Daniel Defense furloughs employees

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Posted: 7/31/2009 3:38:53 AM EDT

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Bryan | BryanCountyNow

Daniel Defense furloughs most employees

Carl Elmore | Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 12:30 am

Carl Elmore/Bryan County NowMarty Daniel owns Daniel Defense, where he is president and CEO. (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Carl Elmore/Bryan County NowA Daniel Defense employee holds an M4 carbine ready for shipment from the company's Bryan County manufacturing plant. The semiautomatic rifle sells for some $1,600. (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Carl Elmore/Bryan County NowA Daniel Defense employee works at a machine that forges barrels for the company's M4 carbine. The company's Bryan County manufacturing plant is just off Interstate 16. (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Carl Elmore/Bryan County NowAn Daniel Defense employee works on a rail system during public tours of the Interstate Centre plant May 29, when the company held its grand opening. (Photo: Carl Elmore)

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Daniel Defense, a promising new Bryan County manufacturer only two months past its grand opening, laid off some 30 employees last week and furloughed most of its remaining 100 employees this week.

But owner Marty Daniel said he is confident the company, which makes and markets a tactical-style rifle and a line of special forces weapons accessories, will bounce back.

"We'll come out on the other side of this," Daniel said. "The furlough is just for this week. We may have to furlough again. Our sales are way down so we're having to pull our production down to match our sales. We're doing what we have to do to manage cash and make sure that we're a solid company."

Daniel started Daniel Defense out of another company he owns, Pooler-based Daniel Overhead Door and Fireplace, in the late 1990s. He had taken up hobby shooting and sought accessories for an M16-style weapon, only to find those he sought weren't available and nobody was interested in making them.

Daniel Defense subsequently won contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, making an accessory upgrade for the M4 rifle, and with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense, making a similar upgrade.

Daniel Defense began making its own M4 rifle in January, about the same time it was migrating from Garden City to its current 37,000-square-foot plant in Bryan County's Interstate Centre industrial park.

There was a strong market for guns earlier this year, and Daniel Defense couldn't keep up with the number of guns being ordered. But that strong demand caused other, larger gun manufacturing companies to flood the distribution and dealership pipeline with their products, Daniel said. And gun sales are historically slow in June and July, he explained.

"We've hit a big drop in sales, and as any manufacturer is forced to do in this situation, we had to lay some people off."

"Just last week, we laid off 26 employees on the production side, and we eliminated three positions on the management side," Daniel said. "It would be our hope that we can hire all of them back. I'm confident that we can hire some of them back."

Daniel said he postponed the layoffs as long as he could: "Layoffs, in my mind, they're very personal. These people's families are involved, and their income, and their way of life. It's not like just turning a machine off. It has real complications to those people and their families."

About 70 workers were furloughed this week.

"I've got some key people here working. I've got some equipment working," Daniel said. "We build (gun) barrels for our weapons as well as building barrels for other manufacturers. Our barrels are still selling very well. So I've got that equipment up running 24 hours a day."

The company still has its government defense contracts. "But unfortunately they are both between orders right now," said Charles Duggan Jr., Daniel Defense vice president for corporate affairs. Three Daniel Defense officials are heading to the United Kingdom this week seeking new orders, he added.

And the company is offering two new versions of its rifle, hoping to capture more of the market for special-forces-style weapons. While its primary M4 rifle sells for some $1,600, Daniel Defense has begun offering the same gun with fewer accessories. "We introduced a new rifle with a $1,200 retail, which will open up a much larger market because of the price point to us," Daniel said.

F.J. "Josh" Fenn, Bryan County Industrial Development Authority executive director, said he's confident Daniel Defense will recover.

"The national economy is affecting everybody. I think Daniel Defense will turn around," said Fenn. "I hate what's going on, but I don't think it's going to be permanent. I think they're going to be back and stronger than ever before."
I know some of these guys personally, and I hope that they bounce back quickly.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:04:19 AM EDT

[#1]

I don't get it, most rifle parts are still out of stock everywhere. Except for a surplus of Colt rifles out there at really great prices the shortage still seems to be going strong.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:06:02 AM EDT

[#2]

Boom and Bust...

