The Hostess-Twinkie who did what to kill it/them thread

[HUGGY]

People that blame unions for the problems in business are fools.

They, the unions, are no more to blame than the owners of companies that get the most the market will bare for the products or sevices they provide.

The problem with Hostess is that they sell flawed products. America consumes an insane ammount of sugar. The cost of diabetes is a serious burden to the cost of health care in our country.

We are better off without high sugar snacks like twinkies and sno balls.

 

[Photonic]

Strange, why did they raise the CEO's pay by 3x?


There were plans to liquefy and close factories even if the workers took the pay cuts.

Why are they blaming it on their workers? It sounds like a scapegoat.

I guess people would rather be blind and hold on to whatever is most convenient, than to understand something, and change how you think.

 

[cutter]

Let's face it. The "twinkie" brand is becoming toxic. No other product is more closley identified with the obesity problem then those spongy little dudes.
America is changing. Hostess, Little Debbie and others are in trouble.

The obesety problem isn't twinkies it's lifestyle. How many of us remember being kids and actually playing outside after school? Hide and seek till dark, sertte baseball, girls playing hio-scotch and boys just throwing rocks in a field. The only thing kids play anymore is video games. Parents need to make sure kids have an appreciation for playing outside, then they can come in and have a twinkie.

 

[Photonic]

Don't mourn the Twinkie, it's a small price to pay in the big business war on American working class pensions and decent wages.

Strange how many union members decided to cross picket lines rather than destroy the company, yet you think this is a win for big business.

Oh shut up, the company was going under long before they asked the Union members. The Union members still made concessions and they had planned to liquefy even if the concessions were made.

 

[Kimura]

There's more to this story. I find it amazing how the CEO and upper management can give themselves massive raises while the company circles the drain.

In fact, according to the company's 1113 filing with the bankruptcy court earlier this year as well as its last/best/final and non-negotiable proposal to its BCTGM-represented workers, the company was planning to close at least nine bakeries as part of its reorganization plan, although the company refused to disclose which bakeries it intended to close. This is in addition to the three bakeries that were to be closed as a result of the company's planned sale of its Merita division.

Over the past eight years since the first Hostess bankruptcy, BCTGM members have watched as money from previous concessions that was supposed to go towards capital investment, product development, plant improvement and new equipment, was squandered in executive bonuses, payouts to Wall Street investors and payments to high-priced attorneys and consultants.

BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.

Hostess Continues Pattern Of Misinformation

 

[GoneBezerk]

So liberals whine that companies are going out of business since unions are driving them out of business....meanwhile those same dumbfuck liberals want to make 10M-15M illegals "Americans" so that they can take jobs from union workers.....

 

[Photonic]

So liberals whine that companies are going out of business since unions are driving them out of business....meanwhile those same dumbfuck liberals want to make 10M-15M illegals "Americans" so that they can take jobs from union workers.....

You really have no interest in why the company actually went out of business, do you?

 

[HUGGY]

I was reading this link earlier. It is an unbiased report on the "Hostess" story.

"Who's to Blame for the Hostess Bankruptcy: Wall Street, Unions, or Carbs? By Jordan Weissmann
inShare0Nov 16 2012, 6:02 PM ET 38

Try all of the above.


(Reuters)
Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkie and Wonder Bread, is getting ready to bake its last corn-syrupy snack cake. After failing to win major contract concessions from one of its key labor unions, the beleaguered 82-year-old company has asked a federal bankruptcy court for permission to start liquidating its assets -- or, in real person speak, begin the process of selling off pieces of the company to the highest bidder while laying off most of its 18,500 workers.

There are two important things to realize about this rather sad situation. First: Twinkie, Wonder, and all the other high-calorie marvels of culinary science Hostess sells aren't going to disappear from shelves for good. One of its competitors will likely swoop in, buy them up, and restart production. So you can stop bidding on $100 boxes of Sno Balls on eBay.

Second: This is not a simple story that anybody should try to slot neatly into their political talking points. It's not just about Wall Street preying on Main Street, or big bad labor unions sucking a wholesome American company dry. It's about an entire galaxy of bad decisions that will cost many people their jobs and money.

As David Kaplan chronicled at length for Fortune earlier this year, the roots of this debacle go back to when Hostess entered its first bankruptcy in 2004. Not unlike the situation automakers would find themselves in a few years later, the company was collapsing under the weight of flagging sales, overly generous union contracts replete with ridiculous work rules, and gobs of debt. But unlike the automakers, the five years Hostess spent trying to fix itself in Chapter 11 didn't fix its fundamental problems.

