As Circuit City seeks bankruptcy protection, and DHL U.S. Express announced plans to lay off 9,500 workers, I can't help but think back to decisions the companies made six months to a year ago that foreshadowed these moves Monday. For Circuit City, it was laying off workers that I think helped lead it to bankruptcy, and for DHL it was a merger that eventually led to jobs being lost. Either way, workers were harshly affected.

Circuit City has had its share of poor decisions over the years, but at least customers knew when walking in that it had some of the most knowledgeable sales people in the industry who were willing to help. I don't know much about electronics, but after going into a Circuit City store, I knew a lot more and could make an informed decision.

But a year ago, the company laid off thousands of its experienced salespeople. Sure, it saved money with fewer workers and the cheaper employees who remained, but it easily looked like a dumb move at the time by anyone who had done business there.

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

I don't know of any other freebie that is as universal as a free overnight shipping envelope. This freebie from DHL is a great way to ship your next eBay sale, mail a care package to your son at school this fall or even surprise a loved one across the country. Getting the free overnight shipping envelope from DHL is as easy as filling out a quick survey about your shipping needs.

When you fill out the survey don't forget to use your real address so you can actually get the free mailer and make sure that the rest of your information is true or at least plausible since DHL will deny any submissions that appear to be fraudulent. As with all deals this good you better sign up for this one quick because I'm sure it won't last long.

Although New York is definitely not the book wonderland that it once was, it still has quite a few places for the hard-core bibliophile to curl up, search the stacks, and find a great book at a great price.

However, as a cheapskate and recovering bookaholic, I tend to check out books from the library first, choosing only to buy the ones that I really, really need. By following this method, I've managed to cut down my yearly book purchases to only a few dozen volumes; by my standards, this is just a small fix, a little something to get me through.

This, by the way, is the bibliomaniac version of methadone treatment.

A story yesterday about a new business arrangement between Deutsche Post's DHL and United Parcel Service reminded me why I love owning my own business. I can make my own decisions and do things that others might not like to do... like collaborate with competitors.

Basically, DHL has been trying to compete with UPS, offering to deliver your packages anywhere in the world. The problem is that DHL doesn't have as big a network as UPS, so it was very expensive to get packages to certain places.

The solution: Work out a deal to have UPS transport certain DHL packages. It's a win-win in my eyes. UPS increases annual revenue by an estimated $1 billion. And DHL keeps its promise to customers at a much lower cost than if it tried to transport all packages themselves.