Hostess

November 19, 2012

Brace yourself for a rant on none other than





I love that everyone is freaking out about Hostess going out of business. And that they will no longer have their beloved twinkies, ding dongs, or ho ho's {I never realized how entirely weird all those names are until I was typing them out...}. NOW--let's take a step back to reality, when was the last time you ate a twinkie? Seriously. Think about it. I can't even remember the last time I did--I know I haven't eaten sugar in almost 5 years, but I can't even think back to a time before then when I had one. Maybe when I was like 9 years old and my grandma had a bunch frozen in her freezer? No clue. Ding dongs were a different story, my parents would buy those and freeze them, but still, probably was like 9 years old when I last had one. 

Let's dissect the problem here, why exactly did Hostess go out of business? {my organized ideas after doing the proper research}

1. America got fat--everyone commonly uses twinkies at the butt of fat jokes, therefore in order to not appear "unhealthy" the purchasing of Hostess products declined. With an inclined desire to eat healthier throughout the nation {or so I like to pretend}, twinkies, ding dongs, and ho ho's were no longer things people turned to.

2. Business dropped due to idea #1--Hostess was losing business, losing money, and had to declare bankruptcy years ago. All of the goodies were going to waste--and a lot was being thrown out, believe me, I know. There was a Hostess factory not too far from where I lived, my friends & I would crash the dumpsters, take the unopened packages of little waxy chocolate donuts, or zingers and hide out in my church parking lot and throw them at cars {sorry mom}--This was back in my younger days, so let's not get too crazy. Not enough business for products made=lost money=debt=action has to be made.

3. Cut in benefits & Wages due to idea #2--Even selling Wonder Bread at the local Reams for a discounted price couldn't make up for the bankruptcy Hostess was dealing with. People still weren't buying it. So, as a result, Hostess had to cut benefits & wages for employees. Part of the problem of course is that bankers continued to lend money to a company that was so heavily in debt.

4. Employees go on strike due to #3--People were not okay with their cuts in benefits & wages, so they spoke up about it. I'm not sure the number of employees that went on strike, but it was enough that Hostess had to start closing operating plants, factories, etc... Hostess let these employees know that if they continued to do this, there would be a 100% cut in their benefits and wages--considering there was no other method to pull themselves out of the financial conundrum they were in, they couldn't increase their wages and benefits again {what employees thought the result of their strike would be}.

5. Hostess fails as a business, 18,000+ employees all lose their jobs due to #4--Well there you have it, Hostess lived it's life cycle. People apparently would rather lose 100% of their wages rather than have a portion of it cut. People should be more concerned about the jobs lost, rather than the goodies.

6. People are all the sudden obsessed with Hostess products being under the impression that they'll never be back--Us humans are interesting creatures. No one hears anything about twinkies or ding dongs in forever, but once they know they're going to be gone, they all the sudden are the biggest Hostess fans. Fear not people--some one is going to buy out Hostess. Give it some time and your precious treats will be back on shelves. & once that happens, the same cycle is going to happen because people will get off their twinkie high horse once again and business will slowly decline.

Why am I even posting all of this? Well, it's to prove the point that people don't want things until they are gone or going. Aka, twinkies. Which are now selling on Ebay for hundreds of dollars. Congratulations world,  you're now willing to pay a ton more for something that has been on shelves for decades. Kinda like life. People aren't willing to fight for something until it's being taken away, but sometimes, at that point, it's too late.

Appreciate what you have while it's there, give it the proper attention & action if it's something you really cherish and it will remain. But even then, sometimes things just run their cycle--regardless of how much effort you put into it. Times change, demands change, needs change, so things change.& then sometimes, you just need to give things a little bit of time, and they will return.

Rant over.

I'm Outie.

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