Fender Lays off 300 employees!

[Doug B]

[citizenk74]

Sucks.

[AlsoRan]

It's like a plague is coming...

[Doug B]

Sucks.

Yup. I'm sure that the 300 that got laid off with no notice and very little severance pay would agree with you.

Doug

[sgosnell]

It's all about the bottom line and making the quarterly profits look good, so the suits get their bonuses. Fuck the line employees, they should have known they were expendable before taking the job.

[Bobby Timmons]

Sux, but you don't really want to make a career out of a factory job.

[Alter]

The lockdowns sales boom is definitively over ..

[sgosnell]

I didn't want to make a career out of any job, I never wanted to work for a living, just have a good time. That seldom works. For many people, factory jobs are the only jobs available. There are certainly worse ways of providing food for one's family. Wes did it for awhile. He found a way out, but not every factory worker can play guitar as well as he did.

[Litterick]

Guitar:

Mckerchie states that the employees “Did not get some fluffy email or severance package” – for the most part receiving just a few days extra pay. The layoffs don’t seem to be limited to the factory floor, either, with Mckerchie the vice president of design for EVH and Charvel has been let go, alongside Brian Swerdfeger. Swerdfeger was Fender’s vice president of research and design, and the spearheaded the design of the Acoustasonic range.

Additionally, several other former employees, with roles ranging from graphic designers, recruiters and communications managers, have taken to LinkedIn in recent days to share the news of their terminations.

[teeps]

With a recession kicking in more of such will come. In other branches too. Says I, who is normally an optimist.

[RJVB]

There was a thread about this on the AGF last week which put the news into a bit more perspective.

There are certainly worse ways of providing food for one's family.

It does depend on the kind of factory, and the work you get to do. But I can definitely think of a lot worse factory jobs than those in a guitar-building factory!

[sm80808]

Sux, but you don't really want to make a career out of a factory job.

Doesn't that usually result from career progression as opposed to outright elimination of your job though?

I wish those folks the best.

[rlrhett]

I keep hearing that unemployment is down, hiring is up, and employers just can’t find enough people, but two brothers and a cousin have been recently laid off in their fifties and have been unable to find work in over a year. Good news is that CEO’s are having a very big year!


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[Doctor Jeff]

We're not in a recession, and anyone who knows one is coming is blowing smoke. It's a unique time in economic history. Prior comparisons are not helpful.

No analysis I've read about why this happened, but some people speculate that Fender (along with many appliance manufacturers) overestimated demand and ended up with a large inventory of products made overseas, which ate into sales of MIA Fenders. MIA Fenders may have priced themselves out of the market.

Also, the Feds are trying to engineer a soft landing by raising interest rates. That has the effect of curbing consumption. We shouldn't be surprised what happens when the buying spree winds down.

[Doug B]

I keep hearing that unemployment is down, hiring is up, and employers just can’t find enough people, but two brothers and a cousin have been recently laid off in their fifties and have been unable to find work in over a year. Good news is that CEO’s are having a very big year!

One thing that gets me about unemployment stats: Two part time jobs at 20 hours each are counted as one full time job. However governments conveniently forget the fact that those two people can't live on 20hrs a week wages!

Doug

[RJVB]

We're not in a recession, and anyone who knows one is coming is blowing smoke

Maybe, but what would the effect be if companies and private citizens can no longer afford the energy bills? We've been hearing doomsday estimates of a 10x increase of electricity prices here in France, and even in the Netherlands where people were always better paid than here in France there is worry that many won't be able to afford their energy bills soon.

[Sam Sherry]

For many people, factory jobs are the only jobs available. There are certainly worse ways of providing food for one's family

It does depend on the kind of factory, and the work you get to do. But I can definitely think of a lot worse factory jobs than those in a guitar-building factory!

I've been friends with and played in bands with folks who worked the line at Ovation, CF Martin and Bourgeois. One of those people went from the line at Hitchcock Chairs to the line at Ovation to the line at CF Martin.