Instead, they set the stage for its eventual demise. A private equity company, Ripplewood Holdings, paid about $130 million dollars to take Hostess private, and the company's two major unions, the Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, sacrificed about $110 million in annual wages and benefits. But its labor contracts were still deeply flawed. Worse yet, the company left bankruptcy saddled with more debt than it went in with -- "an unusual circumstance that the company justified on expectations of 'growing' into its capital structure," as Kaplan put it.

Suffice to say, Hostess didn't do much growing. It continued to lose hundreds of millions of dollars making and selling starchy snacks that much of the public had lost its taste for, while failing to launch any great new products. The interest on its loans swelled the company's debt. By January 2012, it was back in Chapter 11, trying to wrestle a new contract with more concessions from its unions.

Hostess insisted that unless workers accepted further cuts, the company would have to shut its doors for good. That's the sort of threat that distressed companies often make in labor negotiations, and unions are inclined to consider it a bluff. But after getting a look inside Hostess' books, the Teamsters concluded that the threat was serious. Its members narrowly approved the contract in September. "

Who's to Blame for the Hostess Bankruptcy: Wall Street, Unions, or Carbs? - Jordan Weissmann - The Atlantic

 

[Mr Natural]

Yeah, that's the problen all right; working people making too much money.

And you people wonder why you lose elections.

 

[boedicca]

Silver lining...no more Twinkie Defenses.

 

[Againsheila]

Hostess Continues Pattern Of Misinformation

from your link

In fact, according to the company's 1113 filing with the bankruptcy court earlier this year as well as its last/best/final and non-negotiable proposal to its BCTGM-represented workers, the company was planning to close at least nine bakeries as part of its reorganization plan, although the company refused to disclose which bakeries it intended to close. This is in addition to the three bakeries that were to be closed as a result of the company's planned sale of its Merita division.

Moreover, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was quoted in a November 13 KMOX-CBS St. Louis article stating, "I was told months ago they were planning on closing the site in St. Louis… And there was no indication at that time it had anything to do with the strike the workers were waging."

I think sometimes you need to do more than put up a link. These people won't go looking for anything that might change their limited view.

 

[Againsheila]

Forced health care tax?

So let me ask you an honest question here.

Are you really going through life without any kind of health insurance coverage because you are such a rugged indivualist?

Because, frankly, I hear all you folks screaming about the health care tax, and all of you either have private insurance or are on some government program like Medicare.

People screaming about having to get health coverage are like people who are screaming they don't have the right to run down the street naked. It's something they'd never actually do, but they don't like being told they can't do it.

I take care of myself I don't allow the doctor to dictate to me nor will I allow the government to dictate to me. I will refuse to pay any tax such as this. That's why I work for cash only. No checks

sounds like you work under the table and don't pay taxes. That is a crime. It's also unfair to those of us who don't work under the table and fork over the income taxes.

 

[sfcalifornia]

I was reading this link earlier. It is an unbiased report on the "Hostess" story.

"Who's to Blame for the Hostess Bankruptcy: Wall Street, Unions, or Carbs? By Jordan Weissmann
inShare0Nov 16 2012, 6:02 PM ET 38

Try all of the above.


(Reuters)
Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkie and Wonder Bread, is getting ready to bake its last corn-syrupy snack cake. After failing to win major contract concessions from one of its key labor unions, the beleaguered 82-year-old company has asked a federal bankruptcy court for permission to start liquidating its assets -- or, in real person speak, begin the process of selling off pieces of the company to the highest bidder while laying off most of its 18,500 workers.

There are two important things to realize about this rather sad situation. First: Twinkie, Wonder, and all the other high-calorie marvels of culinary science Hostess sells aren't going to disappear from shelves for good. One of its competitors will likely swoop in, buy them up, and restart production. So you can stop bidding on $100 boxes of Sno Balls on eBay.

Second: This is not a simple story that anybody should try to slot neatly into their political talking points. It's not just about Wall Street preying on Main Street, or big bad labor unions sucking a wholesome American company dry. It's about an entire galaxy of bad decisions that will cost many people their jobs and money.

As David Kaplan chronicled at length for Fortune earlier this year, the roots of this debacle go back to when Hostess entered its first bankruptcy in 2004. Not unlike the situation automakers would find themselves in a few years later, the company was collapsing under the weight of flagging sales, overly generous union contracts replete with ridiculous work rules, and gobs of debt. But unlike the automakers, the five years Hostess spent trying to fix itself in Chapter 11 didn't fix its fundamental problems.

Instead, they set the stage for its eventual demise. A private equity company, Ripplewood Holdings, paid about $130 million dollars to take Hostess private, and the company's two major unions, the Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, sacrificed about $110 million in annual wages and benefits. But its labor contracts were still deeply flawed. Worse yet, the company left bankruptcy saddled with more debt than it went in with -- "an unusual circumstance that the company justified on expectations of 'growing' into its capital structure," as Kaplan put it.

