Jenna over at Right off the Shore seized an opening created by me going out for dinner and has done a perfectly fine job of crucifying Terese Berceau for an inane release this afternoon blaming Wal-Mart for the loss of 240 jobs at the Rubbermaid plant in Dane County. Go read her post. You can regularly find Jenna in the Playground Blogroll over there. ------->
Berceau notes that Wal-Mart stopped carrying Rubbermaid products a few years ago after Rubbermaid insisted on dramatic price increases for its products. Granted, Rubbermaid experienced a considerable increase in the cost of an input. That's a tough position for a company to be in.
However, if Wal-Mart's whole schtick is to provide products of reasonable quality at the lowest prices possible, can anyone really blame it for replacing Rubbermaid's stuff with a competitor's brand? Perhaps Berceau would rather Wal-Mart introduce its new alter-ego to Rollback, the Roll-up frowney face. It will be red, with squinty eyes and an evil smile and it will use its pitchfork to flip the prices upward.
To her credit, Berceau has really improved as a legislator since she was first elected. It's too bad that every now and then she revisits Planet Looney and brings back something like this, something so far out in left field that I fully expect to see it on the front page of the Cap Times tomorrow.
Berceau notes that Wal-Mart stopped carrying Rubbermaid products a few years ago after Rubbermaid insisted on dramatic price increases for its products. Granted, Rubbermaid experienced a considerable increase in the cost of an input. That's a tough position for a company to be in.
However, if Wal-Mart's whole schtick is to provide products of reasonable quality at the lowest prices possible, can anyone really blame it for replacing Rubbermaid's stuff with a competitor's brand? Perhaps Berceau would rather Wal-Mart introduce its new alter-ego to Rollback, the Roll-up frowney face. It will be red, with squinty eyes and an evil smile and it will use its pitchfork to flip the prices upward.
To her credit, Berceau has really improved as a legislator since she was first elected. It's too bad that every now and then she revisits Planet Looney and brings back something like this, something so far out in left field that I fully expect to see it on the front page of the Cap Times tomorrow.
1 comment:
Berceau's main problem is that she has no clue how Newell does business. Whenever they acquire a company, it's not long before they start swinging the hatchet far and wide. And this has nothing to do with pressure from Wal-Mart ... or any other outside source. Newell slashes workforces to the bone to minimize overhead, and then expects those left to do even more. Eventually, they shut down all U.S. operations and move the manufacturing process off-shore.
And it's not like they don't have a history in the state of Wisconsin. The exact same thing happened in Manitowoc when Newell acquired Mirro, once the world's leading manufacturer of aluminum cookware, in the 1980s. They cut the existing workforce. Slashed the benefits of the remaining workforce (using the tried and true threat that they could get labor cheaper in Mexico). Instituted 12-hour days for those who remained. Finally, less than 20 years later, they had moved all manufacturing south of the border.
So, a friendly little bit of advice to Terese, do your homework. Or, as the sarcastic sign says, "Engage brain before putting mouth in gear."
Jim
Post a Comment