Posted on 06/09/2007 8:15:48 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
Edited on 06/10/2007 7:30:25 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
OAKDALE, Calif. - On a warm May weekend in this Central Valley town, the irony was thick.
As usual, the annual Chocolate Festival was drawing hordes of fun-seekers. But Hershey Co., Oakdale's biggest employer and the nation's biggest candy company, is closing its plant here, eliminating all 575 jobs. The company will open a factory in Monterrey, Mexico, to handle the production.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
"Mexico isnt known as the cleanest place in the world. I dont want a Chocolate bar from there."
I need to disagree with you. And this is not a pro-NAFTA comments or any such thing. But manufacturing plants that move to Mexico actually produce extemely high quality products. A friend had to move his glass tile production there. An extremely hard decision but he would be out of business otherwise -- hard to compete with China. And the product he is getting back is excellent.
We need to forget about the old stereotypes of Mexican maquiladora plants. Done right, the Mexican factories for the American marketplace do extremely well.
Chocolate is good for you! It is the sugar that is bad...
They are NOT moving the Park, just away from the workers who are demanding high tech pay for low tech work (unions again). The park falls under a different division than the food operations.
If they move in unskilled immigrants to run the park I will stop taking my grandkids there... but most of the park workers are paid low skill pay because it is mostly a low skill job. However, if I want a CANDY BAR I just want the best tasting, cheapest I can get. We are not talking truffles here.. just chocolate bars and peanut butter Reese's.
Most people have a bit of perspective and don’t want to pay candy prices that support Doctorate level pay for low/medium skilled workers. If Hershey can make and sell it cheaper, more power to them to do so.
If the union workers boxing candy want to be paid like RN’s or Physicians assistants.. more power to them. But they need to realize what they are really doing... overpricing themselves.
That alone shows they have no concept of basic economics that most learn when they are bidding to cut the neighbors grass. Unions will not work there either.
That figure seems very low to me. I would think the Mexican wages are much LOWER than 10% of the average union payroll in United States...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/954156/posts?q=1&;page=353#353
Take a look at my post #353 for a quick illustration why companies are moving jobs overseas - and why even if the US were to adopt China’s rules regarding taxation and government regulation overnight, the great sucking sound would continue.
I have a big dry erase board in my kitchen, I have just added another name on it of items or products not to buy like anything from Tysons, food products from Walmart, certain toothpastes and now anything Hershies. There is actually a lot on the board like vitamins and protein supplements cause I suspect they originate in China.
I need to get a bigger board soon.
And anyone who believes that is as big an idiot as Mr. Lenny...
First - labor only saves 10% over employing Americans here?
And what exactly does a new factory cost to build? is that figured in to the above figure?
And at a time when imported foods are falling into tighter scrutiny (which they should), should yet another "American" company move production out of the states?
Profits at what cost?
I refuse to eat candy from anywhere that still has sewage running in the streets.
Where’s the fey-ance????
“Many of the major Defense contractors are receiving mega million contracts almost weekly”
Yeah but the skill level to work with a defense contractor is a bit higher than a candy worker. The problem is the candy workers (low skill) are trying to get paid as though they were doing a high tech job.
BUY AMERICAN.
Oh wait. There aren’t any more.
I was using the numbers that were cited in the original article that started this thread.
So what are you saying? The companies should be forced to pay a certain wage here? That our society needs to support a certain standard of living?
Help me out in understanding you #353.
Yes, but the bribery and corruption fees are so much higher there, that it does jack the price of doing business there back up...
On the other hand, there's going to be HUGH savings simply on the price of sugar!
Mark
Because the Mexicans don't want to do those jobs there for the wages that are being paid there.
Mark
I think that we need to look into "off-shoring" our government... I have no doubt that we can get plenty of corrupt, third world pols for far less than our current crop of elected officials... Imagine how much government spending could be cut!!!
Mark
Actually, its regarded the world over as the most “consistent” and is used by chefs worldwide over things like Swiss Chocolate. It is said to be one of the most “chef friendly” chocolates. I’m no chef, but I have read this several times throughout my lifetime, and have a friend who we visit in Reigenstadt Austria who uses only Hershey’s in his Vienna pastry shop (we have had the conversation before, and he is a 5 star pastry chef located in district 1 of Vienna)
On a side note, when they left Pennsylvania, to get cheaper labor via California where was the outrage then?
I probably won’t purchase Hershey products by choice (much of their product is used in other manufacturing) but will probably purchase some of it unwittingly in finer restaurants and bakeries.
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