Back then -- 1980s and 1990s -- the people in the Martin factory all said that it was a straight factory job. At that time only two people in the building could actually build a complete guitar alone. Even so, folks on the line take pride knowing that the things they build will outlive them. It's not for nothing.

Ovation was a factory. It's not like you're gonna turn helicopter-blade material into bowl-backed guitars at home.

Over the years Bourgeois has employed a bunch people who really know guitar building. In addition to Dana Bourgeois, former Bourgeois employees include TJ Thompson, Chuck "CP" Thornton, Tom Williamson (RIP), Ted Scheips, Steve Ryder, Joel Eckhaus (Earnest Instruments), Laurent Brondel and John Slobod (Circa Guitars). That's a distinguished roster!

+ + +

One of my long-term clients is the largest double-bass manufacturer in the US. (Yes, since I am a double bassist that makes me a very lucky person and I know it.) The build workers can and do switch stations as needed. There are specialists for finishing and for fingerboard planing / final setup, but a substantial portion of the employees can do every job including those if required, i.e. could actually build a double-bass alone if that needed to happen. Two of the four owners started as workers and still work the floor, and that says something positive about the company too.

The guy that does fingerboard planing / setup work is a fookin' wizard. He's a good DB player and he's planed thousands of boards. He can set your board up to match your playing, your strings and your music. In short words he is the right guy with the right job.

[Stevebol]

Maybe, but what would the effect be if companies and private citizens can no longer afford the energy bills? We've been hearing doomsday estimates of a 10x increase of electricity prices here in France, and even in the Netherlands where people were always better paid than here in France there is worry that many won't be able to afford their energy bills soon.

Everyone will own nothing, move to Venice Beach, CA and be happy.

[Litterick]

Venice Beach will be under water in a few decades.

[Alter]

Just watch any of these videos that take you through the guitar building process in any brand factory. Guitar building is still very much a hand process, CNC and all. Skilled personnel can make or break the thing..

[Stevebol]

Venice Beach will be under water in a few decades.

Talking points out of Davos are going to help destroy the US economy. There's nothing we can do about it. We're running out of water fast in the heart of food production.
I wouldn't assume sea levels will rise all that fast but the weather is losing it's mind. Droughts, floods.
The western states in the US are an engineering disaster.

Mexico too. A friend just sent this link;

Ensenada, Last in Line for Colorado River Water, Is Facing the Worst of the West’s Drought | Voice of San Diego

[blackcat]

Maybe, but what would the effect be if companies and private citizens can no longer afford the energy bills? We've been hearing doomsday estimates of a 10x increase of electricity prices here in France, and even in the Netherlands where people were always better paid than here in France there is worry that many won't be able to afford their energy bills soon.

Perhaps this is why the French government are sending out cheques/checks to low income families and proceeding to fully nationalize EDF the national electricity supplier. Better that than in 'Brexitland'...........................

How much are UK Energy Bills Expected to Rise?



UK households received yet another warning that they should brace for energy bills to exceed £4,000 this winter as high gas prices threaten to exacerbate a cost-of-living crisis. The default price cap is set to rise to £4,266 ($5,163) in the first quarter of 2023, according to analysis from Cornwall Insight Ltd.

Many will have to choose now between paying the rent/mortgage this winter and staying warm.

[thelostboss]

Nothing to do with Fender, but just for Stevebol;

Jazz might be my passion but I still miss Mickey.

[Marinero]

"We're not in a recession, and anyone who knows one is coming is blowing smoke. It's a unique time in economic history. Prior comparisons are not helpful." Doctor Jeff

Five Star quote of the day, Dr . . . you must be eating Uncle Joe's ice cream cones!
Marinero

[Stevebol]

Nothing to do with Fender, but just for Stevebol;

Jazz might be my passion but I still miss Mickey.

Do what you gotta do;



I might be installing one of those in the next year or two. I'll bribe someone in California to come by and fill it up.