Here we go...Thomasville Furniture lays off 600

[libnnc]

This is HUGE folks. Thomasville Furniture in Lexington, NC laying off 600 employees.

http://www.wxii12.com/news/4583141/detail.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. This country...

Is entering a depression.

[tnlefty]

2. Hasn't the furniture manufacturing in NC taken a big beating

during the past few years?

[CottonBear]

6. Yes.

My uncle's family owns a furniture factory in the Thomasville/High Point area. He is the VP. From what he's told me, the Asians are competing and producing at lower prices even when you take shipping to the US into account. His company is still doing well. They do specialty wood carving (chairs, tables, lamps etc.) for other furniture companies.

These layoffs are terrible news for Thomasville. :(

[tnlefty]

13. This in bad news. I know a guy who buys furniture and he's been

laid off, called back, etc. many times during the past few years. He told me quite some time ago that what is available for sale in showrooms of the big name furniture stores is produced in Asian countries and Mexico. He told me this about 6 yrs. ago and I was stunned, as I didn't realize that it had gotten that bad nor that much of the manufacturing was done elsewhere. Hope your uncle continues to fare well.

[CottonBear]

18. Thanks. They've done OK because they are in a specialty niche.

At one time, they had many craftsmen and carvers from Italy and other parts of Europe. My uncle's father-in-law stated the business. They have done very well and now my uncle and his brother-in-law are multi-millionaires. They work really hard. They are very involved in the day to day operations of the company. If the business declines, it will be the workers that suffer. Many of their employees have been with the company for years and years. My cousin is a furniture rep there in Thomasville.

[KoKo]

7. Yes furniture is mostly beng imported from Asia. And it's cheaper

because of the deforestation for hardwoods over there and the low wages. Not much furniture building here and if so it's made of pine like "unfinished furniture."

Most Americans still think NC is furniture maker of US....:-( They don't know it's been going the way of the textiles.

[cap]

9. that's a great pity...NC produces beautiful furniture

What people dont know is that the joinery (sp?) is not the same. Ergo the furniture produced overseas will not hold together as long and look as nice as some of the stuff produced in High Point. The Asian furniture looks good for right now but it is not a durable good.

I wish NC could go on a quality PR campaign and explain to the American public why furniture needs to be built the way it does. Somehow illiterate Asian peasants do not rise to be high quality craftsmen in one generation.

I think there are gonna be a lot of people who have good salaries who buy crap and are gonna be living with busted appliances and a pile of splinters for furniture when they are laid off and cant replace the crap that they bought. People are gonna be real shabby at the end of all this.

It wont even be like the depression where people hung on to some good stuff and made it last (and saved money).

[aeolian]

3. Why, oh why, are you only reporting the BAD news!

What about all the good news? How about "Thomasville Furniture decides to allow employees extended vacations to focus on hobbies." Why the liberal spin?

...and what about that school they just repainted?!?!

:sarcasm:

[GiovanniC]

14. Yeah, You Don't Hear About All the Thomasville Employees

Who DIDN'T have the paycheck that feeds their families brutally ripped away from them at the hands of Bush's fucked up economic policy.

Report on THAT, liberal leftie mainstream media!!

[Blue Belle]

24. Yeah... HP is allowing employees to take advantage of...

the joys early retirement in Oregon too... who needs to work when the economy is going so well??

:sarcasm:

[JohnyCanuck]

26. And 25,000 GM employees will have extended vacations too!

The good news just keeps getting better.

[BlueJazz]

4. That's right..Dumb Asses....Vote for Republicans....

Maybe you can get a job at Wally-World that pays 1/2 of what you've been making....

[jojo54]

5. I didn't know they employed that many

So, would that be fifty or sixty percent of their workforce? :sarcasm:

[kodi]

8. i consult in this industry, chinese imports are destroying the US market

i heard of this thru the grapevine weeks ago when talking to folks at the Furniture Market Show in High Point, NC.

5 years ago there was virtually no chinese imported upholstery fabric or furniture coming in from china, now 80% of the fabric used in commercial(contract) and residential furniture comes from china. one of the major players, culp decorative fabrics is in the process of shutting down its upholstery finishing plant in burlington, nc and 200 jobs will be lost.

[cap]

10. who else is left that produces high quality

fabric and furniture in the US. Or must we buy antiques? Also, which US companies are cutting quality on the way down? What about European companies?

