Ford bans competitors' vehicles from lot

CNNMoney.com ^ | 01/27/2006 | By Staff

[oxcart]

Employees at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich., will have to drive Ford Motor Co. vehicles to work or park across the street, the plant manager announced earlier this week.

The new parking policy, which is scheduled to take effect Feb. 1, was instituted by plant manager Rob Webber just as Ford reported losses of $1.6 billion from its North American auto operations in 2005 and Monday announced plans to close 14 plants and cut 30,000 jobs as it tries to reverse losses and respond to declining U.S. market share.

[Antonello]

Apparently only about 10% of the employees at that plant drive non Ford products.

Where did you get that percentage? I just checked the article and it doesn't say (or even insinuate) any such thing. I'm curious where you got the 10%.

From Click On Detroit:

The rule to drive only Ford vehicles is limited to the Dearborn Truck Assembly Plant, and will affect about 300 of the 2,800 employees at the plant

[cva66snipe]

Friend of mine says, "I'd rather push a FORD than drive a CHEVY"!

I'd put a 78 Chevy Blazer K-5 automatic as being the absolute best all around 4X4 truck an American company ever built. I like Fords but for 4X4 give me that model Blazer over any 4X4 truck before or since. Mines not for sell :>}

[Antonello]

I've gone through the comments in post 89. No one suggested that Ford didn't have the legal right to do what they did. (The union employee came the closest, but even he didn't get there.) Most responded by either pointing out the abstract consequences, the direct consequences, or historical reality about the company.

Accepting that a property owner has a legal right to do something is not the same as supporting ownership rights. Criticizing a decision by citing reasons why it would be ineffective or even detrimental to its goal is one thing, but the posts I referenced aren't doing that.

What they are doing instead is expressing disdain over the exercise of ownership rights to do something that the critic finds personally offensive in an ideological sense. In other words, they profess to support ownership rights only as long as that owner does what they want.

[coder2]

Good read, thanks...

Employees decide the bad processes though, ok, maybe not the line workers, but management are employees just as much as the line worker is...

Bad decisions are made by employees too, because all management, other than the board of directors, are employees. I'm not referring to the highest decision makers, but there are so many decisions made at lower levels

While I'm sure there is enough "blame" to go around, I really do place much of this at the feet of the union. Because the union believes that they are the first and final word in everything to the detriment of the company and especially the employee.

[coder2]

Very true... And then they blame either the company or the government..

[FFIGHTER]

This reflects more on their employees, than on Ford. Highly compensated employees that have no pride in their work and it is reflected in their product. They will now face the consequences; layoffs.

Ford's overseas products are built by motivated, highly-paid workers who take pride in their company and their product, and is reflected in the bottom line; a profit.

[BurbankKarl]

What do you mean it wont stick...they had rules like this for decades...

Drive a Toyota...trudge 1/4 mile in the snow.

[strange1]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182984,00.html

Near the bottom there's a quote of 15%. A little difficult to believe, but not impossible. I worked at a Visteon plant in Plymouth Mich, and given it's Visteon, it was formerly a Ford plant, and I'd say 20% of the cars were not Ford products. Of course there were quite few Jaguars (spl?)

[On the Road to Serfdom]

You need to go back and rethink things because you are simply wrong.

If some person hates this decision and decides to never buy a Ford again because of it, and tells everyone, this does not make them against Ford's property rights. The person would be exercising his own property right over his own money and how it is spent.

Using your own logic (which is wrong) I might say you are anti-property rights because you seem to be saying people should not be able to take this action of Ford into account in their decision on how to spend their own money.p>

[On the Road to Serfdom]

Maybe this one question quiz will help in thinking about the issue a little:

1. Bob paints his house pink. Which of the following people could be considered “anti-property rights”?
a. Cindy tells bob she hates it
b. Matt stops inviting bob to his parties, and tells everyone how stupid Bob is for painting his house and ugly color.
c. Steve goes to city hall to file a complaint.
d. Eric paints his house green in retaliation because he knows Bob hates green.
e. all of the above
…
…
…
(answer c)

[PAR35]

Accepting that a property owner has a legal right to do something is not the same as supporting ownership rights.

I disagree. It appears that what you have problems with is the Constitutional right to free speech. You have a legal right to buy the house next door to me and paint it orange with purple polka dots. I would then have the right criticize you and your paint choices without being opposed to property rights.

Here, Ford has a right to restrict parking in their lot, and I have a right to point out how stupid it is as a business decision, and to translate that disdain into a purchasing decision.

[Antonello]

You seem to not be recognizing the difference between 'supporting', 'acknowledging', and 'opposing' property rights.

I am saying that expressing an objection to a decision because of personal opinions can still allow acknowledgment of the right, but displays a lack of support of the owner to make that decision as he sees fit.

You appear to believe that anything short of an attempt to strip the rights from an owner is support. By that logic, a Jesse Jackson boycott over a perceived (or even manufactured) injustice still qualifies as support for the target's rights.

[JoeGar]

Cheap, tacky policy, Ford.

[Antonello]

I disagree. It appears that what you have problems with is the Constitutional right to free speech. You have a legal right to buy the house next door to me and paint it orange with purple polka dots. I would then have the right criticize you and your paint choices without being opposed to property rights.

Here, Ford has a right to restrict parking in their lot, and I have a right to point out how stupid it is as a business decision, and to translate that disdain into a purchasing decision.

I have no problem with your Constitutional right to freely display your lack of support for owner's rights. Do you have a problem with being labeled as such as a consequence to what you express?

[brianl703]

The discount isn't that great. The effective result of the discount is that you are basically even when you drive the car off the lot (wheras you'd be $1k-$2k in the hole otherwise).

You also have to pay taxes on the discount. That's right, it's considered a taxable benefit.

[Centurion2000]

Had a Ford Probe that I thought I was keeping in very good condition until the tranny was ready to die in the car. This was one month before my final payment. Final trade in value after repairs were asessed after the devaluation? I got a whopping 500 dolalrs from it.

I will never buy Ford again.

[On the Road to Serfdom]

I don't have any problem seeing the difference.


Bob paints his house pink which Cindy finds ugly. Neighbor Cindy says, "Bob, I can't ask the government to fix this because I support your property right, and I even voted against the house paint requirements referendum, but I know you hate dogs so I am buying a dog as revenge, and I know you like my sister so I am telling her you are a jerk."

Cindy is supporting Bob's property right to paint his house how he likes, and has backed up that support with her vote. She is respecting his right to do so. She is not agreeing that he made a correct decision, and is getting back at him by doing something she knows he hates. Nothing she does in in conflict with respecting and/or supporting his basic property rights.

[brianl703]

On other forums I've read many comments about all of the great cars that Ford and GM sell in other countries that they don't sell here, and how the solution for all of Ford and GM's problems would be to sell those cars here.

[Centurion2000]

FORD

Found
On
Road
Dead

DODGE

Dies
On
Day
Guarantee
Expires

[brianl703]

The employee discount isn't that great AND it's a taxable benefit.