Hershey's move to Mexico

No more Hersheys for me -  

For workers at a Calif. plant that is closing, globalization is not an abstract idea.

By Steve Chawkins

Los Angeles Times

OAKDALE, Calif. - On a warm May weekend in this Central Valley town, the irony was thick.

As usual, the annual Chocolate Festival was drawing hordes of fun-seekers. But Hershey Co., Oakdale's biggest employer and the nation's biggest candy company, is closing its plant here, eliminating all 575 jobs. The company will open a factory in Monterrey, Mexico, to handle the production.

One man at the festival wore a T-shirt that said on the front: "Where did 'the great American candy bar' go?" Asked for the answer, he whirled around to display the back: "Mexico!"

For Hershey workers in Oakdale, globalization is no longer an abstraction.

Like many Americans, they suddenly face questions as immediate as how to make a living and as far-reaching as whether 20th-century manufacturing skills will count for much. Production at the plant here is to be phased out by the end of the year.

When she heard the news, Mabel McNaught, a school custodian, wondered how her family would recover. Her husband, Philip, 50, is a forklift driver at the plant, and she figures that finding another job nearby with similar pay and benefits won't be easy. "I was devastated," she said. "I just started crying."

The 113-year-old company has described the plant shutdown as part of a "global supply-chain transformation." Overall, about 3,000 of Hershey's 13,000 workers will lose their jobs, including as many as 900 in the company's hometown of Hershey, Pa. By 2010, Hershey says, the moves will save shareholders as much as $190 million annually.

"The financials are compelling," chief executive officer Richard H. Lenny told a meeting of market analysts in February, saying labor costs in Mexico are 10 percent less than in the United States.

Asked about the negative publicity that would come with the plant closures, he said the decisions were "gut-wrenchingly difficult - but in the best interests of the business."

Hershey has been an Oakdale fixture since 1965. Over the years, the plant on the edge of town has churned out nut-studded chocolate bars and uncounted millions of chocolate Kisses.

At times, the community of 18,000 is infused with the scent of chocolate, although it competes with the aroma of tomato sauce from the ConAgra processing plant down the road.

This month, the company lowered its projected 2007 earnings, citing high dairy prices. And, like other domestic candy companies, Hershey complains about government agricultural supports keeping the price of sugar at least double the level in foreign markets.

"The candy business has been laboring under this burden for a number of years," said Ray Jones, a director at Dechert-Hampe, a marketing consultant specializing in candy and confections."

 

In addition, Hershey has old plants that are tough to overhaul - "inefficient legacy infrastructure," in the words of Lenny, the chief executive. The company sees lucrative markets in places such as China, where it has introduced green-tea-flavored Kisses, and in Mexico, where it plans to feature "locally relevant nut flavors" in its Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

None of that is good news for Oakdale, said Jones, the marketing consultant.

"Do you invest in revamping U.S. plants when you're faced with higher sugar prices, higher labor costs, and a more global business?" he asked.

 

I bet it'll still be brown but I don't think the brown will be chocolate, like I could trust Mexichocolate.

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No more Herseys choclate at my house, I thought Herseys was all American choclate bar, Hope Mexicans like choclate.

Guess where chocolate was first discovered?

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I dont know, I'll look it up, I goggled Herseys, I went to the park when I was a kid and took my own children there once. I found info on Milton Hersey how he built the whole town around the plant, This is the picture I found, guess they can change all the American flags to Mexican, How sad,I'm sure he would be upset if he was alive today.

 

Chocolates origin was Mexico and Central america which was called at the time the Mesoamericas. Mexican chocolate is the gritty kind without all of the ingredients we put in it.

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Thanks for the information, this whole thing with Hersey is bothering me. The goverment is pandering to illegals and telling us they do jobs Americans just wont do and now Hersey just put Americans who were working out of jobs, and moving to Mexico, Why doesnt the goverment take some of the money they give La Raza and the benifits illegals get and help American business so they can stay here! Americans and America first.

