Daimler Chrysler Stinks!!!

[CSnyder]

I had a chance to talk to my sister in Detroit last night, who works for Leer Corporation-a major company affiliated with DC, and she told me that DC ordered Leer to cut costs on their truck lines at any expense. She has been with Leer for 4 years in Human Resources and has a Masters Degree and they have already let 100 people go because of DC's orders and it is possible that her position will fall into the next bracket of people let go. What the heck is the deal with DC? they build them cheaper than ever now and they still charge outrageous prices. My sister will be ok though since she is a professor at a college part time and makes 45,000 a year doing that 2 nights a week.

 

[WBusa]

DC is hardly alone in this. Every time you walk into a WalMart you're patronizing the company that all but invented this business strategy... PBS had an informative episode of Frontline on this subject a few weeks ago. Every day of the year WalMart execs call in another manufacturer, and tell them "We want to sell your product in our stores for $X, so we'll buy it from you for $Y" [where Y is typically a very small number, because WalMart's profits are very high]. "If you can't afford that, then open a factory in China to get your costs down... or we'll find someone else who will. "



At least DC didn't tell Leer to move to China!

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

We tend to catch some small dribble of info about a company or product - then jump right in to attack and demonize it, as thought IT was the only "evil" one on the planet...



Guy gets a squeak or squeal in his truck - or it leaks a bit of water in a downpour - and he's loudly complains and is ready to dump what he has and go buy a competing brand - totally oblivious that his NEW provider is even worse in some ways to the one he just abandoned.



Wake up, get real, and smell the coffee - ALL companies are extremely competitive, and in their particular business to MAKE PROFIT!



Just as YOU would do if you were in business and wanted to STAY in business!



So what would YOU do if your competitors were selling a product like yours, and due to better, newer labor-saving equipment, could undercut YOUR prices? Would you, out of "loyalty" to your employees simply contine to produce your stuff the "old" way as to keep paying your existing workforce - until you were finally forced out of business entirely and EVERYONE, including YOU were no longer employed?



OR, would YOU modernize as well, and take whatever steps available to preserve as much as you could, as to keep as MANY employed as possible, and stay alive in a competitive world?



Studebaker, Packard, Hudson - and MANY others did not - and where are THEIR employees and owners today? Sure, it seems to us on the outside to be ruthless and unfeeling - but there is NO way it is likely to ever be otherwise in the business world, and they ALL have to do the same to stay alive!

 

[CORed]

$45,000 a year for 2 nights of work (and probably a couple months off in the summer)... that is INSANE!!! And with only a Masters. No wonder colleges are so darn expensive. Ridiculous! I cannot imagine what a full-time prof with a doctorate is making.



Mark my words, only the rich will be able to afford college in the next 10-15 years. Long-term, we are screwing ourselves. Places like India and China will continue to EAT OUR LUNCH until it is gone with all the highly-educated workers they are and will turn out every year. Education is the key and we are pricing it high at our own peril.



Off my box.



Steve

 

[RustyJC]

..... she told me that DC ordered Leer to cut costs on their truck lines at any expense.

This is common practice among the Big 3 automotive manufacturers as well as many other industries who are in competitive markets, depend on suppliers and vendors and have sufficient purchasing power to have leverage with those suppliers and vendors. DaimlerChrysler certainly isn't unique in this regard.



Rusty

 

[CWebster]

... . and steel is double what it was a year and a half ago...

 

[Philip]

Like Rusty stated this is common practice. All three auto mfg's do it.



Now Lear is another issue. Have her ask how many of the United Tech automotive factorys are still in operation after Lear bought them out. Last I heard of the 137 plants it had boughten. Over 60 were closed down (This was a number from 2. 5 years ago). The plant I worked at had almost 250 people. A 100 people to Lear means nothing.

 

[RDHamill]

I hate to say it but, but ultimately it's we the consumer who is to blame.

We want to purchase products for a price lower then they can be produced by an industry trying to living our lifesyle.

We don't want to pay our neighbour enough for his product for him to be able to be our neighbour, so his job goes to China.

I'm thinking that when the Chinese worker wants our lifestlye too, then inflation in china will level the playing field.

 

[redfuelrules]

roger and me

Hey Gary, you seen Roger and Me? It was one of michael moore's first movies and probably one of his best b/c he sticks a little closer to the facts. In my heavily biased opinion, auto maker execs and CFOs are just plain *******s. They happen to make a product that many of us need, and they feel that they can justify any step taken to cut cost and increase profit by claiming that it will save the consumer money. Nevermind that consumers need to take home a reasonable wage before they can consider large purchases.

Did you know that in the early 1900's, executives of large American corporations made on average 4 times what their factory workers made. They made 40 times that of the average full-time worker in the 1970s. Now they make more than 400 times that of the average (American) 'blue-collar' worker. I agree that corporations should be able to take steps to turn a profit, but I feel that people netting tens of millions a year should be clever enough to cut costs without eliminating or exporting the jobs that support our middle class. What's the real reasoning behind sending many of these jobs to China or Mexico, profits aren't already large enough when execs are earning over 400 times that of the workers that once occupied the jobs being sent elsewhere?

The US's rampant consumerism has depended on the purchasing power of the middle class since its inception in the 30s and 40s. The continuing reduction of the middle class will lead to an even less stable financial system, where fewer people are able to afford 'luxuries' like $5,000 diesel options on thier pick ups. Eventually that will cause auto makers to price their products even higher, b/c they'll need to make more money per unit sold, until fewer and fewer of the people that had once been able to afford such amenities will be able to do so.



