Ford bans competitors' vehicles from lot

[NsXMas]

Only Ford vehicles allowed in Dearborn plant lot

LOL at this employee:

The Dearborn Truck Plant parking policy will allow vehicles made by non-U.S. Ford brands such as Mazda, Volvo and Land Rover, Sullivan said.

The Detroit News, which first reported the story Friday, said the new parking policy in Dearborn was embraced by factory employees at a meeting to discuss the auto manufacturer's latest restructuring plan.

But one plant employee, who did not want to be quoted, told the paper he wasn't happy he would no longer be able to drive his Chrysler to the factory.

"They can't tell you how to spend your money," said one veteran tradesman. "It's still a free country." He said he got a better deal on his Chrysler than he could on a Ford.

"I got to go where I can get the most bang for my buck," he said.

Dumb-ass, if you don't want to buy the product that your company is making, you might as well kiss your job good bye. Find a job working for Chrysler...

:biggrin:

 

[nsxtasy]

The Dearborn Truck Plant parking policy will allow vehicles made by non-U.S. Ford brands such as Mazda, Volvo and Land Rover, Sullivan said.

I wonder why they didn't mention Jaguar or Aston-Martin?

 

[NetViper]

Somebody will sue them. They cannot tell you what you can and cannot drive. You think everyone working for ferrari drives one? How silly.

 

[NsXMas]

Somebody will sue them. They cannot tell you what you can and cannot drive. You think everyone working for ferrari drives one? How silly.

They're not telling what people can or can't drive. They're just telling them where they can or can't park.

I don't work for Ford. But if I did, and was a long time union member, I'd buy the vehicles my employer made. Just seems dumb to do otherwise.

I also have some of the auto-makers as customers. I always make sure I rent a vehicle appropriate to the auto-maker before I visit them.

Eg., when visiting Nissan in LA, I always rent a Nissan Altima or some Nissan vehicle to visit them. You never know when that little bit of respect will make a big difference when they choose vendors.

I wish I had Ferrari as a customer, so I could rent one and write it off as a business expense...

 

[nsxtasy]

Somebody will sue them. They cannot tell you what you can and cannot drive.

They may or may not be able to tell their employees what they can and cannot drive at home, on their own time. But they most certainly can tell them which cars can and can't be parked on their own private property.

 

[satan_srv]

Haha..is this part of their plan to increase sales? LOL well if we don't lay you off you still have to buy a ford to drive to work!

 

[nchopp]

They may or may not be able to tell their employees what they can and cannot drive at home, on their own time. But they most certainly can tell them which cars can and can't be parked on their own private property.

Man, I don't know about that. Regardless of whether or not it's private property, you're still taking about a publicly traded company, and this basically amounts to discrimination. Heh. Car discrimination.

 

[NsXMas]

Man, I don't know about that. Regardless of whether or not it's private property, you're still taking about a publicly traded company, and this basically amounts to discrimination. Heh. Car discrimination.

Budweiser worker says fired for drinking Coors

Budweiser worker says fired for drinking Coors
By BRADY MCCOMBS
Posted on Monday, May 16 @ 08:01:39 PDT

Imagine a Pizza Hut employee losing his job for eating Blackjack pizza on his night off.
Or a Pepsi employee losing her job for drinking a Coca-Cola while eating at a restaurant.

It might sound absurd, but Ross Hopkins claims something similar happened to him. He said the American Eagle Distributing Co., a Budweiser distributor, fired him two years ago for drinking a Coors at the Cactus Canyon Bar in Greeley on a Saturday night. ...

 

[nchopp]

Hey, it's not his fault his company's beer sucks.

 

[Wheelman]

Sounds like Communism. This is America, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. Maybe the workers at Ford know something...like their vehicles suck so much that the people who put them together won't even drive them.:tongue:

 

[Dtrigg]

Years ago when I worked in advertising one of my clients was General Motors. Keep in mind, this was in New York. Those bozos wouldn't get in a taxi that wasn't a GM vehicle. You can't imagine how long I would have to wait with these people before we could go anywhere.

Did them a lot of good didn't it...

 

[Juice]

This type of backwards thinking is why American companies are falling behind. If Honda of America pulled the same gimmick, there would be a muted uproar amongst employees. It breeds contempt and resentment, and a negative feeling in general.

Your job is your livelihood, not your life. Your company has no business imparting its will on your personal possessions. Ridiculous.

