Fender layoffs employees

Revelation

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This after record numbered sales due to Covid.
I don't think the lawsuit in Europe has caused this.

2020 Fender was absorbed by Servco- and they review every aspect of profit loss centers within the company every fiscal quarter.

PRS fans are so happy that Paul did not sell the company like Leo Fender did. The PRS company is seeing its rewards as the company is doing better now than ever. I also believe the employees are being treated better than some other companies. I don't think anyone wants to see people lose their jobs. I for one like to support American companies who treat their employees well and continue to put craftmanship as a high priority.
 
The PRS company is seeing its rewards as the company is doing better now than ever. I also believe the employees are being treated better than some other companies.

I for one like to support American companies who treat their employees well and continue to put craftmanship as a high priority.

Amen to all that. PRS, keep on treating your employees well. We, the buyers, salute you.

=K
 
Sad to see folks losing jobs, and unfortunate that Fender doesn’t comment. I can certainly add my kudos to anyone commending PRS for doing it their own way and sticking to their standard. As a long time fan of Randall Smith’s wizardry, it was the end of an era when Mesa Boogie was absorbed by Gibson, and the single-minded focus they once had has already become diluted. It’ll never be the same. I am truly pleased Paul hasn’t gone that route.
 
Sad to see folks losing jobs, and unfortunate that Fender doesn’t comment. I can certainly add my kudos to anyone commending PRS for doing it their own way and sticking to their standard. As a long time fan of Randall Smith’s wizardry, it was the end of an era when Mesa Boogie was absorbed by Gibson, and the single-minded focus they once had has already become diluted. It’ll never be the same. I am truly pleased Paul hasn’t gone that route.
I feel this way as well. But ever since the new old school owners of Fender like Bill Schultz, George Blodgett, Tommy Tedesco to name a few (who all bought Fender out from CBS) have retired or passed away, it’s just slowly turned into a different company and, well, just another Corporation. George is a friend of mine and was my sales rep for Fender through the CBS era and into the early 2000 era.. That was when I closed my guitar store down after 30 years…
When they started hiring all these young aggressive, strait out of Harvard Business School hotshots, they opened up every dealer in sight and the 25 mile radius handshake dealership agreements went out the window…
we saw the writing on the wall..It was only a matter of time at that point……..I got out of the MI business at a good time…
And Boogie selling out to Gibson, well, you know where that’s going……
Big Kudos to Paul Smith for not selling out.. At least not yet……
it certainly shows in the extrordinary guitars they make.
 
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Just for clarification, Leo Fender didn't "sell out" when he sold Fender. He was dealing with health issues that were likely being made worse by the stress of running a large company. He prioritized his health. He wanted to sell to his partner, but the partner didn't have the money. When Leo got better he got back into the game with Music Man.
 
This isn't a shocker to me. I have been watching things with the economy for a couple of years now. We have been entering a recession that is unlike any that we have seen before. The reason is that typically in a recession unemployment goes up as spending goes down. With this one there was still a worker shortage along with people cutting back on spending. It was only a matter of time before things started going in the direction of companies cutting back due to increased costs. Fender isn't the only company doing this. I have read accounts of companies rescinding job offers to people. Imagine being one of those people that got a job offer then resigned from their current job to then receive a communication that the new job offer has been rescinded.
 
You are going to see this at all facilities making guitars in the US, including PRS. Guitar stocks are back up at retailers. Demand is a lot less now that post covid life has normalized again. Inflation has put previously affordable instruments out of the realm of affordability for a lot. This is the beginning of the correction in the guitar market that has been due for quite some time. I've said repeatedly on this forum that the direct to consumer model and scrapping dealers is the long term survival mechanism for guitars made here in the US.

As for Fender, they've been making more and more instruments in Japan for all of their brands (Jackson, Charvel, etc) and the quality of these is better than the US based stuff and at better pricing. I suspect they will offshore and promote more of these models in lieu of the US stuff.
 
As for Fender, they've been making more and more instruments in Japan for all of their brands (Jackson, Charvel, etc) and the quality of these is better than the US based stuff and at better pricing. I suspect they will offshore and promote more of these models in lieu of the US stuff.
It is like the 80's all over again. I had a Japanese built strat that I bought back then that was better built and better feeling than the US models at that time. They were really struggling back then.
 
This isn't a shocker to me. I have been watching things with the economy for a couple of years now. We have been entering a recession that is unlike any that we have seen before. The reason is that typically in a recession unemployment goes up as spending goes down. With this one there was still a worker shortage along with people cutting back on spending. It was only a matter of time before things started going in the direction of companies cutting back due to increased costs. Fender isn't the only company doing this. I have read accounts of companies rescinding job offers to people. Imagine being one of those people that got a job offer then resigned from their current job to then receive a communication that the new job offer has been rescinded.
I just saw that the economy added over 537,000 jobs last month, and now there are doubts about whether a recession's even on.

Economics is largely voodoo/crystal-ball stuff, and even the so-called best economists can't predict much. Every one of them has been wrong at many points, and they'll admit it.

Only a couple of years ago toilet paper was unobtainium. If that doesn't prove markets are driven by irrational fear, nothing does. We've been through a pandemic and now there's a major war in Europe. I mean, who TF knows.

Big conglomerates often can't find their asses with both hands. We've all seen this rodeo before.
 
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I just saw that the economy added over 537,000 jobs last month, and now there are doubts about whether a recession's even on.

Economics is largely voodoo/crystal-ball stuff, and even the so-called best economists can't predict much. Every one of them has been wrong at many points, and they'll admit it.

Only a couple of years ago toilet paper was unobtainium. If that doesn't prove markets are driven by irrational fear, nothing does. We've been through a pandemic and now there's a major war in Europe. I mean, who TF knows.

