Dear Bob ... What's your opinion of Circuit City's move to cut 3,400 "overpaid" sales staff, replacing them with lower-paid equivalents? - Curious Dear Curious ... Without any inside information, I'd still guess that Circuit City's situation is both desperate and complex. I haven't seen their numbers; I have heard that Circuit City did very poorly last year. On the other hand, I read somewhere that this happened Dear Bob …What’s your opinion of Circuit City’s move to cut 3,400 “overpaid” sales staff, replacing them with lower-paid equivalents?– Curious Dear Curious …Without any inside information, I’d still guess that Circuit City’s situation is both desperate and complex. I haven’t seen their numbers; I have heard that Circuit City did very poorly last year.On the other hand, I read somewhere that this happened on the heels of a successful turnaround. So maybe this is a pure financial play after all. You might recall that once upon a time, Circuit City paid its sales people commission. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Circuit City decided to do its best to keep its sales people whole with respect to total income. That would have been a major factor in their now being paid significantly more than market rates.That this is a suicidal move is also difficult to dispute: It’s doubtful that the new hires will sell at anywhere near the rate the ones being let go do. I have no idea whether Circuit City had any decent alternatives – whether this move was discretionary and strategic, or mandatory as an alternative to measures even more severe were it to try to avoid doing this.But then, it’s always been like this: Generals make mistakes and troops get shot to pieces. – Bob Technology Industry