Suffice to say, Hostess didn't do much growing.It continued to lose hundreds of millions of dollars making and selling starchy snacks that much of the public had lost its taste for, while failing to launch any great new products. The interest on its loans swelled the company's debt. By January 2012, it was back in Chapter 11, trying to wrestle a new contract with more concessions from its unions.

Hostess insisted that unless workers accepted further cuts, the company would have to shut its doors for good. That's the sort of threat that distressed companies often make in labor negotiations, and unions are inclined to consider it a bluff. But after getting a look inside Hostess' books, the Teamsters concluded that the threat was serious. Its members narrowly approved the contract in September. "

Who's to Blame for the Hostess Bankruptcy: Wall Street, Unions, or Carbs? - Jordan Weissmann - The Atlantic

There's the real reason Hostess is going out of business right there.

If a corporation doesn't keep up with people's tastes and preferences, it will go out of business every time.

 

[Cammmpbell]

Yeah, that's the problen all right; working people making too much money.

And you people wonder why you lose elections.

Their balls are in a vise now......they can either change or disappear. Ever since the Reagan years they've been trying to funnel all the money to the top. Neither party has ever cut spending a dime but at least up through Clinton the Democrats taxed enough to keep the fiscal picture in order. George Bush destroyed everything. Took over surpluses, cut taxes for the rich twice, started two wars...one totally by choice and unnecessary, doubled the national debt and ran the economy into a ditch. What a legacy. No wonder the GOP didn't want him at their convention. Do you suppose they have simply forgotten how to select a good candidate?

 

[JoeB131]

A new company making the new Twinkie can rise from the ashes and the new company can tell the old unions workers to go fuck themselves....enjoy your Obama money.

People could give a fuck if their HOHOs are put on the shelf by some overpaid Teamster or not.

Long live the Twinkie!

Conversely, people could give a fuck if the CEO made seven figures to do... well, whatever it is CEO's do. Make bad decisions, I guess.

 

[JoeB131]

So liberals whine that companies are going out of business since unions are driving them out of business....meanwhile those same dumbfuck liberals want to make 10M-15M illegals "Americans" so that they can take jobs from union workers.....

The kind of folks who hire illegals are the kind of folks who wouldn't pay a fair wage to start with.

 

[GoneBezerk]

Dumbfuck, illegals will work for less money than you white trash factory workers.

They can cram 20 of them into an apartment to live, so making minimum wage or less is ok for them especially since $1 goes a long way back in Mexico.

White trash like you need your 2 bedroom apartment by yourself, your car, your HDTV, your PS3, etc.

So liberals whine that companies are going out of business since unions are driving them out of business....meanwhile those same dumbfuck liberals want to make 10M-15M illegals "Americans" so that they can take jobs from union workers.....

The kind of folks who hire illegals are the kind of folks who wouldn't pay a fair wage to start with.

 

[GoneBezerk]

Idiot...one of the unions wouldn't take a restructured deal to keep the business viable, so they cost other union workers and non-union workers their job.

See how that works....one union takes out every other worker. WithOUT a union, some pissed off asswipe like you that thinks you're underpaid would just quit, not taking out everyone out when you couldn't take the deal/contract with the company.

I bet there are some union workers in that union that would rather keep their job than let their union leaders ruin everyone's job...what a concept.

So liberals whine that companies are going out of business since unions are driving them out of business....meanwhile those same dumbfuck liberals want to make 10M-15M illegals "Americans" so that they can take jobs from union workers.....

You really have no interest in why the company actually went out of business, do you?

 

[FJO]

THousands of right wingers face starvation....

I can't wait to hear the logic behind that statement.

You know, the fat white trash trailer park type who listens to Rush telling them how "them welfare people" are making their lives miserable when they stuff their faces with Twinkies and Ding Dongs, and get all upset when Michelle Obama tells their kids to eat healthy.

Judging by her gigantic thighs Michelle Obama must have been a Twinkie gobbler since early childhood.

 

[SniperFire]

Let's face it. The "twinkie" brand is becoming toxic. No other product is more closley identified with the obesity problem then those spongy little dudes.
America is changing. Hostess, Little Debbie and others are in trouble.

That is the second time this stupid shit has been posted.

Cease and Desist.

Hostess failed because their flunky UNION trolls took them down.


Sugary snacks are rocking, as evidenced in the obesity, diabetes statistics, and Moochelle's barn-door sized ass.

And the sales figures.:


'ROCKVILLE, Md.—Americans are snacking more than ever with retail sales of packaged snacks ringing up $64 billion in 2010, up from $56 billion in 2006, according to Packaged Facts new “Snack Foods in the U.S., 4th Edition." The market is predicted to reach $77 billion by 2015 fueled by reduced restaurant dining, busier lifestyles and rising health concerns.'

Snack Food Sales Soar to $77 Billion by 2015