Hershey to Mexico ... The Continued Great Sucking Sound of Lost American Jobs

[legelegel]

Hershey to Mexico ... The Continued Great Sucking Sound of Lost American Jobs :mad:

Hershey Workers facing bitter end. The Hershey Co., whose name has been synonymous with U.S. candymaking for more than a century, is moving a bigger chunk of its production to Mexico.

Guess I will have to stop eating Hershey candy. That will be hard to do. :)

CANDY FIRSTS:

First Chocolate in Europe (1520): Chocolate was part of several ancient cultures in Central and South America, but Europeans did not discover it until explorer Hernan Cortes went back to Spain. Then the Spaniards kept it a secret from the rest of Europe for almost a centutry!

First Known Candy Canes (1670): The choirmaster (whose name is lost to history) at Cologne Cachedral in Germany bent sugar sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's staff and hung them on the church Christmas tree. The all-white candy canes were handed out to children during the long holiday church services. The exact inventor of the red-and-white striped version is unknown, but in 1900, Christmas card illustrations showed for the first time that pattern so familiar to kids today.

First Modern Chocolate Bar (1870): In England, Joseph Fry & Son discovered way to mix chocolate with nuts, caramels, jellies, and other sweet treats so that it could be molded into a handy shape.

First Boxes of Chocolate Candies (1868): Candymaker John Cadbury of England created chocolates in a variety of fun shapes, put them together in a box, and invented something that we can give our moms on Mother's Day.

First Appearance of Cotton Candy (1900): Ringling Brothers Circus shows started selling the sticky stuff after Thomas Patton made the first cotton candy-making machine.

First Life Savers (1912): Named for the circular rings carried by ships, they were introduced by Cleveland chocolate manufacturer Clarence Crane. The first flavor? Peppermint.

First Marshamallow Peepe (1953): You know those little yellow or pink chicks sold in the spring? They were first sold by the Just Born company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

John McEnroe was born on this date in 1959.

[TexAgFromCal]

So a portion of the company is moving to Mexico to better serve its customer base in Mexico and you are going to stop buying all their products. All that will do is cause the US employees to suffer due to decreased sales. Very little of their candy made outside of the states will be sold in Mexico from what I understand.

[Thisjeffguy07]

who cares??? :undecided

[TexAgFromCal]

Also, before you complain about lost American jobs, start thinking about the economics of the situation. The candy production process is hugely automated now. Those people are paid excessive salaries to simply stare at candy that is passing by on a conveyor belt. The salaries are in the range of $20+ per hour for a menial job. Those people are getting paid way too much for their work. So you must ask yourself, do you want the american jobs now in order to forsake the american company in a few years or would vice versa. Quite frankly I would rather have the American company that I can buy stock in that will allow me to make money.

Sorry just my opinion on economics, I say if the american factory worker wants a job, do something that sets them apart from the laborers in the rest of the world that do the exact same thing for much less money.

[legelegel]

So a portion of the company is moving to Mexico to better serve its customer base in Mexico and you are going to stop buying all their products. All that will do is cause the US employees to suffer due to decreased sales. Very little of their candy made outside of the states will be sold in Mexico from what I understand.

You are missing the point of the post. I doubt that I will stop buying their candy until the day I died. It's the continued lost jobs. How do we stop it or should we be concerned?

[legelegel]

Also, before you complain about lost American jobs, start thinking about the economics of the situation. The candy production process is hugely automated now. Those people are paid excessive salaries to simply stare at candy that is passing by on a conveyor belt. The salaries are in the range of $20+ per hour for a menial job. Those people are getting paid way too much for their work. So you must ask yourself, do you want the american jobs now in order to forsake the american company in a few years or would vice versa. Quite frankly I would rather have the American company that I can buy stock in that will allow me to make money.

Sorry just my opinion on economics, I say if the american factory worker wants a job, do something that sets them apart from the laborers in the rest of the world that do the exact same thing for much less money.

Good points. The post is working.

[TexAgFromCal]

Once again, it isn't my problem at this point that we lose laborer jobs to other countries. I say if you don't acquire a skill that sets you apart from teh rest of the people in this world, then I am not going to complain when you lose your job. I feel even less when they are union jobs that are lost. I feel the union has out lived its usefullness and needs to become extinct like the dinosaur that it is. It is unions and unions alone that are bringing down US automakers.

The jobs that are lost aren't rocket science and actually don't even involve any more skills than being able to show up to work and open your eyes. These are not jobs that anybody should be eyeing as a future career in this country.

Actually I feel in the global economy that these jobs are actually better off in other countries in order to increase the level of income in those countries to allow their economies to grow and interact with the US.

[Pflugerville Ag]

Losing American jobs to Mexico and other countries will never stop. Wages are too low in other countries for American companies to ever be able to compete.

For example, my companies biggest customer is Applied Materials in Austin. I worked for AMAT for the first 4 years after I graduated. AMAT is in the process of moving 100% of their procurement functions to Xi'an China. This will cause about 100 people in Austin to lose their jobs. A buyer at AMAT makes $45-70K (depending on experience). AMAT is only paying the new Chinese buyers $4K per year. Just on salary alone, this will save AMAT $5M per year. If you include the decrease in benefits, it will be substantially higher than that. I hate to see American jobs lost, but how can you argue that AMAT should keep the jobs in Austin when you see how cheap the same job can be done in China???

[Superaggie79]

http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/html/cons/features/0200_02/mexico.gif

[dresbf]

You are missing the point of the post. I doubt that I will stop buying their candy until the day I died. It's the continued lost jobs. How do we stop it or should we be concerned?

Every day menial factory jobs are being lost to foreign countries but there are lots more skilled positions being created as American companies develop new technologies. I would much rather be moving towards the future and letting the rest of the world have our scraps. People in the US should be in more skilled and creative positions, not doing repetitive factory work. If your job can be taught to a Mexican in an afternoon, maybe you should look at going back to school or learning a new skill, not bitching that they stole your job.

[legelegel]

Once again, it isn't my problem at this point that we lose laborer jobs to other countries. I say if you don't acquire a skill that sets you apart from teh rest of the people in this world, then I am not going to complain when you lose your job. I feel even less when they are union jobs that are lost. I feel the union has out lived its usefullness and needs to become extinct like the dinosaur that it is. It is unions and unions alone that are bringing down US automakers.

The jobs that are lost aren't rocket science and actually don't even involve any more skills than being able to show up to work and open your eyes. These are not jobs that anybody should be eyeing as a future career in this country.

Actually I feel in the global economy that these jobs are actually better off in other countries in order to increase the level of income in those countries to allow their economies to grow and interact with the US.

Well said again. I agree. I never was a union man or lover of unions, but I have seen up front how management treats its workers like cattle if they can get away with it. Unions serve some good purposes, but they should never have the power they once had or may still have.

[The Massacre]

pinche gringos! :mad:

[legelegel]

http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/html/cons/features/0200_02/mexico.gif

They make things big in Mexico, too. ;)

[Vlyrock]

First Marshamallow Peepe (1953): You know those little yellow or pink chicks sold in the spring? They were first sold by the Just Born company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

I don't think I've eaten one of those and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't if presented one. :)

[legelegel]

I don't think I've eaten one of those and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't if presented one. :)

I would eat one if I was really hungry and they were the last ones left.

I was just thinking. You read the whole damn post. :D

[legelegel]

This post was good for me. Thanks for your contributions all. :)

[TexAgFromCal]

Legel-

Thanks for the actual conversation on a post. That is why I post (and lurk most of the time) here, because there is actual conversation as opposed to other places.:rep: