FORD "hits back". . . comments, anyone?

[TheSlashFiveTourer]

"FORD BANS COMPETITORS' VEHICLES FROM PARKING LOT"

News item (http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/27/news/companies/ford_parkinglot/index.htm?cnn=yes)

Well now!

Good?

Bad?

or, Ugly?

[Burnszilla]

Does Ford make any motorcycles?? :)

You can't ride your motorcycle to work?

I thought employees got a pretty good discount when purchasing a vehicle.

[lorazepam]

guess it makes sense if you work there to drive the company vehicle. Butter your own bread, so to speak.

I guarantee if you work for budweiser and get caught drinking a miller in public, you will not have a job.

[Motorman]

That sounds very much like the policy the city started shortly after I retired. As it is now, if you work for the city you MUST live in the city limits. If you are applying for a job you must live in the city limits as well. That way they make sure they get their city taxes from you. Same for Ford. They must figure the product is so poorly received they must force their employees to buy one. If I were working there I'd go find the skuzziest, skankiest condition POS ford for a few dollars and drive that to work. I'd even go to the hassle of making sure I parked as close to the roadside fence as possible to let the folks driving past the plant get a good look at a ford product. :stick :fart :nra

[cjack]

guess it makes sense if you work there to drive the company vehicle. Butter your own bread, so to speak.

I guarantee if you work for budweiser and get caught drinking a miller in public, you will not have a job.

Miller doesn't have any beer taste anyway. When you're out of Bud...

[BubbaZanetti]

i've always thought these rules were insane, restricting freedom of choice, i don't know man, thats like me getting fired for attending another college.........

[riderR1150GSAdv]

If I were working there I'd go find the skuzziest, skankiest condition POS ford for a few dollars and drive that to work. I'd even go to the hassle of making sure I parked as close to the roadside fence as possible to let the folks driving past the plant get a good look at a ford product. :stick :fart :nra

I would too, as I drive a Chevy truck :rocker .. :rofl :rofl :rofl

[Stuff2C]

If I were working there I'd go find the skuzziest, skankiest condition POS ford for a few dollars and drive that to work. I'd even go to the hassle of making sure I parked as close to the roadside fence as possible to let the folks driving past the plant get a good look at a ford product. :stick :fart :nra


The best part is you can still find an old skanky FORD that runs :usa

You can't find a new gm or chrysler thats reliable enough to get you to work on time...hence the policy. :nyah

[BradfordBenn]

To me that is no different than what my company does at some offices. If you car pool you get to park close, if not it is the remote lot.

[Harrington]

I think it's a good thing. It's the same thing as buy American or don't complain why your job went overseas.
I saw a documentary years ago about Toyota. The factory in Japan required the same of their employees. I don't know if it's current policy.

[Belg]

I wouldn't be suprised if it was still that way over there. The whole "Company Loyalty" thing...

I think what is more telling in the article is the simple fact that, according to the article, the F150 is the most popular selling vehicle in the US... and Ford is laying off 30k people.

That to me points to incredible levels of mismanagement and waste at the higher echelons.... there really is no excuse for a company to have the hottest selling product on the market and be financially unstable to the point where you have to can the equivalent of a small city.

[nhlkats]

what kind of deals are being passed down to the factory employees?
the people who build it know what kind of quality goes into it.
perhaps thats why so many of them drive non-ford products?
or maybe because ford is too cheap to cut their own employees a decent break on a ford product.

:bikes

[Harrington]

Maybe all of those non-Ford driving employees should go work for GM. GM just had a terrible year but they can park their Suburus right up front. :bikes

[basketcase]

Whichever way one approaches the explanation (upper level mismanagement, vs union greed), the goose that laid the golden egg has left the building...

Regarding the matter of "Do Japanese drive a Ford" I think the answer is, "very few." The economic and trade inequities make it nearly impossible for the ordinary guy to afford to buy foreign over there. Besides, they would be putting their Yen into a POS American product, for which there very little market support.

When I was in Myanmar back in December (re, Malaria thread) I was interested to learn that a Ford Explorer cost the equivalent of $85,000 USD. An old, basically entry level Camry would bring $20,000 USD. A Lexus SUV would bring nearly $250,000 USD. (Inflation was at around 180% when I was there).

Meanwhile, here in the US we've had it good for a long time, and union or managment alike, "Ford looking back" needs look no further than the mirror to see the root of their current malise.

IMHO

[eljeffe]

"FORD BANS COMPETITORS' VEHICLES FROM PARKING LOT"

News item (http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/27/news/companies/ford_parkinglot/index.htm?cnn=yes)

Well now!

Good?

Bad?

or, Ugly?

The GM Plant in Oklahoma City had this policy back in the 80s. You drove a GM product, our you didn't work there.

[The_Veg]

I think it's very short-sighted and myopic on the part of Ford or any company who makes such policy.

As for the comment about buy American or kiss your job goodbye, things like that should not motivate choices. Buy the very best product regardless of who makes it. If our industries are worth being in business, they will actually try to compete rather than just be complacent making crap knowing the people will buy it without much any merit.

Quality can't be sloganeered and can't be regulated down your employees' throats. It takes real effort and it is the heart of competitive business.

Make the customer happy with your product, right? Make it good enough that they'll want another one, right?

[Harrington]

I think it's very short-sighted and myopic on the part of Ford or any company who makes such policy.


I saw the Toyota documentary in '85. They have done quite well in the last 20 years.

[dancogan]

Coming from the auto capital, I can assure those who asked that employees of the auto makers do get very good deals to buy cars from their employers. And many, many of them do just that. I think it was the GM incentives of a few months ago that briefly gave the general public the same deal employees got, and it was a very good deal. But targeting those who drive something else doesn't seem reasonable. I subscribe to the "buy what fits you best and that you feel gives you the best bang for the buck," theory. What about the guy whose been unemployed for a year, trying to feed a family of four and keep a roof over their head, and finally lands a job on the line at Ford. Why tell him to go park across the street, because he's lucky to be able to drive his Chevelle to work?

[jdiaz]

Its not just an American thing.....

[SKS46LT05]

As for the comment about buy American or kiss your job goodbye, things like that should not motivate choices. Buy the very best product regardless of who makes it. If our industries are worth being in business, they will actually try to compete rather than just be complacent making crap knowing the people will buy it without much any merit.

Quality can't be sloganeered and can't be regulated down your employees' throats. It takes real effort and it is the heart of competitive business.

Make the customer happy with your product, right? Make it good enough that they'll want another one, right?

One of the biggest problems the big three must address is their legacy costs, which, incidentally, is the same problem facing social security today.

Some will blame the union for this, some will argue that we must raise tariffs on foriegn vehicles in order to make our own competitive, and some will argue that we must buy American or suffer the consequences. Each, in some respects, is correct, too.

[sgborgstrom]

How do you decide what is "american" enough to buy?

As I recall, Honda builds Goldwings in Ohio, does that really make it any less of an "american" product than a Harley? BMW builds cars in one of the Carolinas...I believe several other "japanese" automakers build cars in the US too.

A "foreign" brand built here supports US workers and hereby our economy, what more could we ask for?

Steve

[Harrington]

How do you decide what is "american" enough to buy?

As I recall, Honda builds Goldwings in Ohio, does that really make it any less of an "american" product than a Harley? BMW builds cars in one of the Carolinas...I believe several other "japanese" automakers build cars in the US too.

A "foreign" brand built here supports US workers and hereby our economy, what more could we ask for?

Steve

Apparently, it's the right to eat a Big Mac at Taco Bell.

Ford wants their employees to support the product. It's like letting my employees wear a competitor's shirt. It's bad advertisement. Ford is providing an incentive for the employee to buy the product........they get a better parking spot.

[riderR1150GSAdv]

How do you decide what is "american" enough to buy?

As I recall, Honda builds Goldwings in Ohio, does that really make it any less of an "american" product than a Harley? BMW builds cars in one of the Carolinas...I believe several other "japanese" automakers build cars in the US too.

A "foreign" brand built here supports US workers and hereby our economy, what more could we ask for?

