John Deere lays off hundreds of employees, after a $10B profit year

Profit doesn't matter if it doesn't make the line go up! It's a failing company because line didn't go up! Tractors aren't the product. Only line is product. All hail line. If we pray to line, perhaps line go up?

If anyone hasn't watched the latest Wendover Productions video, I highly recommend it.

It covers John Deere's transition into a technology company and details why they're laying off a lot workers. Link

It's not inflation if companies are posting record profits.

I get why people are upset by the headline. It is written to provoke anger. Unfortunately, anger at the wrong issue.

I understand the argument that a large company can absorb the cost of workers they don't currently. Though it's unrealistic to expect them too.

I lived in the Quad Cities for a number of years. A large majority of people I know, both family and friends, worked for either Deere or Case IH - until they closed the plant in East Moline.

Layoffs are a yearly thing. Deere, Case, Caterpillar, they all hire a bunch of people in the beginning of the year and lay them off towards the end. It's typically around August or September, and they announce it in July. Everyone in the Quad Cities knows it. It is expected. Sometime early next year, they are going to hire these jobs back. The people who take these jobs go into it knowing this is going to happen.

It can suck being let go and some people might struggle with it. Those who are used to this cycle treat it as a well-paying seasonal job. Many already have something else lined up. This is only a single, anecdotal, data point, so take it with a grain of salt... one of my uncles works for Deere and is a bus driver for one of the school districts. He knows Deere is going to let him go by fall so he has the driving job for the rest of the year. In spring, he will go back to Deere.

Perspective is also important. Deere has somewhere between 80k and 85k employees. They are laying off < 1000 based on this story. That's the equivalent of a small, 80 person company hiring 1 person to get through the holiday season, then laying them off in January. Next year, they will do it again.

Headlines like this are nothing more than a distraction from real issues. For example, why does any company have multi-billions of dollars in profit to begin with? It just means they are charging more than they need to. The farmers who buy Deere equipment then have to charge more for their produce. Which means the stores have to charge more. Which means we pay more for our food. Deere's profits are leading to higher food prices for everyone. To me, that is more of an issue than 1/80th of their workforce being in a hire/layoff cycle.

The need for year-over-year growth is ultimately strangling the system. At the moment it is easy to lay a bunch of people off and claim that growth. Eventually (at some point in the future), it won't be mathematically possible unless the C-suite starts taking pay cuts, or they at least start eschewing their crazy bonuses. Expect them to milk that for good press ("These forward-thinking CEOs are dumping the bonuses for... insert any random bullshit here!") or other such marketing nonsense.

Eventually, it will stop, when the system no longer functions at all. Infinite year-over-year growth across the board is an impossibility.

Not good enough for Republicans. John Deere has to abandon any and all programs to have a diverse workforce.

We’re living through the shittiest part of late-stage capitalism. It’ll never be good for typical people again.

I'm one of those guys that's getting laid off 😭

Trickle down economics at work folks.

I think we found out who ate all the pies.

I'm MUCH Happier with my Tax Dollars going to these Job Creators laying off Workers then to Feed Starving American Children!

-Fiscally Responsible Jesus Humping Republicans!

Permanently Deleted

John Deer stock buybacks

• April 30, 2024: $1.1 billion
• January 31, 2024: $1.3 billion
• October 31, 2023: $2.6 billion
• July 31, 2023: $2.1 billion
• April 30, 2023: $1.3 billion
• January 31, 2023: $1.3 billion
• October 31, 2022: $1.2 billion
• July 31, 2022: $1.3 billion

Total: $12.2 billion in 2 years.

https://ycharts.com/companies/DE/stock_buyback

7-8 billion actually. But I suppose they rounded up.

https://thehill.com/business/4750201-john-deere-laying-off-hundreds-of-midwest-workers/

Blind greed is a deadly affliction for all but the afflicted

Well of course, they’re not an employment company, they’re a money making company. The workers can go eat sand, and they’ll sell it to you, with no fear of the government doing anything.

So putting drm in your tractors isnt giving you enough money so you fire hundred of employees? are there any chances that all or some of them suggested to remove your stupid drm that is affecting farmers all around the word?

Most people know this recent history, but in case you missed it:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64206913

What a weird choice to have an image of Pritzker for this article.

Why is the picture of pritzker? Is he laying people off?

Remember that trope about AI destroying humanity due to mistakenly trying to over-optimize for bent paperclips

Turns out it was actually always about the lines humanity itself could raise along the way

That was last quarter. You don't have to be very good at economics to look at world crop supplies, the age of the current farming equipment fleet, and other such data and conclude this next year will be tough for ag companies like Deere.

Of course the above is nothing new - ag is a cyclical business, you see the above ever 5-10 years. Previous to the current CEO the last layoffs of this type of position was the mid 1980s - several other CEOs saw the same signs the current one does and were able to manage it without layoffs.