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> It means that Tesla could let go over 3,000 employees in this round of layoffs. > The CEO also confirmed that Tesla didn’t renew its contract with Home Depot

> It means that Tesla could let go over 3,000 employees in this round of layoffs. > The CEO also confirmed that Tesla didn’t renew its contract with Home Depot to sell its energy products at their stores. Tesla energy advisors were supposed to be at 800 Home Depots across the US earlier this year. If they had 3.5 employees per store, and a team of 200 managing the entire effort, these layoffs could be attributed entirely to the lost Home Depot deal.

jonknee 8y ago
If that was the case they definitely would have noted it. Musk said "In addition to this company-wide restructuring, we've decided not to renew". He then went on to say the majority will be given the opportunity to move to other Tesla retail locations. It reads more like the cuts don't include the Home Depot related staff (who surely work hourly + comission anyway, these are cuts to salaries positions).
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  As a Tesla investor, I'm very curious what the conversion rate is of Home Depot/Big Box customers vs Tesla stores. My guess would be it's much higher in Tesla stores. No one likes being bothered at Home Depot by sales staff when they've just popped in for a part.
  - StillBored 8y ago
    The powerwall is next to the AC/insulation guy that seems like he is there about 50% of the time. He hooks people with "free home efficiency audits". I've seen a tesla rep there with lower frequency, but I'm having a hard time understanding how many they actually sell, because frankly where I live the only use case is going to be people with large enough solar installations to go off grid, as the power company doesn't do any kind of time based rate tiering (the tiering is entirely usage based, and the power company includes how much solar you consume in the equation).
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - wil421 8y ago
      I’m from the home town of Home Depot and never seen the AC guy or Tesla guy. The only place I’ve seen what you describe is in Costco? Where are these people positioned in Home Depot to make it effective? Costco’s one entrance and one exit make it ideal for this kind of badgering.
      - RankingMember 8y ago
        In my experience they have a table at the end of one of the aisles but then roam around bugging people.
    - hamandcheese 8y ago
      > and the power company includes how much solar you consume in the equation This is very striking to me. Does the power company get actual readings on your solar energy consumption, or is the tiering based on estimated solar usage?
      - StillBored 8y ago
        I think they are metering the solar as well... https://austinenergy.com/wcm/connect/9c2d0f25-b56e-410a-93ee-04f25c5f00a9/res_vos_bill_sample_eflyer.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=mcHv0pD&CVID=mcHv0pD https://austinenergy.com/wcm/connect/9c2d0f25-b56e-410a-93ee...
        floatrock 8y ago
        iirc Austin is one of the few places in the US that has a full feed-in tariff, that is they buy back all your solar through a dedicated meter at feed-in prices (usually closer to wholesale vs. the retail prices you purchase at) and apply that as a credit.
  - RankingMember 8y ago
    There's few things that turn me off faster from a store than roving third-party salespeople soliciting like that.
    - rootusrootus 8y ago
      Agreed. An unmanned sales booth would be totally fine, but being accosted by a sales representative when I go into Home Depot to pick up some supplies for a weekend project is extremely off-putting. To the point where I might go out of my way to avoid that company when I am in the market to buy.
