Shop-Vac is going out of business

[Steve Wurster]

Apparently their prospective buyer walked away, and so they closed the entire company this morning. Employees were let go, and supposedly their insurance and benefits were completely dropped.

https://www.northcentralpa.com/business/shop-vac-is-closing-hundreds-of-employees-to-lose-jobs/article_22df06ee-f77a-11ea-b643-0bc122c9e71c.html

[Ron Citerone]

Very sad for the employees there.

[glenn bradley]

Sad indeed. I hate to see anyone lose their job no matter what. The product line has been waffling for several years with lackluster performance at a premium price in their arena. In California you can opt for COBRA but, the cost is quite high.

[Brian Elfert]

How does COBRA work if the company is out of business? I bet someone snaps up the brand name to put on Chinese vacuums.

I am surprised they were that low on cash that they had to lay off everyone the same day as the announcement. Even the office employees only have jobs through the end of the week.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I feel sad for the employees too, but I can't see much loss in terms of the product leaving the market. I've used (tried to use, anyway) with a few Shop Vac brand vacuums, and they were markedly inferior to Craftsman and Ridgid vacs of the same approximate era, in my opinion, mainly due to the poorly designed filter. Maybe the new ones were better, I haven't used one made in the last 20 years or so.

[Jim Becker]

How does COBRA work if the company is out of business?

That's a good question because "normally", folks taking advantage of COBRA (err...paying extra for it) is when the company plan is still in force and the subscriber who no longer works there is paying the extra premium to cover the employer cost plus the employee cost, more or less. In this case, they may be hosed unless the carrier will cover them on an individual policy. Fortunately open enrollment season is soon to be here for individual plans and they may be able to sign up sooner because of the "change of status".

To the original point, it's very sad when a well-known brand manufacturer has to throw in the towel, particularly for the workers.

[Mike Henderson]

That's one of the weaknesses of COBRA - the company has to be in business. If the company is in business, you can "tag on" for 18 months by paying the company for the premiums on the health care.

Then California enacted CALCOBRA which gives you an additional 18 months beyond regular COBRA, although I think there are some limitations on CALCOBRA. So in California you can get three years of coverage after losing your job - with you paying for it, of course.

But I'm pretty sure the company has to be in business and have health insurance for other employees. It's good if you were working for a big company and just got laid off - and the company is still in business.

Mike

[This would be very valuable to someone who is about 62 when they were laid off. With COBRA and CALCOBRA they can keep health insurance for three years at a decent price. If they had to go on the open market for health care it would cost a fortune because of their age (probably over $1,000/mo for one person).]

[Brian Elfert]

I feel sad for the employees too, but I can't see much loss in terms of the product leaving the market. I've used (tried to use, anyway) with a few Shop Vac brand vacuums, and they were markedly inferior to Craftsman and Ridgid vacs of the same approximate era, in my opinion, mainly due to the poorly designed filter. Maybe the new ones were better, I haven't used one made in the last 20 years or so.

Emerson Electric made/makes the Craftsman and Ridgid shop vacs. I never wanted a Shop-Vac because they seem to require a bag instead of dumping into the the canister. I have a Ridgid from back when Home Depot practically gave them away on Black Friday.

I noticed that Menards now has Masterforce shop vacuums made in China. The Chinese stuff can't have helped Shop-Vac.

[Mike Henderson]

The problem I always had with ShopVac units were that they were LOUD. The Ridgid vacs had a range of loudness - the cheap ones were loud and the more expensive were quieter. If I recall, they gave you some number that indicated the relative loudness.

Mike

[Bill Yacey]

I've thought the same thing for years. A Shop-Vac labled 2HP means that 1119 watts is consumed producing noise, and the remaining 373 watts produce vacuum. I had an old Eureka vacuum cleaner from the 1960s that was whisper quiet in comparison, and out-vacuumed any shop vac I've ever used.

[Ron Citerone]

If your employer has a good plan, you might be paying a lot for cobra. I'm paying $1800/month (For my wife and I) for cobra medical and prescriptions through my employer presently. Great plan, but it costs.