Steve

A good point, after all my Chevy Avalanche is built in Mexico. Is it now no longer American :usa , even though over 80% of the parts comes from the US???

[web3]

On the News Hour on PBS they were talking about the legacy costs of American auto companies. GM and Ford provide health care for 800,000 people both active and retired. The one man said that they face a health care problem and it is not just an auto industry problem but a national problem that needs to be addressed.

As far as being competitive, American labor can and does build some of the highest quality autos in the world, Hondas in Ohio, Toyotas in Kentucy BMW's in the Carolinas Mercedes in Alabama Nissans in Tennessee etc. If Ford and GM had chosen to assemble the same quality of parts as the others the would have like quality cars.

Americam labor can not compete in the world labor market until they are ready to work for $3 per day like the Asians.

IMHO

[BradfordBenn]

How about this for irony...

A division of my company makes the car electronics for Lexus. The electronics are built in Northridge, CA then shipped to Japan for integration. Then if the car is shipped back to the US, guess what comes back... kind of humorous to me.

[ericthebald]

Sorry Folks, but I can't conjure up a lot of sympathy for people in this situation...
I saw pretty much the same dael at the HD plant a few years back. A nice covered area for the Hog riders & the rest outside the gate...

This is a cross-post, but it applies IMHO:

If you work for a man, in heaven's name work for him.

If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him -- speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution he represents.

I think if I worked for a man, I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.

If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, why, resign your position, and then when you are outside, damn to your heart's content. But I pray you, as long as you are a part of an institution, do not condemn it. Not that you will injure the institution -- not that -- but when you disparage a concern of which you are a part, you disparage yourself.

More than that, you are loosening the tendrils that hold you to the institution, and the first high wind that happens along, you will be uprooted and blown away in the blizzard's track -- and probably you will never know why..."

[tessler]

I think it's very short-sighted and myopic on the part of Ford or any company who makes such policy.

As for the comment about buy American or kiss your job goodbye, things like that should not motivate choices. Buy the very best product regardless of who makes it. If our industries are worth being in business, they will actually try to compete rather than just be complacent making crap knowing the people will buy it without much any merit.

Quality can't be sloganeered and can't be regulated down your employees' throats. It takes real effort and it is the heart of competitive business.

Make the customer happy with your product, right? Make it good enough that they'll want another one, right?

I couldn't agree more.

[Motorman]

It's kind of funny coming from a bbs in America dedicated to a German motorcycle. :stick

My last 2 pick ups were "made in America" since they were a Dodge and a Ford. Except for one thing. The Dodge had a made in Canada sticker and metric fittings inside. The Ford had a sticker that said hecho en Mexico.

I now drive a Volvo but everything under the cab is American made. (see the avatar)

[wanderer]

RANT, I repeat, RANT.

This "you're with me or you're against me" is pure marketing department BS. Ford (I drive a '04 F150 {great truck}) will do whatever it can to maximize corporate profits. Nothing more, nothing less. The same can be said for almost any major corporation. Certainly can be said for any vehicle manufacturer. The misson statement is to maximize profits for the owners/stockholders.

If the corporation can legally raid or leverage the pension fund, they will. If they can outsource anything from a component to the entire assembly plant, they will. I don't see the Ford board of directors parking their cars in the employee lot at the Mexico plant and walking to the office from there. (By the way they are given cars to drive.) I don't see GM management having lunch brought in from Koera.

There will be many explainations and sympathies but they will maximize profits. It is then the responsibility of the spin doctors to use guilt or any other method available to SELL loyalty to the brand to everyone else while the institution does not reciprocate that same loyalty downline. Anyone know how much the big 3 cost all of us driving 1 to 3 year old American cars when they pulled their "employee pricing" sale??? The word I get from inside the industry is any American '04 model dropped about $1500 to $2000. The latest sale is "We've dropped our invioce price" How would you like to have bought that model a month or 2 ago?

Jeez, hasn't anyone here been seeing or reading the hundreds of "downsizing" "outsourcing" "moving offshore" information in the past decade or so??? When you call computer support does anyone not know they are, in all likelyhood, speaking to someone in India, useing an American sounding alias??? I'm certainly not anti-American nor anti-corporate but for crying out loud take the corporate hype blinders off.

