The man who said no to Wal-Mart

What struck Jim Wier first, as he entered the Wal-Mart vice president's office, was the seating area for visitors. "It was just some lawn chairs that some other peddler had left behind as samples."

The vice president's office was furnished with a folding lawn chair and a chaise lounge.

And so Wier, the CEO of lawn-equipment maker Simplicity, dressed in a suit, took a seat on the chaise lounge. "I sat forward, of course, with my legs off to the side. If you've ever sat in a lawn chair, well, they are lower than regular chairs. And I was on the chaise. It was a bit intimidating. It was uncomfortable, and it was going to be an uncomfortable meeting."

It was a Wal-Mart moment that couldn't be scripted, or perhaps even imagined. A vice president responsible for billions of dollars' worth of business in the largest company in history has his visitors sit in mismatched, cast-off lawn chairs that Wal-Mart quite likely never had to pay for.......

The Dumbest Man / Ex-CEO Alive

While Unions such as the UFCW may see Snapper Ex-CEO Jim Wier
As "The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart". In the real world he is just another piece of toliet paper they used to wipe their bottom and further their greedy needs. The Financial world and Snapper's parent Company Briggs & Stratton see him as the
"Dumbest man / Ex-CEO alive".

Why would a lawnmower manufactory tell the World’s largest retail outlet he no longer wishes to have his product sold in their stores?

As a Shareholder in BGG (Briggs & Stratton Corp.) I asked the same question to the parent company of the Simplicity / Snapper division that Jim Wier once headed. The reply that I got was short and sweet “He is no longer an employee of Briggs & Stratton Corp.”.

After a little research I found that Simplicity / Snapper was on their death bed when Briggs & Stratton Corp. stepped in and bought that failing division. BGG with the help of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) revived the Simplicity / Snapper division and once again began to produce a profit.

The whole truth of the matter is that Jim Wier knows nothing about Snapper. Jim was the president and CEO of a company named Simplicity. Old Jim was seeking to increase Simplicity’s product offering in the growing commercial markets which are dominated by dependable brands such as Deere & Co., Honda, TECUMSEH and Caterpillar Inc.

So Simplicity set out to acquire Snapper from its parent company, Metromedia International Group, Inc., (AMEX:MMG). Simplicity acquired substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Snapper.

The bottom line truth of the whole story is in the answers to two questions.

1. Why would a CEO tell Wal-Mart no?
2. Why would he write a very detail story about this rather then a common press release?

To answer these you must first know the history of Snapper. Snapper began in 1894 as Southern Saw Works and are manufactured in McDonough, Ga. Simplicity is based and mostly known in the Midwest and Northeast. Why the long detail story? Mr. Wier wanted everyone to know how he personal felt about Southern America.

The Moral of the story is - Hatred will get you no where fast!

Good luck finding a job Jim, NOT!

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