[Ole Anderson]

My issue with ShopVacs was the bearings would go out prematurely and would get this terrible growl as they were spinning down when shut off. Still use my wall mounted garage version with the long hose. Went with Craftsman for my last shop vac.

[Frank Pratt]

I've use 2 or 3 Shop-Vacs over the years (never owned one) & they were all junk compared to other economy brand vacuums like Craftsman or Ridgid. I'm surprised the have been around as long as they have.

I thing Ridgid are about the best value in shop vacuums.

[Mike Soaper]

Given that B&D bought Craftsman from Sears, and that Lowes now carries Craftsman tools I wonder if Lowes might have had plans to replace it's Shop-Vac vacs with Craftsman and/or Dewalt vacs, which meant a large customer loss for Shop-Vac.

I also feel sad for the shop-vac employees, saying it suck's never seemed so appropriate.

[Bernie Kopfer]

I know this is going to sound snarky but this is good old fashioned Capitalism at work. The workers get shafted again. Capitalism itself is not bad but unbridled unregulated Capitalism is not good either. Good government should be the regulator of Capitalism and see to it that it plays fair for everyone, worker, investor and consumer. Did I say GOOD government? unfortunately we don’t seem to believe that exists and refuse to make our legislators create one.

[Jason Roehl]

I know this is going to sound snarky but this is good old fashioned Capitalism at work. The workers get shafted again. Capitalism itself is not bad but unbridled unregulated Capitalism is not good either. Good government should be the regulator of Capitalism and see to it that it plays fair for everyone, worker, investor and consumer. Did I say GOOD government? unfortunately we don’t seem to believe that exists and refuse to make our legislators create one.

Maybe it was partly the fault of the workers? Perhaps they unionized and demanded an unsustainable wage structure. Perhaps they did shoddy work, leading to an inferior product for the price point.

Regardless, ShopVac went out of business because income was too low and expenses were too high. Blaming the economic system instead of factors internal to the company which are completely unknown seems kind of presumptuous to me.

[Mike Henderson]

Maybe it was partly the fault of the workers? Perhaps they did shoddy work, leading to an inferior product for the price point.

If shoddy work is being done, it is the fault of management, not the workers. Management has to demand good work and provide the training and tools for the workers to do good work. Studies have shown that workers want to take pride in the product they build, and do take pride in the product if it is a good product.

Management has the responsibility of determining what the potential purchasers want in a product, and what they're wiling to pay. Remember the definition of quality: "Quality is what the customer says it is." Look at what other vac manufacturers have done and ask why ShopVac didn't do the same. ShopVac's failure has to be laid at the feet of the executive and management staff, and not blamed on the poor stiff on the assembly line.

Mike

[Mark Bolton]

I know this is going to sound snarky but this is good old fashioned Capitalism at work. The workers get shafted again. Capitalism itself is not bad but unbridled unregulated Capitalism is not good either. Good government should be the regulator of Capitalism and see to it that it plays fair for everyone, worker, investor and consumer. Did I say GOOD government? unfortunately we don’t seem to believe that exists and refuse to make our legislators create one.

Boy oh boy. If 3% of the population thought like you did, and if .03% of the corporations thought like you did, we may actually have something a few steps from utopia. What a refreshing post to read. Well said. The days of capitalism doing "whats right" never existed. OSHA, Workers comp, COBRA, EPA, DEP, Tort, on and on,.. all the effects of unregulated capitalism because they cant conduct themselves like compassionate members of a society.

[Mark Bolton]

The problem I always had with ShopVac units were that they were LOUD. The Ridgid vacs had a range of loudness - the cheap ones were loud and the more expensive were quieter. If I recall, they gave you some number that indicated the relative loudness.

Mike

We have had 3 rigid shop vacs replaced by our local branch without question that either got ridiculously noisey, lost suction, or just quit working. I started clipping the receipts to the wall with the vac marked on the envelope so when one failed I could just grab the head, the envelope, and go to the store. They would take the power head, the receipt, and hand you an entire vac, in the box.. We never install the wheels or the other crap.. it just goes in the dumpster or on the shelf (hoses and attachments). I could make some money if hoses and ends were worth anything lol.