First step in removing the blinders. Most all of us here are riding GERMAN motorcycles AND we all know that Harleys have a slew of foreign parts in them. Bar and Shield and Bald Eagles and American flags. BS BS BS

End of rant, thank you very much, I feel better now. :bikes

[tessler]

.... First step in removing the blinders. Most all of us here are riding GERMAN motorcycles AND we all know that Harleys have a slew of foreign parts in them. Bar and Shield and Bald Eagles and American flags. BS BS BS End of rant, thank you very much, I feel better now. :bikes

Lol. Good points and well said.

[Harrington]

I bought a R1200RT because there is no equal. It had nothing to do with the surname of the assembly line employee. I would prefer to ride a domestic product if all things were equal. The domestic manufacturers don't produce bikes that I care to ride.

This thread isn't about German motorcycles. It's about a company's rights to provide privileges/restrictions on it's employees.

[wanderer]

I certainly agree about the R1200RT. I'm seriously looking at one of them too. ( I'm waiting to see the K1200GT)

My point about the Ford deal is it would seem to be a discussion and inferrence regarding loyalty. I have seen many corporations use these tactics that infer questioning of loyalties if employees did not behave in a certain way. I often don't see that loyalty returned by the companies to it's employees, it's vendors, or it's customers. It would seem it should cut both ways. If the corporation does indeed do everything within its powers for it's people then I feel they have every right to expect that loyalty in return.

I think few CEO's would want their personal buying habits known to the general public or feel that they should be "sent to the back lot" for choosing products that they feel best fit their personal needs.

I too have a business, with employees. I strive to provide a product and level of service that makes my employees want to do business with me out of mutual respect. If they don't, my thoughts are about what I need to do better.

My intended point about German motorcycles is that I do not feel unamerican nor disloyal for riding a non-U.S. bike as there is no such ainimal. That is another bit of corporate hype which Harley has made millions on.

I don't disagree with you and I certainly respect your point of view. I just wanted to clarify a few things.

[BeemoKat]

"My intended point about German motorcycles is that I do not feel unamerican nor disloyal for riding a non-U.S. bike as there is no such ainimal. That is another bit of corporate hype which Harley has made millions on."

Thank you, well said.

[Stuff2C]

Flog a Harley...walk home. :german

[Kbrick]

Flog a Harley...walk home. :german
Do all the workers at the Ford owned Jaguar plant have to drive XK 120s?

Cool!

[The_Veg]

Screw the XK; I'll take the Aston Martin next to it.

[BradfordBenn]

I was listening to some propoganda and heard a some what salient point. The company owns the land, they do not have to supply parking if they do not want to, so they have every right not to allow non company vehicles.

I am not saying I agree with it, I am just saying it ain't illegal or immoral. Of course we can all vote with our wallets on the next vehicle purchase.

[TheSlashFiveTourer]

Do all the workers at the Ford owned Jaguar plant have to drive XK 120s? Cool!

Screw the XK; I'll take the Aston Martin next to it.

XK120...not bad. . . Aston Martin...not bad either, but THIS 1955 Mark VII Saloon Car. . . . is a JAGUAR! ` ` ` :heart

[PUDGYPAINTGUY]

My intended point about German motorcycles is that I do not feel unamerican nor disloyal for riding a non-U.S. bike as there is no such ainimal. That is another bit of corporate hype which Harley has made millions on.

I don't disagree with you and I certainly respect your point of view. I just wanted to clarify a few things.


I am curious, what is the percentage of US content on HDs now? It was traditionally very high was it not? I was aware that certain lamp lenses and housings were now going overseas...did more of the HD get sourced from other nations of origin now? As I said just curious as that statement didn't jive with what I used to know...I have not checked for a few years though.

Thanks

[lorazepam]

Flog a Harley...walk home. :german

Flog a BMW, and hope it stops

[RatSnake]

These policies are nothing new. I can remember (I think I remember) the same policies applied by all US automakers to Japanese vehicles back when Japan was first making inroads in the US market, 1960s and 1970s.

