There are three activities I believe that everyone should participate in at least once in their lives:

1. Get his or her ass kicked in a fight
2. Live in their car for any amount of time
3. Perform community service for at least a week
4. Work for a dying company in a dying industry

For myself, the verdict is still out on number one; I haven’t been in a fight since elementary school, and I tend to avoid physically interacting with anyone I don’t know. As for number two, I got pissed at a roommate once and moved into my Toyota Tercel for almost a week. I showered at the community college I attended, and drove down to the beach to sleep. Those were good times. Number three: Does an Eagle Scout project count? I am currently going through number four, and let me tell you: it is is surreal. If you’ve worked for a dying company, you have not had the full experience. Just about everyone I know has worked for a company that disintegrated. You get laid off on a Friday, or you go to work on a Monday and your entry card does not work and the building is dark. Of course the recent economic environment is making getting shit-canned more and more popular.

However, imagine working in an industry that has been experiencing this downturn for over a decade – that is commercial printing. The company I work for has been following the exact same trajectory as the industry, which makes it the perfect poster child. I have been here for the last three years, and the time has been quite an eye-opener. I read about layoffs everyday – I’ve even been laid off twice myself in my dozen years in printing. However, watching employees who have dedicated themselves to a company more years than I’ve been alive get the axe, that’s something else altogether. At my employer there are posters everywhere broadcasting the majesty and history of the company, yet these same employees are given little or no severance pay. Did I mention the company and its leadership continues to throw lavish customer parties with no ROI plan? All the questionable behavior you read regarding financial companies, it also occurs at my downtrodden company (probably yours too).

Wait, did I say leadership? This company has really helped me differentiate a “manager” from a “leader” (more so than any MBA class I’ve taken). A guest on my favorite sports podcast recently said that an NFL team “should never confuse hope with a plan”. That is precisely the strategy at my employer: keep cutting heads and hoping for a miracle. I understand that layoffs are inevitable, but six in three years strikes me as a little wishy-washy. It makes you wonder if they really have a long-term view at all, besides cashing paychecks and padding their resumes. I can relate because that is my plan. However, I am not the one steering the boat. The “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” metaphor was practically created for my company.

Here’s the one aspect of a dying industry/company that separates it from simply a dying company: the unemployed will never be able to find a job approaching their current salary levels. Never. This makes the experience even more poignant and sad. The average print employee is 52 years-old and has worked in printing their entire adult life. If most of my coworkers lose their job their only option will be to start a new career in a new field. Again, I can relate – when I graduate I plan on exiting the commercial print industry. However, that is my choice, and I’ve been working towards it for several years. My life raft is being inflated as we speak.