My Latest Letter From G M

Zembonez · December 13, 2008

Here is the latest GM letter to come through my email box.

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Dear Jim,

Thank you for being a GM customer. There's been a lot of discussion about the auto industry over the past few weeks, and I want to make sure you know the facts about GM. This is important because with all the media coverage of late about our company and industry, it is evident that there is much misinformation and many very dated perceptions being communicated. The truth and the facts are always helpful. First, we're building our best cars and trucks ever, and we're committed to being the best car company on the planet.

Take a closer look at Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, HUMMER, Saab and Cadillac. You'll be surprised.

Our vehicles are more fuel efficient.

19 of our 2009 models have an EPA estimated 30 MPG highway or better — more than Toyota, more than Honda

For 2009, we offer more hybrid choices than any other manufacturer. We currently have six hybrids, by mid-2009 we will introduce three more, and by 2012 we will offer 15 hybrid models

11 of our last 13 new-product introductions have been fuel-efficient cars or crossovers. This trend will continue with 22 of our next 24 new-product introductions

Higher quality.

We back our quality with the Best Coverage in America:

A 100,000-Mile/5-Year Transferable Powertrain Limited Warranty.1 Plus, Roadside Assistance1 and Courtesy Transportation Programs.1 This coverage is superior to Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Ford. We believe in our quality and reliability, and we back it up!

The 2008 Chevy Malibu and Chevy Silverado were the "Highest Ranked Midsize Car and Large Pickup in Initial Quality" according to J.D. Power and Associates2

Safe.

37 of our 2009 models have five-star frontal crash safety ratings3

We offer the safety and security of OnStar,4 including Automatic Crash Response,5 OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics6 and Turn-by-Turn Navigation.7 Not Honda. Not Toyota. Not Ford. Not Chrysler. Not Nissan. Not Dodge

The proof is on the road today.

Chevy

The Cobalt XFE offers an EPA estimated 37 MPG highway. More than Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic DX8

The Malibu offers an EPA estimated 33 MPG highway, which is better than Toyota Camry LE or Honda Accord9

The Traverse offers the best highway fuel economy of any eight-passenger crossover,10 an EPA estimated 24 MPG highway. It has more interior space than Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander

The Silverado is Car and Driver's Best Pickup 2 years running.11

The Silverado XFE offers an EPA estimated 21 MPG highway. No other large pickup beats it. Not Ford. Not Dodge. Nobody.12

Buick • Pontiac • GMC

The eight-passenger Buick Enclave crossover is quieter than

Lexus RX 350.13 And with an EPA estimated 24 MPG highway, it gets better highway gas mileage than Lexus RX 350 and Acura MDX14

The Pontiac G5 XFE offers an EPA estimated 37 MPG highway. More than Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic DX8

The GMC Sierra XFE offers an EPA estimated 21 MPG highway. No other large pickup offers better highway mileage. Not Toyota. Nobody.15

Saturn

The AURA midsize sedan offers best-in-class16 highway fuel economy. Its EPA estimated 33 MPG highway beats Toyota Camry LE and Honda Accord17

The VUE Hybrid has the best highway fuel economy in its segment:18 an EPA estimated 32 MPG

Cadillac • Saab • HUMMER

The Cadillac CTS is a 2009 "Best Resale Value" Award winner from Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com.19 It is one of Car and Driver's 2009 10Best. And it was also selected a top safety pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety20

The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid eight-passenger luxury SUV offers an EPA estimated 20 MPG city. Better than a 2008 MINI Cooper S Convertible with automatic transmission21

The Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan, SportCombi and Convertible have earned the 2009 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's "Top Safety Pick" award in the midsize category for the third straight year22

The HUMMER H3 has a lower annual fuel cost than Nissan Pathfinder23

And our future looks even brighter.

The upcoming Chevy Volt (expected launch date late 2010) represents a fundamental reinvention of the American automobile industry. The Volt will deliver up to 40 miles24 on a single electrical charge, well within the daily commute of nearly 80% of Americans. It represents a giant step toward energy independence

GM will also continue to invest in hydrogen fuel cell technology, which is capable of reducing automobile tailpipe emissions to non-polluting water vapor. Already, GM has deployed 90 Chevy Equinox compact SUVs to people in what constitutes the world's largest market test fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

All made by GM. Surprised?

Here's something else amazing: the Red Tag Sales Event,25 which continues through January 5, 2009. The price on the tag is the price you pay. See some red, save some green.

It's a smart time to buy GM. Visit gm.com for more surprising reasons why.

