Get your twinkies & ding dongs while you can!

[milanessa]

Now Twinkies will join Red Rose tea and Coffee Crisp bars in being "only in Canada eh?".

We can buy both of those in the US.

[Andora]

We can buy both of those in the US.

How about Ketchup chips? I keep hearing they're not available, but maybe that's a specific brand? It's surprising to me that ANYTHING available in Canada wouldn't be in the US. Generally it's vice versa.

[milanessa]

The Lay's brand isn't available in stores here but you can get in online. There are some regional brands that offer ketchup chips but they're not widely available. Just doesn't seem to be a popular flavor here.

One Canadian food product that I can't get here is the Epicure brand of dip mix. : I think it's mostly a home sales business and I just haven't gotten around to finding a seller that will ship to me. My sister's in Canada a lot but can I trust her to buy it for me? In a word - no.

[Jenny]

One Canadian food product that I can't get here is the Epicure brand of dip mix. :

Never heard of it, but then I'm not on the home party circuit. Here's the website - doesn't look like they do simple mail order - https://www.epicureselections.com/en/

Judging by the product selection though, I highly recommend having a look at The Spice House. I order from the all the time, despite the high shipping cost, which you wouldn't be subjected to, plus they regularly do free shipping events in the US if you follow them on FB or sign up for the e-newsletter. They have a bunch of dip mixes (we love the Chip Dip Seasoning) as well as many other well known and housemade blends, and the finest jarred spices and herbs I've ever found.

[milanessa]

I was sent a couple of packets once and they were wonderful. I've called them and they have no intention of expanding to the US and seemed a bit offended that I even asked. Thanks for the other link. I'll check it out.

[*Jen*]

It might just be my foreign eyes, but ding dongs just sound dirty

[suep1963]

You just go ding that dong *Jen*!

[sk8er1964]

Isn't it actually King Dons? Or am I confused? (Yes, I googled and am still confused )

[Rob]

I haven't had a Hostess product in at least 35 years so I won't start now. But probably someone will buy the recipes? Lance or Little Debbie or someone like that.

[milanessa]

I have no doubt those snacks will continue.

[Sparks]

Hostess to go into mediation.

[overedge]

Hostess to go into mediation.

Here's hoping the mediation involves the executives agreeing to take the same sort of pay cuts they want the workers to take, if the company's payroll is really such a huge threat to its survival.

[PeterG]

Wow, what a fluke that now the business might not go bankrupt and instead has gotten tons of publicity and business. Weird how that happens, huh? All you gotta do is threaten the livelihood of 18,000 working people and voila!....big upswing to the business. Good move, executives, you're earning every penny of your three million a year wage.

/sarcasm

Here's hoping the mediation involves the executives agreeing to take the same sort of pay cuts they want the workers to take, if the company's payroll is really such a huge threat to its survival.

Good one!

[LilJen]

Ding Dongs in some areas, King Dons in others. I think my dad still owes me and my sisters a box of Ding Dongs after he snarfled through a whole box intended for us. Back in like 1976 or something.

[Artemis@BC]

Well, if this submission to Cute Overload is anything to go by, Corgi's love Twinkies.

[Artistic Skaters]

"Hostess, union mediation fails; Twinkies return to chopping block":

http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,6792509.story

[kwanfan1818]

This was re-published in salon.com today and sheds a little light on why at least some of the workers were willing to strike and defy the Teamsters:

Vulture Capitalism, Not Unions, Killed Twinkies

Again, the 14-year Hostess bakery veteran: "Remember how I said I made $48,000 in 2005 and $34,000 last year? I would make $25,000 in five years if I took their offer. It will be hard to replace the job I had, but it will be easy to replace the job they were trying to give me."

[PeterG]

This was re-published in salon.com today and sheds a little light on why at least some of the workers were willing to strike and defy the Teamsters:

Vulture Capitalism, Not Unions, Killed Twinkies

Thank you.

[sk8er1964]

Snopes article about the executive bonuses. Worth the read.

Huff Po article about the Teamster's view of the strike.

Ken Hall, the Teamsters secretary-treasurer, said his union didn't doubt Hostess' claims after seeing its books.

"I think it's obvious there was no bluff," said Hall. "Our financial advisers had looked at their books, they had total access. We pushed them in negotiations to where we thought it was the absolute limit, that we would get the most for our members and [still] have a pathway back to prosperity for the company. The bakers' union disagreed with that."

"Frankly, I feel sick about what's going on here," Hall added. "It's a tragic day for 18,000 workers."

Rich Pavelko, a Hostess driver who started selling Drake's products 31 years ago, said he felt the company was generally in tatters after years of poor decision-making at the executive level. But another pay cut was better than being unemployed, he said, and perhaps the company would find a way to right itself or at least make itself attractive to a committed buyer.

"We always thought and we know that the company was mismanaged horribly," 55-year-old Pavelko, who's a Teamster, said Friday. "But that's the past. You can't say, well, because it was mismanaged in the past we can't give up something now to keep the company alive."

I'd like to ask those of you coming down hard on the side of the baker's union - if they are so completely in the right, then why did Teamsters take the deal? If you were them, what would you have wanted in this situation? To negotiate or to lose your job? Do you feel that the bakers standing their ground were justified even if their actrions did directly lead to the loss of 18,000 jobs? I'm not asking to be argumentative, I'd really like to try to understand your mindset because to me, it certainly doesn't seem like their (the bakers) actions were at all logical.

[kwanfan1818]

What was the deal for the Teamsters? What kinds of concessions did they make? How many of them are there, and how much do they make now? I haven't seen anything written about that.

Also, Pavelko asks why assume that the company will be as badly managed going forward as it has been in the past. I don't know--maybe it's because the same people who've screwed up are in charge, and they've asked the bankruptcy court for millions in additional compensation to manage through the bankruptcy.

I have no doubt the books are bad: the company's been gutted. I haven't seen an argument by the bakers' union that it hasn't been. The bakers are arguing that any further concessions will line the pockets of management and investors, and they lose their pensions in any case.