Shop-Vac is going out of business

[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.