    - mikkergp 8y ago
      Their salespeople were super-aggressive in every setting I've seen them. I remember my girlfriend got hounded by one of their sales people and we had to avoid that part of the store.
    - mrfusion 8y ago
      The worst is when they ask if you need help finding anything and you think they’re an employee and then they hit you with a sales pitch. Dude I’m just trying to find the mold spray and get out.
  - Paul-ish 8y ago
    Maybe this would go too far into the "uncanny valley", but why not have teleconferencing sales people? Eg have a terminal near the solar products where you can hit a button and immediately be connected to a remote sales rep. This way you can cut down the sales reps to, say 0.2 per store. And you never talk to one unless you want to either.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - allthenews 8y ago
      I have trouble imagining that people would use such a service. I think the point of intrusive, unsolicited salesmanship is to convince people to look into products that they would otherwise ignore. People go to home depot to buy hardware, not to meet with salespeople.
- jexah 8y ago
  I'm not sure if this already took place, but didn't Musk say they were going to layoff loads of inefficient contractors a month or two back? Could that be the "restructuring" that is being referred to?
DiabloD3 8y ago
I wasn't even aware they HAD a contract. My local Home Depot has zero mention of any product Tesla makes.
- tcdent 8y ago
  Mine (not even in a very large city) has a Powerwall display right inside the front door.
- Abekkus 8y ago
  The contract was for 800 Home Depot locations out of ~2,000 total locations. Our location has People watching the entrance of the store as well as combing the aisles to pitch customers. Valuable products don't need a hard sell.
  - __jal 8y ago
    > combing the aisles to pitch customers That's really obnoxious. What an awesome way to drive me to other retailers.
  - Alwaysbanned 8y ago
    >Valuable products don't need a hard sell Is your claim that Tesla products are doing such good business at Home Depot that they no longer need salespeople? Is anything ever bad news for this company? They are bleeding red ink, haven't ever made production goals, claim to be growing exponentially, and yet are laying off employees because business is so good? I'm with the poster down thread: the Fandom is hard to comprehend.
    - aetherson 8y ago
      I think that you misread your parent, who was, to my reading, saying that the fact that powerwalls apparently needed a hard sell was proof that they were not good products.
    - joejerryronnie 8y ago
      But, but . . . Elon Musk! Sports Cars and Electricity and Space and stuff! What's there not to like?!!
gowld 8y ago
I don't see why you'd need more than 2 full-time equivalent Tesla salesperson per Home Depot store. Also, those employees weren't hired yet, the "advisors" were a planned/prototype project.
rayiner 8y ago
If the layoffs were related to the Home Depot contract, they would’ve been described in that context. “Because Tesla is not renewing its contract with Home Depot, as many as 3,000 employees are being laid off.” Since it wasn’t phrased that way, it’s safe to assume they’re more general layoffs.
asdsa5325 8y ago
I can guarantee that they didn't have 3.5 per store and an extra 200.
staticautomatic 8y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ressentiment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ressentiment I'd bet Musk saying it was Tesla's decision not to renew the deal is a classic PR corporate power myth.

