Hostess, maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs, says closing business

I literally got the last box of Twinkies from the store shelf .. I think it's the last one in all of Wilmington, I had to search for it and found it in a grocery aisle at a drug store. I figured I'd take it to the relatives house for Thanksgiving. We can all be thankful that we had Hostess - Wonder Bread, Ding Dongs, Twinkies, HoHos, Cupcakes and SnoBalls.

Dang Unions killed Twinkies for America.

reply to post by FlyersFan


what is Wonder Bread, Ding Dongs, Twinkies, HoHos?

Originally posted by brice
I guess the union bashers think its ok to work pennies an hour while cranking the corporate music maker.

Hostess Bakers ... for unskilled labor/button pushers they got paid rather well.

Hostess Brand Average Salaries

Baker Salaries

The average salary for all bakers is about $11.50 per hour. Experienced bakers at high-end retailers can earn up to $18 per hour. The largest percentage of bakers have jobs in craft and specialty bakeries or grocery stores.

The average unskilled Hostess Baker made $15.00 per hour .. or $600 per week .. or $32,000 a year. Which, considering it's a non-skill job of just pushing buttons and moving boxes .. that's pretty good. If you go to college for four years and earn a degree in Engineering, the average starting salary is $60,000. A non-skilled Hostess Baker would make half of what a top level Engineer would make coming out of the gate. Seems fair to me.

reply to post by FlyersFan

A non-skilled Hostess Baker would make half of what a top level Engineer would make coming out of the gate. Seems fair to me

i cant argue with your logic. Though $32,000 is a bit low for a Baker, its not easy labour work.

Originally posted by Sissel
reply to post by sonnny1

 

Better rush out and stock up then......

What's the shelf life of these, something like a thousand years?

No more fried Twinkies at the state fair

Fear Not! Dolly Madison and Little Debbie both make completely serviceable substitutes (which I actually like a little better than real Twinkies, not to mention they're cheaper).

I just bought a box of Ho Hos and Cupcakes. After eating a cupcake I didn't realize how awful it was. I don't remember it tasting that bad!! (Ho Hos were pretty good, though)

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
i cant argue with your logic. Though $32,000 is a bit low for a Baker, its not easy labour work.

A HIGH END Baker can make twice that much. High End = someone with a degree in pastries from a culinary school, and who makes wedding cakes etc etc. The 'Bakers' at Hostess were people who pushed buttons on machines and mass produced junk food pastries in a machine. They didn't sit at a table hand decorating pastries ... it was all non-skilled labor.

reply to post by AthlonSavage


What Exactly Is In A Trinkie Anyways?
Wall Street Journal - It's not just Twinkies .. all products made by Hostess
(NO MORE DRAKES COFFEE CAKES!!)
PHOTOS - Huffington Post - 13 Hostess Products in Danger of Extinction
(the chocolate cupcakes were my favorite)

This was the product list at the Hostess site itself

reply to post by FlyersFan

A HIGH END Baker can make twice that much. High End = someone with a degree in pastries from a culinary school, and who makes wedding cakes etc etc. The 'Bakers' at Hostess were people who pushed buttons on machines and mass produced junk food pastries in a machine. They didn't sit at a table hand decorating pastries ... it was all non-skilled labor

I admit i dont know anything about baking. I can bake a cake from a packet mix and thats about it.

reply to post by FlyersFan

A HIGH END Baker can make twice that much. High End = someone with a degree in pastries from a culinary school, and who makes wedding cakes etc etc. The 'Bakers' at Hostess were people who pushed buttons on machines and mass produced junk food pastries in a machine. They didn't sit at a table hand decorating pastries ... it was all non-skilled labor

I admit i dont know anything about baking. I can bake a cake from a packet mix and thats about it.

reply to post by FlyersFan


The Hostess cupcakes look nice.

reply to post by Bramble Iceshimmer

The Union didn't kill the business, the workers let the union kill the business. The union Leaders went "ops" lost that one, but we can still go home and tell our wife and kids, don't worry our life will go on as usuall.