[The_Veg]

Coupla thoughts:

Aston Martin is now a Ford product too. And I'd still rather have it than even that nice purty Jag saloon.

So if I want to vote with my wallet but I already didn't want to buy a Ford, what do I do? I guess I could just bludgeon a few Fords with my wallet...not that that would do much damage. Maybe I'll just have to forego that Aston Martin I was gonna buy when I win the Lotto.

Foreign content of HD's- I thought I read somewhere they use Japanese-made forks these days? I do know a former old-school-HD guy who is now a rat-Beemer guy who likes to say "nice JAP BIKES!" to piss off HD guys. He swears that today's HDs are chock-full of Japanese parts.

[Kbrick]

[QUOTE=The Veg]Coupla thoughts:

Aston Martin is now a Ford product too. And I'd still rather have it than even that nice purty Jag saloon.

The Volvo guys and gals need to get to work too.

[Kbrick]

[QUOTE=The Veg]Coupla thoughts:

Aston Martin is now a Ford product too. And I'd still rather have it than even that nice purty Jag saloon.

The Volvo guys and gals need to get to work too.

And the other Ford Brits. Land Rover

[dlearl476]

I wouldn't be suprised if it was still that way over there. The whole "Company Loyalty" thing...


The difference "over there" is, or was (I don't know) is that the company showed some "loyalty" back. It's never been that way in the USofA. That's why we have unions.

Does it count in you drive a Jag, or a Volvo?

[dlearl476]

Ford is providing an incentive for the employee to buy the product........they get a better parking spot.

Heck of a lot easier than building a decent product that an employee would be PROUD to drive.

[Harrington]

Heck of a lot easier than building a decent product that an employee would be PROUD to drive.

How humbling it must be to work for such an inferior manufacturer. The suicide rate must be astronomical. :banghead

[The_Veg]

I've heard some comments from a friend who's been an engineering contractor for ford. He says they know damn well that they are inferiour and that they are okay with that. It's all about making a profit in a lowest-common-denominator market.

Interestingly enough I heard that Ford used LOTS of public input in the design of the new Fusion, and oddly enough it looks a lot like an Accord. Coincidence???

[Stuff2C]

I am not saying I agree with it, I am just saying it ain't illegal or immoral. Of course we can all vote with our wallets on the next vehicle purchase.

Vote import...and your children or their children may be pulling a rickshaw someday. :D

[PUDGYPAINTGUY]

Vote import...and your children or their children may be pulling a rickshaw someday. :D


Isn't that what the new Fusion is? A hybrid Rickshaw?...lol

[BubbaZanetti]

Vote import...and your children or their children may be pulling a rickshaw someday. :D



and still getting better gas milage than an explorercursionpedition :D

[riderR1150GSAdv]

Screw the XK; I'll take the Aston Martin next to it.

You got that right!! :bliss

[BubbaZanetti]

You got that right!! :bliss


xk is a nice car, seems like since i was 13 and REALLY into them till now (12 years) they've like trippled in price


aston db's have always been wicked expensive though

[riderR1150GSAdv]

I am not knocking the XK at all as it is sweet, but I always even as a kid had a soft spot for Aston Martin. :kiss

[The_Veg]

I can't afford either one anyway.

[riderR1150GSAdv]

I can't afford either one anyway.

Me either! :bluduh :( :(

[web3]

The Fusion is built in Mexico so no help for US Employees

[wanderer]

Haven't seen that across my TV screen in big proud F O R D print

[redriveral]

working in retail I will only buy from the company i work for (name withheld) since they feed me. The frito lay sales rep told me that they could only have frito lay products on there truck I.E pepsi if coke was found on a frito lay truck they could get fired ( seemded extremed ) I think its a good idea to make emplyees buy what they make that way there more likley to build better products knowing they have to drive them or support whoever gives you a paycheck

redriveral :violin

[Harrington]

working in retail I will only buy from the company i work for (name withheld) since they feed me. The frito lay sales rep told me that they could only have frito lay products on there truck I.E pepsi if coke was found on a frito lay truck they could get fired ( seemded extremed ) I think its a good idea to make emplyees buy what they make that way there more likley to build better products knowing they have to drive them or support whoever gives you a paycheck

redriveral :violin

I don't think that's asking too much....

