If You Work For Ford (or Whatever) Should They Require You To Drive One?

Assumption: You work for Ford, GM, Toyota, etc....

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As long as they make it affordable, yes. Otherwise, drive to the nearest parking lot and walk or bus to work.

Bob Wilson

 

1) Annoy employees with corporate flag waving
2) ???
3) Profit!

 

The plant manager is not requiring the employees to own or drive a Ford vehicle, only to do so as a condition of convenient parking. Another lot is available for everyone else, as is mass transit. AFAIC, it's a private business and can set any condition it wants on its own property.

It will be interesting to see how empty that "exclusive" lot becomes after Feb. 1.

 

Since Super Bowl 40 is being played at Ford Field, maybe they can make the official Super Bowl vehicle park outside their parking lot.

 

I toured the Ford plant in Michigan (possibly not the same one) a couple of years ago with my family, because my father is very interested in architecture and the facility is listed in one of his architecture books as a particularly significant set of architectural works. One of the things that we noticed was the number of cars in the lots which weren't Fords.

At the time it just seemed like one of those funny things, but upon reflection, it seems like an indictment of the company. The people who work there don't believe in their products, or they know that those products don't fit their own needs, let alone the needs of the rest of us. Ford should get its employees to buy its cars the same way it wants to get everyone else to buy its cars- by making good cars! Trying to coerce them this way is just silly- they shouldn't need to do this.

Would we really want this to apply in other fields? Should bakers not be allowed to eat food from Tyson, if they work for Nestle? I'm a lawyer, but I wouldn't want to be limited to hiring someone from my firm to write a patent application for me, because we aren't patent attorneys. So restrictions (even mild ones like this) aimed at keeping people who work at Ford from buying a hybrid from Honda, for instance, are just ridiculous, IMO. Ford doesn't make all the kinds of cars people might want or need, and even if they did, they shouldn't have to resort to these kinds of strategems. They should focus on making better cars.

 

leahbeetle,

This is off-topic, but the past two years I've notice it's a lot harder to open nearly any package. Is this the result of a case?

 

Remember, this is Detroit we're talking about here. That vehicle would likely be in some chop shop before halftime.

 

I don't think that's so bad, a vast majority nowadays now own where they work as it is, I would be surprised if more than 5% at the truck plant don't drive Fords at the moment. Also, it's not like it's a major inconvienance to park across the street. Then again, I'm in the shadow of the big three.

Leah, it's unlikely that you toured the Dearborn Truck plant, it's far more likely that you toured the Rouge River complex, which is known for it's architecture and mechanical innovations, and is toured daily nowadays.

Also, keep in mind that you get employee pricing, and at certain levels you get a company car. As I said, I'm in the shadow of the big three, I can name 7 friends who I come into semi-regular contact with who work for Ford, 2 of them have a car provided for them, as they're sufficient management types. The rest have gotten in the last few years a new car because of A plan and incentives. So, it's hardly the end of the world to park across the street for not own a car that you either get for free or at a pretty big discount.

I can understand the point of view that it seems like corporate flag waving, but I don't think it falls under that. Now, requiring the company car be an Aztek to make it seem like more where on the road, on the other hand...

EDIT: I should also add that I know some GM employees as well (Only one has a company car). Don't want to seem too pro Ford.

 

Hi All;

Now what to say to this question.

Still Thinking:

Terry