Sucks for small companies.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:10:14 AM EDT

[#3]

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:10:14 AM EDT

[#4]

I'm sure they will survive but they likely over leveraged themselves to expand. Their rails are about the best available.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:14:45 AM EDT

[#5]

What I do not get is how, and not DD in particular, but how can people not make it through a short slow time?

Sales are 'down' for 60 days, lay people off. UAW workers refuse to work for a few days (strike) "We are in danger of losing our house unless we get back to work". A bridge collapses due to a tanker explosion, the next day a gas station owner says he needs to lay people off.

Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:18:15 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
I don't get it, most rifle parts are still out of stock everywhere. Except for a surplus of Colt rifles out there at really great prices the shortage still seems to be going strong.

I disagree. I have seen tons, I mean tons, of EBR's at every gunshop imaginiable here in Colorado. Hell even Sportsmans Warehouse has two dozen or so EBR's on hand. I was also in Gander Mountain and they had a dozen Sig 556's.

The guns are definitely returning and the prices are gooing down, ammo and reloading supplies are unfortunately another case.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:20:59 AM EDT

[#7]

I think this shows what one single poor design decision can do. They misread the market and released a rifle that was aesthetically trashed, at a price point far, far too high, they sold too few of the product, were unable to get footing in an already crowded market, and will probably end that segment of their business soon.

$1600? For a standard M4 from an untested manufacturer with a ugly rail system (that they mass produce for a cost of well under $100 a rail).

If they would have taken those rifles, dropped the price $300, and slapped a DD light 7" rail on it, they would have sold out. Hell, I might have even bought one.

It amuses me too how much the prices on these need to fall before people would even start buying them at a decent pace. Probably $1000 or less at this point.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:31:34 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
What I do not get is how, and not DD in particular, but how can people not make it through a short slow time?

Sales are 'down' for 60 days, lay people off. UAW workers refuse to work for a few days (strike) "We are in danger of losing our house unless we get back to work". A bridge collapses due to a tanker explosion, the next day a gas station owner says he needs to lay people off.

Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

Cheap easy credit. Because of it and crappy interest rates, businesses thought it wiser to super-leverage themselves with little to no case reserves on hand. Works great when the economy is flourishing, but then when things don't go so well, they're quickly fucked.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:35:27 AM EDT

[#9]

Simple. And this 'drop in sales' excuse is bullshit.

They hired as many employees as they needed to keep up with the skyrocketing demand so that they could proft from it as much as possible. They kne wwhen they hired the majority of these people that they were going to be 'temporary' for as long as the demand was there. Anyone with an IQ over 40 would be able to realize that this wasn't going to last forever. Chalking it up to a 'drop in sales' is like winning the lottery one week, and then when you received your regular paycheck the next week saying that you had a decrease in earnings. No shit.

Once that demand started to slow down and they were back at the level they were; they got rid of the employees they had around to meet the exceeded demand. I would love to know what the average amount of time the people they laid off had with the company. I am willing to bet that most of them had a start date from around OCT/NOV/DEC 08.

Common (yet shitty) business these days - I saw it first hand working for a mortgage company during the boom. We swelled to over 2k employees at one point and 18 months later, were down to 500.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:38:54 AM EDT

[#10]

Buy your buddies a beer, on me, and tell 'em to hang in there...

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:39:26 AM EDT

[#11]

The gun industry needs flex manufacturing

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:41:58 AM EDT

[#12]

While I agree DD makes amazing products, they are way out of touch with regard to their prices. Lower the price 20%, make up the difference in volume sold. Why can't manufactures figure this out? It is business 101.

Posted: 7/31/2009 4:48:24 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
What I do not get is how, and not DD in particular, but how can people not make it through a short slow time?

Sales are 'down' for 60 days, lay people off. UAW workers refuse to work for a few days (strike) "We are in danger of losing our house unless we get back to work". A bridge collapses due to a tanker explosion, the next day a gas station owner says he needs to lay people off.

Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

Our education system is dildos.