Sincerely,

Mark LaNeve

Paul58 · December 13, 2008

I got the same e-mail this morning! I wanted to reply and thell them to fire all their employees on Friday, dump the UAW, and hire them all back on Monday as non-union employees and they'd probably save their @$$! It has nothing to do with the product they build, but everything to do with the leech (UAW) that's sucking them dry! Yea, I'm pretty non-union! But I have a reason...

When I was in Indy I had the opportunity to visit two plants that produce military aircraft parts, same company (which will remain nameless) but one plant was union and the other was non-union. In the union plant there was one guy producing a widget that was milled from a block of aluminum. He was reasponsible for programming the jig (about 1 hours worth of work) and then started producing the widgets. It took 15 minutes to set the stock in the machine and 45 minutes for the machine to produce one widget. As the machine ran, the guy sat on his @$$ and read a book. So, he produced 7 widgets in an 8 hour day (because he did not run the machine while he was on his lunch hour).

At the non-union plant, there was one guy who produced the exact same part using the exact same process, but he ran 4 machines! He set up one, start it and move to the next, set it up and move on. By time the 4th machine was set up and running, the first had completed the part and he would start the process all over again. In an 8 hour day he produced almost 4 times the number of parts the union guy produced in an 8 hour day! I don't know what each was being paid, but I can assure you the non-union guy was not being paid 4X more than the union worker, yet he produced nearly 4 time the products!

So, it's not always about the wage these guys earn as much as are they utilizing them as effecently as they could if they didn't have union stewards breathing down their necks telling them one guy can't work more than one machine!

Anyway, I'm on my soapbox again....

VMax2007 · December 13, 2008

Interesting point Paul,

In fact, coincidentally, I was having a very similar conversation about this yesterday with one of supervisors at work. He was saying the same thing...how union employees do one thing and one thing only. There is very little cross-training. So, if one area is understaffed and another is overstaffed, the union plant will have many wasted manhours and far less efficiency/productivity.

Wages aside, union plants are inefficient in today's mfg environment.

Zembonez · December 13, 2008

Anyway, I'm on my soapbox again....

The inherent problem with unionizing ANYTHING is that you take away the individual worker's incentive to perform above the rest. In a regular non union workplace, there is always that need to try to improve your skills in order to be promoted or paid better. High performers shine and move up. Union workers don't have that. In fact, most unions don't want anybody to out pace anyone else. That means that sooner or later everybody is running at the speed of the slowest member.

And they wonder why this is coming unraveled?

Ever tried to deal with ANYTHING that is staffed by civil service employees... or even the state run office of anything? Same as the unions. The employees think their job is their entitlement and productivity goes out the window. We need to start running these companies and governments like a business. Reward productivity and can the slackers. I know this will never happen since we have a huge cesspool of ME ME ME slackers in this country... but it is what would fix the problems.

Instead we will continue to let the tail wag the dog until we are all bankrupt as a country.

VMax2007 · December 13, 2008

Here is a couple more union stories from my days working at 3M from 1989-1993.

I was working in Division Engineering, but they had me located in a lab building doing some prototype work. This building was unionized (Engineering buildings were not).

1. We were moving from the basement level to floor #1. Millrights (sp?) were appointed to move our stuff since it was "their job" and we were not allowed to even help beyond packing our stuff and disconnecting our computers. Fine. Well, as one guy was pulling my pallet of boxes with a pallet jack, I decided to follow him and was pushing my office chair (it was on wheels) with one small box of my stuff sitting on it. He told me I was in violation of union policy and I could be written up for it, but he would "let it slide this time".

2. I was working in our lab, and I had purchased a special wash tank for prepping some product (no need for any more details). Anyway, in order for it to fit under the bench, I needed to simply swap out a straight nipple for an elbow to run the water pipe out the front. 5 minute task. I walked down to Millrights and asked them for a 3/4" std pipe elbow. They said sure, no problem, where you located? I told them and they said they would bring it down "later". I said "fine". Well, 2 days later, still no elbow, so I went back to them and he told me they had to write up a SWO (Shop Work Order), get it approved and schedule the installation. It would be done within 2 weeks!!!! This was literally a 5 minute job any 12 year old with a channel locks could have done. Where the real irony lies is that after I designed and had my parts fab'ed for my prototype piece of equipment I designed, I completely assembled it myself. But that was "OK" because it was not "facility related".

So, a task I could have completed in less than 5 minutes required me to wait 2 weeks for and I had to work around not having my wash tank. I am also guessing the dept got charged several hundred dollars for this SWO.

Paul58 · December 13, 2008

Anyway, I'm on my soapbox again....

Ever tried to deal with ANYTHING that is staffed by civil service employees...

