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Who here buys Wonderbread as their staple now? Nobody in my extended family does. I never see it at friends houses either. It's a dying brand that tried adding new versions of Wonderbread and other offshoot brands.
It's decline is like Myspace vs Facebook or BlackBerry vs Apple/Android based phones. The market is still there, but the brand is no longer popular.
While people are eating healthier, there is still a large market for baked goods. They have more fresh baked goods and gourmet junk food. Many stores have bakeries with new items baked daily with expensive grocery stores specializing in high priced items. Bimbo has passed up Hostess as the #1 bread maker.
Last edited by move4ward; 11-18-2012 at 07:52 PM..
To all you idiot anti-union teabaggers and republicans, consider this:
Let's take a look at current Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn's executive resume, per Businessweek and LinkedIn:
CEO, Hostess Brands: February 2012 – Present (10 months)
CRO, Indiana Live Casino and Indiana Downs Racetrack: February 2011 – April 2012 (1 year 3 months)
CEO, NYCOTB: July 2010 – January 2011 (7 months)
CEO, Magna Entertainment Corp. March 2009 – May 2010 (1 year 3 months)
CEO, Muzak: 2005 – 2006 (1 year)
CRO, AAIPharma Services Corp.: 2004 – 2005 (1 year)
CRO, WorldCom: 2003 – 2004 (1 year)
CEO. Sunterra: 2002 – 2003 (1 year)
Co-Founder, Capstone Equity: 1999 – 2001 (2 years)
Huh. In ten years, he's helped run eight companies, yet his average tenure is just under one (1) year. Sounds like just the guy to provide some stability to a company that's hemorrhaging cash (Hostess has had six CEOs in eight years, an obvious indicator of sensible and stable leadership; insert deck-chairs-on-Titanic metaphor here).
And where did Mr. Rayburn receive the wisdom and knowledge to assume these responsibilities? Why, at our favorite cornerstone of financial integrity, Arthur Andersen, where he spent twelve years prior to trying his hand at leadership!
You'll notice, by the way, Mr Rayburn was also helping to drive the bus at WorldCom during their _massive_ embezzlement scandal, which makes a compelling read if you're so inclined. Gosh, ugly financial debacles just seem to follow Mr Rayburn around, don't they?
Hostess brought Rayburn in because they knew damn well the ship was going sideways. And the reason they're drowning in debt is because the two primary investors shuffled/transferred as much debt as they could onto a business that they intended to sink all along, just like every one of the companies Mr. Rayburn has so ably supervised.
EVERY ****ING ONE of the companies he's run has either liquidated or been acquired in eighteen months or less after he's come on board. For this generous service, Hostess of course has paid him $125,000 a month.
I don't even mind that. It irritates me personally, but business is business and owners can do what they want. I'm not an accountant or a CFO, and I'm more than willing to concede that bankruptcy/liquidation may have been the sensible option. What pisses me off is the blatant dishonesty in publicly pushing the responsibility onto the employees. The last offer from Hostess to the unions was rejected with a 92%-against vote. What's more likely: that 92% of the union employees - not labor officials but bakers, truck drivers, factory workers - are lazy, stupid, greedy slobs thirsting for unemployment and the ole government teat? Or that the offer was garbage and unrealistic?
By the way - this last offer came after Hostess shamelessly broke previous promises and violated their collective bargaining agreement. They were supposed to pay back the workers' pension to the tune of nearly $100M - didn't happen. The company "temporarily" stopped paying into the pension fund last August. Whoops. They were also supposed to invest in new plant equipment per the bankruptcy resolution/agreement. Surprise, didn't happen.
Private equity intended for this company to go ****-up the whole time. And again, I'm okay with that. I disagree with it personally, but business is business and it's unrealistic to expect that to change anytime soon. But to paint this closure as a failing of the _workforce_? You cowards.
And this is why when the rich whine about their tax rates increasing, I give you a big fat ****in' middle finger.
I've never understood why working stiffs (99% of the posters on this forum) root against the workers. This company is closing down and selling off its brands and enriching upper management giving them the spoils of the sale while the working folks lose out completely.
In America I notice a trend - no regular folks want anything good to happen to their fellow Americans. No one wants to give someone else a good deal. I've actually heard people tell me they would rather throw the item they are selling IN THE TRASH rather than sell it to me for a couple bucks when they are asking some unreasonable sum of money. "If I can't get $XXX I'm just going to throw it away".
Go to Canada, and you find a completely different attitude.
I don't know WTF is up with America these days but it's getting worse and worse and the backstabbing is getting to epic proportions. Some companies can buck the trend with their culture, but the majority almost encourage it, it seems.
