This is terrible news for many blue-collar families in Mississippi and North Carolina. Last night, United Furniture, makers of Lane brand, fired all of their manufacturing employees and transportation workers effective immediately.
Fortunately, other manufacturers are quickly messaging the displaced workers with job offers {link}, but the overall message from the collapsed company is alarming.
Read the email letter from today that accompanied the late-night notification:
(Via Furniture Today) – “At the instruction of the Board of Directors of United Furniture Industries, Inc., and all subsidiaries (the “Company”), we regret to inform you that due to unforeseen business circumstances the Company has been forced to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of all its employees, effective immediately, on November 21, 2022, with the exception of over-the-road drivers that are out on delivery. Your layoff from the Company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA.
Over-the-road drivers that are out on delivery will be paid for the balance of the week. Whether or not you have completed your delivery, please immediately return equipment, inventory, and delivery documents for those deliveries that have been completed to one of the following locations: Winston-Salem, N.C., Verona, Miss., or Victorville, Calif. location. To be clear, do not complete any additional deliveries.
We regret that this difficult and unexpected situation has made this necessary. Additional information will be provided shortly.
Thank you for your service and dedication.
UFI/Lane Corporate Communications” (link)
A few quick points.
First, everyone who is not pretending is well aware the U.S. durable good economy is in a severe state of contraction. This manufacturing announcement is deeply troubling and sad, but unfortunately not unexpected – all things considered.
Second, while understanding that an unexpected loss in operational funding is usually what leads to these “immediate” types of total operational collapse, most often the result of a lender backing away from a desperately needed continuation loan, the callousness of the job loss communication reflects disconnected corporate management.
Third, while the economic framework would preclude it happening on his watch, United Furniture Industries is damn lucky President Donald Trump is not in office right now or there would likely be an eviscerating response to this announcement.
I have never met President Trump, but I have watched closely enough to accept that we are tuned to the same business frequency. This is not the way an American company, or any company for that matter, should conduct itself during crisis.
My prayers are for those families who woke up this morning with the financial rug pulled out from under them.
.
Father of mercy and comfort wrap Your loving arms around the families who received notifications of job losses today. Trepidation and financial fear can lead to horrible family stress. Lord God and provider of all security, within Your Word You have said for us to cry out in Your name, and we can receive.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future;” (Jeremiah 29:11)
And so, I am asking for Your peace and reassurance to lay upon the troubled families and workers. I pray today knowing there but for Your grace we too may find ourselves.
Father, of love and support send Your spirit of strength into the hearts of those who received this employment news. Guide them closer to You and toward financial security in every tomorrow. In Jesus’ powerful name, I believe and pray.
Amen
I remember the day International Harvester went under. My father had been retired from there for a year. All at once his careful retirement planning fell to pieces.
He went out and got another job. Rebuilt his annuity. Made sure he was signed up for the medical plans the “reorganized” company had to provide……
That was such a blow to Indianapolis (a fairly large city) home prices dropped instantly…. everybody felt the pain.
A note ~ his first job after retirement was to inventory the tool making equipment at another firm that’d just sold it’s entire workroom to China…..
You know about FJB?
There was a lot of FNIXON going on too. People saw the connection.
Henry Kissinger aided and abetted as well.
He talked Dick into it.
Tricky Dick
I remember a Richard Pryor
skit where he talked about Nixion going to jail. Standing around the brothers. “Whas up Tricky Dick?”
absolutely correct Nixon is a son of a bitch that opened the door to China
The CIA was the doorman …
and this one is continuing his strategy but trump wanted to put the brakes and he is ther ennemy
Nixon was ‘babysat’ by Kissinger and others. Nixon was a victim like Kim Jung Un.
Caused, you mean. He and his ancestors who created the Federal Reserve and caused the economic problem in the first place.
Nixon was held hostage as I recall.
Anyone who hasn’t seen the Bushes in all of this hasn’t been paying attention. Where was Poopy Bush when JFK was assassinated? What roll did he play in “opening” China (actually opening USA to China)? Where was he when NAFTA was created? Etc, etc, etc.
and the pelosis
This isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.
Dependency is the key to subjugating the Deplorables. Covid was the test run. Will people stand down and accept benevolent crumbs from Caesar? THEY seem to think so.
I only pray that THEY do not have all of the military yet. It has been a work-in-progress since January 20, 2009 to eviscerate the officer corps and rebuild it in THEIR image. THEY have had 13 years to elevate their chosen to leadership ranks. We see it daily. The question is, will their subordinates follow unconstitutional orders? And if they do, what do We The People do?
That’s what the jabs were about. Purging any still serving that could think for themselves.
