Smith and Wesson laying off 3000 emplyees!

J

JMack

New member
Just heard the snip it on the news.
They saud the reason for the layoff is because of lack of business and how much business they have lost.

Imagine that......I wonder why they lost business when they had such a fine product.

To be honest I find this whole thing very sad to say the least, as a child they were an American icon with the best revolvers in the world.

The Government got them, they folded on the civilian market and now they are paying the untimate price that will eventually cause there end.

Let this be a message to the rest of the gun industry, money talks more than words!

~Jason
 
It is a sad situation. My heart goes out to S&W employees as many of them have weathered the previous ownership changes and remained loyal to the company.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the same company that has been the hall mark of the American handgun industry. Smith & Wesson must die ... and hopefully their ASSets will be purchased by a worthy American company that will support the RKBA. The buzzards are circling above the dying remains of S&W. Bring on the bankruptcy lawyers and let's get this over with !!!
 
I have to admit I enjoyed hearing that snippit on the news. Imagine that...sell out your customers and then they repay you by giving their business to others. I wish this company would go under faster than it is.

-sarah
 
This s*cks for the employees. I'm sure a lot of them were real patriots, not just collecting a paycheck from an integrity-challenged firm.

I really wish some (US-based !)consortium or existing company could buy up the tools & dies, patents, and physical assets, burn the "Agreement" , and start fresh under a new name.

Of course, with the lawsuuits still hanging over the heads of the other makers, everyone is too cash-strapped to do this.

Good to see the power of our demographic, but sad for the loss of a major, historically significant maker, and many employees who have mouths to feed.

------------------
Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
1 Peter 2:16.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Company officials have acknowledged they would consider selling Smith & Wesson. But the gunmaker's executives have said in recent months that it would be virtually impossible to find a good buyer now. [/quote]

gee, sucks to be you, maybe if you weren't cowered traitors and sellouts, sales would be a little better this year. If It have gone the other way maybe everybody would have went out to buy that pistol they've really been wanting to send them help through the lawsuites.

------------------
IF you're not willing to die for your rights/beliefs, don't try to take mine.
 
I'm thinking a little more about this, and often a layoff can be a quick way of reducing expenses and shaping up the balance sheet for a potential buyer. Inventory, physical plant & assets, patents, are all pluses for this type of biz. Expenses would be payroll, liability insurance, marketing, legal counsel, payables, etc.

The key, of course, to making it attractive to a buyer is if the buyer had the legal wherewithal to buy the business (assets & liabilities) without the draconian agreement made by S&W. Of course, with or without the agreement, pending suits would still be a huge liability for the firm.

hmmmm... wish I knew more about finance & business law.
 
What a beautiful clever plan by the government. They won. very economically done. Shut down a major player with the help of gun owners. Smart. Very smart. We lose another round.
 
RaSosko: The Second amendment is no more dependent on the survival of a specific firearms manufacturer than the First amendment is dependent on the survivial of a specific newspaper. And the government would have much prefered if S&W had thrived after selling out!

------------------
Sic semper tyrannis!
 
RaSoko,
I disagree. The government didn't win. We won. If the government would have won, S&W would still be in business and we the public would have s*cked up all their BS and kept them in business. Yes, it is tough cookies that S&W may go out of business, but you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. And these fleas have caused the demise of this business. It just shows the public isn't quite as ready to give up our guns (read freedoms) as ol' Slick Willie thought we were. So what, we lost a gun manufacturer. Their product hasn't been what it once was in the past 20 plus year. Quality had gone downhill and their overall management left a lot to be desired. That's why they sold out to Tomkins in the first place. So no, I don't feel that we lost.

How can you say that, considering what S&W had become just another poorly run manufacturer? No one really complained all that much when steel went to Japan (and from there other countries). Our steel industry s*cked it up and has revamped and is starting to make a come back, even with all the restrictions on doing business here in US (EPA, DOT, UN, etc). So, good riddance S&W (in it's current form). May the phoenix of the next great gun manufacturer rise out of S&W's ashes!!!
 
They did it to themselves. That the other companies didn't do it and are still in business demonstrates the fallacy of their position.

Schulz did it for his own ego and/or because of the commands of his British masters.

I feel for the employees. If I was a millionaire, I would buy up the designs for the revolver line and start a new company making them. The semis are not worth the effort even though some of them are good guns.
 
