KING 40th anniversary stuff...

[Dead Man]

They sound like every machine shop in town

[cinema]

Really thankful this post brought up the issues. I will continue to support cane creek and white industries

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by cinema

Really thankful this post brought up the issues. I will continue to support cane creek and white industries

Hmmmm, 2 anonymous posts by employees? Or maybe somebody that heard something from somebody? Don't know. Not saying that the 2 posts aren't accurate but...hourly work more than 40 hours, has to receive overtime pay. Plus unemployment is pretty low in Portland(6%), if it sucks that bad, go elsewhere.
Not skilled labor. I'll keep my CK HS.

[cinema]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Hmmmm, 2 anonymous posts by employees? Or maybe somebody that heard something from somebody? Don't know. Not saying that the 2 posts aren't accurate but...hourly work more than 40 hours, has to receive overtime pay. Plus unemployment is pretty low in Portland(6%), if it sucks that bad, go elsewhere.
Not skilled labor. I'll keep my CK HS.

so will I but i'm not a ck snob and won't be. I have one ck, one cane creek, one Velo orange, one campy... lots of companies make good stuff. part of me wants to think the premium i'm paying for ck is going to a decent company so it was just a little disappointing to see those ten reviews where many mention harassment

[CiclistiCliff]

Heard from a former employee that these brown turds are from a bad ano batch that they kept and just engraved......

Wouldn't surprise me.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Not skilled labor.

CK's marketing would have you think its highly skilled labor, constantly touting their made in the USA precision, tolerances, engineering and technical excellence, etc etc.

[Dead Man]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

CK's marketing would have you think its highly skilled labor, constantly touting their made in the USA precision, tolerances, engineering and technical excellence, etc etc.

They probably have two programmers making $22ish/hour to set up the machines, who probably double as shift leads.. then operators making $10 doing the actual production runs. The operators just plug the billet into the machine and hit start, make sure nothing stupid happens while the part spins around, then removes the part and puts it on a tray..... repeat... all day... shift after shift

It's not skilled, and doesn't need to be

[Dead Man]

As machining goes, the stuff King makes is NOT incredibly hard to do. They machine rings and cylinders, and none of it will be used in rocket engines or satellites... so it's not like it even needs to be particularly precise, as machining goes.

For bike parts, it's high-end stuff... I'm not knocking them. I'm just saying for machining, it's pretty simple ****.

[buldogge]

Wow...

I pay my counter-girls more than that...they help customers, answer phones/email, and post to social media...sometimes they get me a coffee.

My machinist buddy, Tim, wouldn't "look-at-you-the-wrong-way", for $10/hr.

BTW...This is is the STL, in the Midwest US of A.

Portland's cost-of-living is ~50% higher (where 100 is national average, Portland is 125, STL is 85), FWIW.

BTW, I've never bought a CK product (not counting headsets installed on framesets I purchased used)...too rich for my blood.

-Mark in St. Louis

[FlashUNC]

"We practice authentic good will. We are generous in our community. It starts with our employees and extends through our local, regional & national advocacy commitments. We recognize a responsibility to the local and global community. Further, we openly share our knowledge, our point of view, and our philosophy."

https://www.chrisking.com/why/manufacturing/

[Satellite]

LOL, I still want a Salt and Pepper shaker even at the risk of Chris King employees getting paid less than Wal-Mart employees or sweat shop workers.

[cadence90]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

"We practice authentic good will. We are generous in our community. It starts with our employees and extends through our local, regional & national advocacy commitments. We recognize a responsibility to the local and global community. Further, we openly share our knowledge, our point of view, and our philosophy."

https://www.chrisking.com/why/manufacturing/

Right.
And I'm Papa Paolo Sesto, Roberto Baggio, and Felice Gimondi, all wrapped up in one.

In that sector (CK, W.I., Phil, DT, PMP, even Campa NA) the arrogance of CK customer service, in my experience, has been greater than all the others combined. Too high a horse for me.

Originally Posted by Satellite

LOL, I still want a Salt and Pepper shaker even at the risk of Chris King employees getting paid less than Wal-Mart employees or sweat shop workers.

And Sat rolls in with post #1000.
Why, though?

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

yea, more of the same:

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Ch...ws-E871182.htm

After reading these reviews I am tempted to pull the two CK headsets I have out of my bikes!!! Wow. I do not think that CK will see my $$ in the future. Sad.

[ivanooze]

Lawd.jesus... I'm gonna buy 2 sets

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[54ny77]

Clearly the mgmt. and owners run a sweatshop. Bring the pitchforks!

What we're hearing are very 1-sided complaints in social media setting which, surprise, is no surprise.

They're in Portland. Can only imagine the "green" regulatory and permitting costs as a manufacturer at the local, state & federal level. Then there's overhead, yadda yadda. For a manufacturing concern, making $150 retail headsets. Not 6-figure precision machined components. In other words, margins probably aren't huge and they depend on as much volume as possible to make the gargantuan amounts of money the $10/hr employees seem to know that the greedy owners make.

To maintain minimum wholesale margin on that retail headset, once the greedy owners evaluate the impact of employees getting goosed up to minimum $20/hr, which is still a crappy full time living wage for a family of 2 or 3 with 1 primary breadwinner, the beloved King headset with new & improved employee salaries is now looking to be $350 retail.

And all the complainers will then pile on, "Screw that, I ain't paying no $350 for a headset!" in a defiant tone of hypocrisy, having gotten what they wanted in the form of higher wages for employees.

King owners/mgmt. then properly evaluate the alternatives, which presto revolve around time to go offshore and get 'em made for but a fraction of the original cost, maintain that $150 price point, and have a real killer margin. King then lays off nearly all staff other than designers/marketing people and industrial/manufacturing engineers, with a couple of full timer ex pats over yonder near the factory/factories to check in now & then on QC.

Be careful what ya ask for....