"JW" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 12:19:32 -0500 willshak wrote in
Message id: :

On 12/6/2004 11:51 AM US(ET), JW took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 05:55:04 GMT "Fred"
wrote in Message id: Yicsd.678$S33.563@trnddc03:




The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to suck
the
assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good, but
now
I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.



Ditto. My B&D coffepot's heating plate rotted out after 9 months or so,
and the little valve thing on the basket that allows you to get a cup
while it's brewing leaked like a sieve after 2 months.

My B&D coffee maker's LCD readout became very dim and couldn't be read.
I called B&D and they told me to cut off the power cord as close to the
machine as possible and send it to them. I did, and they sent me a new
coffee maker. I saved the old pot and other parts for spares.

I tried calling them, and the rep stated that if it still was functioning
there was nothing they could do. I told him that it was the last B&D
anything I'd ever buy. Like he cared...

Should have called back the next day and said it was completely broken,
likely they'd never even check.

On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 01:56:42 GMT, wrote:

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 17:13:07 GMT, Daniel Rudy
9b0e1l2l3.4i5n6v7a8l9i0d1.2n3e4t5
wrote:

At about the time of 12/5/2004 5:04 AM, Edwin Pawlowski stated the
following:

. It had a keyless chuck. I have never
been fond of those things, but most hold if you burn the **** out of
your hand tightening them. Not this one. I dont hold anything.


Cheap keyless chucks are junk. OTOH, if you buy a $200 drill, they are
excellent.



Just goes to show you, you get what you pay for...usually. I'll spend
the money to by a quality peice of equipment that will give me years of
trouble free service vs. spending $20 for some chinese made peice of junk.


Depends what I need it for. Some stuff it's absolutely worth getting
quality. Snap-ring pliers for example. If I just need a cheap socket
set to keep in the car, the $30 set is fine. A brick chisel that I'll
never need again, a cheap chinese one is fine.

B&D makes a lot of Sears tools, btw. I agree that B&D quality has
gone down the toilet. I had a $30 Sears drill that endured 10 years
of abuse until I managed to snap the shaft driving lag bolts. An
equilvalent new replacement has plastic gears and would probably only
tolerant light use.

So far, I like Porter-Cable for medium quality tools. The circular
saw runs nice and quiet compared to many other I've tried.

-Chris

Black and Decker bought Porter-Cable earlier this year.

On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 05:55:04 GMT, "Fred"
wrote:

In my experience over the past 5 years or so, Black & Decker haven't made a
decent electric tool/appliance. I have bought one of their small drills,
then returned it when the motor seized up after 2 months. The replacement
worked for a year, then the motor developed an open circuit. Same for a
small jig saw -- the blade moved up and down at about a 5-degree angle off
vertical. The same for a small electric screwdriver.

The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to suck the
assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good, but now
I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.

Fred


Growing up, everything my dad ever bought made by black&decker broke
way too early.
He swore he never bought b&d again and hasn't
Makita is his preference.

Remove NO-SPAM from email address when replying

"Fred" wrote in message
news:Yicsd.678$S33.563@trnddc03...
In my experience over the past 5 years or so, Black & Decker haven't made
a
decent electric tool/appliance. I have bought one of their small drills,
then returned it when the motor seized up after 2 months. The replacement
worked for a year, then the motor developed an open circuit. Same for a
small jig saw -- the blade moved up and down at about a 5-degree angle off
vertical. The same for a small electric screwdriver.

The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to suck
the
assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good, but
now
I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.

Fred



My B&D battery operated drill worked for about an hour then it went to the
trash bin which is about as good as Sear's Craftsman drills.

With that said, B&D foldable table (Workmate) is extremely useful and
couldn't go without one on a jobsite, the old professional 10" chop saw is
pretty good and could take a lot of abuse and it would be hard to find a
better circular saw than the worm drive B&D.

Black and Decker went down the toilet when DeWalt bought them out.



"Fred" wrote in message
news:Yicsd.678$S33.563@trnddc03...
In my experience over the past 5 years or so, Black & Decker haven't made
a
decent electric tool/appliance. I have bought one of their small drills,
then returned it when the motor seized up after 2 months. The replacement
worked for a year, then the motor developed an open circuit. Same for a
small jig saw -- the blade moved up and down at about a 5-degree angle off
vertical. The same for a small electric screwdriver.

