FARK.com: (6653190) Maker of beer tap handles chooses American over Chinese factories for new products. I'll drink to that

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		Maker of beer tap handles chooses American over Chinese factories for new products. I'll drink to that (seattletimes.nwsource.com)		29
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1643 clicks; posted to Business » on 18 Oct 2011 at 3:15 AM | Favorite | share:

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29 Comments (+0 »)

dumbobruni

2011-10-18 03:35:34 AM

$9 an hour. woohoo!

davidphogan

2011-10-18 03:58:44 AM

Deliver quickly, with quality, and on time and you too can supply Americans with the crap they don't need.

Mr. Potatoass

2011-10-18 04:26:43 AM

dumbobruni: $9 an hour. woohoo!

I know a number of people that would be glad to take a $9/hour job, right now.

dumbobruni

2011-10-18 05:12:58 AM

Mr. Potatoass: dumbobruni: $9 an hour. woohoo!

I know a number of people that would be glad to take a $9/hour job, right now.

well since that wage would keep them under the poverty line, they can still get food stamps and housing assistance.

LUCKY DUCKY FATCATS!

stuhayes2010

2011-10-18 06:53:22 AM

HERO tag on a break?

Yes, $9 an hour ain't a lot but it's enough to get off the bottom.

tomWright

2011-10-18 08:22:02 AM

stuhayes2010: HERO tag on a break?

Yes, $9 an hour ain't a lot but it's enough to get off the bottom.

This. It is 18,000 a year. That can be a good second income for a family on the edge, or a leg up to someone starting out. and it is more than unemployment. and 32000 can be a living wage in some areas, I do not know about that location though.

It's a start, why sneer at it? See how much encouragement that gives to others to bring jobs back.

CarnySaur

2011-10-18 08:22:29 AM

That's because they saw what the Chinese did to the cola industry.

k4mi

2011-10-18 08:28:09 AM

So he's still making the tap handles in China, but he decided to make the signs/glass ware in the US because he will make more money. I find it hard to call him a hero. Yes the idea is to make money, but it's not like he's pulling all his business from China because he's some patriotic American, it's because he will make more money. If he was going to make more by having that stuff made in China he would have in a heartbeat.

Bob16

2011-10-18 09:01:32 AM

stuhayes2010: HERO tag on a break?

Yes, $9 an hour ain't a lot but it's enough to get off the bottom.

bwahahahahaha

haven't been out of your cave in 30 years huh

rtaylor92

2011-10-18 09:16:43 AM

A company NOT outsourcing jobs is now considered news. America, fark Yeah!

kdawg7736

2011-10-18 09:37:47 AM

Gotta be happy they are employing Americans. I would drink to that too.

impaler

2011-10-18 09:48:40 AM

These guys don't understand how important profit is.

Time to dump their stock.

/Wall Street

BiggityBanninated

2011-10-18 09:54:56 AM

dumbobruni: $9 an hour. woohoo!

This.

After taxes you could barely support yourself on that with a roommate.

Also FTFA: "We've had to upgrade benefits like dormitories and food"

Guy sounds like a real douche to me. The kind of person who wants to use nerve gas on the 99%ers.

Gish21

2011-10-18 10:54:56 AM

A great day for America, we're finally beginning to take back the crucial novelty beer tap industry from the Chinese.

loonatic112358

2011-10-18 10:59:53 AM

I assume 9 an hour is for the floor sweepers and basic labor

good luck finding a good cnc machinist for 16 an hour

angry_scientist

2011-10-18 11:12:25 AM

k4mi: If he was going to make more by having that stuff made in China he would have in a heartbeat.

Hey, give the guy a break, he has an M B A in engineering as repeated numerously ftfa, for Chrissakes. It's a miracle he can function without ruining his own company, or having beer ignite spontaneously in his presence.

Goimir

2011-10-18 11:31:18 AM

loonatic112358: good luck finding a good cnc machinist for 16 an hour

That's easy to do, as the technical schools taught the shiat out of that in the early 90's before they started in with IT stuff. Plenty o' people with that who are working for mcdonalds. And unless you're working in a job shop, you hire a good machinist, have him write the programs and build the setups, then fire him and hire a button pusher. When things get too farked up again or things can't be revised a 4th time, fire the button pusher and hire a good machinist to come in and fix things, write programs, rework the setups that the idiot button pusher crashed into, etc.

Note that you hire them all at $16/hr, and you tell the good CNC guy that you're just starting out/had really bad luck and they'll have to prove themselves. Complain of budget problems, accuse them of needing too much tooling, whatever lie it takes to keep them from starting an insurrection.

enik

2011-10-18 11:33:41 AM

Maker of beer tap handles goes out of business due to union pressure and excessive government regulation.

The Homer Tax

2011-10-18 11:36:55 AM

k4mi: but it's not like he's pulling all his business from China because he's some patriotic American, it's because he will make more money.

He says as much in TFA.