We don't teach kids in high school about compound interest or how to even balance a checkbook. The concepts of capital reserve and cash flow are foreign to even most college educated business owners, hence the extremely high failure rate of business due to under capitalization at startup.

eta - Parents, please teach these concepts to your children. Do not rely on your schools to do so. They need this information regardless if they are going to seek a career in finance or open their own business. When I hire an employee, I want them to grasp the basics of these things so that they can run their assignments like their own little corner of the company. They need to understand the cost of money, cash flow, and how preserving capital through cost savings can save their own job when times get lean.

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:10:25 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
I know some of these guys personally, and I hope that they bounce back quickly.

Same here. DD is a great company with a great line of products.

IIRC they recently designed a GOOD rail system for the Brit SA-80. I don't know if they have a contract for it yet or not, but it would be awesome to see them win that contract.

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:12:33 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
While I agree DD makes amazing products, they are way out of touch with regard to their prices. Lower the price 20%, make up the difference in volume sold. Why can't manufactures figure this out? It is business 101.

I purchased a YHM quad rail because I couldn't see spending twice as much for a DD rail. Both made from 6000 series aluminum, both anodized black, sure the DD looks a little cooler and is 3/4 of an ounce lighter, but it doesn't justify the price to me.

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:20:53 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Boom and Bust...

Sucks for small companies.

...especially in an industry as cut-throat competitive as the gun industry.

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:24:20 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

There is a balancing act keeping a business' throughput (be it manufacturing or retail sales) capacity "just right". Too much capacity and you are wasting money having product and people sitting around. Too little and you are missing out on sales. If there's a big shock to the system, like a run on gun parts or a bridge collapsing that customers use to get to your business, you are going to have to compensate in a big way, either by hiring extra workers (maybe temps) or by closing shop until customers can get to your store.

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:27:41 AM EDT

[#18]

I've always liked thier stuff, thought of it as good quality........................

....however, there might be a reason that thier rifles, such as the ones on Aim's site that have been there for months, arent moving at $1549, and $1139 price tags.....

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:37:29 AM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I know some of these guys personally, and I hope that they bounce back quickly.

Same here. DD is a great company with a great line of products.

IIRC they recently designed a GOOD rail system for the Brit SA-80. I don't know if they have a contract for it yet or not, but it would be awesome to see them win that contract.

I've been seeing pics lately of Brits in Afghanistan with rail systems. I don't know of anybody else making them.

Posted: 7/31/2009 5:40:41 AM EDT

[#20]

It all comes down to cash flow.

If you have $ in the bank and decide to expand ... then don't/aren't able to secure a loan for the growth you can quickly run into a cash flow problem. Then, what do you do? You can't stop the expansion and end up with a bunch of dead space/supplies. The easiest monthly cash outlay is the employees. Furlough them until the building is over, then bring them back to catch up.

I'm not sure what happened with DD, but its a common scenario.

Posted: 7/31/2009 6:28:47 AM EDT

[#21]

I hope they bounce back. They make top-notch rails, up there with LaRue IMHO.

Posted: 7/31/2009 6:49:42 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
What I do not get is how, and not DD in particular, but how can people not make it through a short slow time?

Sales are 'down' for 60 days, lay people off. UAW workers refuse to work for a few days (strike) "We are in danger of losing our house unless we get back to work". A bridge collapses due to a tanker explosion, the next day a gas station owner says he needs to lay people off.

Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

I've studied various businesses that survived bad times and some that folded in good times.

You can expand yourself out of business in good times and bad times are difficult to see coming.

Small business owners don't typically have the ability to forecast their sales accurately in a contracting market. It's not like they can have a staff of analysts like Wall Street firms have studying market trends upwards of 2 years out.
It is easy to budget a 10% increase and attempt to work that number.
It is VERY difficult to know in advance you will lose 20% when you are doing EXACTLY the same thing you did for the last 10 years. Optimism is usually a trait all small business people have in common. You always think you will have a good month. It is easy to get caught with your pants down so to speak.

Add to the fact that most small business owners would rather invest their money in themselves [or back into their company] often many don't have substantial cash reserves. Everything they have is in their business.