Big conglomerates often can't find their asses with both hands. We've all seen this rodeo before.
I guess it depends on who's definition of a recession you buy into on whether you believe we are in one or not. ;)

What I know for sure is that I am paying more for everything these days and my paycheck hasn't gone up so I am buying less of everything than I have in the past. That will translate into less people to make the things I am not buying anymore.
 
But just the day before, I read an article where Fender was saying that guitar sales (and incremental revenues as a result of Fender Play) had never been higher, with the huge increase that started during Covid with new players starting out, has continued. I need to find that article, because it's so contradictory to this news.

PRS fans are so happy that Paul did not sell the company like Leo Fender did
...am truly pleased Paul hasn’t gone that route.
Kudos to Paul Smith for not selling out..


Honestly, no one on this forum knows whether or not Mr. Smith intends to sell his company - either now, or in the future. I'm sure everyone would like to think that he wouldn't, but he's an astute businessman, and might feel at some point that he's done, and wants to leave his family comfortable for generations to come.
 
Worst part about Mesa Boogie being owned by Gibson is that Gibson is owned by KKR. Downhill slide in quality and customer support is inevitable. None of us knows what Paul's succession plan is. Hope he has one and hope it entails selling to a person who cares about quality and innovation rather than a financial corporation who's focus is on profit only. However, when one sees hundreds of millions dangled in front of one's eyes, you never know what can happen.

Jim Jannard started Oakley in 1975, then took it public in 1995. It was then sold in 2007 for $2.1 billion (that's billion with a B) to Luxottica, a multinational corporation. Those frames are nowhere near as stout as they used to be.
 
Worst part about Mesa Boogie being owned by Gibson is that Gibson is owned by KKR. Downhill slide in quality and customer support is inevitable. None of us knows what Paul's succession plan is. Hope he has one and hope it entails selling to a person who cares about quality and innovation rather than a financial corporation who's focus is on profit only. However, when one sees hundreds of millions dangled in front of one's eyes, you never know what can happen.

Jim Jannard started Oakley in 1975, then took it public in 1995. It was then sold in 2007 for $2.1 billion (that's billion with a B) to Luxottica, a multinational corporation. Those frames are nowhere near as stout as they used to be.
Great observation, Tom. And just go to the Mesa website, and you'll see you're 100% right. Smaller excellent products, like their switchers, gone. Recently introduced things like the reactive load cab clones, gone. I'm not seeing custom options there, either, though my dealer told me that's still a thing. Maybe so.

This kinda reminds me of one of my many 'Les in the Land of Giant Corporations' stories'. ;)

I do a lot of car ad work in Detroit, and I used to be forced to attend meetings with corporate marketing execs who want a variety of unmusical concepts to be brought out in the music in ads (not just with car people, by the way).

One of the car companies had just hired a team of marketing people from a company that makes toothpaste. Marketing geniuses, right? They were going to solve the Giant Corporation's slipping market share with Marketing Magic!

Anyway, one day I found myself in a creative meeting with my ad agency clients and the toothpaste/car brand marketing director/genius/magician.

Well, fine, no one knows WTF's in toothpaste anyway, you can position that any way you like. But not cars. At the start of the meeting he said - I'm not making this up:

"We're going to position Car X (a mid-level compact that you used to find at a typical rent-a-car place) as the car doctors want instead of their Mercedes, the car people will aspire to own. Car X is now an aspirational brand."

Really, he said this. About a moderately priced compact car. To add mirth to my day, the dude said he wanted "Aspirational music."

The ad agency folks at the table kind of nodded their heads and pretended to smile, because let's face it, they'd have blown the guy to keep their jobs.

But you guys know me. I am no diplomat. I wasn't having it. This dude was delusional. My brain somehow could not prevent my tongue from blurting out:

"Are you kidding? Car X is not in the same league as a Mercedes, and people who buy expensive imports know the difference, so that's not gonna happen. But what kind of music do you want?"

OK, I'll admit I was like a one of those people with Tourette's syndrome who yell obnoxious things on the street because they can't help themselves. I kind of knew I f@cked up, but it was too late. It was out there.

If looks could kill, I'd be a dead man. Eyeball lightning bolts from the dude. Looks of shock and hate from my agency clients.

The agency creative director kicked me under the table.

I still wound up doing the music. Since then I've never been 'invited' to attend a marketing meeting, which is a beautiful thing. :)

Big Corporation America is a different kinda place. The local language is Buzzword. One of many stories.
 
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Tears in my eyes from laughing at that story, Les. Yes, BCA (Big Corp America) is a different place nowadays, and not in a good way. I still think you should accumulate all your stories (cuz you have a ton of good ones you've shared with us) in some form like a treatment or screen play.
 
Tears in my eyes from laughing at that story, Les. Yes, BCA (Big Corp America) is a different place nowadays, and not in a good way. I still think you should accumulate all your stories (cuz you have a ton of good ones you've shared with us) in some form like a treatment or screen play.
I have a related corporate meeting story for another client.

At one meeting the client expressed happiness with my work, saying, "This nails it. What was the key to knowing exactly what to do in your composing process?"

I explained that I was guided by the tone of the film and the idea of the ads, but the composing process is a lot like feeling your way in the dark/trial and error, and that finding something everyone likes is sometimes just good luck.

I could see the ad agency folks were pretending to smile, but were squirming.

After the meeting, one took me aside, and very angrily said, "You should have said it was our creative direction, and you knew exactly what to do after reading our creative brief!"

Geez, the creative brief was a load of buzzword bullsh!t that had nothing to do with music, but this time I didn't say so.

America the Corporate wants to hear what its executives expect to hear. The truth may or may not be related to that thing.
 
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