The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to suck
the
assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good, but
now
I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.

Fred

In article ETPud.556580$D%.382107@attbi_s51,
"Oscar_Lives" wrote:

Black and Decker went down the toilet when DeWalt bought them out.



According to the corporate history Black and Decker bought DeWalt in
1960.

See:

http://www.blackanddecker.co.uk/abou...ut=&ToolSectio
n=

Other brands they own are Price Pfister, Kwikset and Emhart.


Clearly the B&D tool line is a low end line and should be compared to
other low end lines like Ryobi, Harbor Freight etc. etc. People
comparing B&D performance to DeWalt, Milwaukee, Porter Cable etc. makes
no sense. It is like paying for a Toyota Tercel and expecting a Lexus.

Black and Decker itself makes this distinction on its home page where it
refers to the B&D line as a consumer line and the DeWalt line as a
"high-peformance" line.

They state:

"The Power Tools and Accessories segment manufactures and markets
consumer power tools, accessories, electric lawn and garden tools, and
electric cleaning and lighting products under the Black & Decker brand,
and high-performance power tools, accessories, industrial equipment,
laser products and air compressors under the DEWALT brand."

See the section on business segments at:

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir...DK&script=2100

"Joe Doe" wrote

Clearly the B&D tool line is a low end line and should be compared to
other low end lines like Ryobi, Harbor Freight etc. etc. People
comparing B&D performance to DeWalt, Milwaukee, Porter Cable etc. makes
no sense. It is like paying for a Toyota Tercel and expecting a Lexus.

Nobody's comparing anything. 3 out of the 4 B&D small power tools I have
bought in the past 5 years worked for less than 3 months each under normal
conditions. I don't think it's too much to ask that a product actually
WORK THE WAY IT WAS ADVERTISED!???

Black and Decker itself makes this distinction on its home page where it
refers to the B&D line as a consumer line and the DeWalt line as a
"high-peformance" line.

This is just B&D's way of saying "we told you so" and trying to prevent
unhappy consumers returning the products when they fail. Lazy or passive
people won't take the time to return a $30 item if it has worked for 2-3
months. They figure, "hey, I did get 2-3 month out of it, so that's OK."

I have had good experiences with B & D products. They are certainly not
commercial grade tools, but they seem to be at least a little better than
the typical consumer crap otherwise available, mostly. It varies with the
item. I just look at the options and try to pick the best one. If it
appears to be B & D, then so be it. Thus far I have found them to be
acceptable consumer grade products.

Leonard


"Fred" wrote in message
news:hV9wd.8375$xa6.2708@trnddc09...
"Joe Doe" wrote

Clearly the B&D tool line is a low end line and should be compared to
other low end lines like Ryobi, Harbor Freight etc. etc. People
comparing B&D performance to DeWalt, Milwaukee, Porter Cable etc. makes
no sense. It is like paying for a Toyota Tercel and expecting a Lexus.

Nobody's comparing anything. 3 out of the 4 B&D small power tools I have
bought in the past 5 years worked for less than 3 months each under normal
conditions. I don't think it's too much to ask that a product actually
WORK THE WAY IT WAS ADVERTISED!???

Black and Decker itself makes this distinction on its home page where it
refers to the B&D line as a consumer line and the DeWalt line as a
"high-peformance" line.

This is just B&D's way of saying "we told you so" and trying to prevent
unhappy consumers returning the products when they fail. Lazy or passive
people won't take the time to return a $30 item if it has worked for 2-3
months. They figure, "hey, I did get 2-3 month out of it, so that's OK."

A few years ago i noticed aluminum wire in some B&D stuff

Check the cross-country power lines all over the country: They're aluminum
also. So...you're saying this is a good thing, right?

A few years ago i noticed aluminum wire in some B&D stuff

"Leonard Caillouet" wrote
They are certainly not
commercial grade tools, but they seem to be at least a little better than
the typical consumer crap otherwise available, mostly.

A good motto for them!!

Depends on what you're doing. Aluminum wires don't carry as much current as
the same size copper - probably not a big deal with small power items.
Don't know much about the fatigue ,etc. I wouldn't use aluminum in
construction or panels, but probably fine in low power CRAP like BLACK AND
DECKER!!! (Had to get that shot in there!)