Posted: 7/31/2009 6:51:41 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
What I do not get is how, and not DD in particular, but how can people not make it through a short slow time?

Sales are 'down' for 60 days, lay people off. UAW workers refuse to work for a few days (strike) "We are in danger of losing our house unless we get back to work". A bridge collapses due to a tanker explosion, the next day a gas station owner says he needs to lay people off.

Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

Not the only reason, but a BIG part of that reason is such an enormous amount of government regulation in our lives drives all kinds of costs WAY higher than they should be.

Posted: 7/31/2009 6:51:43 AM EDT

[#24]

I hope they pull through.

Posted: 7/31/2009 6:53:50 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
I hope they bounce back. They make top-notch rails, up there with above LaRue IMHO.

Very nice rails. Not sure either are worth $300+ though.

Their M4 carbine is a great rifle. I don't get why everybody thinks its ugly. It DOES need to come down in price though.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:06:07 AM EDT

[#26]

Looks like they ramped up production and expanded quickly in order to keep up with the demand of the panic buying…

Well, the panic buying is pretty much over and the economy is in the tank, so people don’t have the tertiary income to spend even in a non-panic environment.

They probably need to downsize to their “pre-panic” production / employee level and they will be fine.

It’s a shame that you can’t hire temps or day labor in the machining industry.

I am in construction and site development.

When we land a larger than normal contract we rent the equipment and use a lot of day labor because we know that the expanded capacity will only be required for the duration of the contract.

I don’t know how you could apply that to the machining industry… maybe sub out the required production increase to a competent manufacturer for the duration of the increase in demand???????

I can’t wait until this slow down hits the ammo industry…

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:09:12 AM EDT

[#27]

Awesome rails. I have one. Would like another for my AR10. I'm waiting for a 13.5 inch like the troy length.

This gun market just turned on a dime. They raped us because they could and now it's our turn. Now if we could just get good brass down to $250 per k.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:11:54 AM EDT

[#28]

He should look at getting a Type 06 FFL.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:12:05 AM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
I think this shows what one single poor design decision can do. They misread the market and released a rifle that was aesthetically trashed, at a price point far, far too high, they sold too few of the product, were unable to get footing in an already crowded market, and will probably end that segment of their business soon.

$1600? For a standard M4 from an untested manufacturer with a ugly rail system (that they mass produce for a cost of well under $100 a rail).

If they would have taken those rifles, dropped the price $300, and slapped a DD light 7" rail on it, they would have sold out. Hell, I might have even bought one.

It amuses me too how much the prices on these need to fall before people would even start buying them at a decent pace. Probably $1000 or less at this point.

There's a good reason for that extended rail.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:14:21 AM EDT

[#30]

I like the DD Defense Omega 7.0, 9.0 and 12.0.

I did not like the ugly mess that they hung on that complete rifle.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:14:44 AM EDT

[#31]

Their Omega rail is pretty much one of the greatest things made for the AR.

Their guns are a good value now that they are releasing them with a DD lite rail and normal hgs instead of that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:19:37 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
I like the DD Defense Omega 7.0, 9.0 and 12.0.

I did not like the ugly mess that they hung on that complete rifle.

I don't get it, folks....

I hear people talking about how "ugly" that rail is. Have those of you complaining about how "ugly" it is ever tried actually clearing rooms with a carbine in low light? Have you had the chance to see how beautiful it is to have an X300 mounted in front of the front sight so that you no longer have a bunch of clearance issues to worry about when it comes to using the light? Have you stopped to ponder how beautiful it is to know that when your barrel is clear of an obstacle so is your light? Or to realize that a chunk of the hotspot of your light is no longer chopped out by hunks of the rifle that are in the beam?

