hershey's laid off over 300 people at the peppermint pattie plant and is hiring people in Mexico. there are plans to move more of our jobs there. there are not enough jobs here as it is for american citizens and i feel this is just wrong.

also please email hershey directly on their contact us page if you have time.
thank you

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hi we heard about this the other day, very upsetting news. we actually were at hersheys for valenties day the place was packed as usual, had we known about this then we would not have gone. they're going to have to change their song now to "Hersheys the great mexican chocolate bar". plain and simple we must buy american!

My opinion is that this happens because the American consumer doesn't want to pay for what a product needs to cost when it's made in the USA. The consumer has to be willing to pay more (are you?) or the worker has to accept a lower wage (would you?) or the shareholder has to accept lower profits....or the hated CEO needs to take a smaller wage. We can't have it all.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

I understand your point and agree that jobs should be kept in the USA. However, for various reasons, jobs are being outsourced by most companys. If we only bought from US companys, we'd probably starve and be naked. It's getting harder and harder every day.

Me? I like peppermint patties and will continue to eat them.

Never eat Hershey's so no problem for me! I do agree with cjs216 though. We can't have it all. If we want American jobs and want Americans to make products then we, as the consumers, must be willing to pony up A LOT more money for those items. Most people don't want to. They want to pay the least amount of money possible. To pay a *living wage* here is a lot more money than a living wage elsewhere. If we didn't want cheaper products, we would have more American's building things and making things...at least that is my opinion.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Well said!

Well.. I'm glad I didn't restock my chocolate stash yet.

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If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

We actually rely on Hershey chocolate chips. Ghirardelli and Nestle chocolate chip packages both claim to contain peanut products, while Hershey still offers peanut-free varieties.

U.S. Nestle's chocolate factories do not attempt to make a peanut free version of their chocolate bars, chocolate chips, etc. However, the Nestle factories overseas are happy to do so, and even provide the label "This is a peanut-free food" on the package. When I contacted our U.S. Nestle's corporate office myself and asked if they intended to make peanut free chocolate available in the U.S. they said they had no intention of doing so.

Some families with food allergies (such as ours) have to go by what's the safest choice. If any other comparable chocolate company would start guaranteeing our chocolate chips are peanut free, I'm happy to jump off the Hershey boat...

But that does stink that they are outsourcing jobs.

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

I think it stinks, too, but we love Hersheys! The 1/2 pound Hershey bar is a favorite of ours to give to my dds friends for birthday or Christmas gifts along with whatever else we get them - usually a cute shirt.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

While it is always sad when someone loses his job these are not "our jobs." They are Hershey's jobs to do with as they please. If you want to have control over jobs then start your own company.

Unless you can claim that you purchase NOTHING made or grown outside the USA then you have no right to complain, you are part of the problem.

And as the other posters said, American's are driving jobs out of this country. Until we are ready to either pay more or make less it will continue to happen. I mean, have you ever been to a Walmart? Ever checked out the parking lot? Americans want to buy cheap and that means "Made in China" or some such place.

If you want to try to avoid the same fate as these people losing their jobs, do some research on the jobs projected to have a demand in the future (ie-healthcare) and go back to school now to get the training to be hired into one.

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Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

BINGO!!!!!

You can't have it both ways...cheap everything and all made in America.We have to be willing to pay more $$$$ to buy American made because Americans won't work for as little as others. Are you ( all Americans) willing to work for those wages????Most of us would say NO! But....will still want cheap, cheap, cheap. It is a vicious cycle.

And yes...we have to change and get more education and training....be willing to go where the needs are. Nothing is safe and nothing stays the same. People had to do this when computers came on the scene. Business changed. Needs changed. American car manufacturers can't stay the same and continue to operate as they have in the past. If they do, they will be in worse shape than they already are...maybe not even exist.

Umm, one word. CLINTON.

Yeah we'll just run out and get us a new college degree(medical field)....that will be 5 years and $200,000+ please...will that be cash, check or charge? I suppose easy for someone that's young to say...how about those of us that aren't young and aren't rich? How about those that are sitting on $200,000 in college loans already in a field that's already obsolete since they got their degree 5 years ago? And then what happens when you get out of nursing school in 5 years only to find out that everybody and their brother and sister is sitting on the same degree and is looking for a job in the same field? This IS going to happen because everybody and their sister is retraining for a medical field job right now!

