Atlas factory in China closing ...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I read on the internet that 52 percent of american households with children get assistance.

I read on the Internet that three out of four people in the country make 75% of the population, but I'm not too sure about that math....

[robert.]

What's troubling you with the math? I guess your generation never had common core math. 12 out of 16 sound better?

[Neil]

"Chemo is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country that these so called Doctors get rich off of."

Sorry your wife had what sounds like a terrible experience with the medical profession. No doubt chemo is given to many patients who should just receive palliative care. No doubt many physicians (outside general internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and psychiatry) are paid more than we should. Then again many senior management folks and hedge fund managers are paid a lot more than serves society. Reform of these issues would be a good thing.

If it's any consolation chemo is being used less and less in cancer and will eventually, likely, almost disappear and better immunologic treatments replace chemo. Expensive, but less toxic and more effective.

Once again, my sympathies to you, your wife and family.

[rogruth]

I read on the internet that 52 percent of american households with children get assistance.

I read on the Internet that three out of four people in the country make 75% of the population, but I'm not too sure about that math....

[webenda]

Mike Reagan started a repair service as part of his TW TrainWorx operation. Not a sideline. I haven't needed his services yet, but will use him if any of my Lionel, Atlas or K-Line stuff goes south. He can handle MTH too, but I don't have any MTH electronics or locos at this point.

Rumor has it that Mike can fix anything .

That is good to know, thank you for letting all of us in on Mike's TW RepairWorx.
I only have one MTH loco and it us running with a Williams Relay Board.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rumor has it that Mike can fix anything .

Can he fix this thread?

[Neil]

"Can he fix this thread?"

Some things are beyond the ken of mortal man and woman, including Mike.

I just saw the obituary of our founder Bill Lango. Puts things in perspective once again. Hail and farewell Bill.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

"Can he fix this thread?"

Some things are beyond the ken of mortal man and woman, including Mike.

Sure and I thought it worth asking nonetheless.

I just saw the obituary of our founder Bill Lango. Puts things in perspective once again. Hail and farewell Bill.

Indeed it does. Reality visits now & again and reminds us of who and what we are.

[Chris Webster]

Con Cor's home page has a commentary by Jim Conway about the closing: Affa Model Train factory closing in China, Update: 8/13/2018

[chuck]

Thanks for posting the link. Interesting read, echo's a lot of the themes/situations that John Smith covered in his op-ed pieces in O Scale Trains a while back about doing business in Korea.

Business is business and "follow the money" is usually the best way to figure out what's going on. A lot of folks have a tendency to read way too much into events. A number of business underwent changes in our community that leads to a lot of speculation on "what went wrong". Changes to the economy or demographics, mismanagement, etc. If you took the time and made the effort to investigate it was more often a case of the owners were old and wanted to retire and the kids didn't want the business or no one else wanted to do what they were doing. In a couple of other cases they actually outgrew the space and the landlord wanted to charge more rent for what was now inadequate space. The rent raising scenario is becoming more of an issue especially with restaurants that have pretty thin margins. In any cases the retail space is repurposed to something not food related.

You would think that the internet would make "discovery" easier but the sheer volume of bad/mis information is astounding. In some cases the business itself is to blame because they don't update their web site for mundane things like their street address or phone number. "News" sites usually don't find business closings because someone wants to retire to be news worthy (much more interesting if there is some kind of scandal).

[robert.]

Mr Conway will be lucky if his molds did not go out the backdoor

[robert.]

I'll add something to your post chuck. In 1993 i was part of a company renting 35,000 square feet. We were paying $15,000 a month with a net lease. All maintenance was on us. Except roof repairs. Things got slow in 92 for us. 93 landlord wants to up his income by $4,000. We wanted to pay $4,000 less. He drew a hard line at $19,000. We wanted $11,000 . We said "no way jose " 90 days later we were out.He was empty. 35,000 sqf sat for 3 years with no tenant. Then little by little he rented some small spaces out. He never filled that building to this day. 2018 it is only half rented. He lost almost $400,000 for the 3 empty years. Then pile on the half empty years. probably 2+ million. One of the partners bought a farm estate. We moved the business into his Ex dairy barn and never looked back. Well that's not all true. We have a good laugh every time we drive by his half empty old place.
People grow old of their business. A lot of times they no longer have the energy to meet today's needed changes. With fears as to how the economy will go.I can see why it's easier to pack it in.

[chuck]

Great example of a butthead landlord that doesn't understand the word compromise. Probably carried over to other areas and that make him a poor businessman. Compromise, looking down the road, long term? No, I want it all. I want an Oompa Loompa NOW!

I remember in the mid nineties there were a lot of train shops that opened by thirty/forty something owners who were pretty oblivious to how retail sales really worked. They had little expertise about how to run a business. They pinned their monthly sales on a few big ticket items which had much lower margins (often less than 20%) while ignoring sales of bread and butter items e.g. track where the markup was 200%-500%. Those were that sales that pay the rent. By 2001 the landscape changed dramatically and most of these places were gone. No great loss as far as I was concerned. Those owners were often flaming a holes in almost all aspects of running a retail shop.

[HONDO74]

https://www.con-cor.com/
Can we compete with the Chinese ?

Wages:

The current average wages earned by a typical factory worker today in the same area as the Affa Factory is about $328.00 a month, that is for roughly a 48 hour work week, or 196 hours a month. That works out to about $1.65 an hour, but the factory also has to pay the China government for Social Security, and a very bare bones medical plan for each worker.

BUT in almost all cases, that salary included room and board for the worker in factory owned housing.

In the case of Affa, they had a 4 story factory totally about 75,000 sf feet, and a 4 story dormitory next door housing approximately 350 workers, with a large cafeteria on the ground floor.

Wages in China have almost doubled in last 4-5 years, with the cost of your payroll almost doubling over a few years this could
have been a financial consideration, but this is my speculation only.

I also know Affa did not own the real-estate. As is the custom in China, a company owning its own real-estate is rare. Most of the Industrial property is owned by the Local Government Agencies who build the buildings and lease them long term to the various companies that occupy them.

[E7]

https://www.con-cor.com/
Can we compete with the Chinese ?

Wages:

The current average wages earned by a typical factory worker today in the same area as the Affa Factory is about $328.00 a month, that is for roughly a 48 hour work week, or 196 hours a month. That works out to about $1.65 an hour, but the factory also has to pay the China government for Social Security, and a very bare bones medical plan for each worker.

BUT in almost all cases, that salary included room and board for the worker in factory owned housing.

Maybe not such a bad deal given the room and board. i didn't do a heck of a lot better when I started out back in '69. Knowing what I know now, I would have told them to go pound sand!