Today at the Ducks Unlimited Outdoor Festival I had the opportunity to have a long talk with the Smith & Wesson factory rep. We had a pleasent talk. No raised voices, no arguments. We kept it civil. Bear in mind that these are his opinions, not neccesarily mine. So let's not shoot the messenger, ok?
This guy has worked for S&W for 22 years. In that time he's seen four owners come and go. He says that Tompkins has been the best by far. They did invest a great deal of money into new CNC machinery to bring the factory up to date.
According to him, the Klinton administration had 'em by the nads. They had no choice but to sign. You see Tomkins is a multi-billion dollar corperation and some 70% of their holdings are in the U.S. S&W is just a small part of the picture. Two companies Tompkins owns are Murrey of Ohio (lawn mowers, small engines, garden tools) and Gates Rubber Co. (automotive belts and hoses). Both of which are much bigger than S&W. Tompkins was facing lawsuits worth 500 million dollars. S&W is worth about $50 million. Wanna guess where the other $450 million would have to come from? That's right,If they lost the lawsuit, our government was prepared to seize as much of Tompkin's U.S. holding as nessecary to pay that judgement. So what you have is a foriegn based company facing bankruptcy because of lawsuits filed against one small portion of their business. It was a sound business decision to hang S&W out to dry rather than risk everything.
The rep told me he didn't like it. In fact, he hated the whole thing. But, in his opinion, Tompkins had no choice. Now, he also told me that he wants the same thing we do. He wants S&W to be sold and he wants the new owners to stand up to Klinton and company. BTW: he admitted that S&W is hurting and the right people could pick it up cheap. Tompkins would like nothing better than to dump it. Unfortunatly there are complex legal issues to resolve. Even if they sold S&W, Tompkins could still be sued since all this started while they owned it. Basicly Tompkins is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rep told me that the only real way out for them is to let S&W die. If S&W goes bankrupt and closes down, then Tompkins would be able to sell off the remains and get out from under.
The man was sypathetic to our cause and genuinely sorry things had gotten so bad. He is convinced S&W had to sign the agreement or else.
As for myself, I think I have a clearer understanding of the situation Smith was in. However, I'm still mad about it and I still will not be buying any new S&Ws. If Smith dies I will feel bad for sure, but they brought it on themselves.
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TFL's official "Curmudgeon Member" and damned proud of it!
TFL End of Summer Meet, August 12th & 13th, 2000
This guy has worked for S&W for 22 years. In that time he's seen four owners come and go. He says that Tompkins has been the best by far. They did invest a great deal of money into new CNC machinery to bring the factory up to date.
According to him, the Klinton administration had 'em by the nads. They had no choice but to sign. You see Tomkins is a multi-billion dollar corperation and some 70% of their holdings are in the U.S. S&W is just a small part of the picture. Two companies Tompkins owns are Murrey of Ohio (lawn mowers, small engines, garden tools) and Gates Rubber Co. (automotive belts and hoses). Both of which are much bigger than S&W. Tompkins was facing lawsuits worth 500 million dollars. S&W is worth about $50 million. Wanna guess where the other $450 million would have to come from? That's right,If they lost the lawsuit, our government was prepared to seize as much of Tompkin's U.S. holding as nessecary to pay that judgement. So what you have is a foriegn based company facing bankruptcy because of lawsuits filed against one small portion of their business. It was a sound business decision to hang S&W out to dry rather than risk everything.
The rep told me he didn't like it. In fact, he hated the whole thing. But, in his opinion, Tompkins had no choice. Now, he also told me that he wants the same thing we do. He wants S&W to be sold and he wants the new owners to stand up to Klinton and company. BTW: he admitted that S&W is hurting and the right people could pick it up cheap. Tompkins would like nothing better than to dump it. Unfortunatly there are complex legal issues to resolve. Even if they sold S&W, Tompkins could still be sued since all this started while they owned it. Basicly Tompkins is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rep told me that the only real way out for them is to let S&W die. If S&W goes bankrupt and closes down, then Tompkins would be able to sell off the remains and get out from under.
The man was sypathetic to our cause and genuinely sorry things had gotten so bad. He is convinced S&W had to sign the agreement or else.
As for myself, I think I have a clearer understanding of the situation Smith was in. However, I'm still mad about it and I still will not be buying any new S&Ws. If Smith dies I will feel bad for sure, but they brought it on themselves.
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TFL's official "Curmudgeon Member" and damned proud of it!
TFL End of Summer Meet, August 12th & 13th, 2000
to choose from but there is definitely something more to it that just being the “only” solution to a legal problem. Something extra is being done to make Smith & Wesson “part of the plan.”