F= forced
O= on
R= reluctant
D= drivers

 

[NetViper]

They're not telling what people can or can't drive. They're just telling them where they can or can't park.

I guess I misunderstood that. I thought they actually did that a while ago. I am not sure if I agree with it or not though. I guess if you support your company by using their product, they want to reward you.

 

[djdrock]

A slippery slope. Obviously, Ford, like many of the Amercian auto makers are getting desperate.

Reminds me of a company, I believe in Michigan, that mandated that any employees who smokes have 2 options. Quit your job or quit smoking. And this is not just quit while you are at work, then fire up when you get home. They claim that it cuts their group insurance costs amongst other positives, thus the new policy. Though it may reduce their insurance costs, it is doubtful that any of the savings were really passed on to the employees as I recall reading.

When is enough enough? What stops a company like this from saying you can't drink alcohol or eat McDonalds because of other health risks?

 

[Arata]

Somebody will sue them. They cannot tell you what you can and cannot drive. You think everyone working for ferrari drives one? How silly.

As was pointed out they are only telling you where to park, just like Honda does in Japan. Same thing, if you are not parking a Honda product, you park very very far away.
Next time you see a UAW building you will see a similar sign also.

 

[W]

A job's a job. What next? You can only eat in the lunch room if you're wearing Ford colors? :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

 

[Carguy!]

Boy I don't understand why this is so hard to understand for some of you.

This isn't communism, if you want to park in the lot that is closer to where you work you have to drive one of Ford's products. If you don't drive a Ford you have to park in another lot and walk the extra distance. Believe me it is probably safer to park your vehicle in another lot as there are a lot of "dedicated" employees that will damage your vehicle.

Seems simple enough to me, if I was the CEO of Ford I would enact a similiar policy.

Next you will be complaining that the Valet's didn't put your 1977 Pinto in the front spot of the restaurant.

 

[Meeyatch1]

The thing that bothers me is that it seems that only American car companies adopt the 'redneck parking' philosophy. I have yet to hear of companies like Honda, Toyota, or BMW telling their employees they cannot drive competitors cars and park them on the lot. I have a friends whose family works for General Motors and they even have a sign in their parking lot stating that if you drive a foreign car you have to park in the far lot AND you should expect your car to be vandalized if you drive it at all. Last time I checked....vandalism is still a crime. I dunno.....I just hate it when companies do things to support the already negative image we have in the USA of being ignorant rednecks. :frown:

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

This is totally silly. Ford's priority should be retaining the best and brightest engineers and workers to help them succeed. I'd think that at this point that would be important to them. They can start doing that by keeping what workers they have left happy instead of implementing poor parking policies. I doubt too many of their US customer cares what is parked in their plant employee parking lot.

As another data point, Microsoft doesn't obsess that we us use Windows, get an x-box, or drive CE equipped cars.

 

[Ryanmcd2]

That is true but when I had Microsoft consultants I could not even get a free shirt lol

This is totally silly. Ford's priority should be retaining the best and brightest engineers and workers to help them succeed. I'd think that at this point that would be important to them. They can start doing that by keeping what workers they have left happy instead of implementing poor parking policies. I doubt too many of their US customer cares what is parked in their plant employee parking lot.

As another data point, Microsoft doesn't obsess that we us use Windows, get an x-box, or drive CE equipped cars.

 

[Q]

This is far from a new concept. I live in a very union heavy town, and my local Teamsters and Electricians Union halls have had the very same policy in place for at least the last 20 years. If you drove a foreign vehicle, you park in the back lot.

I'm torn on this issue. While I agree that you should support your place of employment, and to that end support their products, you also shouldn't have to be held hostage to an inferior product, whether perceived as such or not. I personally feel that, yet again, the domestic auto manufacturers are demonstrating their lack of focus.

 

[LeftLane]

As another data point, Microsoft doesn't obsess that we us use Windows, get an x-box, or drive CE equipped cars.

Does Microsoft care if you choose to use Linux at work? Can you opt to use your competitors' products at work whenever you want? Maybe it's different, since Microsoft isn't on it's deathbed. I have zero problems with this policy. If the Ford union employees don't have enough faith in their own product to own it, why should anyone else? The unions are the cause of the problems in the first place, so they get no sympathy from me at all.

