Frugal Flyer

Northwest to Outsourcing Victims: Try Dumpster Diving!

The Bismark Tribune has gotten ahold of a Northwest Airlines handbook entitled "Restructuring Q&A and Employee Support" that includes a list of tips for the about-to-be outsourced.

A list of 101 money-saving ideas suggests they ask friends and family for hand-me-down clothes or ask a doctor for free samples of their prescription drugs. Idea No. 46 - "Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the garbage."

Also included is an advertisment for a real estate agent, in case laid-off workers need to sell their homes, and tips on how to keep a positive attitude after losing a job.

A Northwest spokesman told the paper the booklet is an attempt to be helpful: "In putting that book together, we were just trying to provide the employees with as much information as possible. Not everything in there is going to be applicable to every employee."