“I only pray that THEY do not have all of the military yet.”
The military is one of the Wokest outfits in the whole federal government. They have it totally under control, which is one of the reasons they’re trying to provoke civil war at this time.
Did you know the high school ROTC programs have become a home for groomed gay and trans kids? It’s very bizarre.
That does not surprise me.
So sad that the only way to get young people interested in the military now is to cater to their baser desires.
Comes when the government schools teach our children that America is the worst nation in human history and not worth defending. Home schools should be the way to go now. Our chidren deserve the Truth to be taught.
Taking prayer and the Bible out of school took away the moral foundation of our youth, too.
and the 10 commandements
country is going down
Lock and load.
You are dead right TN. Its frightening.
God help all of those folks. This is terrible news.
biden faults trump said it will get worse
God loves the sound of a faith filled prayer .
Thank you Sundance for aiming us in the right direction.
Hopefully we can help each other through these tough times with God’s wisdom and strength.
Comments from furniture industry insiders tell some of the real story.”Another great American brand bites the dust thanks to offshoring. Thanks, offshoring, for ruining this country,” he said.”Schewel wondered if the trend toward canceling orders during the worst of the supply chain crisis might have played a role in the company’s downfall.
“United, during the pandemic, when there were shortages and you had a hard time getting merchandise, they were loyal to a number of their bigger retailers,” Schewel said. “These are the same people who turned around 6-8 months ago and canceled huge orders, leaving the company (Lane) with warehouses full of imported kits and made furniture.””Jabs said for years, AFW was Lane’s largest dealer and the relationship had been in place for decades, but he said cracks have been showing for a little while. “We had some inklings that things were going downhill. At the last High Point Market, I told my buyers don’t buy any Lane because we heard that they weren’t paying their bills.”https://www.furnituretoday.com/financial/retailers-shocked-by-news-of-lanes-sudden-demise/
The name of “Jabs” referenced in the quote is Jake Jabs owner of “AFW” which is American Furniture Warehouse. Huge marketer of reasonably-priced furniture in Colorado and elsewhere.
May God be with all the people who are adversely affected by this termination.
Wayfair–It was founded by Steve Conine and Niraj Shah in 2002 and now employs over 16,900 people globally. The company operates one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms for home furniture, appliances, and interior décor. I see an increase in their product lines, coming soon……?
We have lost the great dignitaries of fine furniture…Ethan Allen, Pennsylvania House, Kiplinger and Thomasville to name a few (tree huggers united?)…in place of their fine designs, we have modernistic, minimalist, cheap crap from chyna.
The same goes for beautifully crafted upholstered furniture…also from High Point if my memory serves me well? Fabric mills?
Retail now brings down the better heeled consumer while elevated the lesser heeled, making it–most anything– more affordable, with reduced quality and increasing profits. This has been going on for 2 1/2 decades.
“not paying their bills”…sounds like an Illinois business model..
Durability…I still have a pair of leather penny loafers from Bass…when they were made in New England. Still look very nice. My furniture…is 46 years old…and still in good shape. Therein lies the problem…durability.
High-end thrift stores (no, that’s not an oxymoron) have become the best place to shop for heirloom-grade furnishings. As my geezer generation “downsizes” and/or passes away, our American-made solid wood furniture gets donated, as many younger folks neither know nor care about quality.
Estate sales can also be a good source of fine products.
i agree 100%
all ethan allen are closed in palm springs i have thomasville furniture
its the best
I truly do feel sorry for these people, this has got to be devastating to them and their families. On the other hand, I wonder how many of these folks where supporters of Joe Biden and voted for him?
If they voted for Joe, they got exactly what they wanted. So, don’t deserve any sympathy.
Yet, I doubt this is the case.
it is
You would be greatly surprised how many of the formerly usual suspects did NOT for BiteMe. As a service provider, I was chagrined to find that the overwhelming majority of UPS drivers here voted for Trump.
BiteMe did not get anywhere near 81 million votes. Trump’s true total was anywhere between 80-85 million. BiteMe got fewer than 59 million legitimate votes. And those that think the CIA, in conjunction with other alphabet agenncies along with the democrats and a good amount of ‘republicans’ who wanted to be rid of him, is whistling past the graveyard. The CIA has affected elections in plenty of other countries. Changing/manufacturing 22 million or so votes is only impossible until it isn’t. And then everyone is surprised.
Remember, The drooling pedo and dark-skinned wh ore couldn’t manage 3% between them in the primaries until Clyburn ‘stepped’ in. A large portion of your vote fraud takes place in black precincts. Because if you question them, you are a racist.