Fred

"WEBPA" wrote in message
...
Check the cross-country power lines all over the country: They're
aluminum
also. So...you're saying this is a good thing, right?

A few years ago i noticed aluminum wire in some B&D stuff

They bought GE appliances a few years ago and since then it has been
down hill.

CJT wrote:

Fred wrote:
In my experience over the past 5 years or so, Black & Decker haven't made a
decent electric tool/appliance. I have bought one of their small drills,
then returned it when the motor seized up after 2 months. The replacement
worked for a year, then the motor developed an open circuit. Same for a
small jig saw -- the blade moved up and down at about a 5-degree angle off
vertical. The same for a small electric screwdriver.

The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to suck the
assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good, but now
I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.

Fred



I quit buying their stuff long ago.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.

"rae baker" wrote in message
...
They bought GE appliances a few years ago and since then it has been
down hill.

CJT wrote:

Fred wrote:
In my experience over the past 5 years or so, Black & Decker haven't
made a
decent electric tool/appliance. I have bought one of their small
drills,
then returned it when the motor seized up after 2 months. The
replacement
worked for a year, then the motor developed an open circuit. Same for
a
small jig saw -- the blade moved up and down at about a 5-degree angle
off
vertical. The same for a small electric screwdriver.

The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to
suck the
assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good,
but now
I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.

Fred



I quit buying their stuff long ago.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers.

"rae baker" wrote in message
...


They bought GE appliances a few years ago and since then it has been
down hill.

CJT wrote:


Fred wrote:


In my experience over the past 5 years or so, Black & Decker haven't


made a


decent electric tool/appliance. I have bought one of their small


drills,


then returned it when the motor seized up after 2 months. The


replacement


worked for a year, then the motor developed an open circuit. Same for


a


small jig saw -- the blade moved up and down at about a 5-degree angle


off


vertical. The same for a small electric screwdriver.

The company must have been taken over by some Wall Street group to


suck the


assets out of it, I don't know. Their stuff used to be quite good,


but now


I wouldn't touch any of their stuff, sorry to say.

Fred




I quit buying their stuff long ago.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .








--
Bill

"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

....which are probably all in China.

jak

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".

Not related to anything, but GE employees call the GE logo the "meatball".

After seeing how they treated my friend, who is THE best salesman I have
ever seen, I wouldn't use a GE product to wipe my butt with.

He used to sell for one of their industrial divisions until he got fed up
and got a decent company to work for. They can't do a good job calling on
customers because HQ is always sending the latest green VP down to ride
around with them. Then, when they're allowed to plan their own day, they
have to limit their sales calls because of the time required to fill out the
reams of meaningless reports. In the mean time, their customers wait for
weeks for GE customer service to contact them. I myself was interested in
an industrial product and never did get anyone to give a reference on it.

Fred

"none" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".

"none" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".



Around here I would call it Gone Eccentric. They might have been right or
wrong in getting out of the Power Transformer business but that left six
thousand without jobs a few years back. Recently Plastics brought fifty or
sixty people from India and Mexico here to train as accounts
payable/receivable clerks and help desk assistants. Those people eventually
went back to their countries with the jobs that were done here. Of course,
the people doing the training here in the States are now unemployed. They
may "Bring good things to life" but they can ruthlessly destroy good lives
also.

Bill

none wrote:

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...

On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:


No kidding! I thought GE still made them.



B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".



or Generally defective.

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 10:14:46 -0800, Jamie
wrote:

none wrote:

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...

On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:


No kidding! I thought GE still made them.



B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".



or Generally defective.

Touche

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 09:03:18 GMT, "Fred"
wrote:

Not related to anything, but GE employees call the GE logo the "meatball".

After seeing how they treated my friend, who is THE best salesman I have
ever seen, I wouldn't use a GE product to wipe my butt with.

He used to sell for one of their industrial divisions until he got fed up
and got a decent company to work for. They can't do a good job calling on
customers because HQ is always sending the latest green VP down to ride
around with them. Then, when they're allowed to plan their own day, they
have to limit their sales calls because of the time required to fill out the
reams of meaningless reports. In the mean time, their customers wait for
weeks for GE customer service to contact them. I myself was interested in
an industrial product and never did get anyone to give a reference on it.