The workers fired the last shot, and it got them right in the foot. They followed there big shot Union leaders and stewards right out the door following like little sheep. You see a storm coming, you don't open the door you close it up, so it stays dry inside. The leaders told them to take a umbrella into a hurricane. Seems to me that they couldn't see the forest for the trees.

If anyone with common sense was given the alternative, of lets say, You give up a little now and keep your jobs,and next time we go to the table, we get that back plus a little more or take the chance of loosing your jobs.

In this day an age "Really" Seems like a no-brainer to me.
But don't get me wrong, I'm sorry to see so many loose their jobs. And I've spent most of my working years in Unions, so I'm not ignorant as to what goes on at the table.

In passing, neather side cares if the workers have jobs or not.

Well, if everyone stocks up, those things will last longer than most people's lifetimes. Twinkies will survive a nuclear holocaust and be useful as bait for the cockroaches that will challenge humanity's survivors for dominance in a post-apocalyptic landscape.

Also, no one should ever eat 'food' called Ding Dong. Ever.

It's a shame those lazy workers actually wanted paying too, no wonder America is going to the dogs. It should have been enough to have been paid in bread-product and the knowledge that they were working for one of America's premier junk food brands. Here, have a souvenir Ding Dong, that might distract you from pondering on any potential relationship between America's health care costs and junk food related obesity.

Drive safely, now.

Good riddance. Their junk has been killing people for decades. They'd rather shut down than treat their workers better. Hah!

reply to post by AthlonSavage

I'd much rather have $32,000 than an empty pocket. For years I trucked all over this country for less than that. I also lived on the streets for two years and lived on pennys. The ones I picked up from the gutter. Ya, I'ed rather have the $32,000.

Originally posted by Merriman Weir
It's a shame those lazy workers actually wanted paying too,.

Did ya' miss the part where I posted what the bakers were actually paid?
Scroll up. Non-skilled labor making average $32,000 a year to push
buttons and move boxes. That's pretty darn good wages for being non-skilled ...

reply to post by Suohhen


Sure be a slave for minimum wage if you want.

reply to post by FlyersFan



No, I didn't read your particular post. I was familiar with the news story from various other sources. Not being your neighbour I have to rely on other news outlets. Sorry

Originally posted by NarcolepticBuddha
Tell me about it. I just ran to my 24 hour grocery store to see for myself. The entire Hostess shelf is empty. I did find some Hostess traditional fruitcake though.

The funny thing is--I never really craved a Hostess until I read this thread haha!

edit on 17-11-2012 by NarcolepticBuddha because: (no reason given)

It's the subliminals that were projected into your brain from all those commercials when you were a kid. When you hear they are closing all those memories come rushing to the top setting off a barrage of exploding synapses that cause you to crave a twinkies, ding dongs and the old stand by Hostess Cup Cakes.

damn Unions they have ruined America and sent more jobs over seas than clinton, bush's and obama put together.

Originally posted by RunningFromSpider
reply to post by Suohhen

 

Sure be a slave for minimum wage if you want.

Minimum wage in the USA is $7.25 per hour.
The average Hostess "Baker" made $15.00 per hour.
Plus benefits.

Those were UNSKILLED laborers who just pushed buttons and moved boxes.
That's a pretty darn good rate of pay for being unskilled.
And it's a whole lot better than getting unemployment and sucking off the taxpayer.

Hostess 'bakers" (Unskilled labor) do not deserve the same rate of pay as someone who went to school to be an engineer or doctor or lawyer or nurse or school teacher or psychologist or whatever. They simply do not. And demanding more than you are worth .. well .. that gets you and the rest of the unskilled labor put out on the street. That's just the reality of the situation.

Want more money? Learn a skill. Go to school. Enter the military and get a paycheck AND a free education AND free skill training. There are ways.