Nucor Suffers Crushing Defeat

The good, fantastic, thrilling news is that Nucor, thanks to our industry's objections, had their complaint voted down 6-0 so there is no immediate effect. We Twittered and posted on our Facebook account earlier today. The official ruling may be read here. 

Why did they lose? I don't know. However a 6-0 decision against them is a crushing, extraordinarily rare ruling. It may be the panel figured out their filing was sloppy as hell (including many companies not involved in the business of bolts and nuts were included on both sides), maybe they didn't like Nucor's lawyering wherein they made totally false statements as to certain facts. They certainly didn't believe Nucor and a 6-0 defeat is indicative of that.

The bad news is that Nucor gets a chance to appeal to the Internation Trade Comission Court. That takes 8 to 12 months. That organization can either dismiss it and it's dead or they can remand it back and say the ITC has to reconsider it. That's rare. The ITC then can affirm its decision or (even rarer) overturn itself. That's like getting a politician to say "I was wrong" -- unlikely.

At some point, Nucor will refile an amended complaint, assumedly with a law firm that conducts better research. It's expected that complaint will only cover Grades 5, 8, A325, and A490 hex machine bolts )woth matching nuts of course) because they have a case on some of those items. That one will likely pass -- possibly with the grade 5 bolts stricken from the list -- but this will be nearly two years down the road.

This is a HUGE defeat for Nucor and will keep thousands of American people working in their jobs in our industry. On behalf of my company, we want to thank the many people who offered their support and encouragement. We further want to thank those who took the time to complain or otherwise make their feelings known with the USDOC and ITC. This is a service to American workers and American industry. It's really a shame Nucor saw otherwise.

I do not hate Nucor despite some people's claims. I just don't like them or how they do business. And as one of the people at my company who can make a decision to not buy from a company, we didn't buy from Nucor and we will continue to not buy from Nucor. We buy from Infasco, happily. Nicer people, nicer attitude, and excellent quality. Customer service does matter. If Nucor learned that, they might not be in the position they are in now. This case proves they still don't get it. The customer is always right even when he isn't.

(And I have received so far eight congratulatory phone calls thanking me for my tireless work. I'm pleased but I don't need the credit. This was a group effort. An industry that hates each other came together as a group to fight this. This is a rare time when the system worked. Friends and family got involved too.)

Today's Collection Of Commentary and Foodstuffs

I am tired. Really tired.

First, this awesome article on The Beatles and what today's kids think of them, from a reporter with the London Times. I can't remember which friend provided this, but I like it. Yeah, the Beatles are cool generation after generation.

Second, this video is from Jose's Facebook page:

This intelligent young lady (who has an awesome accent and looks to match) tears apart Kirk Cameron -- the Growing Pains star turned religious zealot -- and his commentary on Darwin's Origin of Species. The rant is really funny no matter what side you're on. I've got a side. It's not so much his opinion she objects to, it's the fact it defies absolutely any reasonable logic and disregards minor inconveniences such as the facts.

This article lists secret fast food menu items starting with the legendary In-N-Out Burger. If you've never had one of their burgers, you have missed out. Not only is the food good, the whole concept is cool and fun. In-N-Out has a lot of secret menu items and they hint at a few on their official website. Another site has a few more. I've had the Flying Dutchman, BTW. There's another list at this site and even an article over at Wikipedia devoted to the subject. The one thing they don't have is bacon. A tragic oversight in the construction of any burger. Honestly, I prefer Fatburger when I'm out West, but this will do and it's really inexpensive.

The Panthers played their pre-season game last night and won 4-1 against a team composed of players headed for the minors, so the result was as it should be. The arena hasn't fixed the carpet and it's still decorated with duct tape and stained to death. They've raised the prices noticeably -- chicken fingers are an astronomical $10 now -- even though Michael Yormark promised he wouldn't, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. He was also conspicuously absent from the game. The arena shop didn't have much new but I expect that will change before we open our regular season in mid-October but what they did have was 25% to 50% off so a number of people were buying things. The game was empty. The candy stand It's Sugar has halved the size of its container and jacked the prices sky high. What was $6 will now cost you $12. Seriously. There were no team logo urinal pucks, so maybe they got the hint that everyone hated them with a passion, though for this team to get anything would shock me. They did have, on the plus side, a new BBQ place that had real pulled pork that smelled awesome, looked good, and according to Evan, tasted good. There were also three sauces available.

I can't remember if I mentioned this in my blog previously, but the company where I work  does indeed have a Facebook page, and if you're on Facebook, please become a fan by using that URL.

Speaking of work, this has me pissed off. A company called Nucor Steel has filed a petition against the Chinese and Taiwanese governments accusing them of dumping their products into the US. Why does it piss me off? Is it because Nucor can't compete because of their unionized workforce? Nope. Is it because they charge way more than other North American manufactures such as Infasco*? Is it because they're right/wrong? Nope (they're wrong). Is it because the Chinese product is significantly inferior in quality to Nucor's? Nope (and believe me, Nucor's stuff is way better than Chinese stuff). It's because Nucor are some of the most rude, insufferable, arrogant assholes in the industry who have no regard for their customers' needs nor do they respond or care to respond to the customer in any reasonable way. They treat the customer as an inconvenience, and as such they don't deserve to be in business. We used to buy from them. I could give you a long list of why we stopped -- we fired them as a vendor, but it wouldn't interest anyone here. Here's someone who sort-of agrees with me but for different reasons.

For the record, if the case moves forward, our company is going to be filing objections against Nucor's case. I can do some serious hurt to their case and believe you me, I have a long memory when it comes to this, so I will absolutely, positively, be returning a long overdue favour. I hope they read this. Nucor created their own mess and I will do my best to prove it. (Again, their product quality is top-notch and I have nothing bad to say about it. It's their management, policies, and employee attitudes with regards to their customers that I object to.)

Disclaimer: our company imports from all over the world, including Taiwan and China. However, we do not import any of the products Nucor sells (primarily hardened Grade 5 and Grade 8 Hex Bolts, A325 and A490 Structural Bolts, Grade 5 Carriage Bolts, Hardened Nuts of various grades, and so forth) because the quality of these parts is important. We buy those items primarily from Infasco, a Canadian company. We import low carbon Cap Screws from countries that include China and Taiwan because they're not heat treated which is where the real difference in a bolt is. There's a very delicate balance between surface and core hardness that is an exacting science that most factories simply can't handle. I could go on, but I've bored you already.

* We buy a lot from Infasco. We buy zero from Nucor. That will not change. Infasco cares about its customers, treats us relatively fairly, and runs their business remembering the customer is usually right. They were the beneficiary of our firing of Nucor, not the Chinese or Taiwanese.

Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't

Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't. -- Old TV Commercial (Mounds & Almond Joy)

Well I came across this on someone else's blog. Now, I can't remember whose blog it was so I can't give them credit. However, this item of clothing is so cool, it is noteworthy. Yes, a bright green pair of underwear with a very simple warning: "May contain nuts!" As of now, they're sold out.

Also, I have added a link to my Amazon WishList to the right column of this blog. I thought I should point that out to the person who said I am impossible to shop for. I'm very easy and I can be your slave in a variety of price ranges. All my shopping is done. Yay.