Hey, I resemble that remark! I still work for the Air Force but now as Civil Service!

But that aside, you are correct when you look at Wage Grade (WG) Civil Service Employees bacause they are still represented by a Union! All General Schedule (GS) Employees (in DoD anyway) now fall under the National Security Pay System (NSPS) which is a pay for performance system and is supposed to reward those that work harder and produce more! But like everything Government, it's also severly flawed and being as it was introduced as a cost saving system, it's even harder to be promoted now that it was under the GS system!

Now State Govenment is a whole nother animal! Don't even get me started on the inheriant "I don't give a crap" attitude most of those folks have!

Zembonez · December 13, 2008

Anyway, I'm on my soapbox again....

Ever tried to deal with ANYTHING that is staffed by civil service employees...

Hey, I resemble that remark! I still work for the Air Force but now as Civil Service!

But that aside, you are correct when you look at Wage Grade (WG) Civil Service Employees bacause they are still represented by a Union! All General Schedule (GS) Employees (in DoD anyway) now fall under the National Security Pay System (NSPS) which is a pay for performance system and is supposed to reward those that work harder and produce more! But like everything Government, it's also severly flawed and being as it was introduced as a cost saving system, it's even harder to be promoted now that it was under the GS system!

Now State Govenment is a whole nother animal! Don't even get me started on the inheriant "I don't give a crap" attitude most of those folks have!

My comments on Civil Service employee are based on what several friends who are ex Air Force and now Civil service tell me. They work on base here and tell some real crazy stories of blatant waste, inefficiency, and pure overstaffing. I realize this isn't necessarily a reflection of the employees so much as it is of the upper level mismanagers. Some of these people have formed a card club and play cards for days without ever doing anything "work related". They even brag about how little they do in a given month like it is somehow a badge of honor. I give them hell because the money is tax money that comes out of my pocket. They laugh.

Z45 · December 13, 2008

I worked for Michigan state government for 30 yrs, I was a Surveyor. Unions were forced on us by Civil Service although you did not have to join it. But you still had to pay dues even if you did not want to join. You could not refuse, it was taken from your pay and given to the union. No one union was allowed to be in place, there were several different ones, divide and conquer. The union never did anything for the workers but take out dues and ask us to vote Democrat. When a Republican governor was in office, the unions were in turmoil and fought against everything but once Democrat was elected, even thing was fine as far as the union was concerned and any concessions the state might want were endorsed by the union.

I feel the UAW is going to be the downfall of GM (and others), just listen to the UAW president and his arguments of the TV news reports. They want this 15 mil to tide them over till the Democrat take control of the WH and stand behind the unions for getting them elected.

I heard on the news that GM was closing 20 or so plants in NA for the month of Jan 2009, pulling major sponsorships like the Daytona 500 and others. I wonder if the Chevy NASCAR teams are worried? I know a young guy who is a salesman for a local GM dealer and he told me last night, they are worried. They have about 1 million in vehicle inventory financed thru GMAC and they only sold 2 vehicles last week.

Paul58 · December 13, 2008

Anyway, I'm on my soapbox again....

Ever tried to deal with ANYTHING that is staffed by civil service employees...

Hey, I resemble that remark! I still work for the Air Force but now as Civil Service!

But that aside, you are correct when you look at Wage Grade (WG) Civil Service Employees because they are still represented by a Union! All General Schedule (GS) Employees (in DoD anyway) now fall under the National Security Pay System (NSPS) which is a pay for performance system and is supposed to reward those that work harder and produce more! But like everything Government, it's also severely flawed and being as it was introduced as a cost saving system, it's even harder to be promoted now that it was under the GS system!

Now State Government is a whole nother animal! Don't even get me started on the inherent "I don't give a crap" attitude most of those folks have!

My comments on Civil Service employee are based on what several friends who are ex Air Force and now Civil service tell me. They work on base here and tell some real crazy stories of blatant waste, inefficiency, and pure over-staffing. I realize this isn't necessarily a reflection of the employees so much as it is of the upper level mismanages. Some of these people have formed a card club and play cards for days without ever doing anything "work related". They even brag about how little they do in a given month like it is somehow a badge of honor. I give them hell because the money is tax money that comes out of my pocket. They laugh.

