getting the care they need. People are hurting all over. I still intend to get as many days at Mammoth as I can manage, and when I am not buying beers at The Tap, I will buy them on the hill

Good luck to you, and all the Mammoth peeps in these difficult time.

Cheers

[moresnowplease]

Hey Rusty,
and when I am not buying beers at The Tap, I will buy them on the hill.

Thanks for the thought. It takes a village sometimes.

I dont mean THE VILLAGE haha

[twins]

If your zipper breaks or you get a hole in your jacket, don't go looking for the seamstresses at Main Lodge because of today they are both gone (2 person dept.) Leslie had been with MMSA for 31 years and Cat for a long time, too. Leslie returned from her days off this morning and was given her final check. She was able to go to her office to pick up some person items and food out of the refrigerator and that was it. She told me that the only sign placed on the door reads "Closed for the season" and there are still guest's personal repaired items inside, but she doesn't know who will give them to the guests or how the guests will know who to speak to about retrieving their property.

Leslie does personal sewing at home as well and has been doing ours for 25 years. She can sew and repair anything so if you can throw some business her way, PM me and I'll give you her phone number and email.

This story is so sad.I had a chance to meet both ladies last month.I needed some stitching repaired on my ski gloves and sought them out in the Main Lodge.When I asked for a repair they pointed to a rack in the back of the room.They told me I would have to wait my turn. Just leave the gloves and they will be repaired in 2 weeks!
I asked why they could not help me now?
Hours were cut back to 25 per week so there was a huge backlog on repairs.At that time I was pretty mad since I would be a paying customer "generating income for the mountain" who was being turned away.I now feel horrible as 25 hours a week is a hell of alot better than no hours and no job.I hope they are able to land on their feet quickly.
Barb,if the seamstress has a email address could you post it up with their permission of course? I still need these gloves sewn.

Also wanted to say I am sorry for all the anguish you are going through Rusty.Being in charge is a thankless job when tough decisions have to be made.I know you are suffering with these layoffs also.