There's a big difference between responsible cost cutting measures and unreasonable ones. We are a nation that has allowed itself to be increasingly defined by its corporate identities, rather than its human ones. In the pursuit of more efficient corporate and economic profiles, we've undercut the middle-class consumer base that drives our economy. People can't continue to consume w/out fair wages and benefits.



It seems that companies could trim the fat from the top down, and leave our nation with a few feet to stand on.



Ben

 

[CSnyder]

Redfuelrules... . all I can do is say thank you. You took the words out of my mouth. I was just trying to be informative by stating what my sister had told me... but then again I have read posts about what a jerk Gary can be.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"but then again I have read posts about what a jerk Gary can be. "



AH, once again we are treated to the schoolyard mentality - "if I can't respond with logic and reason, I'll resort to what I *really* do best - personal attack and insult"...



Thank you sir, you LOST far more than you gained, your insult puts FAR more shame on YOU than it does ME...

 

[Paychk]

I understand a company’s need to make a profit, but explain how D-C can charge an exorbitant price for parts and Cummins charges much less for the same thing?



example:

 

[CSnyder]

school yard mentality??

Wake up, get real, and smell the coffee

look buddy you started this crap by jumping on me and trying to talk down on me with your big words.

Just as YOU would do if you were in business and wanted to STAY in business!

I am in business for myself and have a business degree and will continue to be in business for myself because I do understand how it works in the real world for the most part. This is America and I do believe the constitution still states I can voice my opinion as I choose and I still think DC stinks for the way they do business. I merely started this thread because I had information from the inside about DC and since we all sort of have a connection with DC by being part of DC related "club" I thought I would share this information and voice my personal opinion. I have followed many posts in the past where you just jumped at the chance to talk down on someone and I will not tolerate it! PERIOD!

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"I do believe the constitution still states I can voice my opinion as I choose"



Pity you obviously have so much trouble allowing OTHERS the same liberty you expect for yourself...



Back to the sandbox with you...

 

[DBrickel]

We tend to catch some small dribble of info about a company or product - then jump right in to attack and demonize it, as thought IT was the only "evil" one on the planet...



Guy gets a squeak or squeal in his truck - or it leaks a bit of water in a downpour - and he's loudly complains and is ready to dump what he has and go buy a competing brand - totally oblivious that his NEW provider is even worse in some ways to the one he just abandoned.



Wake up, get real, and smell the coffee - ALL companies are extremely competitive, and in their particular business to MAKE PROFIT!



Just as YOU would do if you were in business and wanted to STAY in business!



So what would YOU do if your competitors were selling a product like yours, and due to better, newer labor-saving equipment, could undercut YOUR prices? Would you, out of "loyalty" to your employees simply contine to produce your stuff the "old" way as to keep paying your existing workforce - until you were finally forced out of business entirely and EVERYONE, including YOU were no longer employed?



OR, would YOU modernize as well, and take whatever steps available to preserve as much as you could, as to keep as MANY employed as possible, and stay alive in a competitive world?



Studebaker, Packard, Hudson - and MANY others did not - and where are THEIR employees and owners today? Sure, it seems to us on the outside to be ruthless and unfeeling - but there is NO way it is likely to ever be otherwise in the business world, and they ALL have to do the same to stay alive!

I don't have any problem with companys wanting to make a profit. I just have a major problem with the way walmart does it. they claim to be creating all these wonderful jobs but they ruin all the local business. I for one won't shop there. I know it won't make any diffference but It makes me feel better.

 

[AMink]

I realize that jobs are in jeopardy when large companies move in (as Walmart does) or there is a monopoly (triopoly?), in our case diesel trucks, between only three companies. Each person has to make a decision that he is comfortable with. My wife doesn't shop at Walmart. I bought a Dodge CTD. Whatever you believe about corporate America, it still doesn't answer a burning question... Michael Moore had a "one of his best" movie? :-laf

 

[RMontoya]

Wallmart is the enemy to the American working class. They are re-defining work rules. They do not provide medical benifets to the majority of their workers, there-by costing the tax-payer to pay medical for their employees. Time and time again you see local governments telling Wallmart to take their stores elsewhere.

I refuse to enter the dam establishment. Period.

 

[AfterBurner]

But you also have to take into account that b/c Walmart operates the way it does, the purchasing power of the middle class has improved. The reason companies offer benefits is b/c it's cheaper than a straightforward pay raise, and folks think they're getting more out of it. DC's price cuts also help the middle class consumer be able to buy a "luxuary option" diesel. As was said before the price of steel has doubled, but DC has held truck prices steady. Seems to me to be more like a blessing to the middle class than a curse.

 

[Udaloy]

The reason companies offer benefits is b/c it's cheaper than a straightforward pay raise, and folks think they're getting more out of it. DC's price cuts also help the middle class consumer be able to buy a "luxuary option" diesel.

I agree with your general premise, but I have to disagree technically speaking. One, benefits are not cheaper than a pay raise. Do you have any idea how much medical has gone up in the last five to ten years? Two, I haven't seen any price cuts by DC. That is unless you define a cut like the scum in Washington D. C.

 

[TFucili]

But you also have to take into account that b/c Walmart operates the way it does, the purchasing power of the middle class has improved.

Those that still have a job, that is. People are shopping themselves out of a job in the Wal-Mart world. A rising tide raises all boats, but their tide raises selectively.



As a second generation small businessman I do not support such stores.