I know tactical use of these weapons isn't what drives the gun market, but this is just overboard.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:19:41 AM EDT

[#33]

How did they survive before the election then ? Sales cant be lower now.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:20:53 AM EDT

[#34]

http://www.wtoc.com/global/story.asp?s=10813394

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:21:17 AM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:
that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

Mark my words: In the next few years the 12:00 mount for a small, compact light like the X300 will be THE way to go. It's the best way to go right now, but it seems that people are too busy beating off to how sexy the FSB on an AR is to notice.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:22:03 AM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
I think this shows what one single poor design decision can do. They misread the market and released a rifle that was aesthetically trashed, at a price point far, far too high, they sold too few of the product, were unable to get footing in an already crowded market, and will probably end that segment of their business soon.

$1600? For a standard M4 from an untested manufacturer with a ugly rail system (that they mass produce for a cost of well under $100 a rail).

If they would have taken those rifles, dropped the price $300, and slapped a DD light 7" rail on it, they would have sold out. Hell, I might have even bought one.

It amuses me too how much the prices on these need to fall before people would even start buying them at a decent pace. Probably $1000 or less at this point.

I think the intial guns were marketed from an end user (as in prior military experience) perspective while the market (of the average buyer) is drawn more towards the asthetics of the rifles. Practicality of the first rifles exceeded anything you could do with more a "pleasing" looking generic M4 type rifle. If you consider everything that was included with the rifle (MOE collapsbile stock, Magpul trigger guard, DD extended rail system, a removable fixed rear sight, hammer forged barrel, rear removable sling swivel, VFG, beveled mag well, etc...) the price is at least in line or a much better deal than buying one of the more popular and/or common rifles and modding it yourself. there's at least $500 worth of accessories if purchased separately. And the quality of the build is probably more in line with a tier one rifle. There's a lot of value in those rifles and the buyer is not recognizing it IMO. Hence the adjustment to the market. They were an excellent value especially if you were able to pick one up for $1400 like some members here were able to do.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:24:16 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
Simple. And this 'drop in sales' excuse is bullshit.

They hired as many employees as they needed to keep up with the skyrocketing demand so that they could proft from it as much as possible. They kne wwhen they hired the majority of these people that they were going to be 'temporary' for as long as the demand was there. Anyone with an IQ over 40 would be able to realize that this wasn't going to last forever. Chalking it up to a 'drop in sales' is like winning the lottery one week, and then when you received your regular paycheck the next week saying that you had a decrease in earnings. No shit.

Once that demand started to slow down and they were back at the level they were; they got rid of the employees they had around to meet the exceeded demand. I would love to know what the average amount of time the people they laid off had with the company. I am willing to bet that most of them had a start date from around OCT/NOV/DEC 08.

Common (yet shitty) business these days - I saw it first hand working for a mortgage company during the boom. We swelled to over 2k employees at one point and 18 months later, were down to 500.

That's the way it goes- the last hired the first to go. Imagine that, a company trying to meet the market demands. The article states they moved to a new facility so obviously there was a motivation to expand and grow.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:24:59 AM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Their Omega rail is pretty much one of the greatest things made for the AR.

Their guns are a good value now that they are releasing them with a DD lite rail and normal hgs instead of that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

What extended rail that nobody wants? Did they make a new rail for this rifle? If you're talking about the 9.5 and 12.5 FSP Lite rails being "ugly" I think that's bonkers. A 9.5" rail on a carbine gassed rifle makes 100% sense. I must be missing something.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:25:18 AM EDT

[#39]

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:26:55 AM EDT

[#40]

One thing that's for sure - there are plenty of armchair quarterbacks here ...

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:29:47 AM EDT

[#41]

AR-15s and .223 ammo are not selling locally.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:30:10 AM EDT

[#42]

Sounds like DD is having the same problems that many small businesses are dealing with in these screwed up economic times.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:34:56 AM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Their Omega rail is pretty much one of the greatest things made for the AR.

Their guns are a good value now that they are releasing them with a DD lite rail and normal hgs instead of that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

What extended rail that nobody wants? Did they make a new rail for this rifle? If you're talking about the 9.5 and 12.5 FSP Lite rails being "ugly" I think that's bonkers. A 9.5" rail on a carbine gassed rifle makes 100% sense. I must be missing something.