Fred

Fred, I grew up way back when in a home that had to deal with GE and
all the crap they dish out.
My old man was an electrical engineer working in one of their
industrial divisions servicing motors and generators.
I still hate GE with my heart and soul to this very day.
It wasn't untill my old man tried to got the union in that he got a
decent wage.
It took over a year with GE pulling every criminal, dirty trick it
could to bust our efforts.
They even hired teamsters to come in and terrorize the families.
I took more than a few licks on that one, not to mention me and my
father having our cars bashed up on several occasions.
I wouldn't pollute my **** on a GE product.

"none" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".

I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can tell.

One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors a
couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time fixing their
products in the field and the other time replacing them!!

"none" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 09:03:18 GMT, "Fred"
wrote:

Not related to anything, but GE employees call the GE logo the
"meatball".

After seeing how they treated my friend, who is THE best salesman I have
ever seen, I wouldn't use a GE product to wipe my butt with.

He used to sell for one of their industrial divisions until he got fed up
and got a decent company to work for. They can't do a good job calling
on
customers because HQ is always sending the latest green VP down to ride
around with them. Then, when they're allowed to plan their own day, they
have to limit their sales calls because of the time required to fill out
the
reams of meaningless reports. In the mean time, their customers wait for
weeks for GE customer service to contact them. I myself was interested
in
an industrial product and never did get anyone to give a reference on it.

Fred

Fred, I grew up way back when in a home that had to deal with GE and
all the crap they dish out.
My old man was an electrical engineer working in one of their
industrial divisions servicing motors and generators.
I still hate GE with my heart and soul to this very day.
It wasn't untill my old man tried to got the union in that he got a
decent wage.
It took over a year with GE pulling every criminal, dirty trick it
could to bust our efforts.
They even hired teamsters to come in and terrorize the families.
I took more than a few licks on that one, not to mention me and my
father having our cars bashed up on several occasions.
I wouldn't pollute my **** on a GE product.

"none" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 17:41:50 -0600, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 12/29/2004 11:18 PM US(ET), Fred took fingers to keys, and typed
the
following:

No kidding! I thought GE still made them.


B&D bought GE's small appliance division, not the large appliance
division. The small appliances are probably still made in the former
GE
plants with former GE workers...

...which are probably all in China.

jak


GE hasn't actually used American workers to make any kind of appliance
for some time.
Just one more reason they're known as "Generous Electric".

"Fred" wrote in message
news:wEIBd.22082$rL3.13022@trnddc03...
I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can tell.

One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors a
couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time fixing
their
products in the field and the other time replacing them!!


GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news:LYIBd.20971$2X6.11679@trnddc07...

| GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
| they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
| return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
| forever tarnished.

A lot of these old line names seem to be rented out to 'improve' crap these
days! You can usually tell when you see them used on some totally 'wrong'
product. "Bell and Howell Triple Head Shaver - As Seen On TV" comes to mind.
Bell and Howell Shavers??? What happened to their projectors?

N

"NSM" wrote in message
news:EhLBd.43478$KO5.35687@clgrps13...

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news:LYIBd.20971$2X6.11679@trnddc07...

| GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
| they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
| return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
| forever tarnished.

A lot of these old line names seem to be rented out to 'improve' crap
these
days! You can usually tell when you see them used on some totally 'wrong'
product. "Bell and Howell Triple Head Shaver - As Seen On TV" comes to
mind.
Bell and Howell Shavers??? What happened to their projectors?

N


Bell and Howell is the brand of parts systems that I repair in car
dealerships. Same logo, so I know it's the same group. That scares me!!

Will

James Sweet wrote:

GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

Back in the '60s (and possibly earlier) GE was a innovator in production
shortcuts. Since they also developed and manufactured electron tubes
and plastics, they took advantage of it in their consumer product
development. Their TVs were the first with polarized power cords,
presumably to assure acceptable performance.

On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 02:25:47 GMT, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"Fred" wrote in message
news:wEIBd.22082$rL3.13022@trnddc03...
I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can tell.
One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors a
couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time fixing
their products in the field and the other time replacing them!!

GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

From chapter 5 of 'Perfectly Legal' by David Cay Johnston:

'Jack Welch left GE in September 2001 after 41 years. His final
salary and bonus totaled $16.7 million. He also left with stock
options worth a quarter of a billion dollars and a pension that
shareholders were told was worth more than $9 million a year.'

This did not include the perks that were paid by GE, including a
Boing 737 for his personal use (page 61).

I guess that GE was doing fine for some.

Geo

c.reifert wrote:

Bell and Howell is the brand of parts systems that I repair in car
dealerships. Same logo, so I know it's the same group. That scares me!!

Will

B&H were also in the military manufacturing business (Radar/Periscopes
etc.)!

"GEO" wrote in message
...

| From chapter 5 of 'Perfectly Legal' by David Cay Johnston:
|
| 'Jack Welch left GE in September 2001 after 41 years. His final
| salary and bonus totaled $16.7 million. He also left with stock
| options worth a quarter of a billion dollars and a pension that
| shareholders were told was worth more than $9 million a year.'
|
| This did not include the perks that were paid by GE, including a
| Boing 737 for his personal use (page 61).
|
| I guess that GE was doing fine for some.
|
| Geo

See "America: What Went Wrong?" by James B Steele, Donald L. Barlett

Reader's quote === "America: What Went Wrong" is just as important and
relevant today as it was when initially released. America's overall economic
situation is much worse today than it was when this book was initially
published. This book accurately forecasts the problems America has as it
loses its manufacturing base and became a service-oriented society (Wal-Mart
supposedly has 700 Chinese factories of its own). Now the multi-national's
factories are fleeing Mexico in 2002 for the slave-like workers of China.
Unsettling for sure, I challenge you to read this book and don't be
surprised if you re-read parts of it as the late 1990s Clinton/Greenspan
artificial economic bubble unwinds into a 1930s style worldwide economic
depression.

GW

On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 22:33:38 -0800, Mad Mac
wrote:

c.reifert wrote:

Bell and Howell is the brand of parts systems that I repair in car
dealerships. Same logo, so I know it's the same group. That scares me!!

Will

B&H were also in the military manufacturing business (Radar/Periscopes
etc.)!

Bell and Howell were into just about all types of manufacturing years
ago.
Especially the photographic industry.
Gunsight cameras, belly cameras etc...
Then there's all the actual general photgraphic cameras from still to
mopic.( in the 60's they marketed the most popular work horse 35mm
around under the pentax label. Spotmatic was it's name.)
Then of course there's all the WWII era cameras they made for th
military which were used right up to the late 70's.( their 16mm combat
movie cameras the KM, KLM, KRM 70 series. I used them during my combat
camera days.)
They also made slide strip projectors as well as movie film
projectors.
They started out as principally a grinder of optical lenses and grew
from there.

On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 06:25:30 GMT, "GEO" wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 02:25:47 GMT, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"Fred" wrote in message
news:wEIBd.22082$rL3.13022@trnddc03...
I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can tell.
One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors a
couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time fixing
their products in the field and the other time replacing them!!

GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

From chapter 5 of 'Perfectly Legal' by David Cay Johnston:

'Jack Welch left GE in September 2001 after 41 years. His final
salary and bonus totaled $16.7 million. He also left with stock
options worth a quarter of a billion dollars and a pension that
shareholders were told was worth more than $9 million a year.'

This did not include the perks that were paid by GE, including a
Boing 737 for his personal use (page 61).

I guess that GE was doing fine for some.

Geo
Yet when I worked for them as an electrician's assistant they often
tried to cheat me out of my pay.(late paychecks, short paychecks
etc...)

On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 07:17:23 GMT, "NSM" wrote:


"GEO" :
| From chapter 5 of 'Perfectly Legal' by David Cay Johnston:
| 'Jack Welch left GE in September 2001 after 41 years. His final
| salary and bonus totaled $16.7 million. He also left with stock
| options worth a quarter of a billion dollars and a pension that
| shareholders were told was worth more than $9 million a year.'
| This did not include the perks that were paid by GE, including a
| Boing 737 for his personal use (page 61).
|
| I guess that GE was doing fine for some.


