[terrasurf]

WHo really knows, maybe it's simply cuz there are a lot better mountains in Austria to test those boards out on.

[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by mustmove

From Burton's press release "...But simply put, it costs us significantly more to produce a board in Vermont than we are capable of selling it for, and sadly, this is not sustainable in the current economy.”
Building stuff in VT will get cheaper just as soon as that pesky nuke plant gets shut off.

You could get Mr. Burton himself on this board, and the "Vermont is perfect, anyone who lives anywhere else is inferior" crowd will just bury their heads deeper in the sand.
Losing jobs to children in China is one thing. Losing jobs to the tax shelter that is western Europe is something else entirely.

[BickleTravis]

“The environment here is not very manufacturing-friendly... a board costs more to make than you than you sell it for,” Burton CEO Laurent Potdevin said Tuesday. Burton will keep its global headquarters in Burlington.

Specifically, the CEO said, labor costs, real estate and utility expenses made it difficult to turn a profit with boards made in Vermont.
--------------------------
From today's Free Press article.
Now, let the folks who think VT is not in a bad economic way, recession or not, have at me.

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by BickleTravis

Now, let the folks who think VT is not in a bad economic way, recession or not, have at me.

I haven't seen anyone here say Vermont is not in a bad economic way. I hadn't even seen anyone here say that before the recession.

[68vette]

It's not just the economy of the state that drives up the cost of living in Vermont, it's many of the fee, etc that many of us have no idea we are paying. The state senate is trying to get credit card companies to stop charging fees to stores that end up getting passed on to Vermont consumers. The average cost that people living in Vermont pay per year is $400.00. These are costs that most other states don't have. It may not sound like a large amount of money, but this is an average for each person living in the state. Some people pay much more while others pay less. For a family making minimum wage, this is a significant chunk of change.

[ex-springfielder]

I believe this post is about making snow boards cheaper in Austria than they can be made in Vermont, not about who post what where.The fact is Vermont is an expensive place to manufacture things. Taxes, energy, transportation, waste disposal, workmens comp, unemploment insurance are all high in Vermont. The exodus of industry in Vermont started a hundred years ago with the textile and shoe industries, first going south and then over seas and continues with almost every industry. To deny the obvious makes me wonder what do these people do for work that they are so unaware of what has happened to industry in vermont. Travel to Rutland, Bellows Falls, Springfield, Windsor, even Ludlow and Cavandish and look at the empty buildings...the ones that haven't been torn down. No it is not just a Vermont problem but it's worse in Vermont than some other states. How many companies have closed operations in Vermont to move to another state and how many have closed plants in another state to move operations to Vermont. Few people in government ever worked in manufacturing, maybe that's part of the problem, they mostly come from service industries or staright from college as professional politicians. We cannot compete with Asian and European countries that pay .50 cents an hour or subsidize their industry, we saddle our own industry with costly regulations like OSHA and hazardous waste, worksmans comp, etc that industries in these other countries are not forced to pay, yet we allow them to ship products into the country duty free. Whya are the politicians giving away our jobs?

[RunawayJim]

Originally Posted by ex-springfielder

I believe this post is about making snow boards cheaper in Austria than they can be made in Vermont, not about who post what where.The fact is Vermont is an expensive place to manufacture things. The exodus of industry in Vermont started a hundred years ago with the textile and shoe industries, first going south and then over seas and continues with almost every industry. To deny the obvious makes me wonder what do these people do for work that they are so unaware of what has happened to industry in vermont.

This is true about pretty much the whole country. Vermont is not unique in losing its manufacturing. It may have started in VT earlier than many other states, but it's everywhere. There's almost nothing manufactured here anymore. RI is full of luxury apartments, lofts, and condos in old mill buildings because there is no chance of them being used as mills.

[momnh]

Same thing in Manchester, NH, once the largest mill complex in the country. Now filled with professional services (successfully, I might add!)

[arctichomesteader]

A service based economy is not sustainable in the long run.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

A service based economy is not sustainable in the long run.

I am glad you realized that. America needs to build things. In this economy, however, I don't know who things are going to turn out. Fewer people are buying things, even things made in China. Now, it isn't even about turning a large profit, it is about survival. Before, it was about building cheap and selling for a high markup. Now it is about survival. I don't know if even a tax break will help in this case.
Service jobs do not pay very well and you can't pay your bills that easily. You could at least make a decent living in manufacturing. It isn't just the blue collar sector this is effecting. The white collar jobs are being lost too. And this isn't just happening in Vermont. North Carolina had alot of textile mills, in a state with barely any unions. The lacking presence of unions or relatively low cost of living didn't stop the textile mills from being outsourced and people losing their jobs. It is all about money now.