The manufactured narrative of Trump being so hated was just that. They will never allow Donald Trump to assume office again. And remember, if DeSantis or another ‘Republican’ is allowed to win again, they WILL be controlled opposition. Trump was the only one with the personal wherewithal to not be bought.
We may all be pleasantly surprised. President Trump has a penchant for winning against all odds
mr meiski its only the beginning trump warned us all cos are going to china
May God bless these people, with two days before Thanksgiving to be…question…
A lay-off usually means the plant puts your job on hold until manufacturing needs pick up…
OR
FIRED. Which means you never get your job back, or anything else.
This situation seems…fired for LIFE. IMHO.
Well, Lane’s communication seemed resigned for life, too. Remember that they won’t be getting paid either. I find the whole scenario to be very sad from both sides.
Some may disagree with me but I don’t expect Lane did this on purpose. The furniture industry has been fading for years. It just took Joe Biden to finish it off completely.
FJB. I won’t be thanking “dear leader” for anything this Thanksgiving or any Thanksgiving for the rest of his sorry life…..or mine, whichever comes first.
I live near Gardner Ma. it was once called the furniture capital of New England. It had many, many furniture factory’s. Today, not a single one is left. It was called the Chair City.
I was familiar with Broyhill Furniture markets in Atlanta and Lenoir NC. Chip core, which internet research doesn’t seem to recognize even though it was a standard reference in the furniture industry, from China took most of the business from the US manufacturers. China made sorry furniture.
9 years ago while in NW MA, …I sat on my daughter’s back step and watched the flat bed trucks coming down a two lane country hill road…loaded with logs….big long ones…the truck traffic went on day and night…thru Erving and Greenfield.
From what I saw, the towns there once great…had not changed since my last visit…in 1984…no industry except service industry…and drugs…lots of illegal drugs.
Something quick happened here, and yes I agree, this is a terrible permanent message. The reaction of which will be quite a few legal cases, IMHO.
You are very kind, Dixie and I partially agree with you from a humanistic point of view…I do smell (private) corporate business plans at work. And an executive board “in denial”.
First strategy is lay offs…is this a second line strategy, shut down and lock the door? Or did they really create a fluster cluck…that they could not get out of?
Was there a “metric” that once reached, signified a total shut down?
The maturing of a product line/company?
That said…remember good old Sears and Roebuck? Poorly managed. K-Mart, also poorly managed and could not meet the challenges of Walmart…and remember who sat on their board of WMT? HRC. Vicious in more ways than one.
What is with these women “leaders”? Asking for a friend as I try to understand this….
It’s a permanent layoff so they will be eligible for unemployment benefits, don’t get those if they list it as a firing. Qwerk of the law where the word matters as much as the action.
I see. Good to know.
That’s not true. Unemployment is run through state and then federal if the state fails. The company has zero to do with it unless they fire you for the cause.
Don’t companies have to pay into ‘unemployment’ at the state levels?
Was the company paying?
Enter the lawyers and their ‘verbiage’.
Many years ago I was laid off just before Thanksgiving. It was a dark time, but I got through it.
See my semi historical links regarding CAT somewhere here in the threads…unions did not or would not save the jobs.
Big difference in product lines, but business tactics…if this furniture company goes south of the border…we will know it was planned…heck…just before Thanksgiving and the kick off to an abbreviated shopping season? I don’t like what I am smelling.
For the ones inside the beltway, the UniParty, it’s just another day in la-la land printing dollars and trying to get their kickbacks.
And yet ….many roads always lead to Rome….
To whom did the US give away its vast domestic retail market for free?
And for what reason?
And how ironic that our founders studied the fall of the Roman Empire.
Very nice prayer for those families Sundance and a big Amen.
They waited till after mid terms.
Wrote a long post and lost it, but the gist of it is this:
The Mafia runs elections in PA. Period. Kari, please come and help us here!
Neil Young (sorry he turned weirdo) but this old song makes sense:
“Don’t Let It Bring You Down.”
I have so much to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Thank you for your amazing prayer. I wept as I read it. My husband and I immediately joined you in praying for these who have been so callously treated. “But my God shall supply all your needs according His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
yes and things happen for a reason…When God shuts a door, he often opens a window…
“I have plans to prosper you and not harm you…”
A few days ago I was looking at three pins my aunt received for 20, 25 & 30 years of loyal service to Rayburns in Philadelphia.
She had emigrated to the USA as an adult & became a citizen.
Then the company did what Lane just did. That was in the 40’s or 50’s. I looked at those less than half inch pins & saw all my aunt’s retirement, her devotion & determination in the palm of my hand.
