OT. Slowest line

[Frank]

I worked for the incredibly shrinking DuPont. ERISA insures pensions but pensioners are worried about them and they could lose the promise of health care support. The company refuses to talk to the lawyer hired by a large group of retirees.

I think your description more accurately fits companies like GM because it was not the unions that did in DuPont but the vulture capitalists and concern about them. A good company puts customers first, employees second and shareholders third. When the shareholders are put first a company is guaranteed to go under. DuPont had unions but not company wide enough to stop business. I friend from R%D in another department had to work in a plant that was on strike. He thought it was great with

12 hours on and 12 off living in the plant for a couple of weeks because it paid him enough to buy a new shotgun.

DuPont had a long term business plan of bringing forth new products using R&D and engineering with existing products paying for it. This was for keeping a strong family company for its heirs. When the family grew fat and rich, the business managers put the shareholders first so they could maintain a steady profit. When I started there a business downturn caused belt tightening but in today's atmosphere caused blood letting.

[Wade Garrett]

I can see that...though shareholders/company owners may be third- but with an asterisk.

And you're right, the company I worked for was headquartered in Detroit- and a number of my subsequent consulting clients were Tier 1 and 2 automotive suppliers.

And boy, could I tell you some stories about union officers.....

[angelicapaganelli]

Produce codes are standardized by the International Federation for Produce Standards:

Cindy Hamilton

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

A barely remember another K-martlike store called Fed-Mart. Ever heard of them?

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

For a while, the Kroger here had a calculator attached to the handle of every shopping cart. Those are gone now. I don't know why. Maybe they decided they were unnecessary now that most mobile phones have calculators.

[micky]

Nope.

[Ed Pawlowski]

More than you care to know. Southwest region.

FedMart was a chain of discount department stores started by Sol Price, who later founded Price Club. His first location in San Diego, California was in a converted airport hangar. It was originally a discount department store open to government employees, who paid a membership fee of $2 per family. FedMart's first year was highly successful. Over the next 20 years Fedmart grew to include 45 stores in a chain that generated more than $300 million in annual sales. The business expanded to several states in the Southwest United States. Many stores were previous White Front or Two Guys locations. Price later sold two-thirds of the chain to Hugo Mann, a German retail chain, in 1975 and was forced out of his leadership position the following year. FedMart went out of business in 1982

[rbowman]

Now Two Guys I remember... New York state had Sunday blue laws but stores that sold souvenirs were allowed to be open. Two Guys sold a lot of souvenirs. iirc they also sold beer labeled 'Gilt Edge'. Complete swill but cheap.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

Thanks. I would think most product ids are standardized in some way by now.

[Tekkie®]

Mark Lloyd posted for all of us...

The only thing I remember is Fed-Up. :-)