 

[dnicho05]

Now first off I would never work for Ford because they seem to be stuck in a rut with their designs, gas guzzling engines, and are over priced for what you get (or are they really?).

Ford makes trucks, SUVs, and Minivans which are on par with just about any other truck, SUV, or minivan on the US market (debatable but not my point here). I want to look at it from the point of getting a simple commuter vehicle for the assembly line worker that has a 30mile or longer commute, and who doesn't want to have to park a mile away from the plant in the middle of the winter in Michigan unless it’s absolutely necessary. So off to the web sites I went.

The best "Ford" has in the economy offering right now is the Focus. The 4 door looks kind-of like a civic, currently runs $13000 plus tax decently equipped, and gets 34mpg highway (which means it gets 28 to 30mpg in real world). I'm sure they offer an employee discount of at least $2k, so that means $11k plus tax.
That’s not too horrible...

A 4 door civic currently runs around $18,429 plus tax similarly equipped (believe it or not) and you would get no employee discount. It has 10 more horse power and gets 40mpg highway (which means 34 to 36mpg in real world). You could step up to a civic hybrid which gets between 45 and 47mpg real world (that’s what I get for milage), but those are now running $21,850 plus tax, and that’s if you can find one.

I would have to evaluate build quality differences in person and you can argue resale value; but I think if I had to work for Ford and had to buy one in order to park near the facility, I think I could live with an $11K focus. The difference in the 10hp and 6mpg on a regular civic is offset enough by the price difference of the Focus where it would be pretty much a wash in cost over the life of the car (unless the gas prices double in the next year).

 

[nsxtasy]

The 4 door looks kind-of like a civic, currently runs $13000 plus tax decently equipped
.
.
.
A 4 door civic currently runs around $18,429 plus tax similarly equipped (believe it or not)

Wow! I can't believe you would suggest such a TOTALLY unfair comparison. You are not comparing similarly equipped vehicles. You are comparing the base, stripped Ford Focus against the highest (EX) version of the Civic, which includes items like moonroof, A/C, power windows, power door locks, etc. For a fair comparison, compare the base Focus (the Focus ZX4 S sedan), $13,750 MSRP, against the Civic DX sedan, $14,560 MSRP. And you'll find that the Focus ZX4 S is still missing basic safety equipment like ABS ($400 extra on the Focus), side impact airbags ($350 extra on the Focus), and side curtain airbags (not available on the Focus), all of which are standard on even the lowest model Civic. Plus the Civic has MUCH lower depreciation (retains a higher percentage of its purchase price), has greater reliability, and as you mentioned, offers more power and refinement, all for a purchase price that is virtually identical when similarly equipped. All of which explains why people have been buying many, many more Honda Civics than Ford Focuses (308,415 Civics vs 184,825 Focuses in 2005).

Furthermore, employee discounts on the base model cars are much, much less than you stated. Those models sell for much lower profit margins than more expensive cars, and the discounts are commensurately smaller. This is also true of the dealer profit margins (the spread between dealer invoice pricing and MSRP).

 

[dnicho05]

Man you do like coming off blunt don't you nsxtasy.:wink:

It was a quick 30 second comparison. It wasn't the base Focus though, it was the ZX4 SES model with automatic transmission. It is $15560 - $2500 cash back bonus = $13060.
http://www53.forddirect.fordvehicle...ig&partner=&zip=&sModel=2006Focus&sBrand=Ford

The Civic was the LX model with an automatic transmission at $17,310. Somehow when I went throught the quick build and price, it popped in a 6-disk CD changer package which brought it up to $18,430. So correction, the Civic I was comparing was $17,310, sorry.
http://automobiles.honda.com/models...iptions.asp?ModelName=Civic+Sedan&Category=LX


I chose a $2k employee discount due to a friend here at work who's father works for GM (not Ford) who got $2k off his last GM purchase two years ago, so correct, just a guess.

Now for a about $1200 more on the focus you can add antilock brakes, extra airbags etc. to get them real close, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. I know that the civic is the better car, thats why I own a Civic Hybrid as my daily driver, and thats why I own an NSX as my choice of sports car.

All I meant to get across was that even with lets say only a $3k to $4k difference between the cars, I would still be swayed towards getting the cheezy focus to save having to walk a quarter mile or more in the winter up North to get to the plant, and to keep from being harassed by my fellow co-workers for not being company person. If your going to work for a company you should have some interest in their products.