I have seen and heard the same thing, these folks (and the majority, but not all, are Wage Grade) should be fired as far as I'm concerned! Yes, I am a Civil Servant, but I'm also a tax payer, and it kills me to hear these people brag about doing nothing and getting paid for it! Where's the pride in that? I was behind a guy at a grocery store who was telling the clerk she should go get a job at the base, he said he did noting all day long and got paid for it! I wanted to punch him in the face! It's these idiots that give the hard working government employees a bad name, and further propagate the problem by inviting other lazy @$$ idiots to go apply for jobs on the Base! I for one am glad you ridicule these idiots! I might suggest you record these conversations and send them to your local Base Chief of Civilian Personnel (CPO) as a concerned tax payer! We're already bailing out too many loosers in this country, it's about time for a little accountability! Damn, you got me back on that soap box again!

Zembonez · December 13, 2008

I have seen and heard the same thing, these folks (and the majority, but not all, are Wage Grade) should be fired as far as I'm concerned! Yes, I am a Civil Servant, but I'm also a tax payer, and it kills me to hear these people brag about doing nothing and getting paid for it! Where's the pride in that? I was behind a guy at a grocery store who was telling the clerk she should go get a job at the base, he said he did noting all day long and got paid for it! I wanted to punch him in the face! It's these idiots that give the hard working government employees a bad name, and further propagate the problem by inviting other lazy @$$ idiots to go apply for jobs on the Base! I for one am glad you ridicule these idiots! I might suggest you record these conversations and send them to your local Base Chief of Civilian Personnel (CPO) as a concerned tax payer! We're already bailing out too many loosers in this country, it's about time for a little accountability! Damn, you got me back on that soap box again!

I am right there with you... and of course all Civil Servants are not like those slackers. My friends that are in Civil Service are the ones complaining about them.

Unless we can get this country back on a "Pay people for their performance" track, there is no hope of ever getting out of the financial problems we are experiencing now. Problem is that it will be painful for those who have chosen to be slackers waiting for a handout and the politically correct crowd doesn't think that would be fair. It doesn't look too good considering the liberal move that was just made in washington. Looks like it will only get worse.

Luckily we still live in a country with a LOT of opportunity for those of us who get off of our asses and go after it.

I say buy ammo!

VMax2007 · December 13, 2008

I got my letter in an e-mail today too.

MS3DALE · December 13, 2008

Here is a couple more union stories from my days working at 3M from 1989-1993.

I was working in Division Engineering, but they had me located in a lab building doing some prototype work. This building was unionized (Engineering buildings were not).

1. We were moving from the basement level to floor #1. Millrights (sp?) were appointed to move our stuff since it was "their job" and we were not allowed to even help beyond packing our stuff and disconnecting our computers. Fine. Well, as one guy was pulling my pallet of boxes with a pallet jack, I decided to follow him and was pushing my office chair (it was on wheels) with one small box of my stuff sitting on it. He told me I was in violation of union policy and I could be written up for it, but he would "let it slide this time".

2. I was working in our lab, and I had purchased a special wash tank for prepping some product (no need for any more details). Anyway, in order for it to fit under the bench, I needed to simply swap out a straight nipple for an elbow to run the water pipe out the front. 5 minute task. I walked down to Millrights and asked them for a 3/4" std pipe elbow. They said sure, no problem, where you located? I told them and they said they would bring it down "later". I said "fine". Well, 2 days later, still no elbow, so I went back to them and he told me they had to write up a SWO (Shop Work Order), get it approved and schedule the installation. It would be done within 2 weeks!!!! This was literally a 5 minute job any 12 year old with a channel locks could have done. Where the real irony lies is that after I designed and had my parts fab'ed for my prototype piece of equipment I designed, I completely assembled it myself. But that was "OK" because it was not "facility related".

So, a task I could have completed in less than 5 minutes required me to wait 2 weeks for and I had to work around not having my wash tank. I am also guessing the dept got charged several hundred dollars for this SWO.

I know just what you mean on this Jeff,We have two power plants around here owned by the same company (Allegheny Energy)

The one by my house is union,The other one,about 15 miles away,is non-union....anyway my buddy got a job at the one by my house (The "union" one) and he went through the same issues....he couldn't do anything unless it was "his job" to do so,if it wasn't "his job" he had to get an RO (Repair Order) and have the appropriate personal perform the job.

He said he saw all kinds of things wrong that he could fix in 5 minutes,but sometimes it took two weeks to get fixed!!

He has since transfered to the other "non-union" power plant and loves it!!!

tobias · December 13, 2008

Got my email today today but it was a bit different than yours.

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Dear Tobias,

If you'll kill Jeff we'll give you a free truck of your choice each year for life.

Sincerely,

Scott Woodlawn

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It's tempting.

MS3DALE · December 13, 2008

Got my email today today but it was a bit different than yours.

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Dear Tobias,

If you'll kill Jeff we'll give you a free truck of your choice each year for life.

Sincerely,

Scott Woodlawn

*********************

It's tempting.