See "America: What Went Wrong?" by James B Steele, Donald L. Barlett

Reader's quote === "America: What Went Wrong" is just as important and
relevant today as it was when initially released. America's overall economic
situation is much worse today than it was when this book was initially
published. This book accurately forecasts the problems America has as it
loses its manufacturing base and became a service-oriented society (Wal-Mart
supposedly has 700 Chinese factories of its own). Now the multi-national's
factories are fleeing Mexico in 2002 for the slave-like workers of China.
Unsettling for sure, I challenge you to read this book and don't be
surprised if you re-read parts of it as the late 1990s Clinton/Greenspan
artificial economic bubble unwinds into a 1930s style worldwide economic
depression.

Thanks for the reference. I'll check if my local library has it.

Geo

"none" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 22:33:38 -0800, Mad Mac
wrote:

c.reifert wrote:

Bell and Howell is the brand of parts systems that I repair in car
dealerships. Same logo, so I know it's the same group. That scares
me!!

Will

B&H were also in the military manufacturing business (Radar/Periscopes
etc.)!

Bell and Howell were into just about all types of manufacturing years
ago.
Especially the photographic industry.
Gunsight cameras, belly cameras etc...
Then there's all the actual general photgraphic cameras from still to
mopic.( in the 60's they marketed the most popular work horse 35mm
around under the pentax label. Spotmatic was it's name.)
Then of course there's all the WWII era cameras they made for th
military which were used right up to the late 70's.( their 16mm combat
movie cameras the KM, KLM, KRM 70 series. I used them during my combat
camera days.)
They also made slide strip projectors as well as movie film
projectors.
They started out as principally a grinder of optical lenses and grew
from there.

Sounds like a familiar story - a company makes a name for itself in one
area, then establishes a good distribution network. Then some wall street
gobbler buys it for it's distribution network and used it to sell cheap junk
and trinkets. Then they unload the shell of the company after they have
sucked all the value out of it and run off their senior tech staff.

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 18:02:54 GMT, "Fred"
wrote:

"NSM" wrote in message
See "America: What Went Wrong?" by James B Steele, Donald L. Barlett

Also some of Pat Buchanan's books and Batra's "The Myth of Free Trade"
address this problem directly. Old news though, if you followed the 3rd
party candidates in the last 3 elections. They ain't all dummies.

Good, more reading.

Geo

"Fred" wrote in message
news:wEIBd.22082$rL3.13022@trnddc03...
I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can tell.

One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors a
couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time fixing
their
products in the field and the other time replacing them!!


GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

Like "Kennedy", eh?

"Paweber02" wrote in message
...
|
| "Fred" wrote in message
| news:wEIBd.22082$rL3.13022@trnddc03...
| I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can
tell.
|
| One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors
a
| couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time fixing
| their
| products in the field and the other time replacing them!!
|
|
| GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
| they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
| return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
| forever tarnished.
|
| Like "Kennedy", eh?

More like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rice and Rove.

N

5z378 (Paweber02) wrote in
:


"Fred" wrote in message
news:wEIBd.22082$rL3.13022@trnddc03...
I hear you about that. Typical plantation-minded company best I can
tell.

One good thing about them.... they bought one of our major competitors
a couple of years ago. Now our company spends over half the time
fixing
their
products in the field and the other time replacing them!!


GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

Like "Kennedy", eh?

GE Appliances don't have the longevity they once had. For about 40 years
their washing machines were easy to fix and reliable. Now they aren't as
good. My parents had a 1956 washer that lasted until they died in 1990.
The pump was replaced a few times, the fill valve a once or twice, but it
just kept running. We threw it out because no one wanted it, not because
it didn't work. That same basic design was used from at least 1956 until
1994.

r

--
Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes.

"R" wrote in message
. 1...

| GE Appliances don't have the longevity they once had. For about 40 years
| their washing machines were easy to fix and reliable. Now they aren't as
| good. My parents had a 1956 washer that lasted until they died in 1990.
| The pump was replaced a few times, the fill valve a once or twice, but it
| just kept running. We threw it out because no one wanted it, not because
| it didn't work. That same basic design was used from at least 1956 until
| 1994.

Never throw out working things. Try http://freecycle.org/ first.

"The worldwide Freecycle™ Network is made up of many individual groups
across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (&
getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a
local volunteer moderator (them's good people). ...

One main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for
all ages. ... "

N