You can tell by the sweat-soaked FlagDesk shirt, it was the end of a long hot run. The setting sun poured into the Hostess Brands clean windows. We saw the colorful awning from about a half mile away along with a very nice 50 ft. flagpole. I pulled the camera from my pouch and said "rolling!" Instead of heading over the display, we started jarring about Hostess: Wonder Bread®, Twinkies®, etc. Today we really wished we would have gone over to see the flagpole.
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| Wonder Bread Factory, Indianapolis |
Hostess Brands released a statement today that "Hostess Brands is Closed." "HOSTESS BRANDS TO WIND DOWN COMPANY AFTER BCTGM UNION STRIKE CRIPPLES OPERATIONS" appears in bold. Apparently the company has attempted to recover from its declining financial position for many years. In a last ditch effort to save the company, it requested its employees to take an 8% salary cut along with a sizable health insurance reduction. With more than 18,500 employees, this would have certainly helped mitigate the slump.
But the squeeze on Hostess' employees was too great and it was escalated to the union. A strike was organized. Maybe the union didn't understand the dire situation for the company. Maybe they did. In any event, today's statement by Hostess Brands is a sad day for flag flyers and the FlagRunners. It also leaves many interesting questions. For one, with an indefinite shelf life, will Twinkies® raise in value as a collectors item?