God uplift & provide for all victims of this present travesty.
GOD
FAMILY
NATION
The real priorities.
This Country is so far off track today!
Blessings on those hurt by Lane’s action.
Thats just that excellent biden economy!
Sounds like United Furniture is going into Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, not Chapter 11 reorganization. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 is a U.S. labor law that protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar-day advance notification of planned closings and mass layoffs of employees. The question is whether the closing was “planned” or not.
Goodness, I saw the opposite, Chapter 11. Maybe I am wrong.
The holiday weekend offers a lot of “time”….
Why are we not hearing about passports being cancelled?
With my weak understanding of business…either a ‘metric’ was triggered or …? Given the 60 day notice required, you can bet their lawyers and accountants are in on it. Or their board is just plain dumb?
Corporations always have an out, to come up smelling like a rose.
Very sad, and a callous way to treat people. What about the customers who had their furniture deliveries abruptly stopped also? Are they going to refund those customers? It appears not and they plan to take the money and run. Otherwise why would you stop the trucks from delivering the goods that people had paid for?
Let’s be clear, this is a problem stemming from inside the company. The furniture being made by Lane is disastrous. I have some and it is trash. Big Lots sells better furniture! The distributors are horrendous. The customer service reps at Lane are equally as terrible. Try calling the NC office and talking with the rep that answers the phone. Period.
6uilding 6ack 6etter.
United Furniture forgot to say ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ at the end of their text message……
Reminds me of when Cat did that in a place I never thought I would live….
Way back and also again, a few years ago…
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/01/25/The-Caterpillar-Tractor-Co-Joliet-Plant-which-once-employed/6085412318800/
Back then, many thought CAT would call them back, because they “always did” and I remember employees sounding very “entitled”, LOL Welcome to globalism.
https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/joliet-caterpillar-plant-has-closed-forever
https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2021/04/16/irg-buys-1-5m-square-feet-joliet-caterpillar.html
That said…is just another example of screwing the citizenry.
2015:
https://www.manufacturing.net/home/news/13214468/caterpillar-moving-2-joliet-production-lines-to-mexico
Lessons learned…Never count on your job and plan for the worst case especially when ‘they’ say it ‘will never happen’.
My heart aches for the employees that have been axed. I would assume the companies corporate lawyers are on top of this with stratagy and tactics to keep said executives out of the hot seat…may they rot…and burn.
My first thought. Each member of United BOD received a big fat check. Guess who will now be applying for government benefits? You will own nothing and be happy-first step to NWO WEF implementation of universal basic income, followed by central bank digital currency monitoring of how one spends the pittance distributed by the government.
We are transitioning into a dark winter.
Remember, the Darkness cannot comprehend the Light.
Look up, lift your head, for your redemption draws nigh.
and people want biden to run again wow how stupid all businesses are going to china period
and biden is getting millions for it
https://www.furnituretoday.com/financial/legal-expert-weighs-in-lane-may-have-violated-federal-warn-act/
And from 2013:
https://www.furnituretoday.com/financial/legal-expert-weighs-in-lane-may-have-violated-federal-warn-act/
I guess they were looking at the mountain of pension liabilities on their books. They had already been through a pension suspension/reduction mandate in 2017. No better way to get from under the obligations to pay workers that the shareholders/owners got wealthy off of. Nothing new here! It’s the Korporate way.
Amen
Amazing not one MSM story on this FJB.
God help those families
is it even legal to say they are not providing COBRA benefits? If you have an answer, please post it; am curious. This whole thing smells of corporate malfeasance. They’d better have organized for good Officers and Directors insurance.
Sundance, Thank you for your prayer for these people and their families. I have been made redundant many times in my 50 years of working as a laborer in a steel fabrication plant up to my retirement as a white collar professional with my own consultancy business in warehouse management. I used each and every one of those business layoffs and closures as a door being opened by our Heavenly Father to improve my life and the lives of my family. It is my prayer that these individuals will have God’s Grace upon them to do the same.
So. Sad! I live in Mississippi and it is hard to find good paying jobs. I am at my Dad’s in Greensboro North Carolina for Thanksgiving and he says the furniture industry has been declining since he moved here in 1988.
Amen.
The media will play this up as a good job report
This is devastating, but ALL part of the fear and control campaign pushed by WEF, Fauci, Gates, DNC, and every other reprobate in global goob’mint! APPALLING!
Disgraceful cowardice and cruelty. So completely Un-American. How can any decent human act this way?
My heart is broken into a million pieces.
Disgraceful, Disgraceful, ………….DISGRACEFUL!!
A decent human cannot act this way.
