Well, today
I wondered about Parker Pen. What’s up with those guys?
Oh, but
first—you have taken your anti-depressants today, haven’t you?
Parker Pen
was founded in Paul Ryan’s hometown—Janesville, Wisconsin. I knew that, of
course, because Jack would on occasion refer to “old man Parker.” He started
the whole company in 1888. Knew everybody in town, everybody knew him.
And
Janesville, thought Jack, was a nice little town. Good people. Nice place to
live. Not like Rockford—a hardscrabble city.
And old man
Parker did OK for himself. Got a patent in 1894 for something called the “Lucky
Curve” pen, and then, in 1931, developed the “quink.” That would be “quick
drying ink”—and it eliminated the need for blotting.
Turned out
to be a hit. The Parker pen was number one or two in the world for forty years
between 1920 and the sixties. They got around—the company had manufacturing
units in Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Mexico and the UK.
Oh, and the
armistice that ended World War II?
Signed with
a Parker pen!
Things got
a little screwy in the seventies, when the company bought, and then sold,
Manpower, the temp agency. Also, strangely, an automotive sensor company. (Don’t
know what that’s about).
But not as
screwy as in 1987, when there was a management buyout, and the company moved to
Newhaven, England. Then, in 1991, Gillette bought the company. They
manufacture, you may recall, PaperMate.
And then,
in the summer of 2009, the company announced two things. Production in Newhaven
was moving to France. 180 jobs lost.
And
operations ceased in Janesville, Wisconsin. Here’s what the company said:
This decision
is a response to structural issues accelerated by market trends and is in no
way a reflection on the highly valued work performed by our Janesville
employees over the years.
Gee—why does
this sound familiar?
“Not one job
will be lost,” they announced at Wal-Mart, in a special meeting called to boost
morale and quell rumors.
Well, it was
true. The day I was terminated, I was told that the position I held had been
eliminated. But there were other positions available! I was given a list!
Cake decorator
in the Ponce store?
Night shift
receiving in Carolina?
I stopped
reading after that.
You know, old
man Parker probably made a bundle. He also had to walk down the streets of
Janesville, Wisconsin. People looked him in the eye, greeted him. His kids went to
the same school as the kids of the guys working in the factory.
Was he a good
guy, a nice guy?
Jack never
said.
They both
operated under one principle:
You don’t do
that to good people.
Sorry, that’s
the “highly valued workers of our Janesville operation over the years.”
