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tgonzo
Boulder climber
SLC, UT
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 4, 2014 - 12:51pm PT
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Just heard that BD laid off a bunch of people, including a bunch of management. Things aren't going so well there? Anyone heard about that?
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briham89
Big Wall climber
san jose and south lake tahoe, ca
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I wonder if the clothing launch was a flop.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Sorry to hear about anyone getting laid off.
I wonder if the clothing launch was a flop.
Interesting question! I can tell you that I bought their Crag Jacket and found their sizing and proportions so out of line I didn't fit in a medium or a small. Nice, good quality jacket but so odd on the sizing it made me think I had received (2) defective jackets in (2) different sizes!
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weezy
climber
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Hmm...manufacturing expensive climbing equipment for patrons who are notorious cheapskates. What could possibly go worng?
Re-tool the CNCs to make golf club heads.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Honnold better get the freerider soloed, or he could be out of a job.
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Chugach
Trad climber
Vermont
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Wow, I thought they would grow infinitely towards the sky. They've been doing it for the 20+ years that I've been watching.
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sween345
climber
back east
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Reducing the payroll could indicate that the investment bankers are looking to cash out. The clothes line puffed up the product base, layoffs reduce costs. Look for a sell off soon.
Remember that moving production to China (reducing production cost) came just before the initial sell off. It all looks better on paper.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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How is the Chinese economy taking it?
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Was Coz right? Is Peter Metcalf going down?
edit - Clarus Corporation bought BD and Gregory in 2010 and merged the three together under the BD name. What did Clarus bring to the table, other than 132 million dollars for the purchase of BD and Gregory. The company now has a market cap of 367 million.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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If they got into AR15's and Ammo they could get another bump out of that corner of the sporting goods market.
Golf is a great idea!
Tennis anyone?
Bicycles? Motocross?
OOOOOOOoooooo... Motorcycles!
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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"How is the Chinese economy taking it?"
Bam!
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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One answer: payroll problems caused by Obamacare. Reduction of workforces is occurring across the country in all industries. Nothing but economics at work. Cost per employee goes up; number of employees goes down. They can pay the residual existing workforce overtime and still come out ahead. Get the same amount of work from fewer people.
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Snowmassguy
Trad climber
Calirado
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Private equity will squeeze every single penny out of a business. It is all about making the income statement as shiny as possible. The human factor does not exist....ever.
If you are one of the lucky ones to keep your job, you will happily do double the work for the same salary or feel free to join the unemployed.
Good times....and PE ownership sucks.
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miwuksurfer
Social climber
Mi-Wuk
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I noticed ALL the BD gear at my local shop is made in China now. Wasn't suprised to see this thread pop up.
Correction: I think some said Made in Philippines.
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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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"One answer: payroll problems caused by Obamacare. Reduction of workforces is occurring across the country in all industries. Nothing but economics at work. Cost per employee goes up; number of employees goes down. They can pay the residual existing workforce overtime and still come out ahead. Get the same amount of work from fewer people."
What a bunch of sh#t....greed is more like. They are playing to their investors and could give a flying sh#t about the workers, it's about the bottom line.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Forget that, I'm buying from the Basque Country in Spain, that's where the Totem cams are made.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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A lot of the smaller companies aren't "playing to the investors," but fighting for survival in the present economy. There's nothing political in my above statement, other than it's factual. It's not pleasant to make a decision about layoffs for economic reasons. First and foremost is survival of the company, and THEN the hourly paid employees. In smaller businesses, the managers will take over some of the more menial jobs just in order to keep their doors open.
I've been through some "belt tightening" in several companies both as an owner and as an upper level manager. They usually start out with the least productive employees such as janitorial, then the "gofer girl," and then the most senior (i.e. "expensive") non-management production workers. Last company I worked for in Oregon had to lay off 10 people but expected the remaining 58 employees to still get the job done. It was either layoffs or corporate bankruptcy. Take your pick. The "survivors" were all happy to keep their jobs.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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my opinion which is worth
a haystack around a needle:
shitty product.
shitty customer service.
shitty company.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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BD going down. Gotta love it, Metcalf was so full of bullcrap.
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