[Maclilly]

11. I sure hope

these people and those from GM are enjoying their tax breaks!

[Maclilly]

12. Sorry

I just don't have any sympothy anymore. Maybe if enough people and their families feel the pain they will stop voting against their own interests.

[acmavm]

15. Well said and 100% true. Paybacks are a bitch.

.

[kodi]

21. Valdese Weavers in Valdese, NC makes superior fabric in the US

they are vertically integrated and family owned.

Baker Furniture in High Point, NC makes good stuff too, but most of it goes directly to their designer show rooms world wide and is top of the line cloth.

Culp makes decent stuff, but is a cut below Valdese and Baker in quality....they use a lot of cheap polypropylene as a weft yarn whereas Valdese and Baker use polyester or rayon filling yarns

the guy who bought out cone mills and burlington fabrics is gearing up to start finishing domestically woven fabric in the old burlington finishing plant in burlington nc, but that won't happen for several months. it will employ 100-150 workers, so that helps a bit.

over all, the chinese stuff is poorly made, poorly dyed, and has a reputation for not passing US flammability standards, but is so cheap people are forced to buy it to be competitive.

I am waiting for (but not hoping), that someday a large fire will break out in a public place that will be traced to poorly flame retardant finished chinese fabric that will force the US government to insist on the imports meet the US fdlame retardancy standards.

its all driven by cost. where valdese and baker sell their fabrics up to $25/square yard, culp sells theirs at less than $10, (they just started operations in china, but the headaches as to inferior quality has recently cost them a bundle of money because they have had to re-finish the goods once they hit the US.)

microdenier polyester, the stuff that looks like suede was entirely made in the US 7-8 years ago, now all of it is imported from china and it has about destroyed US suede manufacturers and the low end leather industry because the stuff is so cheap.

even the europeans are fighting cheap chinese imports, and fabrics made there are even more expensive than US made stuff, plus they have even tougher regs than ther americans, and are using such standards to block imports from the third world.

[SpiralHawk]

20. One wondeers what role Marvin Bush may have played in this?

Isn't Bush brother Marvin a Big Deal Consultant for the Red Godless Communist Chinese Menace?

What the hell, if BushCo can make a buck on this, it must be good for the Republican party.

Anybody got the Inside Skinny on Marvin Bush's dealings ?

[Sparkle]

16. This is all Bill Clinton's fault!

[madrchsod]

17. that fucking sucks

we lost most of the furniture manufacturing in Illinois and Wisconsin years ago now it`s the east coast. i used to reupholster furniture for years but dropped that for now-it`s going to be my retirement "beer money" but these cheap ass frames are not worth fixing. hopefully there will be enough "vintage" American made furniture to reupholster in the future.

[SpiralHawk]

19. "The economy is getting stronger every day." - George W. Bush

"Make my tax cuts for the wealthy a permanent thing, and I promise to continue my reign of benevolence (for the wealthy). Support my plan for an Ownership Society now, and I promise you that every Patriotic American Citizen-Consumer Unit (PACCU) will have a nice owner. You are either with me and my Republican Oil and Munitions Cronies, or you are against us."

- Commander Cuckoo Banannas

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. Furniture Brands to close plants, cut about 1,200 jobs (St. Louis-based)

Furniture Brands to close plants, cut about 1,200 jobs
<http://www.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/pulseone.asp?dateid=38510.7330715741-836386436&siteID=mktw&scid=0&doctype=806&property=symb&value=&categories=&>

QUOTE:

5:35pm 06/07/05

Furniture Brands to close plants, cut about 1,200 jobs (FBN) By Carla Mozee

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Furniture Brands International (FBN) said after Tuesday's closing bell that it will close four manufacturing plants, resulting in the loss of 1,244 jobs. The closings, including the conversion of one plant into a warehouse, are expected to be completed by September and November. St. Louis-based Furniture Brands now expects second-quarter sales to be flat to modestly down compared with last year and earnings of 11 cents to 13 cents a share, including the effects of a restructuring charge of 19 cents a share related to the plant closings and other previously announced charges. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call currently expect the company to post second-quarter earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $597 million.

[SoCalDem]

23. Lst week Ethan Allen announce they were going to short weeks

and planning layoffs too.

[AlCzervik]

25. that sucks!! when i was getting married many years ago

we took a trip down to NC where all the furniture manafacturers were located and bought most of our stuff there. I wonder how amny furniture companies are still there?