[PUDGYPAINTGUY]

If the product was that good you should not have to make them buy anything though. That would go back to the days of Ford when his boys would call at employees homes to check on matters of social morality etc.

What about personal choices and the freedom of expression that we hear so much about? Sorry guys I have always wanted to use that line...hehehehe.

Calling on OEM plants a few years ago, some locations would only allow cars made by the UAW (not the brand of the OEM plant I was at, anything the UAW were involved with) to park on the main lots. The workers took matters into their own hands as to the enforcement...now judge that for yourselves as to what is right.

[BradfordBenn]

working in retail I will only buy from the company i work for (name withheld) since they feed me. The frito lay sales rep told me that they could only have frito lay products on there truck I.E pepsi if coke was found on a frito lay truck they could get fired ( seemded extremed ) I think its a good idea to make emplyees buy what they make that way there more likley to build better products knowing they have to drive them or support whoever gives you a paycheck

redriveral :violin

They own the truck so I can see that. However if after hours at home he is drinking a Mr. Pipp there should be no reprisal.

[The_Veg]

I agree with total freedom on this one. I have an old friend who worked at a Delphi parts plant, and the parking situation was even more restictive there- to park close it not only had to be GM, but it also had to be no more than two model-years old.
Last time I saw that friend a few years ago, he'd gotten himself one of those Don Garlits "Big Daddy" special edition Dodge trucks. :D

[TheSlashFiveTourer]

"JAPANESE CARMAKERS . . .TOOK ALL TEN SPOTS IN THIS YEAR'S CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE TOP PICKS (http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/01/Autos/carreviews/cr_top_picks/index.htm)."

Consumer Reports Top 10 (http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/autos/consumer_reports/frameset_cnn.exclude.html) list
`

Geez, now what?

[j-budimlya]

Microsoft??


:banghead

[kbasa]

Microsoft??


:banghead

Quite a few, I'd imagine. Mickeysoft makes a whole bunch of Mac software.

[pmdave]

I've observed Japanese parts in my BMW's, along with Spanish, Italian, and who knows where else.

I've had good success with BMW bikes and Toyota cars. Where are they "made"? If it's OK to have a Ford or Harley-Davidson "made in the USA" with components shipped in from China or Taiwan, is it OK to have a Toyota "made in the USA" with components shipped in from Japan or Mexico?

Is it OK for Ford or GM to use computers made in Taiwan or Korea? Or should we expect them to use only "American made" computers, printers, and monitors? Does Ford have it's sales brochures printed in Michigan or in Bangkok? Do Ford executives wear clothing made in the USA, or made in China or India? Does a Ford executive watch a TV made in the USA? Do Ford executives burn gasoline that didn't come from crude oil pumped from Prudhoe Bay or Lousiana?

I wear Aerostich not because it was made in Duluth (sorry, Andy) but because it is high quality, durable, and repairable. Andy Goldfine has always tried to have his gear made in Duluth, by American workers. But he's in competition with "American" companies who get their gear sewn in "Cheapistani" or wherever. If Andy chooses to have it made somewhere else, I would buy it so long as it meets my standards.

When I was a Boeing employee, I preferred to fly in Boeing built airplanes, because I believed they were more comfortable and reliable than the competition. However, Boeing didn't require any employee to fly only Boeing, even if they were paying the tab. I think that's the best long-term approach.

If Ford wants me to buy Ford, I've got to see product design and reliability similar to the "foreign" competition. I've got to see genuine problem solving, not finger pointing games ("it was Firestone's fault, not ours") Solve the niggling maintenance and reliability issues, and I would consider Ford. Same for Chev, Chrysler-Daimler, etc. Why would I buy something that has a history of brake problems or transmission failures?

