So this is obviously McDonald’s but manufacturing suffers a similar path:
- Make high quality and respected product onshore
- Get purchased by vulture capitalist
- Lower standards to increase profit
- Product is offshored to cover up falling sales
- Quality nosedives
- Once the customer base catches on sales nosedives
- Lower quality even more and brand becomes a joke
- Get purchased by mega conglomerate who collects brands like Pokémon
- Rival product gets made onshore by a small team who used to work for you
See Doc Martin and Solvair or Hunter Wellingtons or any other of a large number of former halo brands. Filson is one going through this right now
Why do they let step 2 even happen? Is it just that the creators don’t actually give a shit about their product/brand, and just want an easy, big pay day? Screw their employees?
because workers don’t collectively own the means of production.
not to be like that, but once some new hotness graduates from 2 people in a garage, the controlling interest is never the workers who have a vested interest in products, daily work (and a brand) they can be proud of, but investors with only short term profit on their mind. innovators- and inventors-turned-C suite executives jump ship when bought out, leaving the real meat and potatoes, the real work behind the brand, to be offshored, profit prioritized and picked clean.
buy from worker-owned co-ops. buy from local crafters and people deserving of the label ‘artisan’. flat out refuse to buy from brands that are a sad, hollowed out husk of their former selves. more importantly - most importantly - do what you can to keep your retirement investments away from quartly-profit mills who couldnt care less about workers or customers beyond raw sales numbers. and definitely, definitely never agree to work for them.
I’m proud of the work I do. I get immense satisfaction for a job well done and appreciate being appreciated.
If someone offers me millions of dollars to take over my job only to do a worse job, I will absolutely take the money and retire early. No hesitation. No regrets. I won’t even take the time to pack up my desk.