RH is correct. These measures are usually part of a saving move. It would have been better for them to go into bankruptcy and allow a new owner to go in and buy them cheap. Even then the only way that will happen is for the HUD contract to go away. If they are trying to reorganize to save the company so that they may find a buyer they still have the contract hanging over them. If they could get rid of the contract they would have a viable company again.
 
RaSosko, I respectfully disagree, with vigor. S&W must die.

Look at it this way. imagine the situation if S&W business had remained good, or worse, their business had become more profitable after signing that onerous document. Imagine if they had gotten off all of the lawsuits, every one, and achieved a better competitive position in the marketplace. How do you think the other manufacturers would have reacted?

I don't care how noble companies and management are ... if S&W would have prospered, the industry would have followed S&W into that hell hole.

Note the spin in the article: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
In the agreement, the company promised to demand background checks on gun-show buyers, install safety locks, and work on high-tech guns that can be fired only by their owner.[/quote] Read the agreement ... it was much worse than this little snippet leads you to believe.

S&W must die. Bankruptcy cannot come too soon. I'll wager that we'll see a reborn S&W in the next couple of years. It's a shame that good people are hurt in this mess, but recognize this ... S&W was willing to hurt decent, law-abiding gun owners throughout this country. Millions of us.

S&W must die.

Regards from AZ
 
3,000 or 300. These are all innocent pro-gun people who are being laid off because of the anti-self defense outlook of Clinton/Gore. They have been betrayed by their government and by their employers.

I've posted elsewhere but up until a month of that infamous agreement, S&W Mgmt assured its employees that it would never concede to government demands. It floored the employees and they knew this would be the ultimate outcome.
 
Boston news had an interview with a S&W muckety muck, who said the layoffs are 125 people out of their workforce of 725.

M1911
 
This has became such a volatile topic of late, both here and in the firearms community, that it risk dividing our ranks from within. Personally I have, in spite of my own personal new purchase desires, supported the boycott and am more than a little proud of those that have proven gun owners can unite. However in responding to this thread let us all bear in mind that there are those that have not and feel equally committed in their support of the RKBA.

In other words, let's play nice on this one. ;)

Once it is over, Bush is elected and Smith is sold to an all American "stick it in your ear Clinton" company (what can I say, I'm an optismist ;)) that resends the "agreement" let's all pledge to buy as many new Smiths as they can crank out. I can always use an excuse to buy a new gun or two...or three..... :D

------------------
Gunslinger

I was promised a Shortycicle and I want a Shortycicle!
 
Tomkins wants to unload S&W. This is without question. Under the best of circumstances it will be a constant drain on earning due at a minimum to legal fees. They have to spruce the joint up so that is typically done by fattening receivables, cutting costs faster than the decline in sales. At some magic point S&W will look to be profitable and someone will bite. The brand Smith and Wesson has a value in the gun industry. New owners will look at the value of hard assets and compare that to the value of the name under the best of circumstances. A decision will be made to resurrect the company or resurrect the brand in someone else' portfolio.

S&W will rise from the ashes, but most likely not in the form it entered the fire. My heart goes out to the displace workers. They did their jobs and someone in management s*rewed it up. He walks off with a package and the workers make a mad dash for the exists to find another job. No one said it was fair, it just is.

------------------
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
Hey Gunslinger,

Want me to send out the Mau Mau to "pare down" the dissenting ranks a little big? :)

------------------
Smith & Wesson is dead to me.

If you want a Smith & Wesson, buy USED!
 
Now that you mention it Mike, this would probably be an excellent time to bring out Mau Mau and release his mojo. :eek: :D

I always think it foolsih when things such as this are brought up but since TFL was talking "Team TFL" recently and we now have what 5000 "active" members (I know we show 7063 but realistically with those we have lost and those that registered and do not post....) what better way to represent "Team TFL" then owing the largest handgun manufacture in the world. I'm in for a couple of bucks.
Anyone here know anything 'bout coporate law, organization or open market stocks?
This would beat a rally car (Sorry George) or the Bianci Cup all to....ah...heck.
Too crazy????

------------------
Gunslinger

I was promised a Shortycicle and I want a Shortycicle!
 
They need to just fold up, so someone can buy them up and get rid of the govs contract.

I would buy a revolver from them if they would do this.

Waterdog
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top