My point is, there is really no such thing as a vehicle made entirely in one country. Even IMZ-Ural ("made in Russia") uses a Japanese alternator and carburetors. It's chasing your tail to try buying based on where you think something was made, and it's poor business for an employer to require how an employee spends his or her money.

Ford is spinning it's wheels by attempting to dictate loyalty from it's employees. If Ford wants employees to drive Ford vehicles, offer them to employees as a free perk, or increase their quality and expect employees to purchase them because they are the best product.

pmdave

[ian408]

I think it's a good thing. It's the same thing as buy American or don't complain why your job went overseas.
I saw a documentary years ago about Toyota. The factory in Japan required the same of their employees. I don't know if it's current policy.

If I worked for Toyota, I would purchase one. But I think that Ford ought to
wake up and see why employees don't buy Ford products before they ban
the competition.

Throwing up barriers to competition is definetly not the right thing to do.

Ian

[The_Veg]

Right on dave! :thumb

[Jamming]

My mother-in-law is a retired GM employee. She drives a Saturn. My wife and I get the employee discount also. However, we have a Dodge mini-van and a Dodge Quad-cab in the garage and the 2 BMW motorcycles. Why? I liked em better.
Roger

[IndyGT]

I think Ford's ability to influence employee choices should begin and end with generous discounts.
In my view, an employer is buying 40+/- hours of your time every week and that's all they're entitled to. What you do with the remaining portion of your life, including your choices of vehicle, politics, religion, entertainment, etc., is your business and none of theirs.
Several years ago when I was still a reporter at The Indianapolis News, we had a city editor who thought it would be a good idea to phone reporters at 11 p.m. to make sure they were in bed and getting enough sleep. Needless to say, he was the most hated person to work at the paper in all the years I was there and his stupid idea died a quick and quiet death.
Can Ford dictate what vehicles can be in their company parking lot? Sure. It's their lot. But in doing so, they generate enormous ill will among the people they need to make their cars and trucks. If quality really is Job 1 at Ford, it's more likely to come from happy workers than from angry ones.
Better to use the carrot of employee discounts than the stick of vehicle exclusion.
Makes you wonder what other bad management decisions are being made...

[BubbaZanetti]

In my view, an employer is buying 40+/- hours of your time every week and that's all they're entitled to. What you do with the remaining portion of your life, including your choices of vehicle, politics, religion, entertainment, etc., is your business and none of theirs.


BINGO!!! preach on my man!

[JohnHall]

Being employed by a Tier one supplier to the automotive industry has allowed me to enter and observe both Japanese and American opeated plants. When I went to Ford, I saw a well paid union worker eating Popeyes fried chicken and installing head gaskets between bites while watching her TV. When I went to the Toyota truck plant in southern IN I saw nothing but fast moving, highly motivated workers operating in near clean-room environments.
I only own imports and don't see that changing in the near future.
There is a glimmer of hope, at a Daimler Chrysler engine plant they are taking a page out of the Japanese manual and have a very pristine assembly floor. That was 2 years ago, I wonder what it looks like now.....

[dancogan]

Today I stopped behind a car with the following on its license plate frame:

I work at Ford, and...

I drive a Ford.

If more autoworkers had that attitude, and were proud of what they did, more of us would buy US cars.

[web3]

You can take the workers from a Toyota plant and swap them with those in a Ford plant and the cars will be the same. Poor research and development, poor management and sub quality parts can't be overcome by the attitudes of the workers.

[FredRydr]

Should workers in a Lipton Tea warehouse be ordered across the street if they wanted to take a coffee break?

Oh, the humanity, the sheer silliness of it all.

Fred

[Harrington]

Die thread ........die

The bleeding liberals are making me sick.

[kbasa]

Die thread ........die

The bleeding liberals are making me sick.


Can you explain that a little?

[Harrington]

Can you explain that a little?

I'm backing Ford's right to conduct business whatever way they please. The incessant whining about how unfair Ford is being is beyond tiresome. Everybody and their mother thinks they know how to run a multi-billion dollar car company better than Ford. :banghead

[kbasa]

I'm backing Ford's right to conduct business whatever way they please. The incessant whining about how unfair Ford is being is beyond tiresome. Everybody and their mother thinks they know how to run a multi-billion dollar car company better than Ford. :banghead


You might be surprised to know that this liberal thinks Ford can do whatever they want as well. My grandfather retired from Ford and most of my friends' parents worked for them when I was a kid.