jonknee 8y ago

If that was the case they definitely would have noted it. Musk said "In addition to this company-wide restructuring, we've decided not to renew". He then went on to say the majority will be given the opportunity to move to other Tesla retail locations. It reads more like the cuts don't include the Home Depot related staff (who surely work hourly + comission anyway, these are cuts to salaries positions).

toomuchtodo 8y ago
As a Tesla investor, I'm very curious what the conversion rate is of Home Depot/Big Box customers vs Tesla stores. My guess would be it's much higher in Tesla stores. No one likes being bothered at Home Depot by sales staff when they've just popped in for a part.
- StillBored 8y ago
  The powerwall is next to the AC/insulation guy that seems like he is there about 50% of the time. He hooks people with "free home efficiency audits". I've seen a tesla rep there with lower frequency, but I'm having a hard time understanding how many they actually sell, because frankly where I live the only use case is going to be people with large enough solar installations to go off grid, as the power company doesn't do any kind of time based rate tiering (the tiering is entirely usage based, and the power company includes how much solar you consume in the equation).
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - wil421 8y ago
    I’m from the home town of Home Depot and never seen the AC guy or Tesla guy. The only place I’ve seen what you describe is in Costco? Where are these people positioned in Home Depot to make it effective? Costco’s one entrance and one exit make it ideal for this kind of badgering.
    - RankingMember 8y ago
      In my experience they have a table at the end of one of the aisles but then roam around bugging people.
  - hamandcheese 8y ago
    > and the power company includes how much solar you consume in the equation This is very striking to me. Does the power company get actual readings on your solar energy consumption, or is the tiering based on estimated solar usage?
    - StillBored 8y ago
      I think they are metering the solar as well... https://austinenergy.com/wcm/connect/9c2d0f25-b56e-410a-93ee-04f25c5f00a9/res_vos_bill_sample_eflyer.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=mcHv0pD&CVID=mcHv0pD https://austinenergy.com/wcm/connect/9c2d0f25-b56e-410a-93ee...
      - floatrock 8y ago
        iirc Austin is one of the few places in the US that has a full feed-in tariff, that is they buy back all your solar through a dedicated meter at feed-in prices (usually closer to wholesale vs. the retail prices you purchase at) and apply that as a credit.
- RankingMember 8y ago
  There's few things that turn me off faster from a store than roving third-party salespeople soliciting like that.
  - rootusrootus 8y ago
    Agreed. An unmanned sales booth would be totally fine, but being accosted by a sales representative when I go into Home Depot to pick up some supplies for a weekend project is extremely off-putting. To the point where I might go out of my way to avoid that company when I am in the market to buy.
  - mikkergp 8y ago
    Their salespeople were super-aggressive in every setting I've seen them. I remember my girlfriend got hounded by one of their sales people and we had to avoid that part of the store.
  - mrfusion 8y ago
    The worst is when they ask if you need help finding anything and you think they’re an employee and then they hit you with a sales pitch. Dude I’m just trying to find the mold spray and get out.
- Paul-ish 8y ago
  Maybe this would go too far into the "uncanny valley", but why not have teleconferencing sales people? Eg have a terminal near the solar products where you can hit a button and immediately be connected to a remote sales rep. This way you can cut down the sales reps to, say 0.2 per store. And you never talk to one unless you want to either.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - allthenews 8y ago
    I have trouble imagining that people would use such a service. I think the point of intrusive, unsolicited salesmanship is to convince people to look into products that they would otherwise ignore. People go to home depot to buy hardware, not to meet with salespeople.
jexah 8y ago
I'm not sure if this already took place, but didn't Musk say they were going to layoff loads of inefficient contractors a month or two back? Could that be the "restructuring" that is being referred to?

DiabloD3 8y ago

I wasn't even aware they HAD a contract. My local Home Depot has zero mention of any product Tesla makes.

tcdent 8y ago
Mine (not even in a very large city) has a Powerwall display right inside the front door.
Abekkus 8y ago
The contract was for 800 Home Depot locations out of ~2,000 total locations. Our location has People watching the entrance of the store as well as combing the aisles to pitch customers. Valuable products don't need a hard sell.
- __jal 8y ago
  > combing the aisles to pitch customers That's really obnoxious. What an awesome way to drive me to other retailers.
- Alwaysbanned 8y ago
  >Valuable products don't need a hard sell Is your claim that Tesla products are doing such good business at Home Depot that they no longer need salespeople? Is anything ever bad news for this company? They are bleeding red ink, haven't ever made production goals, claim to be growing exponentially, and yet are laying off employees because business is so good? I'm with the poster down thread: the Fandom is hard to comprehend.
  - aetherson 8y ago
    I think that you misread your parent, who was, to my reading, saying that the fact that powerwalls apparently needed a hard sell was proof that they were not good products.
  - joejerryronnie 8y ago
    But, but . . . Elon Musk! Sports Cars and Electricity and Space and stuff! What's there not to like?!!

gowld 8y ago

I don't see why you'd need more than 2 full-time equivalent Tesla salesperson per Home Depot store. Also, those employees weren't hired yet, the "advisors" were a planned/prototype project.

rayiner 8y ago

If the layoffs were related to the Home Depot contract, they would’ve been described in that context. “Because Tesla is not renewing its contract with Home Depot, as many as 3,000 employees are being laid off.” Since it wasn’t phrased that way, it’s safe to assume they’re more general layoffs.

asdsa5325 8y ago

I can guarantee that they didn't have 3.5 per store and an extra 200.

staticautomatic 8y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ressentiment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ressentiment I'd bet Musk saying it was Tesla's decision not to renew the deal is a classic PR corporate power myth.