Nation's last major shirt plant closes, production moves overseas

That's a positive development for these workers and your community? Nobody plys any expertise or skill in the process? Why couldn't $7/hour employees use no skill or expertise in the position? Why wouldn't a guy down the road buy the same production machinery, hire a labor force eager to work 65 hours a week at 60% of the labor cost of the local mill's staff, call on Wal Mart and beat your mill on price and rush deliveries? Someone will, that's a big market and your local mill is severely disadvantaged.

Ok, I'll bite this time, since you have time to bait hooks here as well as the USO Canteen thus trying to make friends everywhere IMHO.(http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771341/posts).

First off, you say again there is NO skills involved in running these machines. You don't understand the complexities involved it seems. I have looked at them and watched them run and the search and find technics involved in searcing down the problems involved. They are giant computermachines that rotate at amazing speeds with millions of tiny parts and sencors. They have to be handled with kid hands constantly with magical hands it seems. I don't know all the various factors involved, but the wall street journal article just mimics my view.

You mention Wally World buying the lowest priced item. Well FP is it for the most part. You did hit a nail about being able to fulfill an order quickly. Walmart does not like to keep it's warehouses full of inventory (you seem to know alot about this side of the industry as if you work is sells/buying/suppling). You know that being able to deliver a product fast and on time is very important. As far as I can tell, this is something FP is very good at. It is as location advantage on the competition and it has it's own warehouse supply to send on fast order.

As far as I can tell, F.P. has met every condition you have stated. The only disadvantage being of labor cost, but the overseas people still have to hire steps that our locals don't. Don't sell us short yet. All your base belong to us so far.

That mills' CEO and VP of Sales should be sitting down with the check writers at every one of their customers and brainstorming a unique relationship. If it means buying some fat old cargo plane to fly a rush order to a specific Wal Mart or Target distribution center - it's on the table. Regional and seasonal packaging requests, let's do it. Coordinated transportation providers, compatable POS software hooks, 24X7 staff availability, regional sales and support teams, advertising coop help .... basically a "What can we do to best serve WalMart customers?" discussion.

If the business equation becomes a partnership of two ethical and well-run companies ... it's not just socks or a SKU number anymore it's helping WalMart continue to innovate and delight their customers.

The more entwined that the operations, product planning and information systems are with customers, the less enticing any competitors' lowball price edge looks. That does not preclude however, the company doing all these great things and moving the plant themselves.

So, the company is no longer just a vendor of stocking ware, they are unique and creative and responsive partners. The mill workers need to demonstrate a similar allure, commitment and service philosophy that improves their value and bolsters a future investment in the employees and town. The workers need to make themselves indispensible too.

If it's just the same old customers using the regular purchasing avenues and delivery methods, manufactured by the same labor force doing less and less things ....

You're right about the snowball effect and not just local.The people that make the steel, the pipe the electric motors, bearings, the outside constuction the companies that used our by-products for medicines and cosmetics will have to seek these else where, probably at a higher price, the list is endless.

. As far as a plan they two companies spread the shutdown over about a three year period which helped a great deal. Most of the skilled labor was close enough to take early retirement offers though at some slight loss.

The production semi-skilled labor was job specific to the paper industry and since both mills went down, (except 700 jobs) and with the shutdowns of other mills in the country their particular skills where not needed. Some that where not able to get but small portions of their retirement took it and are working at the service type jobs and trying to adjust their standard of living before the take-it- back man comes. The younger ones in the twenty-to thirty year may have time to shift skills and seek new employment.

The ones in the ones in the dangerous age, ( which usally comes to us all), 35-55 are the ones hurt the worst. They have been working 10-15 years are that far into there mortages, have children in school have auto loans and a life style set at their current income and medical benefits, that can't be replaced.Lots of companies won't hire in that bracket.

They don't want to spend the money to train 40 year old employees or even if they are trained, they don't want someone who is getting to the age where they are going to start having medical problems or lessing skills due to age. not when they can get younger people for the same price. So what they do is the the best they canand sad to say a lot of them use up their 401k, their savings and lose their homes that are into the middle of a thirty year loan.

If you are in that age group too young to retire and too old to be considered by someone for a decent job and too old to recover from the loss. Like I said I was lucky in a way because I Was 51 and would have been a little short of earily retirement age but because of health problems had to retire on disabilty if you can call having cronic arthritis lucky. I still consider myself fortunate to those who lost it all.

