RIP, Twinkies . . .

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Just as an aside, here seems to be a full history of what's happened with the company in the past decade or so:

The full story.

Just for anyone who is curious.

[draco664]

Thanks for the link. I don't usually go into the Pop culture forum.

I found it interesting that the top execs had their pay cut to $1 as a union appeasing measure. Still, it looks as though the strike simply hastened the inevitable. That the poor performance of the company execs was to blame for the closure, the unions for the timing.

[EricKei]

Damn, they owned Wonder Bread too? What will it be like to live in a world without Wonder Bread?

I'm actually more upset about this -- They make a variety that is one of the few (non-artisan) breads still around that's NOT made with HCFS >_< (Smartwhite bread)

I couldn't tell you the last time I actually ate a Twinkie ~_~

[Nyoibo]

Execs having their pay cut to $1 means bugger all, I remember it being done as a publicity stunt once somewhere, he was still getting several hundred thousand out of returns from shares that were part of his wage agreement and still had a rather large golden parachute waiting for him.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Execs having their pay cut to $1 means bugger all, I remember it being done as a publicity stunt once somewhere, he was still getting several hundred thousand out of returns from shares that were part of his wage agreement and still had a rather large golden parachute waiting for him.

Not to mention that Hostess already asked workers to make concessions back in 2004 which saved them 110 million dollars.

What happened over the next 8 years? A ton of plants were still closed, a ton of jobs were still lost. Executive and CEO salaries were still increased.

Looks like all the money they saved from the concession union workers already made went straight into the pockets of the CEO and executives.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I'm actually more upset about this -- They make a variety that is one of the few (non-artisan) breads still around that's NOT made with HCFS >_< (Smartwhite bread)

I couldn't tell you the last time I actually ate a Twinkie ~_~

Eric, I've seen you use HCFS a few times. Do you mean High-Fructose Corn Syrup or are you referring to something completely different? Because I keep getting confused on that, so I just want to make sure I know what you're talking about when you use the acronym.

[Anthony K. S.]

What a surprise.

A boardroom full of grossly overpaid, completely out-of-touch company executives drive their own company into bankruptcy, and then insist that it's the employees' fault that it happened.

So what else is new?

[Duelist925]

What a surprise.

A boardroom full of grossly overpaid, completely out-of-touch company executives drive their own company into bankruptcy, and then insist that it's the employees' fault that it happened.

So what else is new?

I hear the sky's blue. Oh, and waters wet.

Word is still out on whether or not fire's hot.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Word is still out on whether or not fire's hot.

It's not. It just tickles.

Trust me. Go ahead and stick your hand in it, you'll be fine.

[Racket_Man]

A Mexican company, who has been eyeing Hostess for 10 years now, may look to swoop in and pick up the company for a song.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2...-twinkies?lite

[wolfie]

From what I've seen, after the first round of concessions, the top brass increased their own pay rather than put the saved money into the company. Workers aren't stupid - another demand for concessions comes along, and the natural reaction is "Bullshit - the reason you want to cut our pay again is to give yourselves another raise. If you were serious about the company being in trouble, you'd have cut your own pay."

If the first round of concession demands had been along the lines of "The company is in deep trouble, we need savings. We've already cut executive pay 15%, we need 10% from the shop floor.", and the company had pegged post-concession executive pay (percentage-wise) to shop floor pay, then I could understand blaming workers for a closure in response to a second demand for concessions.

[hinakiba777]

Here is Canada the rights to Hostess products are owned by George Weston Ltd who also owns the right to Wonderbread. However, the company has said they do not wish to purchase the manufacturing assets from Hostess to continue making the product.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windso...-shutdown.html

[EricKei]

"What about the Twinkie?"

You've been waiting years to use that line, haven't you?

Eric, I've seen you use HCFS a few times. Do you mean High-Fructose Corn Syrup ...?

Yes, my apologies. My typing finger tends to get ahead of my brain >_< It rather scared me when I realized that bread actually had that crap in it in the first place. I expect it in certain things, but bread?! (Especially when the loaf also contains normal sugar)

[blas87]

Hehe, yesterday at work, come to find out, we still have all of our vending machines chock full of Hostess cakes. At least until they run out of ones to bring in the truck, I guess.

I had my very first raspberry Zinger yesterday. Sad to say, probably the only one I'll ever have.

[EricKei]

Well, word has it that outside firms, including one from Mexico, have expressed interest in just buying Hostess out. We'll have to see what develops.