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Thread ID: 89029	2008-04-18 01:01:00	No comments on F & P closure !	Digby (677)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
659943	2008-04-19 23:46:00	They want us all to be part of nanny state. Perhaps you could elaborate on that. Or a typical meaningless kneejerk response? Martynz	martynz (5445)
659944	2008-04-20 12:21:00	F& P is closing their Shacklock factory in Dunedin, and their Refrigerator factory in Cleveland just out of Brisbane, to compete better with product out of Asia, but one notes that the Asian sourced product they need to compete with is not markedly cheaper than the NZ and Aussie made product, so what the real truth is that F & P want more bottom line for the shareholders at the cost of Kiwi and Aussie workers. The answer to this is for NZ and Aussie consumers to give preference to New Zealand made product, and boycott the Asian sourced replacement products. Brierley did it with Para Rubber and Marathon footwear, sourcing it out of Malaysia, was the imported product cheaper or better, like hell it was, the Brierley Group just got more bottom line and the NZ taxpayer picked up the social cost. The answer is simple, support businesses that support NZ, that includes the ANZ Bank, loss of business as a consequence of exporting Kiwi jobs is the only message that will get through to these businesses. I can remember the comments of the MD of a shoe manufacturing company that used to operate in Te Kuiti - (It was made when National was last in power) - incidentally they made excellent shoes "We are told we have to compete with Overseas manufacturers, and I am quite comfortable with competing with Western European, American, Canadian and Australian manufacturers, but I cannot compete with Asian manufacturers who pay their workers less than I have to pay the New Zealand Government in ACC levies" Buy NZ made - support businesses that employ kiwis - avoid doing business with companies that screw their NZ workers by exporting their jobs. Do the Germans do it - Yes, cars made in Brazil, South Africa, I have a Bosch washing machine that was made in Thailand - $1099 from Harvey Norman - The Germans however do not have premium product made in Asian sweatshops - but one pays a premium price for it. AEG washing machine from $2995.	KenESmith (6287)
659945	2008-04-20 17:29:00	They were setting up in the US then, they said NZ is too small, even throwing in Aus customers too, and overseas people bought fridge and freezer matching combos, and wahing machine dryer matching combos . Here we don't usually . So they weren't interested . Sorry for the downsizing and restructuring . . . . I once lost a job at Laura Scudders (peanut and other high-line food products) when they downsized and went to Tracy California (too far away) and Del Rio Texas (another place too far), so I know how and some of what you felt . Laura Scudder was having union troubles and tried to restructure to get the Teamsters and Bakers/Confectioners Union off their backs . It didn't work . Here's a Wiki on the happening: . wikipedia . org/wiki/Laura_Scudder" target="_blank">en . wikipedia . org Laura Scudder (a real person) was often seen sweeping the parking lot early in the morning, never looking at the plant itself . She just wanted to be near where she had built and lost a fortune . By the time I met her she was just a bag lady, looking like she had just crawled outta a dumpster where she had spent the night . Most of the old dogs just dropped their eyes to the ground if she looked at them . :horrified As for F&P . . . they tried to sell their products here in the US . . I posted that a bunch of months ago here in F1 . . . but they cannot get their machines off the showroom floor . They are not what the US buyer wanted and they just sat there, unsold . Right now the US looks like the sole buyer of things Chinese . . at least that's what the press and politicos want us to believe . For all that, we are supposed to get a warm feeling for helping our yellow-skinned brethren . Outsourcing and off-shore manufacturing is the bane of most countries . . but if we can all wait for it to clear up in . . say . . . about 200 years, then we'll all be at the top of the food chain again . . . er . . . at least somewhere off the bottom anyway .	SurferJoe46 (51)
659946	2008-04-20 17:33:00	<missed edit> I think the writing was on the wall when F&P started to push their product line in the US. It was their death knell. <glug, glug> :drowning smiley:	SurferJoe46 (51)
659947	2008-04-20 22:53:00	Buy NZ made I have a Bosch washing machine that was made in Thailand Right.	pctek (84)
