STORM2K

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/pf/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1333&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20041208%2F0348953089.htm&sc=1333

...Colgate-Palmolive Co., which announced Tuesday it is eliminating 4,400 jobs, disclosed in a regulatory filing that many of its top executives and officers are given allowances of up to $11,500 a year to spend on anything from pet sitters to running shoes to karate lessons to movie rentals.

The plan, called ``Above and Beyond,'' was detailed in the consumer product company's quarterly filing in November with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The program has been in place since 1986 and covers 800 executives.
Under the plan, executives and officers can ask for reimbursement for exercise equipment, such as rowing or skiing machines, instructional videos, grooming and boarding services for pets, pet walking services and sitters, and veterinarian fees and visits.

Twenty top officers are each eligible for an $11,500 yearly allowance. Between 110 and 120 vice presidents are eligible for $10,000 allowances and 650 executives are eligible for allowances of either $2,000 or $4,000, depending on their rank. Not every eligible executive uses their allowance, the company said......

I hope these folks dont make my toothpaste. I'm gonna switch brands.

It's more than just your toothpaste.

They also make Softsoap, Fab, Dynamo, Palmolive dish and dishwasher products, Science Diet pet food, Speed Stick and Teen Spirit deodorants, Irish Spring, Skin Bracer and Afta after shave, Murphy's Oil Soap, and Ajax.

I dont use any of those products...thank goodness.

Those guys are swine!!

Would that be considered like an incentive or bonus for being a top executive. Most top executives have worked really hard to be where they are and make the company successful. They spend a lot of time at work. What's the big deal if they get a bonus to make their personal life a little easier? I wouldn't stop using a trusted and good product for that reason.

wouldnt you think it might be prudent to reduce the benefits than can 4400 people? They were working hard too!

I'm with alicia here! Don't buy their products. If they want to line their corporate pockets and ditch their employees, they don't deserve product loyalty.

i sorta understand that executives should receive something, but not when they're firing employees before the holidays. That just bites. And when you look at the kind of perks they're allowed to write off (grooming and boarding services for pets, pet walking services and sitters, and veterinarian fees and visits), I think they should have to suck it up a bit when there are families that will be doing without a lot more than that!

THis is a very sore subject with me. My father worked for a factory which made soap products etc. Im not sure if they are related to Colgate, however the company retrenched over 100 employees just before christmas so they would not have to pay bonus's... the reasons for the mass retrenchment were different though (THis is a South African company I am speaking of) It was political and racial.

that's just wrong.

I'll have to change most of the products I use if I stop buying their products. I like most of what I use too much to just switch for a protest. When I find something that works well for me I stick with it.

As far as the incentive program is concerned, it is BS if they continue to get the perks and they still lay off 4400 workers.

Yes, they shouldn't be laying those people off and still get the money.

GalvestonDuck wrote:It's more than just your toothpaste.

They also make Softsoap, Fab, Dynamo, Palmolive dish and dishwasher products, Science Diet pet food, Speed Stick and Teen Spirit deodorants, Irish Spring, Skin Bracer and Afta after shave, Murphy's Oil Soap, and Ajax.

Oh, this sucks. First of all, I just bought a tube of Colgate.

I use Softsoap, but I'm dumping Irish Spring after this bar because Lever is better. Afta makes the only oil/grease free pre-shave lotion that I know of, although I am now using the CVS Pharmacy generic equivalent.

HurricaneGirl wrote:Would that be considered like an incentive or bonus for being a top executive. Most top executives have worked really hard to be where they are and make the company successful. They spend a lot of time at work. What's the big deal if they get a bonus to make their personal life a little easier? I wouldn't stop using a trusted and good product for that reason.

Bonuses are bogus!! The top execs live the life of luxury while the working class has to make a decision on whether to buy a loaf of bread or diapers because the money has run out, and it's not even payday yet!

Bonuses make the needs of the one (the exec) outweigh the needs of the many (the workers!!)

If I ran a company, I'd tell 'em I'm gonna offer you a very fair salary and put you on a contract for one year. If, at the one year point, you're not cutting the mustard - you're gone.

Now, bonuses for an independent sales person who single-handedly increases his or her sales - that's a whole different story and he or she absolutely deserves the bouns.

Executive bonuses are BOGUS!!

...as he steps down from his soap-box.

The Big Dog wrote:

GalvestonDuck wrote:It's more than just your toothpaste.

They also make Softsoap, Fab, Dynamo, Palmolive dish and dishwasher products, Science Diet pet food, Speed Stick and Teen Spirit deodorants, Irish Spring, Skin Bracer and Afta after shave, Murphy's Oil Soap, and Ajax.

Oh, this sucks. First of all, I just bought a tube of Colgate.

I use Softsoap, but I'm dumping Irish Spring after this bar because Lever is better. Afta makes the only oil/grease free pre-shave lotion that I know of, although I am now using the CVS Pharmacy generic equivalent.

Try Nivea for men. My sons use that.