Just sayin'. Careful with the liberal brush, k? :buds

[Harrington]

You might be surprised to know that this liberal thinks Ford can do whatever they want as well. My grandfather retired from Ford and most of my friends' parents worked for them when I was a kid.

Just sayin'. Careful with the liberal brush, k? :buds

I'm sure we'll meet again in another thread. Hopefully it will be a thread where you can spread your wings. Buh bye :buds

[kbasa]

I'm sure we'll meet again in another thread. Hopefully it will be a thread where you can spread your wings. Buh bye :buds


First beer's on me in Vermont. :thumb

[sgborgstrom]

snip When I went to Ford, I saw a well paid union worker eating Popeyes fried chicken and installing head gaskets between bites while watching her TV. When I went to the Toyota truck plant in southern IN I saw nothing but fast moving, highly motivated workers operating in near clean-room environments.
snip.....

The Toyota Tacoma is assembled by members of the UAW. Watch the brush strokes.

Steve

[BubbaZanetti]

I'm backing Ford's right to conduct business whatever way they please. The incessant whining about how unfair Ford is being is beyond tiresome. Everybody and their mother thinks they know how to run a multi-billion dollar car company better than Ford. :banghead


[mod hat=off]

i love when people stick up for the little man

[mod hat=on]

[jmerlino]

So, wait: Does Ford make motorcycles, or...

[RichardCook]

I'm backing Ford's right to conduct business whatever way they please. The incessant whining about how unfair Ford is being is beyond tiresome. Everybody and their mother thinks they know how to run a multi-billion dollar car company better than Ford. :banghead

Hmmmm, well actually, my mother would probably do a better job than the Ford management has. Mom's a good deal more practical than the folks in Ford HQ and a lot more sensible than the current Ford head guy. I'm not saying that she will take the job or anything but if they ask nicely, well, it's possible she would take the position. She'd sack all the senior management, though, and probably require every salaried employee to drive the cheapest model Ford there is so that they put all their smarts into making something good that everyone could afford. And I know she's make the fleet mileage average something in excess of 40 mpg in the first five years and shoot for 50 to 60 by 2015. Oh, and I'd think that the executive salaries would be limited to no more than the 3 to 5 times what the average assembly line worker makes -- instead of the 25 to 50X that is the current industry average. And when that was in place, at the end of the first week, she'd invite all the union leaders to coffee and cookies and they'd hammer out a reasonable balance for healthcare benefits. But that would be week 2.

One other thing regarding multi-billion $ companies: as for letting them do what they like, I think there is no reason for you to be concerned. They have. They will. That is precisely the problem.

[Harrington]

Hmmmm, well actually, my mother would probably do a better job than the Ford management has. Mom's a good deal more practical than the folks in Ford HQ and a lot more sensible than the current Ford head guy. I'm not saying that she will take the job or anything but if they ask nicely, well, it's possible she would take the position. She'd sack all the senior management, though, and probably require every salaried employee to drive the cheapest model Ford there is so that they put all their smarts into making something good that everyone could afford. And I know she's make the fleet mileage average something in excess of 40 mpg in the first five years and shoot for 50 to 60 by 2015. Oh, and I'd think that the executive salaries would be limited to no more than the 3 to 5 times what the average assembly line worker makes -- instead of the 25 to 50X that is the current industry average. And when that was in place, at the end of the first week, she'd invite all the union leaders to coffee and cookies and they'd hammer out a reasonable balance for healthcare benefits. But that would be week 2.

One other thing regarding multi-billion $ companies: as for letting them do what they like, I think there is no reason for you to be concerned. They have. They will. That is precisely the problem.

I wasn't concerned with the Fortune 100 companies doing their job. I was whining about people who ACTUALLY think their mothers could do a better job. I'm sorry I wasn't clear in my original post. I'm sure momma wouldn't have made that same mistake. :banghead