FWIW, that's the correct reason to make the move stateside. "Because patriotism" is not a sustainable business model.

Geotpf

2011-10-18 11:46:16 AM

enik: [img1.fark.net image 54x11] Maker of beer tap handles goes out of business due to union pressure and excessive government regulation.

Actaully, he specifically said that one of the reasons he was able to expand because a tax change (passed before the Democrats lost the house in 2010) allowed him to deduct the cost of the expansion immediately (as opposed to over time).

Let me repeat this.

The Democrats reduded taxes on this guy that allowed him to be able to afford to expand in the United States and hire workers here.

Geotpf

2011-10-18 11:47:13 AM

Err, that last line should say:

"The Democrats reduced taxes on this guy that allowed him to be able to afford to expand in the United States and hire workers here.

AcneVulgaris

2011-10-18 11:49:46 AM

The Homer Tax: k4mi: but it's not like he's pulling all his business from China because he's some patriotic American, it's because he will make more money.

He says as much in TFA.

FWIW, that's the correct reason to make the move stateside. "Because patriotism" is not a sustainable business model.

It is if you run a derp factory.

wildcardjack

2011-10-18 12:00:52 PM

I know one machine shop that's hiring more machinists for $25/hr.

Well, they're getting labeled machinists. They really aren't good for much more than loading and unloading, wouldn't trust them to choose tools or speeds. That's what you have 10-20 years experienced machinists there to do.

Of course, all the products there get used a few times at most and end up going boom, so it's not part of the real economy.

jonnyh

2011-10-18 12:54:14 PM

FTFA:

"Q. Do you think Americans still know how to make stuff?

A. Absolutely. My baby's crib was made here, and that was important to me. I didn't have to worry about the safety of, for example, the paint used"

Apparently Mr. CEO wants that quality for him and his family, but all those 99% beer slingers can continue to absorb high levels of lead through their beer-dispensing fingers.

k4mi

2011-10-18 02:01:08 PM

AcneVulgaris: The Homer Tax: k4mi: but it's not like he's pulling all his business from China because he's some patriotic American, it's because he will make more money.

He says as much in TFA.

FWIW, that's the correct reason to make the move stateside. "Because patriotism" is not a sustainable business model.

It is if you run a derp factory.

I completely agree with you. The only way to make it work would be charge more to offset the cost of making it here but then would his customers pay a little more? Probably not. The point I was trying to make was that the author is trying his hardest to make this guy out to be some kind of hero of the working man when he's clearly not.

loonatic112358

2011-10-18 02:23:52 PM

Goimir: loonatic112358: good luck finding a good cnc machinist for 16 an hour

That's easy to do, as the technical schools taught the shiat out of that in the early 90's before they started in with IT stuff. Plenty o' people with that who are working for mcdonalds. And unless you're working in a job shop, you hire a good machinist, have him write the programs and build the setups, then fire him and hire a button pusher. When things get too farked up again or things can't be revised a 4th time, fire the button pusher and hire a good machinist to come in and fix things, write programs, rework the setups that the idiot button pusher crashed into, etc.

Note that you hire them all at $16/hr, and you tell the good CNC guy that you're just starting out/had really bad luck and they'll have to prove themselves. Complain of budget problems, accuse them of needing too much tooling, whatever lie it takes to keep them from starting an insurrection.

yea.... not a good idea you start getting the fools who tend to show up to work inebriated when you work that way, and that gets expensive.

Chevello

2011-10-18 08:28:16 PM

k4mi: The point I was trying to make was that the author is trying his hardest to make this guy out to be some kind of hero of the working man when he's clearly not.

FTFA:

"Fichter says studies have shown consumers' perception of what they are drinking depends heavily on what they know about it - the price, the brand, the story.
...
Q. Which products will Taphandles manufacture in Woodinville?
A. While 98 percent of the tap handles will continue to come from China, we also make signs and displays - including the A-frame chalkboards you see outside bars."

So he makes a big announcement that he's expanding in the US, hires a few people "to get started." There is a big hoopla about it, then he quietly mutters something about "can't find qualified workers" and continues the way he is going now but with customers' perception about him changed because people read the headline and went "WOOHOO! 'merican JOBS! I'm buying from THAT guy from now on. He GETS it!."

3. Profit

Cynical? About American business? Me?
Naw!

enik

2011-10-18 08:31:36 PM

Geotpf: enik: [img1.fark.net image 54x11] Maker of beer tap handles goes out of business due to union pressure and excessive government regulation.

Actaully, he specifically said that one of the reasons he was able to expand because a tax change (passed before the Democrats lost the house in 2010) allowed him to deduct the cost of the expansion immediately (as opposed to over time).

Let me repeat this.

The Democrats reduded taxes on this guy that allowed him to be able to afford to expand in the United States and hire workers here.

Simple world you live in, eh?

Contents Under Pressure

2011-10-19 02:57:46 PM

Its a drop in the bucket, but I'm glad to see it.

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