I wouldn't go into nursing. I know a fair number of nurses right now that aren't working full shifts or aren't working at all. There are already too many "newbies" in the market so they can work more people less hours for less pay. I have a friend who is a nurse who is looking for a 2nd job to help pay the bills (she's a single mom). No one field is going to be the "it" field.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Specific occupation recommendations aside, I think the key here is to have capabilities - flexibility, knowledge, and marketable skills - that are more likely to remain in demand and earn a livable wage. Unskilled labor will continue to be moved offshore as it has been for years.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

How come George II gets a free pass? He had 8 years to correct whatever it is that you believe Clinton did....

It's really a matter of economics--other countries supply cheap labor, in plants that are not subject to OSHA guidelines or Enviromental guidelines. Thus the product or service can be produced cheaply, and the manufacture can make a profit.

This kind of thing has little to do w/ politics per se, and more to do with MONEY and GREED.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I believe she said Clinton because of NAFTA, which is what opened things up for jobs to go to Mexico.

The thing is... if we buy American and pay the higher prices, we'll have to buy *less*.

Say we have to pay $5 for a bag of York Peppermint Patties that are American made rather than $2.50 for a Mexican made bag.

The more we have to pay for everything, the fewer things we can afford. Therefore, if I opt for the $5 Patties, I can no longer afford the two 2-liter bottles of American-made Diet Coke I was going to buy, and Coke's profits suffer as a result.

I'd consider candy and cola 'above baseline' items since they aren't necessities, and as we make choices for spending our disposable income, we can't afford to pay 'higher' for everything and still consume all of the same things. Something - or someone - is going to suffer when we cut back in order to pay 'more' for a few things.

ETA: Marilyn, while I understand about the money and greed thing, it's a big issue and not limited to the people at the top of corporations. Labor Unions that fight for extremely generous retirement and insurance packages that aren't comfortably sustainable. The absence of these expenses in the Mexican system is what allows them to work so cheaply. I think there needs to be a happy middle ground somewhere. Many of these jobs are obviously low-skill-level jobs (or they couldn't move production to Mexico so easily) and yet apparently the compensation expected for them is higher than the bottom line can easily absorb if the workers expect American wages.

I'm with the other food allergy person who posted above. I will continue to eat my Hershey bars (one of only two types of chocolate I can eat due to peanut allergies) smothered in my soy butter (that is made in Canada for Walmart).

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I've never lied to you. I've always told you some version the of truth.

Absolutely NAFTA one reason for this mess! GREED across the board! Greed from the employee and the employer! If it didn't cost so much to operate a business in the US, I doubt they'd move to Mexico...but the truth is that greed has driven businesses to move out of the US. Insurance prices are sky high because of law suits and health care costs...taxes are sky high...it just goes on and on. Employees want to make $35 an hour to screw in a bolt but the sad thing is they have to make that to be able to afford the high cost of living...I mean when the median home price is over $200,000(and a car is $30,000) it's not like we can work for $2 an hour like in Mexico!!!! There's just so much wrong with our economy I couldn't even being to know where to start!

Hershey announced this move 2 years ago. Hershey has the park, the candy making operations, the town, hotel hershey and the hospital and probably numerous charities that they give to. Hershey is a quality product and company that has employed hundreds for many years, as such they will continue to recieve my support. Did you ever notice how many of our grocery stores are owned by companies out of the country? Does that make you want to quit eating? Coffee is imported are you willing to give that up?

First of all, healthcare was just a "for instance." There are plenty of jobs in the medical field that do not require 5 years of school and $200,000. And who said anything about nursing?

And it might be easy for someone who is young to say, but that isn't me. I am 41years old and one year into my three year plan to earn a Masters in Occupational Therapy. I am doing it because I am a single mother with a 22 month old and I want us to have a comfortable life.

If you claim to have $200,000 in college loans for a degree in a field that has become obsolete in the last five years you are either exaggerating or a very poor planner. Meaning you planned poorly when you picked your major and you planned poorly when you spent $50,000/yr to go to school (assuming a 4 year school).

No one is telling you that you have to do anything. But the writing is on the wall, if you don't want to make the necessary sacrifices to put yourself in the best position possible then don't complain when you are out of a job in the future.

Like they say in the military: Choose your rate, choose your fate.

Making sacrifices may include scrimping to go to school or relocating to a better job market.

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Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

$200,000 in student loans is not out of the ordinary. Ever checked into a degree from UT?

I only buy food made or produced in the US with one exception, Walkers shortbread (made in England). I will still buy Hersheys as it's made in the US, also my favorite candy bar, I don't eat the pepermint patties, if they ever start making the regular candy bars in Mexico, I won't be buying them. It has nothing to do with job outsourcing though, I just prefer to buy food produced, processed or grown in the United States. I will pay more for it to be from the United States.

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Completely agree!!!!! Sherri

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"It isn't that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
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