Hostess

You know, if a company can't make money selling junk food to the fattest country in the world, there's something wrong with their business model.

This is not the fault of the workers.

I couldn't agree more with Jo. Those 'treats' are AWFUL. GAG. I don't know anybody who buys those things.

Then we want to blame it on workers for demanding fair wages and decent work conditions? I have NO problem with unions, in fact I think they are often essential (remember when there were no unions??), but I think it's largely irrelevant in this situation.

I'm going to miss he cupcakes and the ding dongs!

I do feel sorry for the workers, but this is why I don't like unions. To me, they only protect the lazy. I have been in a union and it pissed me off that I couldn't just go in and negotiate my own deals.

And when the workers go on strike and have to survive on strike pay, the union folks are still bringing in their full paychecks. It is no skin off their nose if those workers walk that picket line for months. I saw MANY people lose their cars and homes because of long strikes in Las Vegas some 25 years ago.

Pay cuts are better than no pay.

Unions
Nuff said

Pay cuts are not great - but they sure the hell are better than no pay.

Just think about a "what if" - what if the workers took the pay cut. And the company worked hard to increase its market share etc, returning the company to profitability. Then pay would go up again and job security would increase.

I realize that this is a simplistic view - but sometimes the long term gains of a temporary set back should be considered.

Instead you have thousands of people out of jobs now.

Oh, I think twinkies are gross. LOL

The products aren't going away forever. Though we would all be better off if they did. The rights and equipment are getting liquidated. And likely those jobs will resurface as the products are produced else where. What is going to stink are the unpaid pensions. This strike backfired.

My initial thought was along Joe W's; that too few people buy these products anymore. But, if that were the case then all they have to do is scale back the business and keep it smaller yet profitable. The reason they failed is the same reason you likely have a 401K and not a pension. When your business is shrinking yet you still have to pay pensions for your retired and no longer producing workers, you run out of money.

The Co. typically doesn't ride the wave until there is nothing left of course. They see the inevitable, the higher ups take a nice chunk of change before they file bankruptcy and the little man gets screwed either way. The union with its good intentions has increased the standard of living for those earlier employees, but in time, the workers at then end of the line don't get what was promised because, the company can't keep up with all the retired workers set pensions. The co. files bankruptcy, gets out of its obligations which were too good to be true anyway.

News flash, we aren't all going to retire was well as our grandparent did. In the government sector, its the same principle at work. We now have to revamp medicare and social security because pyramid schemes only work for as long as you have ample growth in the population or business. Once that slows, there isn't enough workers to generate money for the people who are next in line to receive the promised benefit.

Again, this is why we have moved to 401k's instead of pensions, and why we are moving to Obamacare instead of medicare. Turns out we could not sustain the former ways of doing things.

My dad worked for Hostess in the 90's up until about 2005. It was an antiquated company and undergoing a variety of bankrupcies for decades. My dad left a long time ago knowing it would finally go under soon.

I'm not pro union, but just to be fair, it wasn't totally the union's fault - just the straw that broke the camel's back and the scapegoat for decades of poor management.

And to appease everyone, I'm sure another company will buy the brands, like Twinkies and so forth. There's too much money to be made from these yummy snacks.

Ya know I was listening to talk radio today and a lady called in who's husband works for them. They have apparently been taking pay cuts for years.

I don't know about you but I think twinkies have sucked since they tried to make them healthier. The fact is people just don't buy them anymore at least not in quantities to support that company.

I think it is being reported the way it is because it is more dramatic than just saying the demand isn't there. Ya know, greedy union, business punishing the employees, blah blah blah. Nope, most people just don't buy twinkies anymore.

My rear-end is sorry for all the people that lost their job, but my rear-end is also really grateful that I will not be tempted by all those yummy snacks anymore. Now if we could just shut down all the fast food restaurants, my diet would take a significant turn in the right direction! :-P
A.

A point was brought up on the news today: those 18,000 people who will lose their jobs will cost taxpayers in unemployment benefits, Medicaid, etc. It affects people in more ways than we think. And it's not just Twinkies, it's Wonder Bread and Nature's Pride breads and a lot of other brands. And along with the closed factories will go the jobs of the people who maintain the factories and service the delivery trucks, etc. I don't like Twinkies but there's nothing better than a Funny Bone!

So what will we (or the cockroaches) eat when the Apocalypse comes?

Sad for the workers. But honestly no one should eat the foods (term used loosely) they made.

Love Twinkies, love Ding Dongs, but really feel for the 18,000 people it puts out of work.

I don't want people to lose their jobs, but this was management all the way. This is not on the workers or the unions. They knew they were going bankrupt long ago. They make a crappy product that people are starting to recognize as a disgusting time bomb.

I know people like the taste, but if you eat a lot of whole foods with simple ingredients, stuff like this just starts to taste too chemically and gross.

sad about the jobs but not sad over the lose of the awful tasting treats. when i was younger-like a kid that stuff was so good. now uck!!!

I'm going to miss the REAL Hostess cupcake.... the other brands just don't taste the same!

Well, there is another point where the Unions won... but ultimately lost the war.

We will miss the mini muffins - around here, they had the best ones...

The only one I am heartbroken over is the Sweet Sixteen donuts. I love those things.
I read that it was only 5000 union members that were refusing to cooperate out 18,000 employees total. So the others just get screwed because of some hold outs. I feel really sorry for those people. Sort of like innocent bystanders.
Anyway, Little Debbie is by far a much superior product, and family owned. If you want tasty snacks, go with them!

I don't know anything about the business side of it. I don't think they are located anywhere near us, so I have zero exposure, except in the grocery store aisles. And from where I am, I'd rather have a Little Debbie. I have never been a fan of Twinkies or the Hostess cup cakes either.

I always WANTED to like them. They always LOOKED yummy. But whenever I have actually bought them and tried them, they were just a huge disappointment. Every time. And that hasn't been often, because they were such a disappointment. I grew up on Little Debbie stuff, and it is just so much better.

ETA: Just read another response-- I didn't know that they made the Sweet Sixteen donuts! Those we DO like (only the powdered ones). But BlueBird's aren't bad and will do on the rare occasions I buy such a thing. That was a treat my dad has always shared with my kids when they were little. After the 'real' breakfast, they would have a sweet sixteen and get powdered sugar all over their faces. Whenever my parents are coming for a visit, my kids say "we have to get donuts for Papa".

That does make me very sad but I am with Bennthere about all those workers being out of a job that's going to be terrible!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually can not stand any Hostess products, so I am not bothered by that aspect at all.

The closing isn't actually due to the strike. That was simply the last straw in a years-long history of mismanagement, bankruptcy and other issues.