It's called class envy, in this country people don't want you to do better than are. If you live in a certain class of neighborhood you are not allowed to do excessively better than your neighbor. Doing so may result in the back stabbing you speak of. When you speak of unions the most common reason for their dislike is anti-union folks will can't stand someone in a lower skilled position making more money than they do in their higher skilled position.
If no one buys hostess the workers can collect unemployment but for only 26 weeks with no extensions. Im sure some will retire & collect a pension. I think.
Who here buys Wonderbread as their staple now? Nobody in my extended family does. I never see it at friends houses either. It's a dying brand that tried adding new versions of Wonderbread and other offshoot brands.
It's decline is like Myspace vs Facebook or BlackBerry vs Apple/Android based phones. The market is still there, but the brand is no longer popular.
While people are eating healthier, there is still a large market for baked goods. They have more fresh baked goods and gourmet junk food. Many stores have bakeries with new items baked daily with expensive grocery stores specializing in high priced items. Bimbo has passed up Hostess as the #1 bread maker.
I didn't even know that Twinkies had a chocolate filling option until my husband asked me to try to buy some before they were gone. Twinkies just stopped being relevant, they stopped being the snack of choice. And I would think that this kind of lack of brand awareness was not helping the company. And I do not live under a rock, I watch commercials, sometimes. I watch some tv that comes on in the am, some of afternoon stuff (I will occasionally watch Anderson Cooper and my husband watches Judge Judy) and evening tv. I read entertainment magazines and my mom has us subscribed to Reader's Digest. Yet, no idea of the chocolate ones...and I am sure I didn't know as I might have tried them.
I didn't even know that Twinkies had a chocolate filling option until my husband asked me to try to buy some before they were gone. Twinkies just stopped being relevant, they stopped being the snack of choice. And I would think that this kind of lack of brand awareness was not helping the company. And I do not live under a rock, I watch commercials, sometimes. I watch some tv that comes on in the am, some of afternoon stuff (I will occasionally watch Anderson Cooper and my husband watches Judge Judy) and evening tv. I read entertainment magazines and my mom has us subscribed to Reader's Digest. Yet, no idea of the chocolate ones...and I am sure I didn't know as I might have tried them.
Hostess has over 2 billion a year in revenue. Twinkies will be back.
The bakers had simply reached the point where unemployment and finding a new job was a better option than signing the offered contract. May make sense actually.
The point I was making is that they did nothing, as a company, to continue to stay relevant. That hurt them more than the striking workers as the lack of brand relevance, of not changing with the times, did more damage to profits in the long term than the strike. There is a reason they have been in and out of bankruptcy repeatedly...and it wasn't striking workers every time
From another thread on C/D.....I just copied/pasted it here:
Unions are thugs, too much red tape in the USA already and the unions break businesses! Name one thing a union did to make a company better, stronger, more profitable? Why does the nation's largest private business (WalMart) refuse to "go union?" They are America's strongest business yet they accomplished this without the "help from a union?"
Meanwhile we all get to subsidize Walmart through many millions of taxes to pay for food stamps, medicaid, and other forms of public assistance for their workers (estimated 86 million in 2004 for California alone) while the Walton family is worth 102 billion dollars and the CEO makes 35 million a year.
I found this an interesting read from one of the workers (though admittedly not a particularly unbiased 'news' source) Daily Kos: Inside the Hostess Bankery
Of course unions have their good points and their bad. Some places SHOULD be unionized, namely a couple of retailers that treat their employees as if they dont have families or bills to pay. Ive already seen 2 different articles on the news just this past week about how poorly Walmart treats their employees. But then, hitorically, in the stores Ive been in (in 5 different states) this has always been an issue with Walmart stores.
Walmart is probably one of the best American success stories we would all agree but their wages/lack of unions/benefits are not their high point but retail store jobs (stocking, cashiers, janitorial, etc) are not rocket science. You can't offer great prices for the masses and pay your cashiers $25 an hour w/benefits/pensions etc. Can you imagine what Walmart pays into Social Security, FICA on a weekly basis? Keep in mind a $10 employee will cost Walmart more than that after taxes/workers comp (though I think they are self insured). Employee looks at his net check, though the opportunity cost for Walmart is the gross number!
Walmart doesn't force anyone to work there and simply pays what the job is worth! Walmart cashier/stocking jobs are not career moves, stepping stone jobs certainly but it isn't a career for life! There is a trend in America that is trying to make everyone happy, yes you should go to college, yes you should get a new car (Clunker Program), yes you should buy a home with nothing down/low interest for 30 years and your job should give you free health insurance....Where does the insanity end? The Walton family are billionaires, but why hold that against them when someone who didn't finish high school is making $9 an hour stocking shelves at a Walmart? Where is the personal responsibility?
Writing is on the wall folks.......Press too hard and they close up shop, move to friendlier countries.
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