Mar 5th, 2009 by capitaladmin
Cottrell recently paid his employees a bonus in $2 bills to help local economy.
A small-town pharmacist intrigued by the government’s economic stimulus plan decided to launch his own version with $16,000 in $2 bills, and area stores have already felt the impact.
Danny Cottrell gave each of his full-time employees $700 and part-timers $300. He asked them to donate 15 percent to charity and spend the rest locally, particularly downtown, where store owners say that business has been lean.
“I wanted to do something for my employees, let them know our business is not in jeopardy, and for the local merchants,” said Danny Cottrell, owner of The Medical Center Pharmacy with its main store in Brewton and a second in Atmore. “This seemed like a good way to do it.”
Cottrell said he paid his employees with $2 bills so he and the rest of the Escambia County business community could see how the money circulates.
Before he explained the plan to his employees last week, Cottrell said, he couldn’t resist creating a little suspense.
“Times are hard,” he said, “and the downturn has hit us some. Employees start to worry if they will even have a job. So I called a meeting of the staff. One employee broke out in hives from the nerves. My partner, Tom Henderson, said he heard some employees talking about the meeting. They were scared to death.”
Cottrell said he began the meeting as usual, encouraging workers to answer phones faster and serve customers better. Then he began passing out envelopes.
[ more ]