The DD rifle with the extended 12.0 rail has been the only rifle consistently in stock since the panic. Even during the peak of the painic, they were still sitting at numerous online dealers shops. To me that means no body wants them. That doesn't make them a bad rifle, it's just that people don't like the way the rail looks or don't see a need for it.

The base rifle is a good value and I'd buy one with the 7.0 omega rail on it if I had the funds available.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:36:47 AM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:

Quoted:

that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

Mark my words: In the next few years the 12:00 mount for a small, compact light like the X300 will be THE way to go. It's the best way to go right now, but it seems that people are too busy beating off to how sexy the FSB on an AR is to notice.

I can see a use for the extended rail thing to retro-fit an existing rifle...

Dont see the point of using it on a brand new rifle where you dont have to use an A2 FSB...

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:41:52 AM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:

Quoted:
that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

Mark my words: In the next few years the 12:00 mount for a small, compact light like the X300 will be THE way to go. It's the best way to go right now, but it seems that people are too busy beating off to how sexy the FSB on an AR is to notice.

I can see a use for the extended rail thing to retro-fit an existing rifle...

Dont see the point of using it on a brand new rifle where you dont have to use an A2 FSB...

The fixed FSB is the most durable front sight you can get...especially for the money...

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:47:52 AM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:
How did they survive before the election then ? Sales cant be lower now.

Sales ARE lower.

Example: In November of 2008 I bought a 6920 from the only dealer I could find one at for 1500 bucks. Even at that, he basically bumped somebody else off and hooked me up.

Now lots of people are selling them for under 1100.

That huge (rather short lived) surge in demand caused a whole lot of production...and now there are a lot of rifles sitting unsold on gunstore shelves.

Posted: 7/31/2009 7:55:39 AM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:

Quoted:
that retarded extended rail that no one seems to want.

Mark my words: In the next few years the 12:00 mount for a small, compact light like the X300 will be THE way to go. It's the best way to go right now, but it seems that people are too busy beating off to how sexy the FSB on an AR is to notice.

I can see a use for the extended rail thing to retro-fit an existing rifle...

Dont see the point of using it on a brand new rifle where you dont have to use an A2 FSB...

The fixed FSB is the most durable front sight you can get...especially for the money...

+ 1.

Personally, I'd prefer to have a fixed FSB on pretty much any/every configuration, with the possible exception of an 18 or 20" dedicated long range precision setup.

Posted: 7/31/2009 8:01:11 AM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:
I'm sure they will survive but they likely over leveraged themselves to expand. Their rails are about the best available.

+1

light, strong, just well-made.

Good stuff. I hope they make a strong comeback.

Posted: 7/31/2009 8:07:20 AM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:

Quoted:
What I do not get is how, and not DD in particular, but how can people not make it through a short slow time?

Sales are 'down' for 60 days, lay people off. UAW workers refuse to work for a few days (strike) "We are in danger of losing our house unless we get back to work". A bridge collapses due to a tanker explosion, the next day a gas station owner says he needs to lay people off.

Preparedness? Foolish business model? What are people doing?

I am not articulating this well enough, I know....sales are down, not gone.

Cheap easy credit. Because of it and crappy interest rates, businesses thought it wiser to super-leverage themselves with little to no case reserves on hand. Works great when the economy is flourishing, but then when things don't go so well, they're quickly fucked.

A LOT of business do NOT run and make payroll off of profits, they do it from a revolving credit line from the bank. No sales this week? No problem, we'll pay it off later, not using money we've saved up, but money the bank loans us when we need it.

Need some more "stuff" for the shelves? Borrow it. We don't have it because we spent the profits on something else.

It's a result of the "grow from credit, not from profits reinvested in the business" model of banking/business we 've been sold.

Also, it is because people in general refuse to deny themselves today's stuff when they can get it for a small monthly payment. How many times have we heard people talking about somthing they bought and not saying what they PAID for it, but how low the monthly payment was (cars and houses come to mind immediatly).

Don;t know if it applies in this situation, but I know a LOT of people that it has.

GR

Posted: 7/31/2009 8:22:38 AM EDT

[#50]

Well I hope they can bounce back.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Daniel Defense furloughs employees (Page 1 of 4)

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