Comments on: Hostess – What went wrong? https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/ Big voices. Little censors. Fri, 10 Apr 2015 14:43:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 By: Joe https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-6011 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:16:53 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-6011 I did not realizw that Hostess made so many products. My favorite bread(Home Pride-wheat) was manufactured by these guys. I listened to talk of this bankruptcy for weeks w/o realizing that it would affect me if this went down. I blame some of that on (me), but I also blame this company for not letting people know who they were. I always thought Hostess was twinkies and cupcakes(which I only eat occasionally). But I didn’t realize that they were Drakes coffee cakes and bread also. How do you mess up a company that makes so many products. The sad thing in all of this is that the people who actually do the work will lose out as usual while the white collar big wigs with the big houses make out as usual with their golden parachutes. I never totally understand why if they are so smart they need these parachutes but thats me. Here’s hoping somebody picks up Home Pride and Drakes else I will be eating a whole lot less bread and apple pies…

]]> By: zach https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5999 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:42:54 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5999 I was a rsr for almost 20 years. We carried both bread and cake on the same trucks for many years. The company started its down hill spiral when Interstate Brands bought them. When I started, it was still owned by Ralston. It was a really good job back then. Once Interstate Brands bought them, the product started arriving at our distribution branch later and later. Product that once was delivered by 10:00PM the night before was now occasionally being delivered as late as 5:30AM the day it was to be distributed. The equipment was seriously outdated, and upper management was clueless. Most of the trucks we had at our branch were manufactured before 1989. We had to have a mechanic on duty 24/7. I thought it was odd when the company purchased new Ford Tauruses for the Zone Managers and new Ford Freestar vans for the Branch Managers just before filing chapter 11. This company’s upper management was clueless, greedy, and heartless. They imposed a time constraint on us. We weren’t allowed to settle our routes (end of day paperwork) until after 10:00AM. One member of upper management stated, ” If we pay them to work a full day, they should work a full day.” Many of us started around 1:30AM, which meant that we waited several hours, without compensation, for the product to arrive. Our pay was frozen in 2004. We suffered several pay cuts and other concessions up to the day of closing. Management continued to prosper while we continued to sacrifice. We received no notice of the decision to close. We finished our respective daily duties, returned to our branch and were told to empty our assigned trucks of all personal belongings and vacate the premises. Almost 20 years down the tubes.

]]> By: James (Jimmy) Cieloha https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5966 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:49:58 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5966 I feel that all of the management of Hostess and Wonder Bread owner and parent company never have learned their lesson from their Chapter 11 bankruptcy by choosing to have and enjoy carefree lavishly spending to support carefree lavishly lifestyles with luxurious homes, luxurious jets, luxurious cars, join luxurious clubs, go to luxurious hotels, go to luxurious casinos to do gambling, have luxurious parties, and have other luxurious items just to make them very happy then trying and willingness to improve the quality of all of their products and all of their employees working for Hostess and Wonder Bread.

]]> By: tim lemmons https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5961 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:03:30 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5961 Very good article,this company needed to go bankrupt. I was a rsr for a couple of years and it feels great to be stress free! I know make $23 a hour welding and work 60 hours a week! Making much better money. Not what i love,but its a paycheck thats a lot $$$$

]]> By: Stuart https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5953 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 05:08:36 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5953 Hostess was bound by more than 80 union agreements. They had crazy rules that didn’t allow bread and Twinkies to be carried on the same truck from the same factory!

I’m usually a big proponent of unions, but in this case there were too many union rules that dragged Hostess down.

For me, it really comes down to:
“We will go out of business if you keep striking.”

“Tough. We want more money.”

Sadly these guys gave a black eye to unions. I don’t think we should be defending them.

]]> By: Phileaux https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5950 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 04:12:28 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5950 “It wasn’t the Baker’s Union that killed Hostess, so, what went wrong with our favorite snake cake maker?” Do you guys even read what you write? “Snake” cake maker?

]]> By: Ann https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5948 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 03:52:15 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5948 I think most of the factors can be traced back to bad management. Marketing, executive compensation, bankruptcy, employee satisfaction is all part of management. Bonuses shouldn’t be given for liquidation or firing. Bonuses should be tied to achievement. I don’t understand this trend to obscenely reward failure.

]]> By: Stuart https://cliqueclack.com/p/hostess-problems/#comment-5945 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 03:12:34 +0000 https://cliqueclack.com/p/?p=4102#comment-5945 Or, maybe it *was* the union? Their strike was too much for Hostess.

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