Do we know that United Furniture has gone belly up? This looks to be something like the precursor events to be followed by the wholesale moving of United Furniture’s Manufacturing division overseas to be controlled by the CCP of red China. This doesn’t mean the manufacturing would be done actually inside China, but that it will almost undoubtedly be controlled by the drivers of China’s economy from inside the CCP. I am hoping I am making a completely uninformed guess. But this scenario has already played out over and over for the last, 30 or so, years. Anyone know the details of this closure?
How can they not offer these poor employees and their families COBRA? I don’t believe that is even legal:
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/health-plans/cobra
“COBRA generally requires that group health plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health coverage (called continuation coverage) in certain instances where coverage under the plan would otherwise end.”
As Mr. Mumbles spews, “Were changing people’s lives!”
Sure as hell, for the worse.
Wonder how much management had invested in FTX?
This is not their first rodeo.https://myfox8.com/news/furniture-brands-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/
Lane furniture has quite a storied recent past.Furniture brands (lanes parent co.)filed for ch.11 in sept.2013.Then sold to KPR(renamed Heritage Home) in Nov 2013.Heritage sells to United furniture in nov 2017.China Effect? Globalist Uniparty Effect? https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood-market-trends/woodworking-industry-news/production-woodworking-news/Furniture-Brands-Assets-Sold-to-KPS-233098041.html. https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/united-furniture-buys-lane-heritage-home-group
Amen
I pray in agreement, Lord! 🙏🏼❤️
i just heard the railway is gonna go on strike
I am in the furniture business at the retail end. Lane/UFI is not the firm it used to be. It has been through several reorganizations.
Years ago there was the Thomasville group. It had a verticly integrated group of five firms making furniture of varous qualities [sort of like GM] plus a constellation of several other firms making accessories.
Henrydon was at the top making outstanding customizable fantasticly durable uoholstered furniture in NC. Drexel Heritage was one level down. Still very durable and more focused on casegoods was Thomasville in the middle. Then Broyhill, and at the bottom, Lane. Lane was very solidly built with 7/8″ hardwood frames, properly joined–just like the structure of Broyhill, but with cheaper fabric and cushions and less precise tailoring. [Henrydon at the top, I seem to recall, had 1&7/8″ thick frames of top quality 16 layer hardwood plywood.] Lane structure would last decades.
Thomasville group was losing money and sold off Lane for several [2.2?] billion to a group of private investors investors who milked the brand mercilously. Quality went into the toilet. Finish level became shoddy. They substituted worthless chinese hardware for many metal parts, and it became common for their chairs to fall apart and shed bolts, screws and springs onto showroom floors.
The investors, after milking the brand, sold the firm to an [Ohio?, certainly midwest] billionaire who owns United Furniture and Big Lots. I don’t recall his name.
This gentleman integrated Lane into United Furniture. He gradually wrung the garbage hardware out of inventory and the chairs ceased to fall apart on sales floors. But, other than its big man chairs , Lane was no longer built to the durable standards of the old company.
Around this time, Thomasville Group went bankrupt. All of its factories closed. The owner of Lane/UFI brought the Broyhill brandname but not the factories of Broyhill out of the bankruptsy. [At Big Lots, you will see the better end of UFI produced furniture is labeled Broyhill, but it has no structural similarity to older Broyhill furniture produced in Broyhill factories].
UFI/Lane was harmed by the covid shutdowns. Its order fullfillments to retailers became delayed and unpredictable. The firm I work for stuck with them as a supplier but suspended special orders–we could buffer their chaos on large orders because we had many suppliers and large warehouses, but we could no longer predict to individual customers with any honesty when anything ordered from them would show up.
In the last year, their shipments became more regular, and we restarted special orders.
I suspect that two things killed Lane/UFI. There is a crash in furniture demand. It is not much felt where I sell in a red state with relatively cheap energy [$2.79 gas in my neighborhood] and a growing population. But nationwide it is major, particularly at the lower end where this firm lived.
And there is a big inventory of furniture and furniture components costed last year around $16,000 to 17,000 container costs for transpacific shipping. Container costs have crashed down to $4500 or less.
There is current production flowing around stranded merchandise at lower prices. Anyone with large inventories has to work out those high priced goods gradually if possible or take a huge loss to write down their price and book value if not.
Lane/UFC, like most firms, imported most all of its case goods from Vietnam where veneer work is cheap. I imagine that they had a lot of stranded inventory. I don’t know how much.
I hope that Lane reboots.
I wonder if Big lots will be affected. I know people who worked at Lane and had convedsations with them days ago. I don’t think they had any clue this might happen.
So sad for your friends and all the Lane employees.