Pay, in the form of total compensation via bonuses, overtime, stock compensation, and benefits, isn’t the chief complaint at Ruger. At least not the Mayodan nc plant. Though to be fair their NC plant is (was anyway) in a very low cost of living area. The pay is usually thought of as at least satisfactory. It’s the tone-deafness of management at the plant that generate most complaints. That and the hours.
S&W partially pulling out of Massachusetts
- Thread starter Mike Irwin
- Start date
Pay, in the form of total compensation via bonuses, overtime, stock compensation, and benefits, isn’t the chief complaint at Ruger. At least not the Mayodan nc plant. Though to be fair their NC plant is (was anyway) in a very low cost of living area. The pay is usually thought of as at least satisfactory. It’s the tone-deafness of management at the plant that generate most complaints. That and the hours.
TruthTellers
New member
IDK about the NC plant, I only know about the NH facility and I heard the complaints about management, but the bottom line as to why people stay and go always reverts back to money. The biggest complaint I heard was that management expected the employees to want to sit at the same machine making the same parts every day for 40 years and the employee would never grow or learn anything new and be able to move up and get a better wage.
I can't imagine being an operator working on the floor at a big gun company like S&W or Ruger, it's the smaller companies like Charter Arms and Kel-Tec where you're not treated like a number or a machine.
That is exactly the main complaint at the NC plant as well, which kind of pivots back to management tone-deafness. You were just more specific. Yes starting pay, and pay in general, is less a complaint at Ruger NC. But yes, the quoted message of sitting at the same mundane position doing the same mundane work for years is unrealistic. I mean how many revolver cylinders can you make in your life before you want to move to the frame machine and make an extra dollar an hour? Apparently their bonuses are decent, but the fact remains there has to be some way to advance eventually.
That's the biggest problem with factory work, is you do the same thing over & over. I just retired from a factory & there wasn't much advancement. Mostly because the more senior workers had the upper jobs & unless one retired, died or moved on you couldn't advance.
They hired young workers right out of high school & by the time they had 20 years in they were only like 38 years old so you were not going to move them out of the top positions.
I am of two minds about the idea, overall. I realize that many businesses promote advancement of their worker's skill and training, but I also can see the point of a company that hires you to do A job. One job, and expects you to do it day in day out for your paycheck.
I spent over 30 years in a union job where salary advancement was automatic with time, until you reached the top wage for your craft. If you wanted more money, you worked overtime, when/if available but beyond that, there was no other path to more income unless you left that job and got a different one.
Of course, that was in an earlier era where you didn't need a degree to earn a decent living...
which reminds me of an old joke about lean times and degrees,
someone with a scientific degree asks "why does that work?"
someone with an engineering degree asks "how do I make that work?"
and someone with a liberal arts degree asks "do you want fries with that?"
(unless they get a job in education or go into politics....
)
I spent over 30 years in a union job where salary advancement was automatic with time, until you reached the top wage for your craft. If you wanted more money, you worked overtime, when/if available but beyond that, there was no other path to more income unless you left that job and got a different one.
Of course, that was in an earlier era where you didn't need a degree to earn a decent living...
which reminds me of an old joke about lean times and degrees,
someone with a scientific degree asks "why does that work?"
someone with an engineering degree asks "how do I make that work?"
and someone with a liberal arts degree asks "do you want fries with that?"
(unless they get a job in education or go into politics....
)I spent many years working in Manufacturing. My good fortune was I was hired as the R+D Model Shop gopher. My job was to do any job that freed up a more skilled and expensive machinist.
And,anything the Boss needed done.
Which was a great opportunity to advance. And I did.
My company offered an education benefit. Some used that to advance.
But if you have 800 or 1000 or more production workers....Fact is,there will not be opportunities for all of them. Some may go from assembly,to material handling,to warehouse and shipping. Some may go to molding. Some may go where the company needs them.
But whether you are installing a part,or some screws, or packaging a product,
or screwing barrels in receivers...
Modern manufacturing is not done with Artisan Skills. They do not want a stroke of your file in a production environment.
They want you to "follow the process", using qualified parts ,on qualified machines.
Your rate of production should fit "statistical process controls"
And your labor cost is in the business plan,which includes "What will the Customer pay,and be happy?" You get your work order done,you will log 5.4 hours to do Operation #4 on a lot of 66 parts,and one part went to scrap because you saw casting porosity. Or, You failed to follow the process!
Flipping a burger,or installing grip screws,or barrels in a Savage Rifle, amounts to a certain "Value Added" .
No matter what a "Living Wage" demands, there is only so much "Value Added" to a burger flip. So the wage tops out.
Try paying attention in school.Learning. Get a Degree in something that provides more "Value Added" than Angry Social Justice Warrior.
Or learn to finish bathrooms. There is Truck Driving.
I guess I'm saying,the worker has to target the right job. Installing the Grip Screws on the Ruger Blackhawk line might get your foot in the door,but its not necessarily going to be the stairway to a rewarding career .
And,anything the Boss needed done.
Which was a great opportunity to advance. And I did.
My company offered an education benefit. Some used that to advance.
But if you have 800 or 1000 or more production workers....Fact is,there will not be opportunities for all of them. Some may go from assembly,to material handling,to warehouse and shipping. Some may go to molding. Some may go where the company needs them.
But whether you are installing a part,or some screws, or packaging a product,
or screwing barrels in receivers...
Modern manufacturing is not done with Artisan Skills. They do not want a stroke of your file in a production environment.
They want you to "follow the process", using qualified parts ,on qualified machines.
Your rate of production should fit "statistical process controls"
And your labor cost is in the business plan,which includes "What will the Customer pay,and be happy?" You get your work order done,you will log 5.4 hours to do Operation #4 on a lot of 66 parts,and one part went to scrap because you saw casting porosity. Or, You failed to follow the process!
Flipping a burger,or installing grip screws,or barrels in a Savage Rifle, amounts to a certain "Value Added" .
No matter what a "Living Wage" demands, there is only so much "Value Added" to a burger flip. So the wage tops out.
Try paying attention in school.Learning. Get a Degree in something that provides more "Value Added" than Angry Social Justice Warrior.
Or learn to finish bathrooms. There is Truck Driving.
I guess I'm saying,the worker has to target the right job. Installing the Grip Screws on the Ruger Blackhawk line might get your foot in the door,but its not necessarily going to be the stairway to a rewarding career .
Last edited: