Day 320 ~ My Buddy Larry

checking in an order

Since I am unemployed I have lots of time on my hand so I went with Larry when he was working on his bread route. Larry is a long time friend from my Hostess days. He sold Wonder bread while I sold cake. But we were in the same depot and sometimes I even rode with him while he sold wonder bread even though I was just a Hostess cake guy....ah, the good ole days!

See you tomorrow.

Day 298 ~ "Oh-dark-thirty"

It was very dark out...

"Oh-dark-thirty"....that is a military expression which explains what time I woke up this morning in order to ride with a friend of mine who owns a NATURES OWN bread route. It was fun to remember the old days when I used to get up early to run a route....now, that is someone else job.

click here to read more about the expression.

See you tomorrow.

Day 34 ~ End of an Era!

not on the road anymore!

My friend Bob sent me this picture the other day and he said, this picture is of something that has gone  The way of the Dodo bird!. It turns out I took this picture from a company van while at a red light and I sent it to him.  But, alas, we shall see these trucks no more on the streets. Hostess Brands will probably be sold off in parts to different companies and while most of the products will survive, it will be sold by other companies.

nearly empty!

my bro-in-law and good friend, Mike took this picture last week from the place he gets coffee in the morning. It is a sad sight not to see this rack full of Hostess cake!

the last one!

And here is the last Hostess item in the store. Mike just sent me a text saying he purchased this muffin before he took the picture. So now the shelf is empty.

Mike is a great guy who has a very interesting blog called, "The Cuban Half" which explores Cuban culture. It is a very interesting read, especially his posts about his most recent visit to Havana. I know he wants to go back again! Check it out:  http://www.thecubanhalf.com/ 

See you tomorrow!

Day 22 ~ Good Bye, Twinkies! Good Bye, Job!

a stack of Twinkies

Here is a picture of a stack of Twinkies that will never make it to the supermarkets.  We heard today that Hostess Brands, baker and distributor of many products like Hostess Cake, Drakes Cakes, Wonder bread and a lot others, is ceasing operations as of Saturday.  So these Twinkies are just sitting there. They will probably be grabbed by the employees who show up today to get an Information Packet which the company has put together. Basically, that packet explains in "Question and Answer" Format (much like a catechism), what happened to the company, what the next step should be for former employees, ect. 

The depot is an hour away from my house and I don't think I am going to make the drive to pick it up.  I am going to ask the mechanic to pick my packet up and I can meet him at his house. He lives closer to me than the depot plus he is gong there today anyway.

deep in thought

My job was to sell cake. I was a route jumper which meant I had to cover vacations and sick calls but when no one in the cake department was out, I would occasionally run a Wonder Bread route. That's what I did yesterday. My last stop in my route jumping career was at the Pick it Deli  in Old Bridge, where I sold my last piece of Hostess Brands, product.  They received 27 Classic White breads, 8 stone ground wheat bread and 5 whole grain white breads.  Their last order. So if you like wonder bread, run up to the Pick it Deli and get it while you can!  The above picture was taken while driving back to the depot with an empty truck; Empty forever!

Rest in Peace, Hostess Brands!

Day 18 ~ An Empty Bread Truck; Results of a Strike!

This is the truck of the famous podcaster of You Got that Right fame, Bobby G!

The Company I work for, Hostess Brands is dealing with a strike. The bakers have rejected the final offer from the company that the other unions, including my Teamster Union, has accepted.  The result, this empty truck! You can see just a couple of rows filled with bread. That was all that came down due to the strike. But this truck is usually full of bread but it is not.

The company announced yesterday that it is closing three bakeries who are on strike. Cincinnati, St. Louis and Seattle. The say if the other bakers don't end the strike soon, they will close down the other bakeries and that will be the end of the company.

I believe them.

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/12/hostess_closing_3_bakeries_following_strike/