Taxation, unnecessary work rules, insurance cost, litigation and government intervention into business has run most business ventures out of the US. It all boils down to profitability and shareholders. What will make the most money for the shareholders and management. That is called economics 101. Most rules and regulations are formulated by persons that have no concept of what it takes to run a business. Taxation and requlations kill most startup ventures.

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What other chocolate companies can we buy from?  No more Hershey's for me either. 

Ohio said: What other chocolate companies can we buy from?  No more Hershey's for me either. 

 

Mars, Ghiradelli

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Good to know. Now, I have another item to boycott. Not just because Hershey betrayed America but because mexicans put lead in their candy. Yes, it's documented, folks, they put lead in their candy. Mex candy was sold in stores in the US and there was a big recall about three or four years ago. If you eat something from third world countries, like mexico and china, you run the risk of poisoning yourself.

Well with all the money going back to Mexico and the companies moving there for cheep labor, maybe Mexicans can afford to buy their products now because I know I wont. Then the workers can go back to Mexico to work in all those companies that are moving there. All these things showing up in third world country imports should really prompt Americans to choose a more natural and healthier diet.

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Yeah, I hear ya. Is that a peanut in my Hershey bar or a cucuracha? Oh no!

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Not that it'll do any good, but here's where I'll be writing them (on-line contact form).  It'll be hard to live without Hersheys, but harder to accept their treason!

For all other inquiries:
1-800-544-1347
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. ET
Saturday-Sunday, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. ET
Online Contact Form
Order Status

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blaze77535 said:

Ohio said: What other chocolate companies can we buy from?  No more Hershey's for me either. 

 

Mars, Ghiradelli

 

Ghiradelli , nice Irish ring to it . Folks , I don't want to rain on this parade , but look around you , Nestles isn't even American owned , and it does one whole lot of chocolate production , (profits don't stay here) , take a look at what brands are under their umbrella . RCA , not USA . There is a bunch of it , like cancer , hidden out there .

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 Here's my response to Hershey's:

Congradulations!  You've just joined the ranks of the elite-greedy crowd by moving your facilities to Mexico and putting hundreds of U.S. Citizens out of work and their families in financial peril.

All for what?  CHEAP LABOR and bigger bonuses for your CEO's. 

I'm done with Hershey's and, while I'm sure one customer won't make a difference to your now more lucrative bottom line, at least I will sleep at night knowing I stayed true to the United States.
What about you?

 

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speakengl, Thanks for the information on how to contact Herseys, I'm going to e-mail them now.My husband eats Herseys choclate bar everyday, no more!

Hey bob graham lv--What a hoot! What corrupt, dictatorial-like candidate with the phony smile is running for Prez? Rhymes with Ghirardelli, sort of...You're right about Nestle. It was never an American company. They opened factories here in the U.S. in 1905...But Hershey--that's a chocolate bar of another color! I think their problems started with narcissistic bimbo actress Barbara Hershey (who led the lip enhancement movement) parading her pregnant, naked body around Playboy and elsewhere...I recall being thoroughly disgusted. She was one of those "Why don't we do it in the road?" types, and I think her behavior hurt the company. What I remember were reports of cacca de raton finding their way into the preparation of their chocolate...and this was supposedly from chocolate made IN THE U.S.!! Rats carry plague which was my main worry. I stopped eating Hershey's immediately. Fortunately, we in the U.S. have some great chocolate selections, particularly at our gourmet (high end smaller chain) stores. Lindt has always been excellent chocolate. My main concern with Euro chocolate has been the milk used to make it and Mad Cow which England had a severe problem with...

 

I've had the gritty Mexican chocolate--it is usually used in a hot chocolate drink they make.  That lead information is true, by the way.

I'll be emailing Hersheys as well, even if it won't do any good.  Thanks speakengl.  I will have to do without their special dark.

 Mr. Hershey, the original founder, would not be at all happy about this.  He developed his company around his employees, and created all kinds of benefits for them.  This is a tragedy for an American company.

Hershey wrote back and said I used the wrong e-mail address.  When I tried to use the one they gave me, it wouldn't go through.  Still trying!

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