659948	2008-04-20 23:27:00	There are no more Aussie made washing machines - and the Fridge manufacturing is going too - F & P doesn't market front loader washing machines in Australia, and top loaders are not water efficient so no $200 State water wise rebate. The plus point Australia has over NZ is that their is a shortage of skilled workers at this time, and the economy is booming in spite of the drought - different basket case to NZ. Australian made cars are loosing market share - no bloody wonder, they only make large cars here, all the small fuel efficient ones that are taking the lions share of the market are imported - so loss of market share for Aussie built product is Holden and Fords fault.	KenESmith (6287)
659949	2008-04-21 01:25:00	There are no more Aussie made washing machines - and the Fridge manufacturing is going too - F & P doesn't market front loader washing machines in Australia, and top loaders are not water efficient so no $200 State water wise rebate. The plus point Australia has over NZ is that their is a shortage of skilled workers at this time, and the economy is booming in spite of the drought - different basket case to NZ. Australian made cars are loosing market share - no bloody wonder, they only make large cars here, all the small fuel efficient ones that are taking the lions share of the market are imported - so loss of market share for Aussie built product is Holden and Fords fault. I thought there was also a shortage of skilled workers in NZ too. I would never buy an Australian made car, nowhere as reliable and well made as Japanese cars. One positive with F&P moving to Mexico, is that it will lessen the drain on our power supplies. At least mexicos power generation isn't Coal based, although they do use mexico. If they had gone to china, I would have boycotted them, as they would then be contributing more to global warming, at the expense of short term profits.	robbyp (2751)
659950	2008-04-21 03:58:00	One positive with F&P moving to Mexico, is that it will lessen the drain on our power supplies . At least mexicos power generation isn't Coal based, although they do use mexico . If they had gone to china, I would have boycotted them, as they would then be contributing more to global warming, at the expense of short term profits . Mexico, although it does not list coal as a major power source, uses and mines coal along it's Northern border with the US at Texas and Louisiana, all the way down it's Eastern seaboard too . Since much or most of their other raw products and supplies come in from Europe, the US, Africa and South America via the Atlantic Ocean and other points to their East, that's where the smelting and production of steel and other metals and chemicals is done . Not too much heavy industry is located on their West Coast, even though they have an excellent, if not shallow harbor in the Gulf of California and the Baja California Sur . Most of the Western area is a tourist arena and they prize their pristine waters and tourist and sportsmen fishing and hunting resorts . They typically extol their nuclear and thermogeneration of energy . . but coal is a major player in some of the Mexican States . Here's a link to the Wiki map of the US coal belts ( . wikipedia . org/wiki/Image:Us_coal_regions_1996 . png" target="_blank">en . wikipedia . org) . . . notice the sweep into the Mexican area just South of the US border to the Western shore of the Gulf of Mexico . (Florida is on the Eastern shore . . . I know it sounds backwards, but youse guys are upside down anyway . I am talking in reference to the water, not the land here for compass directions) . The Mexican coal (Lignite), like their poor quality crude oil, has a lot of sulfur and creates a lot of noxious smoke when burned under low pressure and low oxygenated conditions as in smelting with their lend-lease from the US (c . 1930s) ancient Bessemer Converters and pit blast furnaces . . I noticed also during this little study that Australia is a pretty bog player in the export of coal too .	SurferJoe46 (51)
659951	2008-04-21 04:23:00	........and in addition, here's a link to another Mexican Coal story (query.nytimes.com 669ED7CF)...kinda, no make that: "Very Interesting!".	SurferJoe46 (51)
659952	2008-04-21 04:24:00	F & P doesn't market front loader washing machines in Australia, and top loaders are not water efficient so no $200 State water wise rebate. The F&P Aquasmart is a top loader that appears to have the same water rating as a front loader.	PaulD (232)
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