Retail gurus know how to conduct commerce. They're damn good.

Of course what you've described are skills! But go back and read my post again... I was referring to people working at the front counter, who are just entering orders -- I was not speaking of anybody you've described.

The point is, the "burger flipper" or front-counter person doesn't learn any (real, useful, tangible) computer skill. Pushing buttons is not, by itself, a computer skill. Not even close.

Well, enjoy your well earned life of leisure!

Just in case the world seems a bit dismal and hard ... I read an event chronology of 1968.

Everything seemed to be unraveling. Assasinations, VietNam, race riots and to top it off ... the Hong Kong Flu pandemic killed 34,000 Americans. 34,000. Unbelievable. Can you imagine the nonstop cable news networks with that story?? I was 6, but if anyone here thinks things are bad now ...

This has been a blah October, but there's been worse: 84 years ago, 200,000 American citizens died of influenza just during the month of October. Whoa. 750,000 Americans perished over a 14 month period. 50 million globally. You felt queazy at noon, and by 2 pm you were dead. That was a battle to stay alive .

I was remiss not to wish you the best with your arthritis.

This sounds daft on it's face BUT ... there's a bee venom therapy procedure that is a real and often miraculous treatment of arthritis affliction.

Food for thought, check it out on Google.com. Bee Venom Therapy ... yeah, ya gotta get stung about 5 times. But, I'd give it a shot. I wouldn't have offered it if I didn't think there was something real there - bee venom is a wonderfully complex chemical creation.

Thanks, you're right there where some rough times in the past. I remember being in class in the I think, third grade and one of the kids in our class didn't come in one morning and the teacher told us he had polio.

Then a few days later another kid further down the hall got it. They took the class down to see the kids in the hospitial and the one in our room was in an iron lung.

This was before Dr. Salk had come up with his vaccine. It was sure scary for us kids to go back to that class room and wonder who was going to be next. I remember getting my first shot about 18 months later. What a blessing that was.

It was a terribly cruel disease. A seven or eight year old boy are girl out running, jumping, playing with the others kids in the morning and they come in in the evening get fever that you think is a cold and in a matter of a few days is inside a big machine making all kind of noises paralyzed from the neck down and staring at his mother through a glass bubble unable to be touched or held by them. How do you explain that to a kid? Still gives me the creeps, and tears. Dr. Salk gets my vote as one of the top men of the century.

Thank you for your kindness and suggestion.

I am aware of the therapy you mention. Believe me the stings would not bother me . When my hands have a bad day I can't touch the keys on this key board because that the sensation I get when I do.It feels like being stung. That's why It takes so long for me to reply at times and why I am missing from the forum from time to time.

Also when you have had to take as many cortizone shots in the knees, wrists shoulders, neck and back over the last fifteen years, the bee stings would not be a big problem. I just got two in the left shoulder and one in the left side of the neck about three weeks ago.I do not mean to imply that I am an invalid. I still can do some light work at times and have some outdoor activities. Exercise is very important but you have to try to not overdo it.

You have some good days and bad days. Their are other people worse off than me. It just hit me a little earlier and a little harder than some. It started in my early 30's and at 50 I could just not continue to work as my right knee was so bad I could not walk. It has been replaced.

I guess I have gotten off topic here and shouldn't have. I hope the others are not upset. I've very much enjoyed our exchange. You may reply to me in private if you wish at any time and I would be very glad to hear from you. If I don't get back right away just remember that I sometimes am off for a week or two but I will reply. Thanks again and God bless. MRN

There is a section in my grandmother's grave yard where there is family of 12 members buried. It is sad to notice that the first two are marked crudely in stone, the others just have a unmarked sandstone. Obviously one of the parents died, then the kids died and last parent died. All in quick succession (within a month) and there was noone to even make the marker stones. One decoration day (us southerners gather at our family's graves once a year and put flowers on them and have a big eat celebrating the love one of past) the graveyard committee decided to put proper marker stones for that family. Donations were sought and given and they were able to go through the church records and hopefully identify the children's names correctly for the stones. It kind of puts life in perspective to know a family died so quick that it was all they could do to bury themselves.

Low OiL

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