China: providing you in life, and death! It seems like it isn't a matter of the American manufacturers competing any more, they're not even close?! Case in point, I had one of our life/burial insurance sales ladies come by while I was on the phone w/Stefina last week...it wasn't her scheduled call date, but she was there pimping a new company her headquarters just bought. It seems they now own a casket manufacturing plant in CHINA...she showed us the info, we saw the merchandise, and it's exactly the same products we're currently buying domesticly...except, the Chinese product cost 47% less! That's wholesale, our cost, not out the other end...now how is that? They're using US steel so add one premium, add the cost of a boat ride to/from China, and then shipping from the port to the St. Louis wharehouse...this is strictly a US product since Chinese custom is different, but the U.S. companies are fixing to be out of the ball game! I said "no thanks", but dad said "47%, huh?"...the sales lady named off firms in the area that have already jumped on the bandwagon, but myself being the 3rd generation in this business I've seen lots and lots of casket companies and casket salesmen come and even delivery guys come and go, and I've known a lot of them all my life! After I've had some time to think about the Chinese caskets, all I can think about is cutting the throats of the folks & companies I've known for years...as one of the few independants left in Missouri & Arkansas, we can make our own decisions and hold out longer than the conglomerate firms, but how long can we expect to eat 47% on top of other firms? o No:
I'd safely say *you* would care if you were working for a U.S. casket company...:laugh: BTW: you done with my converter yet? :Brow:
actually, in my line of distribution, at least 90% or more is made overseas, and has been that 90% number for at least the last 15-20 years...
Tom, I feel for you but do not give up. Never give up. I'm 52 and have been laid off from 2 major careers. The Auto Industry in 1973 (First oil embargo and in 1980 from the Saginaw Police Dept (servere budget shortfall cut 20 positions). I worked odd jobs and put myself back through school (with a Family)and a year or so after I was recalled back to the Police dept. I took a Job at Dow and just celebrated 20 years. But it's even scary up here. We went through some big cuts here a couple of years ago through a reorg. Everyday make sure you are doing someting that you can add to your resume. I do not believe there is such a thing as job security anymore. The only thing that is for certain is change and you have to be willing and able to change. Hang in there Tom, You will emerge stronger.
so whatta ya gonna do? wake up and look under your casket for a Made in ***** sticker, crawl back in and go back to sleep?? :laugh: :laugh:
Thanks for all the reply's and input, really! Joel, before I vote for you for President, I know all about that stuff you wrote about, but a big issue that could make a huge difference would be to place some taxes on the U.S. owned, Chinese made products coming back into this country. Can you do whats right, and try to level the playing field? At least make some business owners think for just a split second before sending everything overseas? Something has to be done soon. Once we lose these jobs we will never get them back, not unless we are willing to relocate to China and work for 3 rice cakes a day Anyone want to take a guess at why I'm home at 1:30 on a Friday? We work from 7a.m.-5.p.m. when there is work. Somebody asked what I do....I'm a Mold Maker, or at least I used to beou: Can someone explain to me how someone in a skilled labor profession is staring unemployment in the face? Not supposed to happen. There isn't a single person in this line of work that ever would have imagined when going to school for this years ago, that we would ever be where we are at now. I can post a LONG list of companies that we USED to do work for. My Company I work for has been in business for over 25 years, March 22nd will be my 18yr anniversary there, I started in High School co-op program. We started as an Aluminum Prototype Mold shop, and over the years that type of Mold kind of went by the wayside,as companies started asking for more and more parts out of the prototype tooling. Almost became what you could call Pre-production tooling with long life expectancy. Today it's all steel production tooling, aluminum is a thing of the past. Our main bread and butter used to be Xerox. They had us build tons of tool's over the years. They were so happy with our work they made us a Tier 1 part supplier,and we were only a Tool building facility. Xerox,IBM,Kodak,GM,Ford,Chrysler,Toyota,Delphi,Bosch,Stryker Medical,Nokia,Eaton,Whirlpool,GE, plus too many others to try to remember,not to mention several custom privately owned part's/idea's. Wonder where they have all gone???? I have a pretty good idea,and it's not in the U.S.A.:ball: Anyone need a Mold built? We can do it,and do it right!
What was that rubbling sound? Must have been Stefina rolling over in his grave after being buried in the China Box!ou: Tom, Keep your chin up, buddy. I am the eternial optimist and even I am starting to have some dark thoughts. I am paying more attention to what Ford is doing on a day in/ day out basis (500=Taurus??ou: ) and getting shaking my head so that people think I am saying 'no' all of the time. I could go back to the farm and raise more corn so that we can all burn alcohol (if we can afford a car to put it in)! I look at it this way, when one door closes another one is opening somewhere! Good luck!
Hey Tom, Great idea, maybe with enough tax our goverment could actually run?:af: When a country is unable to manufacture goods (and afford to purchase those products), it is not long before they become a third world country!
it all seems as if the last 3-4 years has been a MAJOR shift to China... for instance, I have a 2003 100th Anniv. Harley Night Train (great bike), every single accessory 4 years ago wasn't made in China.... my previous 1997Road King was all USA parts, I bought a 2007 Vrod 5 months ago (big mistake), every single accessory I bought had a *Made in China* sticker on it.. yesterday I traded the Vrod in on a 2007 Street Glide, and EVERY single accessory I bought last night, had a *Made in China* sticker on it... I thought HD was all American and apple pie, fool I was.. now where am I headed with this... a week ago yesterday HD union workers in York, PA touring/softail plant walked off the job, for what *I* can see as a petty dispute. The MOCO wasn't happy with this, and they just cancelled every single workers health coverage 2 days ago as a result... no worky for us, no insurance for you, seems logical... today the MOCO warned that further plant closures are coming, starting on 12 Feb, as a trickle down result... HD has NO idea how long the strike will last, but I predict they will prevail, or move operations offshore... they are coming off a banner sales year, with over 1B in 1 yr profits alone, they can outlast workers with 50k in the bank, if that much... projected HD ouput is 332,000 bikes for fiscal 2007, that's a lot of American heritage going to waste...
No, I would not want to be buried in one. Your statement was "when it's 6 foot under dirt, does anybody really care where it's made??" My Dad is not buried in a Chinese casket and it did matter to me.
I know what you mean, Brian. It's the principle. At my dad's funeral, my older brother really jumped back when they presented him with the flag from the casket and almost didn't accept it. It was the soldier's words: "The President of the United States wants you to have this.............etc.) That was 1999, and you can figure out who was President. Kind of changed the whole moment. There's talk of a joint venture between Cherry (the Chinese government-owned auto company) and Bricklin Corp building a research facility near Ann Arbor (where else?). Not too much of a stretch as to where that'll lead as they're trying to get a foot in the door. What's more vulnerable right now than Michigan, and our economy and idle facilities that can be bought cheap. Talk about sleeping with the devil. Once that happens, look out.
I sincerely hope you're paraphrasing, 'cause that's not even close to how a flag is supposed to be presented! There is a pretty strict protocol, and none of the 5 branches start their NOK presentation like that...respect for our Veterans (and their families) is one thing I don't like to fudge on, but unfortunately our government and most of the general population see things differently. :rant:
Those words were in there, maybe didn't start out with that. But they definitely said that in there. No exageration there. We all heard it. Dad was a colonel in the army in WWII and afterwards. Went in in 1940 and came out of active duty in 1948. There were two soldiers there in full dress. Very impressive until that part.
